Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Other Side Of The Mouse...


On this day, thirty-six years ago, the other brother, Roy O. Disney passes away only months after opening up his brother's dream project: Disney World, which Roy had renamed as "Walt Disney World" in his brother's honor...

Roy Disney leaves this earth at the age of seventy-eight years young. While Walt was the showman of the two, Roy was the business mastermind responsible for getting the funding for his brother's sometimes strange, creative endeavors... he ran the day to day aspects of the Studio which Walt wasn't very good at. He was a talented, underappreciated, very kind and modest man.

With his passing the company has to find a leader that isn't named Disney... something that they've never had to do in its over forty year history. It's the beginning of "The Wilderness Years", where Walt Disney Productions had to search for an identity for itself. Without it's iconic leader and his brother to guide it, the company will meander forward until Michael Eisner, a Paramount executuve and Frank Wells, a former Warner Bros. executive are hired to revive the company and the mythic "Disney" name.

Bless you, Roy. You were a wonderful man like your brother, and you will be missed...

Greatly.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful tribute, Honor.

Thanks for reminding us.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100%! Roy Disney's importance can't be understated. Without him (and his brother, of course) there wouldn't be a Walt Disney Company. I must admit I sometimes get disappointed, while walking by that park bench in Town Square in the Magic Kingdom, to hear somebody yell "It's Minnie Mouse!" and see them completely ignore the gentleman sitting next to her.