Disney: What happened after the glory years?

Looking back at the Disney studio where he’d been a star, Kurt Russell had a sharp analysis.
“They used to say, ‘nothing’s changed since Walt died,’” he said. “And I used to say to myself, ‘That’s the problem.’ Because things were constantly changing under Walt Disney. Constantly.”
Disney had some flubs, but he also had innovative triumphs, from “Snow White” and “Fantasia” (shown here) t0 “Mary Poppins” and the theme parks. Then came …
Well, a new book (Old Mill Press, 2024) by Stephen Anderson is called, “Disney In-Between,” sub-titled “The Lost Years 1966-86.”
That was the stretch between Disney’s death (Dec. 15, 1966, at 65) and the time when Michael Eisner (who took over in ‘84) began to show success with “Roger Rabbit,” “Golden Girls” and “Oliver & Company.”
In between was a gap. Movies “were all pretty much the same,” animator Dale Baer said. “They got themselves in kind of a safe spot after Walt died.”
Critics agreed. Even when praising a film (“Tron”), Gene Siskel added: “Disney films of late have been pathetic, unworthy of the Disney name.”
The book doesn’t come from a Disney-hater. Anderson was a long-time Disney animator, story supervisor and director. (The quotes here are from his book, which notes where they’re originally from.) He tells of a company that soared, stumbled, then – after two lost decades — found its way.
Certainly, Walt Disney made mistakes. In 1959, he considered not making any more movie-length cartoons. His live-action (non-cartoons) tended to be bland. And after “Mary Poppins,” he was convinced his next musicals would also thrive; they all failed.
But Disney took big chances that sometimes scored big. After his death, the company was run by what some dubbed a “board of indecision.”
Eventually taking over was Ron Miller, Walt Disney’s son-in-law.
He was an impressive figure, 6-foot-4, handsome, a former football star. He did three seasons at Southern California, two as a starter and the team’s No. 2 receiver. In all, he caught 36 passes for 460 yards (teams didn’t throw much then), for teams that had 23 wins, seven losses and a Rose Bowl victory.
Miller played a pro year for the Rams, catching 11 passes for 129 yards. That’s when his father-in-law convinced him to join the company,
“Ron Miller was the coolest guy,” said Annie McEveety, a staffer. He was, she said, an “incredibly strong, solid man that you could look up to.”
Others also spoke well of him. “It was common to pass him in the halls and receive a warm greeting,” Anderson wrote. “Despite many questioning his qualifications to run a movie studio, he was well-liked.”
The problem was that “run a movie studio” part. Jonathan Taplan, a Disney producer, said that from 2-4 p.m. each day, Miller played poker with three friends, while “he was running an America icon into the ditch.”
Actually, animator Mike Bonifer, said it wasn’t even poker. “There’d be four large men, playing crazy-eights in the executive dining room.”
And the studio? “Out of the big-seven studios,” said animator Darrell Van Citters, “we knew we were No. 7. (And) we knew why we were No. 7.”
Animated films? “The Jungle Book” was a hit shortly after the death of Disney, who helped shape it. But there were only six more films during the two-decade “lost years,” none of them distinguished.
“Every movie from ‘Snow White’ to ‘Pinocchio’ to ‘Fantasia,’ all different,” Baer said. “All of a sudden, you get ‘Aristocats, then ‘Robin Hood,’ then ‘Rescuers,’ … all pretty much the same.
And live-action? While other studios might have 10-12 a year, Disney averaged four, none of them special. Siskel bemoaned the “usual juvenile slapstick stuff for kids who like to see people fall on their faces, see cars split in two and dogs fly through the air …. It’s wearing awfully thin.”
Russell was in “The Computer Wore Tennis Shows,” “The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit,” “The Barefoot Executive,” “Superdad,” “Charley and the Angel” and “The Strongest Man in the World.” It was not a prestigious time.
The three post-“Poppins” musicals failed. Walt Disney had been optimistic about “The Happiest Millionaire” and “The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band,” but they sputtered. At one point, the company stripped the songs from Angela Lansbury’s “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.”
Yes, there were some good things in that stretch. One could point to “Blackbeard’s Ghost” (1968), “Escape to Witch Mountain” (1975), “Freaky Friday” (1976) and to “The Love Bug” (1969) and its sequels.
After seeing the “Star Wars” success, Disney made decent stabs at science-fiction, with “The Black Hole,” “Tron” and “Flight of the Navigator.” By the ‘80s, it was willing to try serious drama. “Tex,” “Never Cry Wolf” and “The Journey of Natty Gann” were all solidly crafted.
By then, however, some of the most intriguing talent had left:
— Tim Burton was fired in 1986, after seeing his animation ideas rejected. He would return to Disney, but his triumphs as a director (“Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.) were elsewhere.
— John Lasseter was fired late in 1983, after pushing a notion (computer animation) that the Disney people disliked. He went on to lead what became Pixar, pioneering computer use. Starting with “Toy Story,” its films (distributed by Disney, but not produced by it) were huge hits.
— Don Bluth, who once seemed destined to run Disney animation, was one of 14 animators to resign one day in 1979. He formed his own company, with success (“The Secret of NIMH,” “An American Tail,” “Land Before Time,” “Anastasia”) and failure.
— And Roy E. Disney resigned in 1977. His father (Walt’s older brother) had been a key force, but the son grew frustrated. The company had “become stagnant,” he said. It “continues to make and remake the same kind of motion pictures, with less and less critical and box office success.”
That would continue. Walt Disney had once said, “You hate to repeat yourself; I don’t like to make sequels.” One executive, William Yates, took over the TV division in 1980, saying “we have to grow and keep doing different things” – then rebooted old Disney films into three TV movies and three series that each died after six episodes.
By 1984, Roy E. Disney had had enough. He led a revolt that nudged Miller out and put Michael Eisner – a success at Paramount and ABC – in charge,
Eisner promptly promised a full movie slate and a renewed TV effort, plus a new animated movie every 18 months.
There were some bumps. Early efforts to revive TV’s “Wonderful World of Disney” (hosted by Eisner) sputtered … cable’s Disney Channel grasped for an identity … and there was a culture shock:
The animation department was exiled to a drab building in Glendale . Roy E. Disney was in charge, but Jeffrey Katzenberg led all production.
“Katzenberg said to us, ‘I don’t know what to do with you,’” said animator Dave Block. “He made no bones about it, didn’t understand animation.”
But he would come around. By the time “Oliver & Company” came out in 1988, Anderson said, it fit his tastes. “It had an urban attitude (and its) songs were written and performed by” pop stars.
Soon, the company was turning out an animated film a year — “The Little Mermaid,” “Rescuers Down Under,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and more. Its TV division thrived with “Golden Girls.”
And it was making more movies. Combining Disney and its Touchstone offshoot, a five-year stretch brought 61 films, with some hits – “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Ruthless People,” “The Color of Money,” “Pretty Woman,” “Three Men and a Baby” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
Eventually, Disney would find success simply by buying things. It bought ABC, Pixar and 20th Century Fox.
Now it owns “Star Wars” and Marvel characters and more. It’s moved far from its in-between time, those lost years from 1966-86.