Our Ambassador Travels On

07.08.09 - On the ground floor of the fabled Animation Building on the Disney Studio Lot, there's a nondescript corridor labeled "1D." That may be its location in the Studio Directory, but to anyone who knows the history of this hallowed place the standard-issue hallway is known as "The Hall of Kings." The regal sobriquet is apt, for it is here that renowned animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl and Eric Larson— members of Walt's prized "Nine Old Men" group of animators — plied their trade for film after film, decade after decade. It's only fitting that the man who occupies Ollie's former office be someone of similar stature and congenial nature — a man who, like Ollie, has left an indelible impression on the company to which he devoted his life. So it's a pleasure to learn that the current occupant of this pleasant, sun-dappled space home— until he retires next week on July 17— is Disney Legend, Walt Disney Imagineering Ambassador and all-around good guy Marty Sklar, who leaves the company after more than 50 years of loyal and inspirational service.

Marty alongside close friend and mentor John Hench, the artist/designer who began his career in the Disney Story Department in 1939 and went on to play a vital role in bringing Tomorrowland to life at Disneyland. He was named a Disney Legend in 1990.

The sunlight animates the room in the same way one of Ollie Johnston's sequences do—delicately but with signature flashes — and a visitor can't help but wonder what it was like to be here 40 or 50 years ago. And one can be excused for getting up to touch the windows. After all, Ollie, and probably Frank, touched them, too, maybe even the ultimate creative genius, Walt himself, the man who is clearly on Marty's mind as we begin our conversation.

"He had a sixth sense about people," Marty says (while I wonder what Walt looks like in Marty's memory). [Disney Legend] "X [Atencio] tells a story about how he had just finished something in animation and Walt said he wanted him to go over to WED (the forerunner to Walt Disney Imagineering) and write a script for Pirates. X said, 'I've never written a script.' And Walt said, 'I think you can do it.' He was like that with everyone."

Marty (front row, second from right) at Disneyland in 1959.

Even with Marty. "I was hired while I was still at UCLA to do the Disneyland News for Main Street, which sold for 10 cents," Marty laughs. "I started in mid June 1955 after finishing my junior year. Two weeks after I went to work I had to present my concept to Walt in the old Administration Building at Disneyland. I was 21 years old and had never worked professionally and I was going back to school that fall and I was… well I was scared as heck believe me! I mean Walt Disney! What I remember is thinking, 'How the heck did he have time for this little thing I'm doing in the midst of all this chaos?' It took me a long time to figure out why. To Walt, Main Street was a real town. Every town at the turn of the century had at least one newspaper. And his town had to have a newspaper. It was part of the story. The parks are about details and getting people involved in these three-dimensional spaces. And about making the details so compelling that you believe it." Still marveling at the memory, Marty adds that Walt liked his pitch. "That's why I'm still her 53 years later!" he laughs. Marty pauses to give credit to the Earl Hayes Press in Hollywood. "They had the old woodblock type," Mary laughs. "It was so beautiful and helped make the paper stand out."

Marty says people don't really know how down to earth Walt was. "He didn't put on airs," he says. "He'd roll up his sleeves and get to work right alongside anyone who was there with him." He pulls out a great story out of his back pocket to illustrate the point. "It was the late 1950s, and Walt and a few of his guys went out to Denver to take a look at the installation for The Art of Animation (a traveling exhibition that traced the evolution of animation— it later went on permanent display at Disneyland from 1960 to 1966). "A bunch of guys were in a restaurant and had already ordered their breakfasts. Then Walt walks in and orders. The guy next to him says, 'I think I'll have what Walt's having.' And the guy next to him says, 'That sounds good, I think I'll change my order, too.' And the other guys says, 'I'll have what Walt's going to have.' Walt just stood up and said, 'So it's going to be one of those days is it?' and walked away."

Marty quickly made a name for himself in the Disney Publicity Department as a writer, and soon Walt had him writing everything from the Vacationland publication, which was used to promote Disneyland, and the Disney Annual Report, which he wrote for four years beginning in 1964, to stories and scripts for major attractions. "At the 1964 World's Fair, Walt put me on the story team with John Hench on the Ford and GE Pavilions and that's what got my career really moving at WED (the former name for Walt Disney Imagineering)," he explains.

Walt's original notes correcting the copy for the entrance plaque at Disneyland.

Along the way, Marty, who calls Walt "the greatest salesman he ever saw," became one of Walt's prized pitch men. "I remember when we pitched to Ford once," he laughs. "We had a song called 'Get The Feel of the Wheel of a Ford.' X and I went along with Walt and we made the pitch. And I remember Walt was really mad because Henry Ford was the least demonstrative person he ever pitched to!"

Marty says it was 1974 when even greater responsibilities began to come his way. "Dick Irvine, who was Walt's hire to head the design for Disneyland, had suffered a second heart attack during the building of Walt Disney World. So I was fortunate enough to have [then Disney President] Card Walker to put me in charge of Concepts and Planning at Imagineering. And that was the beginning of 30 years of fun doing it!"

When asked the secret to his success over the years, Marty, who was named a Disney Legend in 2001, is quick to credit the contributions of others, and his eyes almost mist as he lists their names. "The talented people I worked with over the years… my mentors were John Hench, Blaine Gibson, Claude Coates, Fred Joerger, was probably the best model maker and field man you could ever have, Bob Jolley who did all the painting at Epcot…" His voice trails off as he voices the names.

Marty, who played a significant role in opening all 11 Disney Parks and Resorts, with Roy E. Disney and Disney President and CEO Bob Iger at Tokyo Disneyland.

For a man who played such a vital role in the formative years of Disneyland, one can't help but ask what his favorite moment is when he visits Walt's park. "Walking on to Main Street," he says, with a gleam in his eye. "You have to go out beyond the tunnels and look at the bronze plaque that's above the tunnels, where it says, 'Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy.' And you do! Suddenly you hear the clip-clop of horses and you're in a turn-of-the-century small town. It truly is marvelous!" We paid a trip to the Walt Disney Archives to find the original copy that show Walt's re-write. "It's exactly what he wanted to say," Marty laughs. "He wasn't happy with the first go-around."

Now with the shadows growing longer and a gentle breeze bending the branches on the trees outside the windows, Marty attempts to describe how it feels to leave behind the company he loves so much. "All the people I worked with are my best memories," he reflects. "I can always go visit the parks. But I won't always have access to the people I respect and love because that will now be someone else's responsibility. But I'm so proud of what they're doing and what they stand for. You know we used to have a slogan: 'Look to the name of Walt Disney for the finest in family entertainment.' Well, that's still the case.

"The thing I'm proudest of is that I hired so many people that are now the top people at Imagineering, and I think of them all as my kids. And my kids have all grown up and they are really talented and they know what they're doing and I'm pretty proud of playing a role in their growth and development. You know, there have been a couple times when it would have been easy for the company to say to Imagineering, 'You guys are too expensive and we're going to hire this out.' And that if that happened, the company would be a lot different now. You can't do what Imagineering does. You have to have your creative staff and key engineers and designers and they have to be inside."

For a man of Marty's talents, a visionary who has spent more than 50 years "inside" Disney, life is about to change. But a storyteller of Marty's abilities no doubt looks forward to writing the next chapter in an already amazing life.