© Disney.Last week, we asked you to brush up on your knowledge on Walt's Academy Awards for your chance to win tickets to the Museum! Answer the following five questions in the "comments" section (and don't forget to include your e-mail address so we can contact you) by 11:59PM on Sunday, February 26. If you pass the test, we'll throw your name into a drawing for tickets and a special prize from the Museum. Good luck!

1. Walt holds the record for most Academy Awards won--and nominated--by an individual. How many did he win? For how many was he nominated?

2. Walt won his first two Oscars in 1932--what were they for? 

3. Who presented Walt with the special honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? How was it special? 

4. In 1954, Walt became the first individual to receive the most Oscars in a single year. How many did he win that year?

5. Where can you find the largest collection of Oscars in one place--outside of Hollywood? 

On Saturday February 25 at 2:00pm, the special program Walt Disney’s Worlds of Nature will feature and a presentation by renown producer Don Hahn, about Walt’s pioneering and frequently-emulated True-Life Adventures films, and showing the relationship between that series and the acclaimed Disneynature documentaries. Tickets for all films and programs are available at the Member Services and Reception Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

And the Award goes to... Walt Disney!

Walt’s Academy Award collection began in 1932, when he took home the Academy Award for the cartoon short Flowers and Trees. While watching this film on the big screen, it was very easy to imagine what the audiences of 1932 found appealing about this film. The brilliant colors, the multiple shades of green, and the heartwarming story still makes audiences chuckle at the enchanting film. Walt was also awarded a special Oscar® in 1932 for the creation of Mickey Mouse.

At the Academy Award banquet in 1932, Walt Disney’s humorous short The Parade of the Award Nominees was also shown. The film depicted whimsical caricatures of that year’s Oscar nominated actors. As the nominees walked the carpet in the film Jeff Kurtti called out the names of each actor for the benefit of our audience.

From 1934-1938 Walt continued to add Academy Awards to his collection by winning for best cartoon short subject each year. One fun fact the audience learned was when Walt accepted the award for The Three Little Pigs he spoke about how he was excited to take home his little "Oscar.” This was the first time the public became aware of the film industry's "inside name" for the golden statuettes.

Walt wins big at the 1954 Academy Awards. © Disney.The program at the Museum also included a showing of the 1938 Oscar winner Ferdinand the Bull. We were reintroduced to the charming and peaceful Ferdinand whose only desire in life was to sit and smell the flowers.

Not only were these films entertaing, but they also provided a snapshot of the past, and what was on people’s minds in America at that time. In 1943 Walt won an Oscar for the film Der Fueher’s Face, which depicted jolting images of a swastika-clad Donald Duck as a member of the "Nutzi" Army. The short ends with Donald waking up in his red, white, and blue pajamas, realizing it had only been a bad dream, and grateful to be an American.

Nineteen-fifty-four proved to be a productive year, with Walt winning four Oscars. The Living Desert won for best documentary feature, The Alaskan Eskimo for best documentary short subject, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom for Best Short Subject (Cartoon), and Bear County for Best Short Subject (Two Reels). We laughed as we watched Bob Hope kid Walt about all the Oscars he was winning. Jeff also told a funny story about that night. Walt hadn’t expected to win any awards and told Lillian to stay home. After the award ceremony, when Walt arrived home, Lillian was mad that she had missed all of the fun and she wouldn’t let Walt into the house. Walt slept in his office that night. 

The last Oscar Walt won before he passed away was for the short Grand Canyon. This film takes the audience through a year in the Grand Canyon and is set to Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite." Filmed in Cinemascope™, the featurette contains breathtaking aerial footage of the canyon, swirling rapids, and close up shots of the wildlife that make the canyon their home. By effectively using Ferde Grofé’s score, the music also creates heightened drama and draws the audience into each moment.

Walt’s final Oscar was awarded posthumously in 1968 for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Lillian had an Oscar shaped charm made for her bracelet every time Walt won an Academy award. You can see this bracelet in person, as well as more than 20 of Walt’s Academy Awards on display at The Walt Disney Family Museum. Walt’s True-Life Adventures are playing in the Museum’s theater throughout the month of February.

Julie Stewart

Volunteer at The Walt Disney Family Museum

The Oscar statuettes are copyrighted properties of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the statuette and the phrases "Academy Award(s)" and "Oscar(s)" are registered trademarks.

Don Hahn produced the classic Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar® from the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences. His next film, The Lion King, broke box office records to become the top-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time, and a blockbuster Broadway musical. Don also served as associate producer of the landmark film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. His other credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Disneynature films Earth, Oceans, African Cats, and the upcoming Chimpanzees; and the short The Little Matchgirl—which earned Hahn his second Oscar Nomination. He is currently Executive Producer of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, a stop motion animated feature due out in 2012. His new book Brain Storm: Unleashing Your Creative Self is out in bookstores.

I fell in love with all things Disney at a pretty young age. I was born the year that Disneyland opened, and as early as I can remember the new color television in our living room was the place to be on Sunday nights. My family lived in Bellflower, about 20 minutes away from Anaheim, so we made the trip to the Magic Kingdom as often as we could afford to, (after all, parking was 50 cents). We didn’t go to the movies much in our family, but when we did it was Disney films—and only Disney films. I guess it’s no surprise I ended up working at the Studio. For me it was the only studio in Hollywood.

I never saw nature films at the theater, but as they began to air on television I got hooked on them—as was most of America. One of the most thrilling things was when Walt took us to Adventureland, and on location to show us how the films were made.  Knowing the modern equipment and digital cameras we use now, it is a miracle that any of these True-Life Adventures movies made it to the screen. Most of the cameras held about three minutes of film before you had to stop and reload, and with no film labs in the field, the crew had to ship the film home, and hope for the best. It must have been so frustrating.

The True-Life Adventures offered ‘armchair travel’ in an era when few people could dream of going to Africa, or to the wilds of Alaska. It was a place where Walt could combine three of his biggest interests: Nature, storytelling and education. We take nature films for granted these days, with hours of programming on television, but in the late 1940’s, nature films were rare.

The story of how the True-Life Adventures series got started is just amazing to me.  As early as 1944 Walt visited with the New York Zoological Society with a plan to make films on animals and wildlife. Walt contacted Al and Elma Milotte, a husband-and-wife filmmaking team, to start shooting footage in Alaska for a feature about the last great American frontier. Their footage ended up being Seal Island, the first film in the series, and that’s what started it all. The irony is that Walt couldn’t sell the movie. RKO, who distributed all of his films, thought no one would want to see a film about seals, and didn’t want it. So Walt booked a theater in Pasadena and played the film for a week, making sure to pack the house and get the reviews in. That qualified the film for an Academy Award nomination, and eventually it won an Oscar. RKO came back and suddenly wanted the film.  It’s never easy—even for Walt Disney. 

The format of telling compelling stories about animals, and transporting the audience to new and exciting places was an easy fit for the guy who brought you Bambi. In the True-Life Adventures he developed a format of comedy, drama, entertainment, and education that is still used today—and that we aspire to in our Disneynature films. 

Disneynature has its roots in March of the Penguins, a film which Buena Vista International distributed in some countries. Jean Francois Camilleri, the head of Disney France suggested we make more films like the highly-successful Penguins. From the strong legacy of the True-Life Adventures, the Studio announced the new brand, and opened with a splash with the first two films, Earth and Oceans. There were definitely comparisons between Disneynature and the True-Life Adventures, which we welcomed. Nature films are a very big part of the Disney legacy and to live up to that legacy we needed the best filmmakers and the highest quality of storytelling…there was never any question about that.

The directors of our next film, Chimpanzee, are the same directors that created the Planet Earth series—to say that they are the best in their field is an understatement. The other problem launching the brand was television. If you want to see nature programming, just turn on cable TV. The solution was to look for films that were best played out on the big screen. We still needed entertainment, and stories that the audience can relate to, but we also need epic scale, and all the best composers, filmmakers, and other talents to craft something that was much more than a television experience.  True-Life Adventures were theatrical films, and we wanted to celebrate that legacy by setting the bar high, and making real ‘big screen’ movies.

Some have noted that there seems to be little connection between my larger background in animation and my work on Disneynature, but in fact all of the original True-Life Adventure crew were veterans from Disney Animation. Winston Hibler for example, who narrated many of the True-Life Adventures started at Disney in 1942 as a cameraman in animation, but he soon showed his creative chops by writing the “Johnny Appleseed” segment of Melody Time. He contributed to the stories of Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella—and even wrote song lyrics for Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty.

He was a great writer who, like Walt, was all about characters. It didn’t matter if it was animated, live action, nature, or a Disneyland attraction. Story was king…and still is. On the Disneynature films, I don’t spend time out in the field with the filmmakers, but we do spend weeks together working out story and characters. The only crazy thing about these nature movies is that you are very likely to throw the script out on the first day. Just like Walt did, we show up and point the camera at the animals and “let nature write the story.”  

On Saturday February 25 at 2:00pm, the special program Walt Disney’s Worlds of Nature will feature and a presentation about Walt’s pioneering and frequently-emulated True-Life Adventures films, and showing the relationship between that series and the acclaimed Disneynature documentaries. Tickets for all films and programs are available at the Member Services and Reception Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

The globe from this famous logo is on display in Gallery 8 © DisneyIn the December 1959 issue of Wisdom magazine, Walt Disney is quoted as saying: “Animals have personalities like people and must be studied. The spontaneity of the animal—you find it in small children, but it’s gradually trained out of them.” 

Walt’s love and fascination with animals began with his childhood years on a farm in Marceline and led to his creation of a series showcasing animals and nature known as the True-Life Adventures. 

Walt made thirteen nature films in the 1950s known as the True-Life Adventures series. Eight of them won Academy Awards. They were shown in public schools for decades and some young people were even influenced into going into environmental careers due to seeing these films.

The series began when Walt sent the husband-and-wife team of Alfred and Elma Milotte to film some footage of the last frontier, Alaska, in the hopes that viewing the footage would give him an idea of a story to share with audiences.

Studying reels and reels of unrelated shots, Walt’s attention was captured by footage of seals and asked the Milottes to emphasize the life of the seals but not show any indication of man’s presence. The resulting film became Seal Island. It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

“I want to say how greatly I have come to respect the naturalist-photographers who are associated with us, both as scientists and as craftsmen. To observe them in action is an exhilarating lesson in resourcefulness, in patience, in knowledge applied to a particular problem, and in that devotion which few except the insatiably curious naturalist ever bring to a calling,” stated Walt Disney in the August 1954 issue of the magazine The Atlantic.

There were 16 photographers on Water Birds, but many of the True-Life Adventure films were done by teams of two. Paul Kenworthy, Jr. and Robert H. Crandall shared camera credit on The Living Desert. Alfred and Elma Milotte were responsible not only for Seal Island, butBeaver Valley and Prowlers of the Everglades.

© Disney.

Another husband-and-wife team, Herb and Lois Crisler, are credited with The Arctic Wilderness, and the footage of the great elk migration in The Olympic Elk, and the bighorn sheep in The Vanishing Prairie. Cleveland Grant and his wife Ruth went deep into the Yukon territory of Canada to film bighorn sheep as well. Jack Couffer and Conrad Hall photographed sea elephants and giant sea turtles. 

Stuart Jewell did the beautiful floral time-lapse photography and the cracking mud flats for The Living Desert. Jewell spent five days watching the section of drying earth for that time-lapse sequence.

Robert Crandall and his wife Francine filmed ants for Secrets of Life. At one point, Robert had to lie on his stomach for hours with his camera recording events beside an anthill while the angry ants nipped and stung him unmercifully. 

Crandall spent years studying different species of ants before getting the opportunity to film them for Disney series. Most of Crandall’s filming of ants was done with telephoto lenses outdoors with no disturbance of the insect colonies. Occasionally, he exposed various sections of the anthills to show the tunnels and underground activities.

For some of the extreme close-ups and bridging of scenes, individual ants and groups of ants were photographed on a specially built indoor table that was part of a fixed camera mount. It was still difficult to keep them within range and focal depth. Sometimes a close-up was so huge that a head or a leg filled the entire screen when projected in Technicolor on the theater screen.

“While the camera experts supply the spectacular elements on the screen, the True-Life Adventures are a team operation,” emphasized Walt in The Atlantic article, “Many creative minds have a share in their production. Before any expedition sets out, near or far, there are studio conferences, which may take weeks of study and decisions. Here we and our staff evaluate the proposed subject. Themes are suggested from preliminary research on the animal life of a given region. Time elements must be considered in line with production costs and exhibition dates. We exchange views and prospects with the naturalists. Science authorities are consulted.

“Organization of a project may start with just a broad idea. Such was the case when the Milottes went on the African safari to film the accurate, comprehensive life story of the African lion and the African elephant in equatorial Kenya and Tanganyika. They have been at it for almost three years. In the Dark Continent, they work alone; no porters or couriers on this camera safari; no luxury camp; no hunting with guns. At intervals they come into Nairobi to replenish food and fuel and to air-express their film trophies to the studio.”

Over the years, there has been some criticism over how Walt and his team presented this material including interpreting animal behavior in human terms. There was concern that through editing and narration, Walt was giving human qualities and attitudes to animals. Walt never meant these films to be simply a scientific documentation but to also be an entertainment to a mass audience, so he utilized his well-known story skills to emphasize personality. He realized that if people connected with a character, they would become invested in the story.

Alfred and Elma Milotte on location for The African Lion.As Walt explained: “The little kangaroo rat was one of the most beguiling characters in The Living Desert. One in particular stood out in the picture—the one that kicked sand into the intruding viper’s eyes, then hastened home to save the babies from another snake. She was photographed at a distance of not over 15 feet in these successive scenes.

“The little mother and her fellow rodents completely ignored the cameramen. In the urge of elemental animal concerns, the greater fears transcend the lesser. And in this case the human begins were regarded as comparatively harmless.

“The cutaway section of the tunnels, through which the courageous mother carried her week-old babies in flight, was made of two separable sections. One was faced with glass. It was a natural tunnel and was kept dark and undisturbed while the young were born.

“When the king snake entered the far entrance, the removable section was lifted aside and the action was photographed at close range through the glass to show the exciting escape. Although this was of necessity a controlled scene, the action itself was according to nature’s own dictates, revealing a thrilling example of maternal devotion. 

“In the kangaroo rat colony, we discovered a highly personalized individual: the one who kicked sand into the sidewinder’s eyes. Not only was she a resourceful sand-flinger; she was a precision artist who turned often to see if she was hitting the mark. No other member of the colony showed these same traits. In many of our True-Life ventures the camera teams come upon such individuals. Often they are natural comedians-in our eyes at least. They intrigue the photographers and contribute color to the action.”

All of the photographers used 16mm Kodachrome cameras. On average, for every 120,000 feet of 16mm film shot, perhaps only 30,000 feet were used in the final film. The Milottes spent three years getting footage for The African Lion, and only six percent of film they shot was used in the final 72-minute film.

The original negative was then processed to the standard 35mm for Technicolor projection in the theater. However, almost all of the equipment was modified. In fact, some of the modifications were so extreme that Walt Disney considered making his own cameras for the particular needs of the nature photographers.

For instance, modifications such as a quick focus adjustment mechanism, and lenses and emulsions adapted to meet variable conditions of natural light and range and fast enough to catch wild life on hoof and wing. Most importantly, telescopic lenses were needed to provide some minimal safety. 

In The African Lion, the lioness that stalks and kills the wildebeest seemingly just a few feet beyond the camera was actually photographed 300 yards away…and downwind by the Milottes. The Crislers weren’t quite as fortunate when they moved their camera equipment within less than 100 yards of a grizzly bear family group feeding on a freshly killed caribou.

The Crislers were downwind of the animals and the bears hadn’t sensed them. Crisler, engrossed in the filming, stood up to get better focus. Soon the animals were heading toward Herb Crisler and getting larger and larger in his viewfinder. Then the grizzlies disappeared momentarily and the Crislers decided to get out of there, but it was too late. The huge mother bear came out right in front of them around a projection. Her neck was arched and her ears flattened back.

The February 27, 1957 episode of the Disneyland TV program featured the story of the filmmaking Crislers. © DisneyCrisler grabbed up his tripod as his only weapon while his wife thumped a camera slide and lens cover together in a futile attempt to create a frightening noise. At that instant, the wind shifted and the bear caught the human scent and taken by surprise, turned and retreated, followed by the cubs.

This type of risk was common for the wildlife photographers employed on the True-Life Adventures. While filming The African Lion, the Milottes were attacked by a rhino they rescued from being stuck in the mud.

“Nature remains the director,” insisted Walt. “You can often set up your spying camera within a few yards of expected action. But only instinctive promptings, elemental urges, goad wild things to do what comes naturally. The cameraman must be ready for the moment of revelation; often he has to depend on luck as well as advance preparation. Many of nature’s finest and most exciting moments of action come with almost no warning. Wilderness creatures don’t pose for their portraits. They cannot be directed. Human presence, especially among the larger ones, is just one more menace in their fear-haunted lives. So the telescopic lens is a necessity in filming the more cautious, shy, or dangerous animals.

“We did not succumb to the alluring temptations to make villains or saints of the creatures portrayed in our films. We have maintained a sensitive regard for the wisdom of Nature’s design and have attempted to hold a mirror to the out-of-doors rather than to interpret it’s functioning by man’s standards.

“Our films have provided thrilling entertainment of educational quality and have played a major part in the worldwide increase in appreciation and understanding of nature. These films have demonstrated that facts can be as fascinating as fiction, truth as beguiling as myth, and have opened the eyes of young and old to the beauties of the outdoor world and aroused their desire to conserve priceless natural assets.”

Walt was certainly right about that because a half a century later, these films are still effective thanks to Walt’s keen storytelling (aided by such Disney legends as James Algar, Winston Hibler and Ben Sharpsteen), the evocative music (primarily by Paul Smith) and the amazing visuals by those self-sacrificing and long-suffering nature photographers who captured moments that had never before been filmed.

© Jim Korkis, all rights reserved. Published with permission.

Jim Korkis is an internationally-respected Disney Historian who has written hundreds of article and done hundreds of presentations on all things Disney for more than thirty years. He is the author of the acclaimed new book The Vault of Walt. His extensive expertise and knowledge, particularly in previously-unexplored areas of Disney history, has been utilized by many other researchers as well as The Walt Disney Company.

The Vault of Walt is a highly-praised recently-published book featuring more than 450 pages of previously untold stories about Walt Disney, the Disney theme parks, and the Disney films as well as many out-of-the-ordinary and forgotten stories of Disney history.

On Saturday February 25 at 3:00pm, the special program Walt Disney’s Worlds of Nature will feature Academy Award-nominated producer Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Matchgirl) and a presentation about Walt’s pioneering and frequently-emulated True-Life Adventures films, and showing the relationship between that series and the acclaimed Disneynature documentaries (Earth, Oceans, African Cats, and the upcoming Chimpanzees) for which Hahn serves as executive producer. (Separate admission required. 

Film programs through February change weekly, with screenings daily at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and February 18, 25 and 26). Further program information and tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

Walt recalled, “…from the fifth grade on up I always came around Lincoln’s birthday to all the classes with my crepe hair beard with the mole. Stove pipe hat I made…by using a derby and putting a cardboard thing on top and painting it black. And my Dad’s coat he used when he was the deacon in the church, you see? I’d always come in and go through…'Four score…' the Gettysburg Address.”

The Museum's good friend (and legendary Disney animator) Floyd Norman provided the "visualization" of this tale exclusively for The Walt Disney Family Museum. Happy President's Day!

The story is told by Walt's lifelong friend, Walter Pfeiffer; drawings by Floyd Norman; and media created by Second Story Interactive Studios of Portland, Oregon.

February is Awards Season, and The Walt Disney Family Museum is celebrating, with film presentations and visitor programs throughout the month. Walt personally won 32 Academy Awards® throughout his career. To this day, Walt still holds the record for the most Oscars® won by an individual, and there is only one place where you can get an up-close look at more than 20 of the famous statuettes—The Walt Disney Family Museum. Screening this month in the Museum’s state-of-the-art digital theatre is a collection of Walt’s award-winning True-Life Adventures films.

For this Friday's edition of "Walt's Oscars", we'd like to share with you the complete list of Academy Awards that Walt Disney received in his lifetime. As you know, he still holds the record for most Oscars won by an individual--as well as most Academy Award nominations for an individual (59)!! Take a look at our past Academy Award-related posts, as well as the list below, as we will giving you a short quiz next week on Walt and his Oscars. If you pass the test, we'll throw your name into a drawing to win free tickets to the Museum!  

Awarded to Walt Disney

Awarded to Walt Disney Productions Ltd.

Awarded to Walt Disney Studio Sound Department

Awarded to Walt Disney Studios

On Saturday February 18, the special program And the Award Goes to...Walt Disney offers a one-of-a-kind showcase of Walt Disney’s Award Winners. Hosted by author, Disney historian and friend of the Museum Jeff Kurtti, this program offers a look at highlights of Walt Disney’s Oscar-winning films, including rarities such as Parade of the Award Nominees (1932), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), and Grand Canyon (1958); as well as trailers and rare footage and photos of Walt at the Oscar Ceremonies. (Separate admission required.)  

Film programs through February change weekly, with screenings daily at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and February 18, 25 and 26). Further program information and tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

The Oscar statuette is the copyrighted property of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the statuette and the phrases "Academy Award(s)" and "Oscar(s)" are registered trademarks.

Even decades after his passing, Walt Disney still retains the honor of being the individual with the most Academy Award nominations and the most Oscar wins. While the listing of these awards for animation, live action and more is very impressive, it is fun to take a quick look behind some of the stories of those golden statuettes.

Walt and the Oscar Bracelet, 1965. © DisneyOSCAR BRACELET. The largest single collection of Oscars outside Hollywood is at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. In the early Sixties, Walt had a very special bracelet fashioned with twenty miniature Oscar statuettes, each of which was engraved underneath with the name of the film for which it was awarded. Made of 18K gold, Walt envisioned having a necklace made with these charms given to him by the Academy; but Lilly said she’d prefer a bracelet. After the piece was constructed, Lilly wore it often, and with great pride. It is now on display in Gallery 7 of the Museum.

OSCAR-WINNING MILESTONE. Walt Disney achieved a milestone at the March 25, 1954 awards ceremony by becoming the first individual with the most Oscar wins (four) in a single year. He won the Oscar in four award categories: Best Cartoon Short Subject (Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom), Best Documentary Short Subject (The Alaskan Eskimo), Best Documentary Feature (The Living Desert), and Best Two-Reel Short Subject (Bear Country).

After receiving his fourth Oscar that evening, Walt told the audience, “Just gotta say one more word. It’s wonderful, but I think it’s my year to retire!” 

As Walt’s niece, Patty, remembered, “Tom Jones, a Studio publicist, was assigned to take Walt to the Academy Awards one year. Walt told (his wife) Lilly not to bother coming to the event because he didn’t think he was going to win anything. So Walt went to the Awards and got so many that the press took photos of him holding all these Oscars. When Tom drove Walt home, Lilly wouldn’t let him in the house because she was so mad that he told her to stay home. She was furious because it had been a big night and she wasn’t with him. So Tom had to drive Walt back to the Studio and he (Walt) had to sleep in his apartment at the Studio that night.” 

THREE LITTLE PIGS. We can thank Walt every time we respectfully use the name “Oscar” to refer to the Academy Award, even though he didn’t invent that nickname. At the 1934 ceremony, Walt received an Oscar for the animated short Three Little Pigs (which had gotten more than eighty percent of the Academy votes for the honor). 

It was the first award given that evening. Walt came up to the podium with his head covered in bandages, because he had been injured in a polo match with Will Rogers—the Oscar Emcee that night. Screenwriter Frances Marion recalled, “Those who had never won the gold-plated honor referred to it disparagingly as the ‘Oscar.’ But when Walt referred to the ‘Oscar’ in his speech, that name took on a different meaning, now that we had heard it spoken with sincere appreciation.”

A selection of Walt's Oscars can be seen in the Museum Lobby.THE THALBERG AWARD. The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded to “Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” The award was named for Irving Thalberg, legendary vice president and head of the Production Division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who was responsible for developing MGM’s top productions. The award is not given every year.

The trophy is in the form of a bust of Thalberg attached to a rectangular base but is still considered as an “honorary Oscar.” Walt Disney was the youngest ever to win it.

Producer David O. Selznick presented Walt with the award. Walt was so overcome with emotion that he openly wept. According to the trade newspaper Daily Variety (from a February 27, 1942 story headlined “Walt Disney Weeps as He Gets Oscar”) “(Walt) found it difficult to speak and was only able to say with great emotion: ‘I want to thank everybody here. This is a vote of confidence from the whole industry.’”

Actress Norma Shearer, Thalberg’s widow, went over to Walt when he returned to his seat and gave him a little kiss.

WALT DISNEY, OSCAR PRESENTER. Walt Disney was a presenter at the Academy Awards three times. In 1937, he presented the Short Subjects awards, giving the animation one to himself. In 1943, he presented the Thalberg Award to Producer Sidney Franklin.

On March 19, 1953, Walt Disney presented the music awards at the 25th Academy Awards, held at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and the first ceremony to be televised.

Host Bob Hope introduced Walt: “You know when we called Walt Disney and asked him to present the music award tonight, we said, ‘Walt with all the songs you’ve commissioned for your pictures and what with Fantasia and all, you would be the right man to do it. After all, think about how much you have done for music and Hollywood.’ 

“And his warm reply was ‘I would have thought it was the other way around’. In any case Walt fought his way through all the Oscars in his living room to our stage tonight. One of the great theatrical inventors of modern times, Mr. Walt Disney.”

An ill-at-ease Walt mangled several of the names of the nominees. Miklos Rosza became “Miklos Rosca.” (Orchestra conductor Adolph Deutsch tried to loudly whisper to Walt the correct pronunciations from the orchestra pit but it didn’t help.) Walt changed the song title “Am I in Love?” to “I Am in Love!” and couldn’t make it all the way through Dimitri Tiomkin’s name. However, the highlight was when Alfred Newman, who won for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, walked away from the podium, leaving his Oscar behind. 

The presentation of the famous Snow White Oscar, February 23, 1939.SNOW WHITE OSCAR. One of the most impressive Oscars housed in the collection at The Walt Disney Family Museum is the honorary one that Walt Disney received on the night of February 23, 1939. 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the top-grossing film of all time at that point, and was universally lauded. The Oscar was given for Snow White’s “significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.

According to his autobiography, Academy President (and legendary film director) Frank Capra was the one who came up with the idea of a special award of a full sized Oscar statuette with seven smaller ones descending in a row. Even though Walt was adamant that he didn’t make films just for children but for the entire family, it was felt that little Shirley Temple (who was the top child star of the time), representing all of Walt’s young fans, should make the presentation.

However, Shirley Temple Black admitted decades later to Animation Historian John Culhane that she was a little uncomfortable that night.

“I thought that the big statue was for Walt and that the Seven Dwarfs were the little ones going down the side and that Snow White herself hadn’t gotten anything,” remembered Mrs. Black. “I was eleven years old. And I was worried about Snow White at the time, that she hadn’t gotten an Oscar. It’s just that the big one is the one usually presented to who the person is. I mean, Snow White wasn’t there.”

SEAL ISLAND. Even in the Forties, Walt was worried about the vanishing frontier. So he had a husband and wife photography team, Alfred and Elma Milotte, go to one of the last remaining wildernesses, Alaska, and shoot footage of seals.

The resulting film, the first of the True-Life Adventure Series, did not appeal to RKO, Disney’s film distributor at the time, who felt audiences would not sit still for a nature film. In addition, they felt the Disney name was so closely connected to animation that the small audiences that might show up would be disappointed seeing live animals.

Walt asked a friend who ran Pasadena’s Crown Theater to show Seal Island for one week in December of 1948. In that way, this nature film would then qualify for consideration of an Academy Award nomination.

Though it was twenty-seven minutes long which was much longer than the usual short subject at the time, Seal Island was not only nominated but won that year’s Best Documentary Oscar. The very next day, Walt took that Academy Award to his brother Roy O. Disney’s office and said, “Here, Roy. Take this over to RKO and bang them over the head with it.”

Confronted with the impressive Oscar, RKO distributed the film.

THE AWARD SHOW THAT NEVER WAS. In the Sixties, a delegation from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was unhappy with the previous year’s television show. They came to the Disney Studio for lunch, trying to convince Walt to produce the next Oscar telecast. 

According to author Bob Thomas in his book Walt Disney: An American Original, Walt replied, “Look, we live out here in the cornfield. All these years we’ve been turning out corny entertainment. I’ve never considered myself a big producer like Louis B. Mayer or Darryl F. Zanuck. I’m not in their class. I don’t think our organization is cut out to make the kind of sophisticated entertainment that an Oscar show should be. And I think the public would resent it if I turned it into a Disney production. No, I think you’d better find someone else to put the show on for you.”

Jim Korkis is an internationally-respected Disney Historian who has written hundreds of article and done hundreds of presentations on all things Disney for more than thirty years. He is the author of the acclaimed new book The Vault of Walt. His extensive expertise and knowledge, particularly in previously unexplored areas of Disney history, has been utilized by many other researchers as well as The Walt Disney Company.

On Saturday February 18, the special program And the Award Goes to...Walt Disney offers a one-of-a-kind showcase of Walt Disney’s Award Winners. Hosted by author, Disney historian and friend of the Museum Jeff Kurtti, this program offers a look at highlights of Walt Disney’s Oscar-winning films, including rarities such as Parade of the Award Nominees (1932), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), and Grand Canyon (1958); as well as trailers and rare footage and photos of Walt at the Oscar Ceremonies. (Separate admission required.) 

Film programs through February change weekly, with screenings daily at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and February 18, 25 and 26). Further program information and tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

The Oscar statuette is the copyrighted property of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the statuette and the phrases “Academy Award(s)” and “Oscar(s)” are registered trademarks.

Walt and Lilly on Kingswell Avenue in Hollywood, 1924.In honor of Valentine’s Day, George Taylor (devoted bibliophile, esteemed themeparkologist, and stalwart friend of the Museum) has offered us this remembrance of a celebrated Disney romance.

The story of Walt’s early romance with Lillian Bounds is a favorite tale among biographers and historians. Many people are familiar with the tale of Walt driving Lilllian and the other Ink and Paint girl home when they would have to work late. Walt would drop off the other girl first, even though Lillian’s house was closer to the studio. As we discover, there is more to tell to this story.

In December 1923, Lillian Bounds arrived in Los Angeles from Lewiston, Idaho, where she had attended business college. She decided to move to Los Angeles to live with her older sister, Hazel.

The Alice series was just beginning and the Disney brothers brought Kathleen Dollard on board to help out. They asked Kathleen if she knew anyone else that could help and she mentioned “a stenographer who’s not doing anything at the moment.” Walt asked Kathleen to see if she would work for them. 

Kathleen told Lillian, “I have a job for you, but I am telling you about it on one condition: don’t marry the boss.” (Diane Disney Miller recalls hearing the story somewhat differently, and with a far more evocative period vernacular: “I was told that Kathleen's admonition to mother was actually ‘Don't vamp the boss.’")

Lillian decided to apply for the job since it was within walking distance from her home. She went to the Kingswell Studio for the interview. She met Walt for the first time and remembered that he wasn’t wearing a suit but had “a brown coat, sweater, raincoat and pants.” She was offered the job for fifteen dollars a week. Lillian’s seven year-old niece, Marjorie Sewell, walked her to the studio so she wouldn’t get lost on her first day.

Lilly and Walt at the Mary Poppins wrap party, 1963.Walt would frequently offer to drive Lillian and Kathleen, the other ink-and-paint girl, to their homes in the studio’s Ford roundabout (also called a runner) during the early days of the Studio. As the story goes, Walt always dropped off Lillian last, even if her home was closer. The old Ford had one seat and an open back. Lillian took a small amount of pride that Walt wanted to spend more time with her.

Lillian was hired on January 19, 1924 in the Ink and Paint Department. Walt and Lilly would be married a year and a-half later on July 13, 1925 at her brother’s house in Idaho. During that time, Lillian worked her way from Ink-and-Paint Girl to Walt’s personal secretary. Bob Thomas’ biography of Roy Disney, Building a Company, offers a tantalizing quote on the subject of Lillian’s performance:

“I was not very artistic at all, and I was not very good at inking and painting,” Lilly admitted. “Later, Walt made me his secretary, but I made too many mistakes when he was dictating. He always said I was so bad that he had to marry me.”

Walt was unsure about meeting Lilly’s extended family because of his absence of proper clothes. One evening, he asked Lillian if he could visit her if he got a suit. After she agreed, Walt and Roy went to Foreman and Clark’s and bought suits. Roy spent $35.00 for a one-pant suit while Walt spent $40.00 for a suit with two pair of pants. When he visited Lillian, he arrived in a gray-green and double breasted suit and “he looked very handsome.” Obviously, Lillian’s family liked him without hesitation.

Diane Disney Miller recounts the story of her parents first kiss in the Story of Walt Disney.

Mother has never talked much to me about Father’s courting, but she did break down once and tell me of the first time he kissed her. It happened one night when they were working late and Mother was taking dictation. “Suddenly,” she said, your father leaned over and kissed me.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I blushed,” Mother said. “It was customary in those days.”

George Taylor is the master of www.imaginerding.com, a site that focuses on Disney books, links, and the science of: Theme Parkeology (theem pahrk\ŏl'ə-jē) = the study of details, minutiae and history of theme parks. Akin to the archaeological study of human habitation, theme parkeology looks at the often layered and detailed surroundings. Theme Parkeologists relentlessly pore over the tiniest scraps to glean any information about an area of a theme park, past or present.

The Irving G. Thalberg Award is presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to those “whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.”  The honor is only presented periodically, and has only been awarded 38 times since the first was given to Darryl Zanuck in 1937. At the 14th Academy Awards in 1942, Walt Disney was awarded the Oscar for Best Short Subject (Cartoon) for Lend a Paw, Dumbo won for Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture). During that same ceremony, he was also presented with a special award for the creation of Fantasound—an innovative and pioneering precursor to modern surround sound.

But most notably that night, Walt Disney became the fourth recipient of the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award. It is interesting to note that Walt’s “body of work” to that time consisted of cartoon shorts and just a few features—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo (Bambi had not yet been released)—but the Academy felt that his contribution to motion pictures was not only significant, but worthy of one of its highest recognitions.

For more detailed information and history on the Irving G. Thalberg Award, visit www.oscars.com by clicking here.   

On Saturday February 18, the special program And the Award Goes to...Walt Disney offers a one-of-a-kind showcase of Walt Disney’s Award Winners. Hosted by author, Disney historian and friend of the Museum Jeff Kurtti, this program offers a look at highlights of Walt Disney’s Oscar-winning films, including rarities such as Parade of the Award Nominees (1932), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), and Grand Canyon (1958); as well as trailers and rare footage and photos of Walt at the Oscar Ceremonies. (Separate admission required.) 

Film programs through February change weekly, with screenings daily at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and February 18, 25 and 26). Further program information and tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.

The Oscar statuette is the copyrighted property of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the statuette and the phrases "Academy Award(s)" and "Oscar(s)" are registered trademarks.

Anel Muller

Registrar/Curatorial Assistant at The Walt Disney Family Museum