Inside the Servants' Entrance

Didier Ghez has showcased a miracle of sorts on his always informative and wonderful Disney History blog. The Disney-produced animated sequence from the 1934 20th Century Fox film Servants' Entrance has long been beyond reach, but Didier has secured a copy and generously made it available via YouTube and his site.

The animation features kitchen utensils, led by a Humpty Dumpty-style egg character in a musical vignette that quite deftly for its time mixed live action and animation. As to the context of Disney producing material for other studios, author Michael Barrier noted in his book Hollywood Cartoons:

"In the early thirties, Disney ventured briefly into making animated inserts for two live-action features, Servants' Entrance and Hollywood Party, both released in 1934. He evidently saw such work as a way to ease into the making of his own features, but the inserts turned out to be more a source of irritation than of profit of any kind. Such sponsored films were inherently problematic, in Disney's scheme of things, because they were not under his control in the way that his shorts and features were. Once the feature inserts were behind him, Disney shunned most sponsored films."

I profiled Disney's contribution to the movie Hollywood Party in a post here at 2719 in November of 2006. The Disney Studio also reportedly contributed animation to the 1933 film My Lips Betray. That footage has yet to surface; according the IMDB an incomplete print of the film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.

The Studio Theatre That Never Was

In our earlier post on the Academy Theatre, we mentioned that its architect, S. Charles Lee, had done a rendering of a proposed theater building for the Disney Studios in Burbank. Lee's conception was an elaborate design in the Streamline Moderne style that unfortunately was never realized. This annotation from the UCLA library described Lee's intentions for the building:

"Lee’s concept shows a glistening exterior of shiny materials, perhaps glass or ceramic tiles. To add height and presence to the building, Lee set the entrance up on a podium and accented the semicircular Streamline Moderne facade with vertical tower forms. A broad overhanging marquee echoes the circular form of the facade; its recessed lights illuminate the glass-walled foyer and the area around the entrance."

The theater that came to be built at the Burbank studio is little more than two entrance doors and a small sign. Function and budget likely trumped aesthetics, and Lee's original design subsequently joined the ranks of the always fascinating Disney That Never Was.

Special thanks to Jeff Kurtti for providing current photos of the Burbank studio theater.

Mount Disney: The Legacy of Walt at Sugar Bowl

Hide in plain sight.

As a student of Disney history I have come to embrace that particular cliche. Simple and almost always overlooked details in Disney entertainment can often lead to very enjoyable and enlightening journeys of historical discovery. I recently embarked on such a journey after watching the Goofy cartoon The Art of Skiing.

Released in late 1941, The Art of Skiing was the first of Goofy's many sports-related how-to shorts. The cartoon opens with a panoramic sweep of snow covered mountains, eventually focusing in on a rustic ski lodge, within which the Goof is awakening and subsequently preparing for a day on the slopes. A sign identifies the building as the Sugar Bowl Lodge. That identification lasted just a few seconds on the movie screen, but proved a window into a little remembered chapter in the life of Walt Disney.

In the late 1930s, Walt Disney met Austrian skiing champion Hannes Schroll. Walt became acquainted with Schroll while vacationing at Badger Pass where Schroll was the head of the Yosemite Ski School. The two became good friends. In 1938, Schroll and business partners purchased land for the intention of building a ski resort in the east Sierras near Donner's Summit and the small town of Truckee. The land encompassed an area around two mountains--Hemlock Peak and Mount Lincoln. Schroll had sought financial assistance from Disney in purchasing the land as funds from his native Austria had been appropriated in the spring of that year, when Hitler annexed that country. Schroll wired Disney in June seeking help; Walt was unfortunately out of town when the cable arrived and Schroll had to find others to advance the needed funds to secure the land purchase. One year later when Schroll was seeking additional investments to build the resort, he again approached Walt who in turn wrote Schroll a check for $2500, and became one of the initial stockholders of the newly christened Sugar Bowl resort. To honor Walt's support and partnership, Schroll changed the name of Hemlock Peak to Mount Disney.

Among the preeminent enticements that drew skiers to Sugar Bowl in those early years were the chairlift up Mount Disney, the first such lift in California; and the lodge, designed by architect William Wurster and later featured in the Goofy cartoon. A newspaper report from November of 1939 announced:

"The Sugar Bowl, located about 1 1/2 miles from Norden Station, near the Donner Summit, has been developed by a private corporation headed by Hannes Schroll, Olympic ski champion, for use this season as a winter sports area. This year a new upski and a new lodge have been constructed. The new chairlift lifts skiers 1,000 feet vertically to the top of the Sugar Bowl’s rim. The lodge, which will open on December 15, accommodates 40 persons and has 10 double rooms and two dormitories, one for men and one for women. Other features include a lounge, bar, dining hall, lunch counter and rest room facilities."
Walt vacationed at Sugar Bowl in early 1941 with wife Lillian and daughter Diane. A photograph survives showing the three with Hannes Schroll at the resort. Of that trip, Diane Disney Miller recalled, "That was a long time ago, and I seem to myself to have been 7. There were twins, boy and girl, who were the children of the manager, that were one year younger than me. I remember that I very much wanted to learn to ski, that the twins--the boy, at least--drove me crazy, and the highlight of the trip was when Hannes took me up the chair lift, with my parents, on Mount Disney and skied down with me on his shoulders."

In their book Skiing With Style, authors Robert Frohlich and S. E. Humphries related how Walt once performed duties beyond just his role of stockholder. According to John Wiley, the resorts first winter sports director, Walt once filled in for a bartender at the lodge's bar. Wiley recalled, "There was no television in those days, so he tended bar almost incognito for about two hours."

Other notable Hollywood personalities found their way to Sugar Bowl as well. Among them were Levi Strauss, King Vidor, Norma Shearer, Errol Flynn, Jean Arthur and Claudette Colbert. In spring on 1941, exterior scenes for the MGM film Two Faced Woman were shot at Sugar Bowl. The film starred Greta Garbo and Melvin Douglas, but the two never left their Hollywood studio. Stunt doubles skied in their places for the second unit filming.

The Art of Skiing was produced throughout 1941. It is interesting to note the now famous and trademark "Goofy yell" originated with Hannes Schroll. An accomplished yodeler, Schroll was recruited by Walt to record material for the cartoon. In November of 1941, the world premiere of The Art of Skiing was held at the Fairmont Hotel in nearby San Francisco as part of the city's Annual Skiers Ball. Walt and Lillian attended the event and presented the cartoon.

Despite turning away from the sport in later years, Walt remained a part of the resort for some time. He sponsored events such as the Disney Junior Challenge Trophy and the Sugar Bowl Perpetual Goofy Races for children. And the legacy of Walt's involvement with the resort remains apparent. In addition to Mount Disney, there are specific runs named the Disney Nose, the Disney Meadow, the Disney Return and the Donald Duck. A modernized lift replaced the original Disney Chair and is now called the Disney Express.

Walt revisited his interests in winter sports and skiing in the 1960s. He produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1960 Winter Olympics held at Squaw Valley, California, and at the time of his death was formulating plans for a ski resort at Mineral King valley near Sequoia National Park, a project ultimately unrealized.


Special thanks to Diane Disney Miller, David Lesjak and also Jennie Bartlett from Sugar Bowl for generously providing assistance in my research efforts.

Art of Skiing Images © Walt Disney Company

Sugar Bowl Images Courtesy of the Sugar Bowl Resort

Walt and the Wirthman Building

It appears I fell victim to one of the more persistent errors in Disney history when doing my research for the recent post on the geography of Walt Disney's life in Kansas City. Michael Barrier shared kind words for my efforts on his site, but pointed out that Disney likely never occupied space in the Wirthman Building. What is especially embarrassing is that my primary source for the article was Michael's own The Animated Man. As I specifically cited that book in the post, I do want to apologize for possibly misrepresenting its content in regard to the information I related concerning the Wirthman Building.

Also, for clarification, I'd like to post Michael's own comments from his site on why there is confusion over the the Wirthman Building location:

Laugh-O-gram did not move from the McConahy Building into "new quarters above the Isis Theater on the second floor of the Wirthman Building." As Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising confirmed, it moved instead into Kaycee Studios' old space above Peiser's. In 1924, after Walt Disney left for Hollywood, Harman, Ising, and Maxwell rented space in the Wirthman Building to make an "Arabian Nights" cartoon, but Disney never worked in that building. I know of only one piece of evidence to the contrary: "M. Mouse a Local Boy," an article published in the Kansas City Star on February 13, 1942, on the occasion of Disney's brief visit to Kansas City when he was returning from a wartime visit to Washington. The article says: "After attending the Kansas City Art Institute, Walt had a studio on Thirty-first street near Forest [the Laugh-O-gram studio], and later shared low-rent studio locations on Troost near Thirty-fourth and Thirty-first Streets." The first of those two "locations" on Troost was probably the one at 3239 Troost, above Peiser's; the other reference is probably to the Wirthman Building. The article also says that Disney was introduced to "Mrs. Joseph C. Wirthman, widow of the owner of the Wirthman building, in which Disney had his first [sic] studio." It's at least conceivable that Disney briefly occupied space in the Wirthman Building in 1921, when he and Fred Harman were in business as "Kaycee Studios," but I think it much more likely that someone, most likely Mrs. Wirthman, misremembered the "Arabian Nights" studio as an operation in which Disney was involved, and that Walt was too polite to correct the error.

I guess there is a certain romance to the notion that Walt rented space in the Wirthman Building. The presence of the Isis Theater and its connection to Carl Stalling certainly makes Walt's potential tenancy there an attractive supposition, as does a later vintage photograph that shows the Isis marquee advertising a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Similarly, a photograph that appears in the book Walt in Wonderland shows Walt Disney and staff promoting the Laugh-O-Grams films in a neighborhood parade with a sign that reads, "THESE PICTURES will be shown at the ISIS THEATRE Tomorrow Night."

On the Porch at 3028 Bellefontaine Street

Yesterday's post on Walt Disney's early life in Kansas City inspired Diane Miller Disney to share a memory of her father and his family when they lived at 3028 Bellefontaine Street. Diane wrote via the post's comment section:

"We have a bit of wonderful film, shot by my dad, of the entire Disney family on what appears to be the screened porch of that home on Bellefontaine. He pans around the room, and we see little Dorothy Disney with her parents, Flora perched on the arm of Elias' chair, laughing and talking animatedly . . . "

"When I saw this film, not too many years ago, I understood why my dad always said 'My mother was a beautiful woman.'"

Long Ago Magic Along 31st Street in Kansas City

A short time back, 2719 Hyperion reader Steve Pierson shared with me photographs he had taken on a recent visit to Kansas City, Missouri. Walt Disney lived in that Midwestern city during his youth, and it was there as a young man he established his first animation studio. Steve sought out some of the landmarks associated with this period of early Disney history, seeking to identify places such as Walt's childhood home and the locations of the early Laugh-O-Grams Studios. Steve then very generously gave me permission to use the pictures in a post detailing the Kansas City of Walt Disney's formative years.

What began as the simple task of putting together a post showcasing Steve's efforts, quickly grew into a geographical and historical research vignette encompassing vintage photos, satellite imagery and resources such as The Animated Man by Michael Barrier and Walt in Wonderland by Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman. Having never been to Kansas City, I wanted to be able to better understand Walt's time there in a geographical context. I was also curious to discover just how much of Walt Disney's Kansas City had survived into the 21st century.

Michael Barrier visited Kansas City a few years back and noted, "Walt Disney's old neighborhood is so badly blighted—and so radically different from what he knew—that making that imaginative leap back to 1922 is, I'm afraid, very difficult." Barrier's observation is sadly very accurate. But despite the urban decay of the area, vestiges of Walt's life there do remain. And out of one of those vestiges, a project of both historical commemoration and neighborhood renewal may hopefully be realized some time in the near future.

Walt Disney arrived with his family in Kansas City in the spring of 1911. Their first residence was a rented house at 2706 East 31st Street, in a neighborhood a few miles southeast of downtown. For the next twelve years, the very significant events of Walt's life would transpire within a twenty-block stretch of that particular boulevard.

31st Street would form the southern border of Kansas City Star delivery route that Elias Disney would purchase that following summer. The area of route stretched north to 27th Street and was bordered on the west by Prospect Avenue and on the east by Indiana Avenue. Walt, his brother Roy, and Elias would deliver morning and Sunday newspapers to over seven hundred customers. In September of 1911, Walt enrolled at the nearby Benton Grammer School. He was required to repeat the second grade despite having completed that level while still living in Marceline. Eleven years later, he would audition students from that school for roles in Tommy Tucker's Tooth, an educational film commissioned by a local dentist. Benton student Jack Records, then eleven years old, won the part of Jimmie Jones. The school closed in 2002 and subsequently became the DA Holmes Apartments.

Two blocks away from the Benton Grammer School, Walt and a childhood friend set up a pop stand at the corner 31st and Montgall during the summer of 1912. According to the friend, "It ran about three weeks and we drank up all the profits."

No trace remains of the Disney family's original Kansas City residence on 31st Street. In the fall of 1914, Elias Disney purchased a small house a few blocks east at 3028 Bellefontaine Street just off 31st Street. That home would remain in the Disney family until 1921, when Walt's oldest brother Herbert moved his family to Portland, Oregon. Elias and Flora Disney followed their son west a few months later. The house on Bellefontaine remains to this day, as does the garage that Elias Disney built sometime in 1920. It was in this garage that Walt produced the Newman Laugh-O-Grams and later Little Red Riding Hood, the first independent Laugh-O-Gram cartoon.

When the house and garage at Bellefontaine became unavailable, Walt took to renting rooms and set up studios in a few different locations in an area surrounding the intersection of 31st Street and Troost Avenue, about 20 blocks west of his childhood neighborhood. A now somewhat iconic design that graced an envelope shows the 3028 Bellefontaine address scratched out and replaced with a handwritten "3241 Troost," undoubtedly the first of those locations.

In early 1920, Walt took a job with the Kansas City Slide Company that was located at 1015 Central Street. The job paid forty dollars a week. Later that year, that company moved to a location on Charlotte Street and became the Kansas City Film Ad Company. The building on Central Street still survives in the heart of downtown Kansas City. 2249-51 Charlotte Street has since become the location of the Truman Medical Center and Children's Mercy Hospital.

In May of 1922, Walt incorporated Laugh-O-Grams Films and set up the new studio on the upper floor of the McConahy Building located at 1127 East 31st Street. The McConahy Building survives still, and has become the focus of a grass roots restoration and urban renewal effort, the details of which can be found at the website Thank You Walt Disney. Walt often took his meals at the Forest Inn Cafe on the first floor of the building, the restaurants owners frequently extending him much needed credit. It was at this location that Walt and his staff produced the Laugh-O-Grams series as well as Tommy Tuckers Tooth and the "Song-O-Reel" Martha, a live action sing-along. The Studio was just beginning production of the first Alice comedy, Alice's Wonderland in June of 1923, when a lack of rent money forced them from the building.


Some sources assert that the studio moved to the nearby Wirthman Building at the corner of 31st Street and Troost. That building was also home to the large and elaborate Isis Theater, whose resident organist was Carl Stalling. Stalling's musical talents would be employed notably and famously by Warner Brothers in Hollywood some years later. But according to Michael Barrier in The Animated Man, it is likely that Walt returned to one of his former locations at 3239 Troost Avenue. It would have been there that the studio wrapped up production on Alice's Wonderland, and Walt Disney and Laugh-O-Grams Films essentially went broke. Shortly thereafter, Walt headed for Hollywood, while former colleagues Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Max Maxwell launched their own studio within the walls of the Wirthman Building. Arabian Nights Cartoons would purchase and employ many of the assets and equipment of the former Laugh-O-Grams studio.

The Wirthman Building and the Isis Theater went on to experience tragedy and adversity over the next five decades. The theater survived fires in 1928, 1939 and 1954. In March of 1970, the Isis became the center of racial unrest and rioting, and closed permanently shortly thereafter. Other tenants continued to occupy the Wirthman Building but it was ultimately demolished in 1997. A mural by Kansas City artist Alexander Austin was unveiled on the wall of an adjacent building in 2006, celebrating the history of Troost Avenue. Images of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse are depicted on the design.

The True-Life Winston Hibler

While he certainly has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of Disney entertainment, Winston Hibler has ironically remained one of the more quiet giants behind so many studio success stories and productions both animated and live action. Most famous as the narrator of the True-Life Adventure films, Hibler’s creative efforts however, extended far beyond the award-winning nature documentaries that were the hallmark of his more than thirty-year career with the Disney Studios. Today, October 8, 2007, would have been his 97th birthday.

A Pennsylvania native who arrived in Hollywood in the early 1930s to pursue an acting career in motion pictures, Hibler ironically found work with Disney in 1942 behind the cameras. He began his studio career as a camera operator, but quickly became a technical director on many of the government-commissioned training films being produced for the U.S. military.

Hibler’s first entertainment-based endeavor was writing the Johnny Appleseed sequence from the 1948 package feature Melody Time. One of the most underrated gems of Disney animation, Johnny Appleseed was an auspicious debut that Walt Disney himself took notice of. Hibler quickly found himself fast-tracked into feature animation, providing story content for films such as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty.

But paralleling his contributions to the animation department was his involvement in a series of films that would ultimately become his legacy at Disney for work both as a performer and as a writer. While the True-Life Adventures literally pioneered the nature documentary genre and collected countless awards and accolades, decades later it seems that it is Hibler’s gentle, storyteller-based narrations that are best remembered by a generation of baby boomers and their parents. And it was a job Hibler never intended to do.

When preparing Seal Island, the first in the True-Life Adventure series, Hibler recorded a test track to check for story continuity. According to Hibler’s family, Walt previewed Seal Island for his wife Lillian using Hibler’s “scratch track”. When Lillian later viewed a cut sans-Hib, she pointedly asked Walt what happened to the first guy. Hibler subsequently voiced the final theatrical cut and went on to narrate all the remaining True-Life Adventure films, as well as the People and Places travelogues and numerous episodes of the Disney television program. With the exception of Walt himself, his is likely the most famous non-character voice in the history of the studio.

But the brunt of Hibler’s creative energies on the True-Life films was channeled behind the cameras. While starting as a writer, his subsequent experience allowed him to grow a career that came to encompass producing and directing credits as well. He was the force behind the vast majority of the live-action animal-themed episodes on the Wonderful World of Disney during the 1960s and 1970s, and the likes of Charlie the Lonesome Cougar, Lefty the Dingaling Lynx, and Ida the Offbeat Eagle became staples of Sunday evening entertainment.

Impressively, at the same time Hibler was also largely involved in the studio’s live action feature slate as well. Producer credits appear on such films as Those Calloways, The Ugly Dachshund, Follow Me Boys! and The Island at the Top of the World. He was working on early concepts for what would ultimately become The Black Hole when he passed away in 1976.

Hibler’s talents turned up in other places as well. He contributed lyrics to songs such as "Following the Leader" from Peter Pan and "I Wonder" from Sleeping Beauty. But what is likely one of his most famous and widely heard (and for the most part uncredited) works was this notable speech written for Walt in 1955:

“To all who come to this happy place – welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”

While in the past score of years, people such as Marc Davis, Mary Blair, John Hench, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston and numerous other studio and Imagineering legends have rightly and prominently been given recognition that was long overdue, Winston Hibler’s legacy of contributions seems to still remain on the periphery of Disney history. While his lack of extensive animation and theme park notoriety has likely kept his profile lower than that of many of his contemporaries, he was certainly a cornerstone of the Disney Studio for many, many years. His creative impact extends far beyond the True-Life Adventure narrations he became most noted for.

Images © Walt Disney Company

From the Jungle Cruise queue area at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.


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The Snow White Cafe

More a victim of geography than any lack of passion on its author's part, 2719 Hyperion has distinctly displayed an east coast bias over its short history. Longtime supporter, great friend, fellow animation enthusiast and organist supreme Rob Richards helps us rectify that to some extent as he guides us to a not-quite-so-famous Disney landmark right in the heart of Tinseltown:

The Walt Disney Company has a major presence on Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood, California.

Its historic El Capitan theatre attracts approximately a half million guests each year with movies, stage shows and live music with its world famous Mighty Wurlitzer.

Less than a block away, a small neighborhood bistro creates a very modest presence by comparison. Yet the Snow White Café has a historic Disney legacy all its own.

The menu has very little to say – just one sentence! (This is likely by design, avoiding any conflict with the legal department of a certain Burbank studio.) The menu states that in 1946, Disney studio artists painted the huge original mural (inside, above the front door). Rendered in a recognizably Disney style, it proclaims "We hope we have pleased you!"

Rumor has it that the animators (and Walt, too) used to frequent the café, meeting there to brainstorm while having a light meal or a “cup of joe.” Supposedly, the mural was a gift given as a token of appreciation for the café’s hospitality to studio personnel.

There are many pieces of artwork throughout the café, yet the menu acknowledges only the front door artwork as original. Were there other original paintings “once upon a time?” Were they repaired? Replaced? Or are the additional paintings just Disney look-alikes? Who painted these? There are more questions than answers.

Even though its provenance is vague, Hollywood’s SNOW WHITE CAFÉ is certainly of interest to Disney aficionados. And for locals and visitors, it still serves a great breakfast for six bucks!

Here is your personal photographic tour of the SNOW WHITE CAFÉ. If you plan a visit to Hollywood, be sure and stop in to see it for yourself.

Thanks so much to Rob for revealing to us this wonderful out of the way corner of Walt Disney's Hollywood. To learn more about Rob and his many interests and endeavors, visit his website, and also be sure to check out his terrific blog Animation Backgrounds.

Imagineers in the News - 1973

Amid over at Cartoon Brew pointed us to a new online archive from the UCLA Department of Special Collections that includes over five thousand images from the L.A. Times and the original Los Angeles Daily News. One of the more interesting results of my "Disney" keyword search was this all-star mash of Imagineering legends from 1973:


Published on October 23, 1973, the picture had the following caption:

NEW ATTRACTION--Disney engineers, from left, Marty Sklar, Tony Baxter, George McGinnis and John Hench examine a model of Disney World's new Space Mountain ride. The display was part of the first press tour ever offered of production center of Walter Elias Disney Enterprises.

Roy Williams and the Birth of an Icon

They’ve been a part of our popular culture for over fifty years. Outside of Disney they are still instantly recognizable. To Disney fans, employees and cast members they are iconic. So much so that just the word “ears” can be used to reference any number of Disney-related connotations.

Mickey Mouse Ears. Fashionable shortly after their creation in 1955. A perennial souvenir bestseller at Disney Parks worldwide well into the 21st century.

I was recently reminded of the origins of this famous headgear while rereading Lorraine Santoli’s excellent (and sadly out-of-print) The Mickey Mouse Club Book. The now-famous studio personality and eventual Disney Legend credited with creating the ears is revealed in the following excerpt:

Chuck Keehne, head of the wardrobe department, outfitted the newly hired kids in their Mouseketeer outfits, including their uniquely designed hats, which Roy Williams is credited with creating. "In 1929, after the sound cartoons came out, Walt hired me for two weeks to sketch some ideas for his animated shorts," Roy explained. "One of them had Mickey tipping the top of his head to Minnie, which left him with a flat head. So when 'The Mickey Mouse Club' came about years later, Walt said, 'How do we dress the kids?' And I said, 'Why not with Mickey Mouse ears?' I made sketches of the first hats and Walt liked them. That's how it happened."

Roy Williams was certainly a jack-of-many trades during his long career with the Disney company. Beyond his invention of Mouse Ears and his status as the “Big Mooseketeer” on the Mickey Mouse Club, Roy was a veteran of the story department and one of the studio's most prolific gag men. Roy was also a successful magazine cartoonist outside of Disney. He wrote a short feature for the December 1956 issue of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club Magazine that detailed his “moonlighting” and gave advice to aspiring young artists. The article also included a number of Roy’s cartoons from a then recently published collection.


Roy Williams passed away in 1976. His Disney Legends biography can be found here.

Return to Hyperion Avenue

My recent post about Disney’s original studio at this blog's namesake, 2719 Hyperion, inspired fellow blogger David Lesjak to send on some vintage photographs.

Here are the pics and David’s comments--

I believe this photo was taken at the Hyperion site. They have used a Mickey Mouse poster to hide the sink in the background. I tried to enlarge the photo to see what was being photographed, but to no avail. There appears to be a nice stack of art on the back left side of the camera table.


The second photo I believe was also taken at Hyperion.
From left to right: Back row: Jack King, Dick Lundy, Bert Gillett, Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Carl Stalling, Wilfred Jackson
Front row: Jack Cannon, Norm Ferguson, Merle Gibson, Ben Sharpsteen, Les Clark.

Jeff Kurtti relayed some additional information via the comments section of the original post, that provided background on a number of Hyperion Avenue structures that were relocated to Burbank. I’m reprinting Jeff’s remarks here for those who may have missed them:


"Two Hyperion buildings were moved and combined to create the Shorts Building on the Burbank Lot.

The Personnel Building that now houses the Studio Store and Employee Center was likewise moved from Hyperion to Burbank.

The Publicity and Comic Strips Building, which was actually a small wood frame bungalow, was moved to Burbank where it was long the Studio Mail Room, and has since been moved again and renovated as two conference/meeting spaces, known as the Hyperion Bungalow and the Silver Lake Room (Silverlake is the neighborhood where the Hyperion Studio was located)."


Special thanks to David and Jeff for their contributions. And check out David’s great Toons at War blog if you haven’t already. It features material from his extensive and incredibly impressive collection of World War II era Disneyana. Great, great stuff!

2719 Hyperion: Now and Then

It may have all started with a mouse, but it’s equally important to remember where it all started.

That would be 2719 Hyperion Avenue.

Birthplace of Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Home of the Silly Symphonies. The place where the art of animation was taken from the almost crude drawings of Plane Crazy to the elaborate and unquestioned beauty of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in just ten years. Its now famous sign has become an iconic representation of the golden age of Hollywood cartoon entertainment.


Today, 2719 Hyperion Avenue is the location of a grocery store. A small historical marker is the only indicator of Walt Disney’s one time occupation of the site. Reader Bob Cazzell was kind enough to send me a photo of Gelson’s Market, and the surrounding commercial development. Bob noted that it's very difficult to get a shot from the same perspective as the 1930s era photos of the studio. He also sent a snapshot of the marker sign that’s attached to a lamppost near the front of the lot.


Then:
Now:
And a rough approximation of how they relate to each other:Hallowed ground amidst the produce, canned goods, shopping carts and cigarettes.

Special thanks to Bob for taking the pictures and sending them on. And thanks to reader Wayne White who also lives nearby to 2719 Hyperion, and lives close to Walt‘s and Roy‘s former homes on Lyric Avenue as well. He just recently contacted me with kind words for the blog, and shared some nostalgia for these largely overlooked landmarks of Disney history.