# "....Had a Falling-Out with Walt Disney" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786 "2021-04-26T13:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/21 "2021-04-27T08:19:20Z")
Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy and nine other Disney animators left in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions: > Bluth was disheartened with the way the Disney company was run. He wanted to revive the classical animation style of the studio’s early classics. > **[Don Bluth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bluth?wprov=sfla1)** > > Donald Virgil Bluth (/bluːθ/ BLOOTH; born September 13, 1937) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is best known for directing the animated films The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Anastasia (1997), and Titan A.E. (2000), for his involvement in the LaserDisc game Dragon's Lair (1983), and for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that became the Disney Rena ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/22 "2021-04-27T13:00:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy and nine other Disney animators left in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions: True, and I’m a big fan of Bluth’s “traditional” animations. But he and the other animators left because they didn’t like the way the studio was going and its drifting from old-style animation, not because they had a “falling out” with Walt (who had been dead for well over a decade by then), or even his successors. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/23 "2021-04-27T18:41:50Z")
I wouldn’t give anybody grief for leaving the Disney company in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/24 "2021-04-27T18:44:52Z")
To paraphrase someone who had to deal with Disney in the 70s and early 80s, “They need a leader. They all go around asking what Walt would do, but he’s been dead for years and shows no sign of returning.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/25 "2021-04-27T19:26:20Z")
IMHO, Michael Eisner is one of the very, very, _very_, few ‘Super CEO’s’ of the 80s/90s who truly earned the title. He took a moribund movie studio/theme park and turned that company into a prototypical growth machine, going from success to success since 1984. This streak has continued since his retirement in 2005, a truly rare feat for any organization which has lost such a leader. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/26 "2021-04-28T02:18:39Z")
Walt was a domineering personality and very set in his ways. I once had a conversation over dinner with the daughter of Ken Anderson, who was the Art Director and Production Designer on “One Hundred and One Dalmations,” and who worked as an animator on several Disney classics over many years. In making that film, Anderson used a more modern animation technique than had been used on previous Disney films. (Can’t recall what it was called but Xerography was involved.) When they showed the finished product to Walt, he hit the roof. Hated every single frame. He went on a tirade and said that film would never be released by his company and even threatened to have it destroyed. She said her father thought he would surely be fired and became so upset over the chewing-out Disney gave him he suffered a stroke. Fortunately some of the Disney execs took up for the film and convinced Walt that it was box office gold. Grudgingly, he allowed its release and it became one of the top attractions of the year…and for years thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/27 "2021-04-28T04:44:23Z")
Yes, xerography was used for HUndred and One Dalmations – they essentially photocopied the drawings direct to the cels, then colored them. It gave the film a very different look, closer to the original pencil sketches and less like the very polished style used in all prior Disney cartoons. I suppose that was why Walt hit the roof – it looked different from his expectations. But it shouldn’t have come as such a complete surprise, unless they were deliberately hiding the end product from Walt. Ub Iwerks, mentioned in the OP, was instrumental in bringing xerography to Disney studios (as he was with so many technical innovations), and the process certainly didn’t happen overnight. I hadn’t heard this story before. Thank you for telling it. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/28 "2021-04-28T17:02:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There’s a story that it was because of his departure that Goofy had non-speaking roles in theatrical shorts like “The Art of Skiing”, but most of these were released after Colvig’s return IMHO, the Goofy “How To…” shorts are some of the best stuff they did. So … sorry Pinto, but it worked out well while you were gone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/29 "2021-04-30T15:47:11Z")
As someone who worked at Disney (briefly) during Michael’s tenure, I would agree, but add that you forgot Jeffrey Katzenberg. I never interacted with Michael, but Jeffrey attended meetings and screenings. He knew his shit. To me, his leaving to form Dreamworks was the end of the Disney renaissance. (The very first sentence in the Disney new-employees’ handbook is (was?) “Call everyone by their first name.” And everyone did.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/30 "2021-04-30T15:50:43Z")
Katzenberg _and_ Frank Wells, yes, to your point. Part of being a good CEO is recognizing and attracting top-notch talent. There are many who think Wells was the secret behind Eisner’s success, and they may be right, but history tends to award prizes to just one person and Eisner just outlasted them all. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786/31 "2021-04-30T23:31:16Z")
It’s not so much that Wells was the secret behind Eisner’s success, it was that he was effectively Roy to Eisner’s Walt. Eisner prior was able to concentrate his efforts and attention on creative development in a variety of areas. Once Wells was gone, Eisner tried to do that AND cover the more mundane corporate executive responsibilities like financials (while also alienating more and more creatives). For example, I doubt Wells would have overlooked how disastrous EuroDisney was likely to be. Michael had blinders on, and couldn’t stop himself. I recommend _DisneyWar_ by James B. Stewart for an inside look at the end of Eisner’s tenure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-a-falling-out-with-walt-disney/940786.md?page=1)