The current Disney Magazine had an excellent article about Alice Davis, Imagineer and the wife of the late Marc Davis. She was talking about the costume design of the original it's a small world for the 1964-65 World's Fair, which later ended up in Disneyland. She had asked Walt how much she could spend for each costume. Her quote of what Walt responded: "We don't think that way. I want the dolls to be very cute and intricate and to have the flavor of each country. We don't worry about what they cost - I have a building full of accountants who are supposed to do that. We're supposed to produce the best, because the public will always pay you back."

What a concept, huh?

Exactly.

If you build it right, they will come.

Do what you love, the money will follow.

I find it interesting to compare the management styles, especially the past couple of weeks. I haven't gone out of my way to find Walt quotes, they just seem to leap off the page. It truly was a different style, one that worked very well for decades, and can work just as well today if management would get their eyes off the short term and look at the bigger picture.

When we were on the Art Classics cruise last year, Alice Davis was the star of a panel discussion. She made a LOT of comments about the "current administration" and how things would be different under Walt. One of the things I was most surprised by was her open disgust with DCA, spoken so freely at an "official" Disney function.

She's an amazing lady, and I'm happy anytime I get to see her speak. Having one of the "old guard" talk about the current state of the company gives a little glimpse into what Disney *could* have become.

AVP

Once this whole takeover thing is resolved, I think we should contact the new management and remind them of quotes like these. What could it hurt? If enough people send them, at some point someone's got to listen, and hopefully new management will have the foresight to pay attention to those who have loved the Magic for many years (okay, decades for me).

How many companies in the world today are run like Walt ran Disney?



Pixar?
Satchi and Satchi?
Apple?


There must be other situations where the creatives rule the world and not the sharp pencil guys.

Since this discussion is evolving into one about the business of Magic, I'm moving it to - you guessed it - the Business of Magic Forum.

-Helen/3894

I knew you would. I just wanted to start it in the DL forum to target the people I normally chat with.

NA: two of those are run by Jobs...(hint hint)

danyoung, thanks so much for posting the reference. It was inspiring to read. Thank you.

It was inspring to me as well. I think a lot of us that frequent the online Disney world spend a lot of time discussing the fact that they company is not run today in the same way as it used to be. It's important to hear directly from those who worked with Walt in the good ol' days, if only to emphasize just how far current Disney management has strayed.