War comes to the Disney Studios Everyday routine at the Disney Studio changed dramatically the day following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 8, 1941, Walt Disney received an urgent phone call at home. There had been an invasion of sorts at his Studio in Burbank. In an interview with his daughter Diane and author Pete Martin, Walt Disney recalled that fateful day when he received a phone call at home: ...I was at home and we got word that they’d bombed Pearl Harbor...it was on the radio...shortly after that I got a call from the Studio Manager and he had been called, in turn, by the police. He said, Walt, the Army is moving in on us...they came up and said they wanted to move in, and [he] said, I’d have to call [Walt], and [the Army] said, call him but we’re moving in anyway. Five hundred troops moved in the Studio. I had a big closed sound stage. They said, We want that, get this stuff out of here. We had to move all of our equipment. They moved into every area. We had some sheds...where we parked automobiles. They said, What are these sheds? I said, Parking for the employees. They said, Take em over. They moved in there and stored three million rounds of ammunition. They posted guards at all of our gates. They had 14 trucks on this sound stage because they could close the stage and work in a blackout. That’s where they were repairing all of the optical systems for the anti-aircraft [guns]. These soldiers were part of the anti-aircraft force that was stationed all around. They had these guns all over the hills...because of the aircraft factories. I had them there for eight months before they moved out...they were sleeping in every room. I had to double my artists up in rooms so that an officer could have a place to sleep. They had their sleeping bags down on the floor...they set-up their own mess kitchen. It was kind of exciting. But it was kind of funny they way he said, Well go ahead...call him up and ask him. I acquired the document that accompanies this post about four years ago. (Please click on the image to see a larger version.) The memo was sent out by Walt Disney just 11 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I think the memo really conveys the emotion and sense of urgency surrounding Americas entry into the war. In the hours and days following the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a real feeling the mainland of the United States would also come under enemy attack. With the Lockheed aircraft plant a next door neighbor, there was a very real possibility the Disney Studio might be hit by stray bombs during an air raid. Thankfully this never occurred. To learn more about Disney’s patriotic contributions to the war please join the Facebook group Disney and the war or purchase either my e-book or the print version off amazon amazon/Service-Character-Disney-Studios-World/dp/1941500056/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419803736&sr=8-1&keywords=service+with+character
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 22:07:50 +0000
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