Between Books - Walt Disney & El Grupo in Latin America

I’m tired! I think Walt Disney may have been tired too!

Walt Disney & El Grupo in Latin America by Theodore Thomas, J.B. Kaufman, and Didier Ghez outlines Walt Disney’s trip to South America in 1941. The book covers the entirety of the nearly 3-month fall expedition, spreading American goodwill as a strategy to win over South American neighbors away from Nazi sympathy. Disney was asked by the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) to use his global celebrity to strengthen Western hemisphere ties. The story is told heavily in images with the authors providing narration to the group’s daily doings. The volume does not focus on just Walt Disney but recognizes that El Grupo the 18 Walt Disney employees and family members on the journey, were at times separated into smaller traveling parties or even in the same cities separated to meet with numerous local industries or celebrities. Due to the highly visual nature of the text, it at times feels like a documentary and less than a book.

I’m tired, did I mention that? The goal of the authors is to provide a detailed account of the trip. The trio, therefore, doesn’t provide us a thesis to prove, in fact, the three have other works on El Grupo that have this as a goal. As a reader, you understand this is a very visual book seeking to provide a daily accounting. Hence, I’m tired. It feels like the group, especially Disney, rarely had a chance to rest during this fact-finding and goodwill-building adventure. Even in “downtime” artists like Mary and Lee Blair and Jack Ryman were sketching, painting, and refining ideas for potential future movies Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. Or perhaps, Jack Cutting may visit a local studio to supervise a movie dubbing into Spanish. The book makes it clear that this group of 18 were constantly in motion. And while early in the trip, they may have spent in the reader's mind “weeks” in Rio, it becomes clear to the reader that on later stays the group seemed to only linger a day or two in a location before moving on again.

Design-wise, I was pulled into the book and it often felt like a visual experience and not a book. That is why I feel tired. This isn’t an era of perfect staged pictures. The spontaneous nature of many of the pictures helps one to feel the emotion and action, like a tired Lillian Disney asleep on a train car one can feel the stuffiness within. The closed eyes and the improperly directed glances remind us this is a different time before everyone had a camera and the time to coordinate numerous shots for the perfect social media image.

My only complaint with the design is some pages have maps on the layout that pictures and text sit upon. These maps have notations to locations on the page design. Sadly at times, I read these like image captions and not part of the page design which took me out of the journey for a bit.

Walt Disney & El Grupo in Latin America by Theodore Thomas, J.B. Kaufman, and Didier Ghez is a book for those who want to go deeper into Disney’s trip to South America in a highly visual way. For those who want to see Disney legends like the Blairs and Frank Thomas working, drawing, and immersing themselves into a culture this offering is for you. The authors help me to understand the kinetic and tiring nature of the trip, even without making this an overt goal. I wondered, can El Grupo just kick back and relax? An answer that seems like no as Frank Thomas was teaching himself Spanish even on the long-trip home.


Quick Note: While you can purchase this text on Amazon. I grabbed mine at Stuart Ng books where I was able to pick up an autographed copy. 

 

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Walt's Windows - Walt & El Grupo

1941 was not a pleasant year for Walt Disney.  World War II had closed European markets to Disney films leading to significant lose of revenue.  And the family-like dynamic of the Walt Disney Studio changed as the animators went on strike and unionized.  The Walt Disney Studio truly became a business.  These events were very stressful for Walt Disney.  Luckily for him, he was asked to complete a good will tour of South America on behalf of the United States Department of State to support the Good Neighbor policy, showing the U.S.’s Latin American neighbors that the United States was a friendly regional ally in the face of a global war.  Walt Disney agreed to go on this South American adventure; leading a group of 18 animators, writers, composers and wife Lillian Disney.  Disney agreed to use the trip to gather story material for future Disney films, films which the U.S. government would underwrite guaranteeing that Disney could keep key staff employed while not facing a financial loss for the projects. The films inspired by this trip included Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.   

The documentary Walt & El Grupo tells the story of Walt Disney’s South American adventure.  The story is told through film taken by members of El Grupo and those they interacted with, letters sent by the travelers to family members, and interviews with colleagues.  The film shows not only the Disney team experience, but also interviews South American citizens who spent time with the Disney party.  Walt & El Grupo gives us a window into a difficult period for the Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney and a world enflamed by global war. 

Legends

·        The documentary includes portions of interviews with legendary Imagineers such as Harriet Burns and Blaine Gibson who worked with members of El Grupo and their reminiscences are delights as they recount the events of 1941. 

·        There are a number of Disney legends who were part of El Grupo that will catch the attention of Disney fans.  For example the art work of Mary Blair is well known to even to the youngest of Disney fans thanks to it’s a small world.  However the documentary’s profile of Blair provides us a glimpse of Blair the artist, woman and dynamic force.  Likewise, Herb Ryman is well known to many for drawing the original Disneyland concept map and this documentary lets fans see Ryman over a decade before Disney’s theme park project. 

The World is Watching

·        Thanks to the interviews with those that met Disney and his band we get a glimpse of how Disney impacted the peoples he visited, leaving lasting memories that many individuals and even groups cherish to this day.  It is really enlightening to see how the visit to South America impacted the children of those Disney met, some of those interviewed were not even born at the time of Disney’s visit.  You are given the impression that compared to other celebrities the fact that Disney attempted to meet individuals and learn about foreign cultures is respected to this day. 

·        The documentary also shows us also how cultures outside of North America view Walt Disney today.  And like some Americans you may interact with it is still often the myths of Walt Disney and not the realities of the man that continue to spread throughout culture. 

Laughter

·        This was a very difficult time in the life of Walt Disney, yet much of the film taken for this trip is a happy, smiling, laughing Walt Disney.  We see a picture of a man who loved life and loved to explore the new.  As he learns a new dance, you see the joy in his eyes as he learns something completely new.

·        Additionally, part of the Disney’s frustration during this time was the loss of a sense of family at the studio.  When he returned the strike would be settled by the atmosphere would never be the same again.  Yet in the film recorded in this trip it becomes clear that Disney and his associates did have a close relationship, and the letters sent to family members make it clear that many in the group did not wish to return to a very different Walt Disney Studios.  The fun of making animated movies was dying for Walt Disney and his staff. 

Walt & El Grupo takes us back to 1941, before Walt Disney built theme parks and had not even made a live action movie.  It also shows a transition in both Disney’s company as the studio became less of a club and more of a company.  And it shows a transition in Disney’s preferences as he began to lose interest in animated features due to that changing environment.  The documentary has a delightful soundtrack, a good balance between original black and white film clips and color segments recorded years after.  And the documentary has a star, Walt Disney himself!  Personally, I do not find it as engaging as Waking Sleeping Beauty, but it is well worth the watch for a die hard Disney fan.