Read Online Dream It! Do It! (Disney Editions Deluxe) by Martin Sklar - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Martin Sklar
Tags: Disney Editions Deluxe
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along the Great Wall, and resting in the oasis of the desert, I began to realize this is real, and nature is where you have to go. This is the greatest source of my inspiration.”
Shortly after his first odyssey to Asia in the 1930s, Herb was invited by John Ringling North to spend a summer traveling with the Ringling Brothers Circus, in the days of outdoor circus tents. He was given a private suite on the show train in 1949, 1950, and 1951. Ryman’s backstage sketches and watercolor renditions were so alive that quintessential circus clown Emmett Kelly said that Herb “put the smell of sawdust into paint.”
Walt called Herb one Saturday in 1953 to ask his help in producing the first overall illustration of Disneyland. Herb kept a detailed diary, and in the book A Brush with Disney: An Artist’s Journey, Told Through the Words and Works of Herbert Dickens Ryman , published in 2002 by Ryman Arts, he described in detail how it came about:
It was about 10 A.M. on September 26, 1953, when Walt called unexpectedly. When I remarked that he was at the Studio on a Saturday morning, he commented, “Yes, it’s my studio and I can be here anytime I want.”
I was not working at the Disney Studio at that particular time, because in 1946 I had gone back to 20th Century-Fox. I had deserted Walt, which was a very criminal act (at least he thought it was).
However, I was curious, and flattered, that Walt would pick up the phone and call me. I had no idea what he wanted.
He asked how long it would take me to get there .… “I’ll be out front waiting for you,” he said .…
Bill Cottrell, Dick Irvine, and Marvin Davis were there, all friends of mine. Walt said, “Herbie, I’m in the process of doing an amusement park, we’re working on it right now.”…I asked, “What are you going to call it?” He said, “I’m going to call it Disneyland,” and I said, “Well, that’s a good name. What is it that you want to see me about?” He said, “Well, my brother Roy is going to New York on Monday morning. He’s flying out of here to New York to see the bankers. Herbie, we need $17 million to get us started .… You know the bankers, they have no imagination. They can’t visualize when you tell them what you’re going to do, they have no way of visualizing it. So, I’ve got to show them what we’re going to do before we can have any chance of getting the money.” I said, “I would love to see what you’re going to do. Where is it?” He pointed at me and said, “You’re going to do it!” I said, “No. I’m not. You’re not going to call me on Saturday morning at 10 A.M. and expect me to do a masterpiece that Roy could take and get the money. It will embarrass me and it will embarrass you.” Walt asked the other guys to leave the room.
We were alone. Walt paced around the room with his arms folded,…kind of looked back at me over his left shoulder with a little kind of sheepish smile, like a little boy who really wants something. With his eyes brimming, he asked, “Herbie, will you do it if I stay here with you?” I began to think, well he’s very serious about this, and Walt, after all, was my friend, and so I said, “Sure, if you stay here all night tonight and all night Sunday night and help me, I’ll stay here. I’ll see what I can do.”
Our agreement cheered Walt, and he sent out for tuna salad sandwiches and malted milks and we started to work. It was just a carbon pencil drawing with a little color on top of it, but Roy got the money—so I guess it turned out all right.
Few would question that “it turned out all right.” But in his personal copy of the book Disneyland: Inside Story , published in 1987, Herb wrote this note under a reproduction of the drawing: “First drawing of Disneyland—Sept. 23, 1953. Done under considerable stress and without thought or preparation.”
There’s no question I learned more from John Hench than anyone but Walt himself. They were so closely
Shortly after his first odyssey to Asia in the 1930s, Herb was invited by John Ringling North to spend a summer traveling with the Ringling Brothers Circus, in the days of outdoor circus tents. He was given a private suite on the show train in 1949, 1950, and 1951. Ryman’s backstage sketches and watercolor renditions were so alive that quintessential circus clown Emmett Kelly said that Herb “put the smell of sawdust into paint.”
Walt called Herb one Saturday in 1953 to ask his help in producing the first overall illustration of Disneyland. Herb kept a detailed diary, and in the book A Brush with Disney: An Artist’s Journey, Told Through the Words and Works of Herbert Dickens Ryman , published in 2002 by Ryman Arts, he described in detail how it came about:
It was about 10 A.M. on September 26, 1953, when Walt called unexpectedly. When I remarked that he was at the Studio on a Saturday morning, he commented, “Yes, it’s my studio and I can be here anytime I want.”
I was not working at the Disney Studio at that particular time, because in 1946 I had gone back to 20th Century-Fox. I had deserted Walt, which was a very criminal act (at least he thought it was).
However, I was curious, and flattered, that Walt would pick up the phone and call me. I had no idea what he wanted.
He asked how long it would take me to get there .… “I’ll be out front waiting for you,” he said .…
Bill Cottrell, Dick Irvine, and Marvin Davis were there, all friends of mine. Walt said, “Herbie, I’m in the process of doing an amusement park, we’re working on it right now.”…I asked, “What are you going to call it?” He said, “I’m going to call it Disneyland,” and I said, “Well, that’s a good name. What is it that you want to see me about?” He said, “Well, my brother Roy is going to New York on Monday morning. He’s flying out of here to New York to see the bankers. Herbie, we need $17 million to get us started .… You know the bankers, they have no imagination. They can’t visualize when you tell them what you’re going to do, they have no way of visualizing it. So, I’ve got to show them what we’re going to do before we can have any chance of getting the money.” I said, “I would love to see what you’re going to do. Where is it?” He pointed at me and said, “You’re going to do it!” I said, “No. I’m not. You’re not going to call me on Saturday morning at 10 A.M. and expect me to do a masterpiece that Roy could take and get the money. It will embarrass me and it will embarrass you.” Walt asked the other guys to leave the room.
We were alone. Walt paced around the room with his arms folded,…kind of looked back at me over his left shoulder with a little kind of sheepish smile, like a little boy who really wants something. With his eyes brimming, he asked, “Herbie, will you do it if I stay here with you?” I began to think, well he’s very serious about this, and Walt, after all, was my friend, and so I said, “Sure, if you stay here all night tonight and all night Sunday night and help me, I’ll stay here. I’ll see what I can do.”
Our agreement cheered Walt, and he sent out for tuna salad sandwiches and malted milks and we started to work. It was just a carbon pencil drawing with a little color on top of it, but Roy got the money—so I guess it turned out all right.
Few would question that “it turned out all right.” But in his personal copy of the book Disneyland: Inside Story , published in 1987, Herb wrote this note under a reproduction of the drawing: “First drawing of Disneyland—Sept. 23, 1953. Done under considerable stress and without thought or preparation.”
There’s no question I learned more from John Hench than anyone but Walt himself. They were so closely
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