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The Doolittle Effect Lead Me Back to Orlando

When we finished the technical rehearsal we decided we were hungry and thought we would grab some dinner before the show and headed off to a restaurant just a few buildings down from the theater. Peter Fonda, His Wife (I think her name was Diane) and Jossey Pollack and I think my wife was with us as well. We got to the restaurant and, you won’t believe this, we were refused admission to the restaurant because we didn’t have a coat and tie on. I remember screaming at the Maître D saying this was Henry Fonda and him telling me that he couldn’t let anyone in without being properly dressed and that includes any celebrity no matter how famous, I thought here we go again after my experience with Sammy Davis Junior and Johnny Carson. Se we ended walking down to a MacDonald for a burger and fries and then back over to the theater for the show. The show went off beautifully. For whatever reason Mr. Fonda decided not to extend the run past the weekend and I don’t believe he carried forward with the one-man show.

My last show at the theater was with Judy Garland. She hadn’t been performing for quite some time and the theater was taking some risks as to the state of her health in making the booking. But she had been reported in great health at the time of the booking. The booking I believe was for the weekend but I’m not sure. I remember meeting her and going through her needs for her show.

At the time Ms. Garland was married to her former driver and we were told he would be managing her performances. To say this manager was a loser would be an understatement, but that was our instructions and we followed his instructions. To say Ms. Garland looked fragile was giving us all some concern. However, on her opening night, she provided a stunning performance and received a rousing standing ovation. There were a tremendous amount of celebrities in the audience including her daughter Lisa. Backstage was like a who’s who of celebrities wishing her well. However, the well-wishing was short-lived as she was very spaced out for her next performance thanks to her driver/ manager (to my way of thinking). She was a tremendous talent that at her peak was a not to miss performer. She never finished her last performance having to leave the stage before the show was to end.

That was the last show I was to manage at the theater for a while as the season came to a close, but the Greek Theater was just getting started.

I had mentioned that Mr. Doolittle who managed the Greek and the Hunting Hartford could have been the poster child for the most horrible boss you could ever imagine.

Mr. Doolittle was never overly friendly to his staff (except his immediate staff members) which consisted of his admin, (sorry I can’t remember her name but she was extremely efficient and friendly and she and I got along beautifully. So much so that she saved my job several times when Doolittle was hell-bent on firing me for some reason that didn’t make any sense. She would always calm him down and convey to him my positive qualities and outstanding work ethic it should be said that my average day would start at 7:30 AM and generally not end until around 11:00 PM. With only one day off if I was lucky. Also, while my pay was decent it wasn’t a lot for the number of hours I had to put in in order to get my job completed daily.

Doolittle had several triggers that would get you fired instantly. One of which was if he caught you with your feet on your desk while you were on the phone. If he saw that he would walk into your office and fire you on the spot. He reasoned that if you had your feet up you were wasting valuable time you could spend doing your job. It doesn’t make any sense but that was what we all referred to as a Doolittle. He would fire you and then go to the bookkeeper and have your severance check ready within 30 minutes. This was one of the ways the staff got even with someone they didn’t like was not to share that fact with them.

We all had a security system when we all worked directly with Mr. Doolittle. Some of us would have to report directly to Mr. Doolittle’s home every morning to discuss his days’ activities. Sometimes it would be me but it would always be his admin and office manager. Mr. Doolittle lived in Truesdale which was in the hills overlooking Beverly Hills, He had an incredible home that had his swimming pool begin outside and flowed into his living room. I had never seen anything like this before. It had an automatic screened gate that came down in the evening so that no one could swim in when he was not home or during the evenings when he or any guests were sleeping.

One or more of us would report to the house each morning while Mr. Doolittle was getting ready to start his day. When he was almost ready one of us would call either the Hartford or the Greek to let the staff on the properties know when we would be leaving and where we would be going first. To communicate effectively we had a security code. Yellow alert meant he was about 30 minutes out departing the house. When he was ready we would call and give a red alert which meant we were heading out and would be heading for the theater (which would mean we were 30 minutes out). If we were heading to the Greek first then the staff would know we were 40 to 45 minutes out. Then we would repeat the alarm system when he would move from the Greek or Hartford to return to either property or go back home. We found that using the system we would give the staff a heads up as to what was on his mind before getting there so they could be prepared to address his concerns for the day.  Also, every week Doolittle would invite the stars from the plays coming into the Hartford and Greek Theaters. On those days we would have it catered by Chasens or the Derby,

We would have to set it up and move about the guests to make sure we provided them with their beverage of choice and be ready to arrange for their transportation back to either the homes or hotel accommodations during their stay in the city. Of course, we also had to arrange for their transportation, accommodations and in-room food and beverage requirements outlined in their contracts. Part of my responsibilities as the Assistant General Manager of the theaters. I had mentioned before that I worked incredible hours for the theaters. Doolittle had done some special things to help me along, especially making me a stage manager for the Hartford Theater. But he had absolutely no socially redeeming qualities when it came to his employees. He cared only about himself and never stopped criticizing your every move and worked you for as little and as much as he could. He seldom, if ever, complimented your efforts and for that matter your accomplishments. He did occasionally but very seldom. He just seemed to belittle you all the time to keep you from feeling any pride in your accomplishments.

He treated everyone that way except those who he knew he couldn’t replace easily. The last straw for me was when I came into his office to ask for the weekend off as I hadn’t had a day off in months and that I had promised my wife that I would take the weekend off to celebrate our anniversary. I told him we were thinking of going to the beach. He told me that of course, I could take the weekend off and not only that, but he had a condominium in Laguna Niguel and we would be welcome to use it for the weekend (actually 4 days). I thanked him and explained how important to my marriage the weekend was as my wife and I had not been able to spend much time together over the past few months and how much we thanked him for the time and accommodations. He said not to worry, he would make sure we had the time together to celebrate our anniversary. I thanked him and went home and told my wife what Mr. Doolittle had said and that we were going to go for the weekend.

Based on Mr. Doolittle promise we left the next morning for his condo in Laguna Niguel for the weekend. We arrived at his Condo which was right on the ocean and quite roomy and comfortable. Once in, we took a walk on the beach and went out to dinner at a restaurant close to the condo. After dinner, we went back to the condo and settled in for the night. The next day we got up and went out to spend time on the beach and take a swim and just lay out in the sun and water. We were having a great time and didn’t get back to the condo until late in the afternoon. We showered and were getting ready to go out for dinner when I got a call from Mr. Doolittle ordering me to get back to the Greek right away. I reminded him that he had promised me the time off and he told me he didn’t care what he promised because he needed me back at the Greek Theater ASAP. I can’t remember what the big emergency was for me to return but he wanted me to return ASAP which my wife and I did ruin our anniversary celebration.

We got back to the Greek at about 7:00 PM to find that Mr. Doolittle wasn’t even there. So I remained on duty for the rest of the evening, I also can’t remember who the act was at the Greek but I think it was “The Carpenters”. Who, when I got back, was happy and not unhappy about the arrangements we had made for them to support their performance.

So I couldn’t understand why I was forced to come back from my weekend early. It wasn’t anything at the Huntington Hartford Theater or the Greek. At this point, I had decided to quit my job and go back home to Orlando. I went into the office the next morning to return Mr. Doolittle’s Condo keys. He went into a tirade about something I hadn’t done before I left that made no sense and was of no importance to anyone other than himself. In short, what had set him off was just not important at all. It had been handled by the General Manager Ralph, what Doolittle was upset about was the fact that no one told him of the request in advance because it had been handled in advance. He started in on me right away when I showed up and at this point, I told him where he could put my job and walked out of the theater for good. After years of hard work for the theaters, he told me to get out. Which I did and never looked back.

I went home and told my wife that I quit and we needed to go back home to Orlando and face the fact that any hope of an acting career for me was over. Fortunately, we had been saving money in case I quit at some time so we had some money to keep us going for a while. As I had mentioned before, I had a friend from my playhouse Tony Alley who was working as a stage manager on the “Disney on Ice Show”. I had called him about a possible job with the show and he told me that I should look into getting a job at Walt Disney World as they were looking for technicians and stage managers. I immediately checked it out and arranged for an interview in Orlando. I traveled to Orlando and interviewed and got a job as a technical advisor. I then packed up my belongings in California, put my wife on a plane to Orlando to stay with her parents and loaded up our car and the dogs and set off for Orlando to start our new life with Disney. I should mention that I was originally in the Air force in Orlando, I met my wife in Orlando, got married in Orlando and my wife’s family lived in Orlando. So we had a support system in place immediately, you can read about my Disney Years in the Disney Years Chapters on this site.

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My First Professional Stage Management Responsibility

One more experience I will never forget was a time that John Wayne had a gathering on his boat in San Diego to support a charity that I can no longer remember. Mr. Wayne, Aldo Rea. Tim Hutton and others were there and we took the ship out for a spin, I got to attend as Josie Pollack’s friend. I found Mr. Wayne to be friendly and somewhat opinionated and, at times, funny. He was 6’4”, the tallest actor I had ever met at that point. John Wayne was legendary and his personality was intense, to say the least.

Well, it’s time to talk about something that happened that really changed my future. I had been volunteering my time in the theatre’s production department and especially with the stagehands, I had been volunteering to work with the stage manager and some point Mr. Doolittle told me that the theatre would sponsor me to become an Equity Stage Manager.

He even went so far as to put up the money for me to join the AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Union ) as well as the Actors Equity Union that is required for you to be certified as a stage manager, I was accepted and became a certified Stage Manager. Boy, you don’t realize how many performers and crew members count on your professionalism and focus. I remember when Doolittle told me about my first stage manager job at the Huntington Hartford, The play was called “Private Lives” by Noel Coward and it was set to star Brian Bedford and Tammy Grimes. He told me that he had arranged for me to have lunch at the Brown Derby which was just across the street from the theatre.

Well wow, I was excited and showed up dressed in my best coat and tie to meet them. Well, the meeting was going beautifully when all of a sudden I sneezed for some reason and threw out my lower back, launching me into extreme pain and the ability to straighten up or walk for that matter. We had to call an ambulance so I could leave the restaurant and get some care for my condition. They took me to an emergency room where they ultimately gave me some muscle relaxers and stretched my lower vertebrae back into place which virtually illuminated a substantial amount of my pain and mobility.

So the good news was that I was back on my feet within 48 hours. Well, I thought my career as a stage manager was totally over and especially being considered to be the stage manager for the “Private Lives” show. Fortunately, the doctors gave the release to go back to work and the stars of the show said they would be happy with me being the stage manager for the show. So I was not fired before I even got to start and I thanked them for their faith in my abilities to perform the duties. So I was good to go with my first professional stage management responsibility thanks for Brian Bedford and Tammy Grimes faith in my abilities to do the job.  When you consider the fact that I had never professionally stage-managed a show and I was only 25 years old at the time.

Note: To give an explanation for what happened with my back. I later learned that I had some curvature of my spine and that my last vertebrae did not form properly. Because of this, I was getting a lot of pain occasionally from my lower back. It could be brought on by something as small as a sneeze or bending over incorrectly.  When it would go out just shaving would be very painful. When it would go out it would take several days for me to get back to work. I finally had enough and went to see an orthopedic surgeon. As part of his evaluation, he took a series of X-Rays and other spinal checks.  He informed me that my problem was the fact that I had some curvature of my spine since my last vertebrae did not form properly and because of this a lot of the cartilage surrounding my lower vertebrae was deteriorating. He told me he could operate on this but couldn’t guarantee that the outcome would totally solve my condition.

Then he told me that my best solution would be a series of exercises that would build up my muscles surrounding the vertebrae. He then said something I have never forgotten. If you will do these exercises every day you can illuminate the pain and back issues for many years. Then he said I know you won’t do it because no one I tell to do this actually does it, I told him if I can make the pain and inconvenience go away I will definitely do the exercises every day forever. He said that most of the people just didn’t stick with it. It’s going to take you several months to accomplish what you need. Well, I did it, I go to the gym 5 days a week and since I do I have not had an issue with my back since then.

Well, the show went off without a hitch and everyone was very pleased with my stage management capabilities. I also became fast friends with the performers in the show and kept in touch for a while. The next show I got to work on was “Bell Book & Candle” starring Zsa Zsa Gabor. Ms. Gabor was a real piece of work. Basically, she wasn’t a very nice person. She went through 8 dressers during the rehearsals alone. We were having real difficulties finding anyone to want to work with her. Most of the time she was just plain rude to the crew and others in the cast who had to work with her. Everyone loved her sister but hardly anyone liked her. That said, the show went off well despite her and her less than good reviews. She thankfully didn’t give me much trouble and even asked me to work with her in her wigs business which I refused to do.

The next show was probably the one I was most proud of. There was a group of actors that came together to start a theatre group called the Plumsted Players which was a group of very famous actors who wanted to produce some classic plays that hadn’t been produced for years. Some of the members of the group where Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, and Agnes Moorehead. And many others that I just can’t remember. I was privileged to have met and become acquainted with Helen Hayes (first lady of the American Theatre), Angela Lansbury and others. From the 50’s and 60’s era. One of the things that I found incredible was the language this woman would use would make you cringe. You didn’t want to make a mistake because when they came off stage they could out curse any man alive. The women I met and worked with could hold their own with any man. Their language just blew me away. Hearing the first lady of the theatre say things you would never say to a woman. My next show was “Our Town” starring Henry Fonda, at the Huntington Hartford theatre. I have got to say one of my favorite actors back then was Henry Fonda and the chance to meet him and work with him was a dream come true. Mr. Fonda was much more than I expected. He was a really nice man and very appreciative of everyone who worked with him. That said, he and I got along beautifully and he was very kind to everyone on the crew and the other actors working with him in the show. The show was a huge success and was sold out every night to great reviews. Mr. Fonda made it a point to introduce me to his wife at the time as well as kids Jane & Peter. Jane was very nice and Peter could have cared less and not all that friendly as he at the time was basting in his success with “Easy Rider”. Of all the shows I ever worked on Henry Fonda was the only star to attend the cast party at the end of the show He stayed until the party ended, engaged in conversation with everyone and posed for photos with just about everybody.

He had the uncanny ability to make everyone feel he truly appreciated your efforts in making the show a success. He always made you feel that you were a friend, not just an associate.

We kept in touch and when he decided to write produce another play. He got in touch with Josie Pollack and asked if I would stage-manage his new play which he was going to open at the Santa Barbara Civic Theatre. The theme of the show was the Generation Gap (which was a hot topic back then”. It was a one-man show and all I was responsible for was making sure the sound and lights were working and there as I remember some supported video he used on the topic. Back then the problem was that your children didn’t like you and the Vietnam War was extremely unpopular and there were many anti-war demonstrations and many blamed everyone over 40 and were doing anything to stop the war and Henry Fonda’s Daughter was, unfortunately, the poster child of the conflict. I remember coming to the theatre to do a rehearsal and test the sound, lighting, and video to make sure all was working,

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Huntington Hartford Theater is Where My Life Changed

I also spend some time with Mr. Burr before the show being presented (which meant most of the day). I had an incredible experience with Mr. Burr, but will not share it on this Blog. Over time we had many celebrities visiting us in the office. Helen Hays, Elizbeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and many more. This list doesn’t even mention some of the most famous producers in the industry. Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna who produced many of the cartoon series of the time were in attendance many times. They were credited with changing the methods of creating animation. The most famous was “The Flintstones”. So many successful producers attended shows at the Greek that I could go on forever.

My time at the Greek was an incredible learning experience but nothing compared to my experiences at the Huntington Hartford Theater. It was where I learned everything that changed my life. The Huntington Hartford only did plays and had an incredible season every year. First, the woman who was in charge of season ticket holders was Countess Florencia Falzone. She was an incredible woman, who had 6 children, probably from several different men (with the likely exception of the Count). She had many admirers and was always receiving gifts from them of incredible value. One of the largest diamond rings I ever saw was given to her as a friendship ring with no strings attached. I mention all this because she was considered royalty in Beverly Hills and managed to bring in many very prominent season ticket holders for the theatre. I got to know her quite well, I remember when I couldn’t afford to get a television. She told me she had a couple of large televisions in her garage and I was welcome to them. I thanked her and rushed to go get one which worked beautifully. Another thing she did for me was hiring my wife as her assistant in the Season Ticket Department at the theatre. Of course, this was with the blessings of Mr. Doolittle. The hiring of my wife helped us meet our living expenses. Our life at this point was making many massive changes for the good. It started when one of my fellow classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse, Sally Struthers, got a recurring role on the Smothers Brothers show and she ultimately started dating Tommy Smothers.

The reason this helped my wife and I was the fact that Tommy Smothers decided to produce the musical “Hair” at the Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood. I can’t remember what the deal was, but my wife got loaned to the theatre to work with their opening night and celebrity ticket sales. This was all possible because of my on-again / off-again relationship with Sally. Also, we got to meet Tommy Smothers several times, as well as Jim Rado & Gerome Ragni who wrote the music and the show. We also got to spend some time with the cast. My wife moved over to the theatre and worked directly with Harry Blackstone who was, at the time, the General Manager of the Aquarius. Harry, for those of you that know your magic, k was one of the most famous Magicians in the country. He got us into the Magic Castle in Beverly Hills many times. Back then you had to be a magician or be sponsored by one in advance to gain entrance. They have opened it up somewhat today, however. The reason I bring this all up is because of my wife and friendships, we got two great tickets to the opening as well as the after-show party. The after-show themed party was mind-blowing (just like the show). Mentioning the show, it was absolutely at the time like nothing ever produced. It was so different and exciting and one of the first musicals to have a nude scene.

But the thing I remember the most was the after-party, which we attended with Josie Pollack, the booking agent for the Greek Theatre. I got to know Josie quite well and we became fast friends. Josie knew everybody who was anybody in Hollywood and was close friends with them. I have many other stories of the time I spent in her company. The party was phenomenal!

The producers had put up a massive tent in what was originally the parking lot. It was what I saw that night that gave me a sense of what a themed event could be, and the memory of the event set me up for what I wanted to do later in my life. Everybody who was anybody in Hollywood was there. The list of celebrities was endless. I remember the night to this day. The food and beverages were first class, the seafood, the specialty food stations were numerous, caviar, fillets and just about everything you could want. It also had at least 12 open bars and a staff of 24 minimum passing hors d’ oeuvres. They must also have poured 1000 bottles of champagne.

That night, my wife and I within the company of Josie Pollack, met many stars and producers. The one I remember the most was Liberace. I spent most of the time being chased around the event by him and no matter how much I tried to explain that was not into that kind of behavior, he just wouldn’t give up. He finally did, however, give up. Other than that, he was really quite nice to my wife and I. I later found out that he went to Josie Pollack and got my wife and I’s birthdays, Anniversary and address. With this information, he would always send my wife and I a present on our birthdays, anniversaries and at Christmas time. He also would send me five first row tickets to his performances in Las Vegas. We got these presents every year until he passed away. I was told that he literally did this for almost 1000 people he had met over the years.

Once we had attended the show and went back to the Greek and Huntington Hartford my wife did stay on, however, in the ticket department at the Aquarius as the Countess left the theatre and hired a new woman to run the Season Sales Department. She turned out to be great, and we got to know her and her husband quite well. As I mentioned before, my wife would suffer from depression and the new woman was a Christian Scientist and did her best to convert her to the faith, which seemed to help her a lot. It didn’t necessarily help me, as I never endorsed the faith, but we didn’t have any children so I didn’t object to her involvement.

Things really started happening for me at the Greek & Hartford (mostly the Hartford). I was getting some incredible opportunities there. First, I had the opportunity to meet Gregory Peck and his wife and one night at the theatre he invited me to join him and his wife for dinner across the street at the Brown Derby. There was another couple invited as well but I don’t remember their names. I do remember them as being quite nice. The evening was as memorable as I was star struck and he was one of my favorite actors of all time. Also, back then if my wife drank wine it would be fortified and cost a couple of dollars a gallon, This night, however, will remain in my mind forever as Mr. Peck ordered two bottles of wine that cost almost $1,500.00 a bottle. They had a Sommelier come to the table and decant the wine and serve it to us. I must admit I absolutely hated it, it tasted moldy to me. Of course, we just had no pallet for the wine of that vintage and quality. It took years for me to develop a taste for good vintages and, for that matter, spend more than $10.00 for a bottle of wine. Today, however, it’s a bit different. But I will always remember that evening,

Another evening I will never forget was when Josie Pollack decided to go out for a couple of drinks after a show and ended up at Daisies (which was a bar that a lot of celebrities went to after they did their live shows). We came into the place and got a high top table and settled in as Josie went off to say hello to some of her friends. At some point, she came back and we were just sitting there talking when Sammy Davis Jr. Came to the table to say hello to Josie and took a seat. I have to say he was a lot shorter than I could imagine. Josie introduced me and we all engaged in conversation. We had been talking for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden, up comes Johnny Carson to say hello to Josie and Sammy Davis. We sat around talking about our day when Johnny Carson asked if anybody was hungry. We all agreed that we could have a bite, so Johnny he could get a limo from the studio and we could head over to Chasen’s (famous for its Chili) for dinner. The limo arrived and off we went to the restaurant. When we got there, we were refused admission as we did not have a coat and tie. I couldn’t believe it, it was Johnny Carson and Sammy Davis Jr. and they wouldn’t admit us without a coat and tie. We started to leave when Johnny Carson held back and he said let’s all get back in the limo. He had a suite at the Sheraton so we all went to his suite and he then distributed ties, and sports jackets to me and Sammy Davis which was hilarious. When he got into one of Johnny’s jackets (wasn’t all that bad as Johnny was a very short man as well). I, however, looked ridiculous. Johnny removed his shirt as the restaurant hadn’t said anything about having to have a shirt. Back we went and the restaurant had to let us in as we were wearing coats and ties. That was a hoot.

Had another interesting evening of fun when my wife and I went to the Beverly Wilshure Hotel for dinner and were sitting in the lobby waiting for some friends to join us. A Frairs Club Dinner was going on in one of the ballrooms at the time. At some point, Don Rickles and Redd Fox came out of the ballroom and into the lobby and Rickles started doing his act with all of us in the lobby. Fortunately for us, Sydney Poitier came into the lobby and Rickles started in on him. It was hilarious. Sydney could not stop laughing. Rickles told him that if he hadn’t become an actor he would have ended up as a naked druggist from the Bronx. You had to be there. It was an evening that no one in that lobby will ever forget.

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The Mail room- Stepping Stone to My Production Event Career

The first dark-haired actor to get a role in Hollywood was Frank Lingula, which finally broke the trend and opened opportunities for dark-haired actors, as well as actors over 6” tall. If you were too tall or had dark hair back then it was like wearing a pair of brown shoes with a black tuxedo. Also, most of the stars back then were very short in stature, so your height created problems in filming and selections of actors to appear with the stars. There were very few actors over 5‘10 “back then and I was 6’4”. I was constantly told that I was immensely talented, I just couldn’t personally communicate it well consistently.

  So Bert Medcalf’s advice became my goal in my life, and I then started to achieve that goal. It’s at this point that I adopted my philosophy of becoming absolutely indispensable in any job I took from this point on, which I dedicated myself to doing. To say that I had a tremendous amount to learn would be an understatement. So to this end, I was successful in landing a job in the mailroom of the Greek Theater and the Huntington Hartford Theater (1,021 seats) at Hollywood and Vine and the Greek Theater (5,870 seats) on Vermont Avenue in Griffith Park in LA. It should be mentioned that the Huntington Hartford Theater is now called the Doolittle Theater.

  When I started my job in the mail room I was to open the mail requiring tickets to the shows at the Huntington and Greek Theater; by their zip codes and addresses throughout Los Angeles and its adjoining cities and towns and then create a chart showing where the mail was coming from. So each morning when I came to work I opened the mail and created the chart. One of the newbies joked that the staff at the Greek loved to play on the new guy was the fact that Mr. Doolittle was totally color blind. Not knowing this, I created a chart that indicated every geographic location in a different color. So I walked into Mr. Doolittle’s office with my color chart and got told that it was the worst chart he had ever seen, and he basically almost fired me on my second day. After a proper chewing out I was told to go out and do it again. When I left his office, the staff had a great laugh at my expense. But they took me under their wings and showed me the ropes going forward and what to watch for with the boss to stay in favor. Well, the first thing I had to do was get back in favor. So I redid the chart and he was ultimately impressed and happy.

  Every morning when I got to work I had about 2 hours to get the mail open and reviewed and charted, as Doolittle would call from home and ask what the report was. You had to get it right because he had the uncanny ability to remember past reports and question anything that didn’t seem in line with previous reports volume. So before you make your report you need to double-check not only that day’s but previous ones as well, The reason it was so important to Mr. Doolittle to know where the ticket sales where coming from geographically was to ascertain where the ticket sales were low, if he noticed that sales where slow in particular area’s i.e. African American, Hispanic and Asian he would instruct me to flood those neighborhoods with discounted tickets for a particular show to boost ticket sales in those zip code areas immediately. I would have to design and print discount coupons within days and hire teams to distribute them in those locations. Another thing he was really good at was each day going into the box office (especially the Greek Theater) and pull the ticket drawers for a particular show, looking at the current volume of unsold tickets and then he would predict the volume of sales going forward, to determine whether we should begin discounting tickets, for that show to ensure, or at least attempt, to increase ticket sales substantially. 

  One of the things Mr. Doolittle taught me was how to predict ticket sales by looking at the ticket drawers and predict future sales. He also taught me how to estimate how much revenue had been generated from the ticket sales on that day and how much revenue would be raised based on the volume at the point and based on current sales how much revenue would be raised going forward. I got very good at this, so much so that Doolittle would let me go into the box office and report back to him on what I saw and projected volume going forward. I was very quickly able to project advance ticket sales for a particular show, how many tickets were left to sell, how many had been sold by section.

  The Greek had three sections A, B & C. You had to be able to report ticket sales by each section. I got so good at this I could predict sales within a couple of hundred dollars. Based on this learned ability I was promoted to Assistant General Manager of the Greek & Hunting Hartford Theaters. It should be noted that the reason I got so good at this was that I constantly volunteered to work in the box office every chance I got. So I studied the advance sales every time I volunteered and those who worked there were more than happy to have me be of help. I also regularly volunteered to work in the production department. I would help paint sets, unload trucks and anything else I could do to get to know everyone in the department and make sure they understood they could count on me when they needed help. One of my duties as the Assistant General Manager was to handle the Riders for the talent performing at the Greek and Hunting Hartford Theaters. I’m not sure why I got this responsibility, but I have to say it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got to meet the stars and be available to handle any requests over and above what was in their contracts for them. Also part of my duties was the management and ticketing of the Orchestra Pit which was in front of the main stage and had about 30 seats. This was a goldmine for my department. And for that matter myself. Over time I worked with several Super Groups.

  The Greek Theater was the first theater to present Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (It was originally just Crosby, Stills & Nash, as Neil Young was added to the group after the original group was booked.) I got to know them and made sure they were pleased with the support the Greek provided them as required in their performance riders, I also got to work with Linda Ronstate, I remember her especially well as she always performed barefoot and we had to provide a Marley floor for her. At the time she was dating the Governor of California and she invited me to a party at his home which was incredible. Present was The Beach Boys, the Carpenters to name but a few. It was easy to get to know the performers, as all the groups would be performing for weeks at the theater. I also got to know everyone from Momma & Popa’s. We were also the first Amphitheatre to book Tom Jones in the USA. Also Engelbart Humperdinck. Both of these performers were managed by their manager Gordon Mills, who wrote most of their songs and wanted desperately to put together a tour for Tom Jones in America. Tom Jones name was Thomas Woodhard and Engelberts was Jerry Dorsey. So the theater got a very special price for both of them to perform at the Greek for a week. The theater booked them before anyone knew how huge he was to become, I remember Tom’s rider to this day as he loved beer and snacks. I can’t remember the brand of beer but we had to provide a minimum of 2 cases per show and I can attest that he drank both cases each performance. He also had a taste for women of color and we had quite a few in the Orchestra Pit. The deal we had with Tom was awfully good, as we had to renegotiate the agreement before the week was out. He sold out every night. The scalpers were getting rich on this show. Tom was a super guy and easy to work with. His show was the experience of a lifetime as he had incredible energy and by its end, he was exhausted. I never saw so much underwear being thrown up on the stage as I did during Tom’s show. 

  Because I had control of the seats in the Orchestra Pit I could do very well with those extra tickets. There wasn’t a day I wouldn’t get an offer I couldn’t refuse. I remember two women came into my office and told me that they would give me the night of my life for two tickets in the orchestra pit and a backstage pass. I never took them up on the night of my life even though I wanted to, I but did get them the seats and the backstage pass. They got to say hello to Tom but he wasn’t interested in anything other than that. My most memorable performer the Greek Theater booked every other year was Harry Belafonte, who sold out every show and did so within hours of our announcing his dates. I’ve got to say he was a great person. His shows always ended in standing ovations. Mr. Belafonte and his people were fabulous to work with. His road manager at the end of the show took all the crew to Vegas on Mr. Bellefonte’s plane as a thank you for everyone’s hard work in supporting the show.

  Some of my fondest memories weren’t only meeting and working with the stage performers, but also many of the celebrities who would attend the shows. I remember the night in 1969 when the Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The offices at the Greek theater were filled with celebrities. The show at the theater that night was the “Grand Kabuki”. It was the first time the Emperor of Japan had allowed the show to be performed outside of Japan. The reason was the involvement of Raymond Burr, the star of Ironside and Perry Mason. Mr. Burr was the only American actor to become a Kabuki Dancer and a friend of the Emperor of Japan who he convinced to allow the show out of Japan. Also in the office was Gregory Peck and his wife, Robert Ryan and his wife as well and the Newmans.

  Note Not sure about the Newmans being in attendance on this evening, I only remember there being at one of the shows and being entertained in the Greek offices. I was always introduced to and allowed to visit them as I was the one who would show them to their seats.

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The Connection with Influential People in Acting

One day, Bob came into work and asked me if I played Tennis. He mentioned that his dad was having a barbeque at this house in Beverly Hills and would I like to come. He said that a lot of his dad’s friends would be there and everyone would be playing tennis. I, of course, told him that I would love to come, and assured him I played Tennis.

Well, truth be known, I had never held a tennis racket in my life. I figured, how difficult could it be. Someone hits you a ball and you hit it back. I could do that. As poor as I was I went out and bought myself a tennis outfit and a tennis racket. And showed up appropriately dressed to play. Well everybody who was anybody was there. Pretty much all the Universal Studio Producers and more stars than you could name. I was so intimidated I hardly engaged with anyone. The day just got worse for me as they were going to have sort of a mini tennis tournament and everyone got paired up. I got paired up with Charlton Heston and we were the first pair up. There were two courts and the other court was paired with Patricia Neal and Julie Andrews, just to give you an idea of some of the celebrities at the event.  

  Mr. Hestson and I were the first ones up and he was chosen to serve. He served and I hit the ball so hard that the ball went over the fencing and into the neighbor’s yard. I, of course, freaked out. We got another ball and I hit the ball again too high and out of bounds. At this point Mr. Heston came up to the net and said to me; “Have you ever played Tennis before”? I fessed up and said I hadn’t ever played the game in my life. He laughed and said let’s have a drink. It was then that he introduced me to Fresca and Beer, saying the carbonation in Fresca gave the beer a real kick to enhance its carbonation. After a couple of these beverages, Mr. Heston got matched up with someone else and I left after the most embarrassing day of my life. I did get a short-lived job at Universal as a gofer running messages back and forth between the sound stages and producers. This opened up some really strong relationships around the studio. One of which was Bert Metcalf, the Executive Producer of MASH, the television show. He gave me a piece of advice that I ultimately reluctantly agreed was my best option for my future. 

  He told me that I was very talented and had proved it more than once. He told me that the problem in Hollywood was that only 3% of the Actors in Hollywood that were members of the Screen Actors Guild actually made a living as actors. He said, and I wanted to believe him, that he felt I had the talent to ultimately make it as an actor. “That said, let’s assume you become a star in film & television, Let me remind you that the average life expectancy of a film star is 5 years, and then you are done as tastes move on”. He said that Mega Stars represent less than 1 % of all actors in the Screen Actors Guild. “You have an excellent understanding of how the business works and what it would take to succeed. You need to refocus your efforts in learning how to produce events in film, television, concerts, and stage so you can continue to be successful until the day you die. It never matters what you look like, it’s all about your talent in creating products and events your audience wants to see. Do that and you will always make a great living, especially if you create the product and own the rights to it”. I still wanted to act but realized he was dead right and I was going to dedicate myself to that goal.

  Hollywood was kind of crazy in the ’60s, as the sexual revolution was in full swing. Women, as well as Men, had become very sexually promiscuous, women started burning their bra’s and going topless whenever possible. There were see-through blouses and micro-mini skirts that barely covered anything. Add to this, there were topless restaurants, car washes, and beaches in many movies. Women felt there was no issue with their ability to be aggressive with selecting partners until AIDS came along and changed everything to a much more cautious attitude.

   It was the age of bell-bottom pants and ruffled shirts and shoes with lifts. There was hardly a need back then for the “Me Too Movement”. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of abuse in the film industry, because there was and still is to this day. It was just a time that sexuality was much more open and accepted. I mention all of this as it was a time that Hollywood was in a great transition, it was becoming much more youthful, The President of Paramount was 24 years old, and The President of 20th Century was 26. The only studio to not make any shifts in Management was Universal Studios, whose management stayed in place for over 40 years, this all became necessary as the Hollywood Studios were going broke and many had to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy. So new thinking was necessary to turn the industry around, 20th Century had spent so much money over budget on Hello Dolly that they couldn’t even take the sets down for several years. Another thing that happened was a rush of independent studios that were creating films on budgets that would have been impossible. The first example was “Easy Rider” that was a huge success and only cost a few million to produce. It also created two mega stars in Peter Fonda and Jack Nicolson.  

  This was unheard of, a low budget back then would have been around $9.000.000.00+. One of the reasons this was possible was technology, and a flow of independent theaters investing in films and new talent coming into the industry, remember we are talking about the ’60s here.

  Back then when you wanted to make a film you had to go to the studio to make your pitch, in the hope they would give you studio space (well they really didn’t give it to you.) From the ’40s to the late ’60s when you produced a film you only got a third of the box office revenue after the distributor (Generally this would be shared with the studio) and the exhibitor (the theater) got another third. The studio also gets all costs upfront. Also, the producer needs to acquire what was then called a completion bond which had to be cash to ensure that the picture was produced on time and on budget and the stars completed their contracts. Today, pretty much everything is streamed to the theaters so it illuminated the distributor and a lot of the costs going to the theaters. Also in the 60 & the ’70s, due to a lack of product, a lot of the theater chains investing a lot of money into film production to have films to fill their screens. The reason for all of this information is that the cost of making a movie has gone down substantially, with major corporations buying up studios and film production. This time, you have to remember this was well before actors and performers owned the rights to their talent and performances. Royalties were yet to be distributed to performers and producers in the television production world.

Also, television was really bringing costs down with new shows. The theaters both live and film were suffering for a while but recovered rather quickly. One of the on-going fears back then was cable television. The film industry was going to destroy the film and movie theater industry. Which was totally an over-reaction by the industry.

  Their fear back then was the explosion of cable television. Also, another entertainment venue was the shift of the concert business from night clubs to stadiums.

Pasadena Playhouse leadership had wanted to manage me but couldn’t approach me until after I was no longer a student. They had better contacts with the studios (Universal Studio for one) and could have probably done more for me with the studios with them representing me. 

  To tell the truth I just wasn’t very good in the beginning of the auditions and I had a partner named Patty Pricket, who would do scenes with me at the studios, one of my problems was we were starving and every time we went to an audition we were scared to death and praying we would get accepted. My other problem was that I had a birthmark on one of my eyes and I had dark brown hair in a world of blondes. Back then, no man with dark hair was even slightly considered for any roles on television. There were a few support actors with dark hair but no starring roles.

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Acting School was Once so Stressful

Times were very difficult for my wife and me, as she became clinically depressed and quit her job, losing the income she was bringing in. We didn’t have any health insurance and she also was not eligible for unemployment. She slept pretty much all day and night. And was totally unable to work. So to pay the bills and stay in school I took a job as a medic (which I had been trained for when I was in the service). At the Pasadena Community Hospital between 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM.  This allowed me to get to class by 8:00 AM and be able to rehearse my shows at the school in the theater until 10:00 PM and make it to work on time.

We still had financial issues, however, as we had moved into a larger apartment that afforded us our own bedroom and living room space. The cost of this we just couldn’t afford at the time. This went on for about 6 months and I was facing not being able to return to school. I met with the school to inform them that we just didn’t have the money to continue attending. What happened next was totally unexpected. They offered me a Student Loan to cover my tuition and then gave me the concessions for the theatres i.e. coffee, tea and snacks for all the theaters at the school. By the time this all came into play, my wife had pretty much recovered from her depression and was able to manage the concessions so I could continue attending school. They also gave me a teaching position, teaching Phonetics which I was very good at and was paid well to teach the class for a semester.

With the student loan and revenue coming in from the concessions, teaching position and my GED money we were able to get by. To help, we moved out of the larger apartment into something more reasonable.

The only problem was the new place was about 9 miles from the school, and as long as my car worked I was good to go. However, when my car needed a fuel pump, which was going to cost us about $39.00++ for a new one, and I remember this like it was yesterday, as we just didn’t have the money for the repair. I just sat in the car and cried my eyes out as I just didn’t have the money and I was facing a 9-mile walk to school and a 9-mile walk home. I had to get up pretty early to get to school on time. It took me about a month to put the money together to get the car repaired and not have to make that walk each day. I should say, that on the morning walk I could successfully hitch a ride from time to time so it wasn’t so bad.

Note:   I should mention that some of the classmates I studied with were Groucho Mark’s Daughter, Sally Struthers, Frederick Lucking, and many others who went onto star in television series of their own. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them.

When we took over the concessions I remember one night when one of the audience members came up to me and asked if I had an agent, and I told him I didn’t. He told me that his agency might be interested in representing me and we made an appointment to meet at his offices to discuss his representation of me. I took the meeting and they signed me and their agency began to represent me. Actually, this decision turned out to be a mistake on my part as I later learned that the President & Dean of the Pasadena Playhouse had plans to represent me but couldn’t reveal it until after I graduated. Had I known this, I would have held on and looked for an agent after my graduation. Things started to turn around for me when I changed the scene I was presenting during my auditions to a scene from Dylan (Dylan Thomas) from a play by Sidney Micheals. About his life and that of his wife Caitlin when they lived in Majorca. I did the scene where Dylan, obviously inebriated, recites “Bah Bah Black Sheep Have You Any Wool” to his sleeping baby daughter, Have to thank the comedian Foster Brooks and my knowledge of phonetics for making this scene stand out to the studio auditions. It got me noticed by 20th Century Fox, who I got a contract with and considered MGM. It was short-lived, as 20th Century when it went to Chapter 11 and disbanded its contract player department. But before that happened I got to be in a couple of television shows that the studio arranged for me. My first scene was in a series called “To Catch a Thief” with Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, and Malachi Throne, I also appeared in “Where’s Poppy” with Alan Arkin and a brief appearance in the television show MASH. It was working on this show that I met Bert Medcalf, the Executive Producer of the show. It was Mr. Medcalf that gave me a piece of advice that ultimately changed my life. But more about that later. I also did a couple of stage shows, one of which was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles when I was the understudy for Timothy Dalton, who played Phillip the II the King of France the main stars where  Peter O’tool., Anthony Hopkins and Katherine Hepburn in the “The Lion in Winter. I also appeared with Richard Burton and Eva Gardner in the movie “Night of the Iguana” To be honest, however, I think I ended up on the cutting room floor for my performance in that film. That was the extent of my acting career, and with the studio going into bankruptcy, I was back on the street again.

So I needed a job again and ended up getting one as the manager of the ushers at the Cinerama Dome at Hollywood & Vine. The theatre was huge and owned by George Forman, who invented the Cinerama Concept which included the projector and lenses to project onto a 180’ screen that was over 20’ high. It didn’t have much product back then to show, but enough to keep audiences coming to see movies produced in that format. The main film when I came there was Krakatoa East of Java depicting the eruption of the Krakatoa Volcano, which destroyed the island of Java. I remember that it was about the only film made in that format, except for some travel films. It took quite a while for the format to catch on and provide product for Cinerama films, but Forman had deep pockets and could wait it out. The theater from time to time presented other formats i.e. Panavision and others, one that sticks in my mind was the ‘Green Berets’, a John Wayne movie about the war in Vietnam.

The film starred John Wayne and all his buddies, and it was definitely in favor of the war, which wasn’t very popular at the time. Another reason I remember this film was when it opened John Wayne was in attendance and I got to spend some time with him. Another thing that made the theater unique was that it was the only hard ticket movie theater in Hollywood at the time.

I worked at the Cinerama Dome for about 6 months and got to the point that the smell of Popcorn was making me sick, I don’t suffer from that today but sure did back then. One of the perks was we had some of the prettiest usherettes I had ever had the opportunity of working with and the theatre manager and his wife and family where great to work with. The job was great, but it didn’t pay much. I was getting about $300.00 a week as a contract player and after I graduated from the playhouse I was no longer getting the GED money, fortunately, we saved as much money as we could and had enough to keep going for a while. I was still trying to be an actor and was continuing to go out to auditions and fortunately I had some film work to show for it. Back then when you went out on an audition, the first thing a casting director would ask you was if you had any film to show them. If you didn’t, your chances were slim. I did, however, have a video of my performance in the “Lion in Winter” but that was it. My problem during auditions was that I always suffered Stage Fright at the very beginning. I always recovered quickly but it just used to screw with my confidence at the start.

When I was at the Cinerama Dome I had a guy working with me named Bob Lang, who I became fast friends with. Little did I know at the time was that his father was Jennings Lang the Executive Vice President of Production at Universal Studios. (In short, he was second only to the President and CEO of MCA which owned Universal at the time. It should be pointed out that Universal was one of the only studios that didn’t have any financial issues. It was making money mostly because they focused on television series productions and very little film work.

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The Early Stages of My Acting Journey

I decided to write about my Hollywood Years to explain the history that set me on my path to becoming a special event producer, starting in the early 1970s and continuing to this day.

When I was a kid I always loved movies and was fascinated by the people who produced them. I wanted to be an actor. If I couldn’t, I wanted to be one of the people who produced them. But my first love was being an actor. My love acting started when I was in High School, and due to having an accident I got a trick knee, so playing football was not going to happen. So I opted to pursue what I wanted to do and that was to be a performer. So I joined the Drama Club and was lucky enough to play the lead in almost all of the shows we produced in high school. I had been nominated to receive the superlative as the most talented student but didn’t win because the school’s head of curriculum refused to support me in achieving the honor. I have to say that was the best thing that could have happened to me, as it made me understand I needed to adopt a better understanding of how I was influencing others. That said, I have to say that I had great teachers, one of which even paid out of her pocket to send me to acting school in Miami, which gave me the confidence to continue and a deep respect and appreciation to her for helping me to attempt to realize my dream of becoming an actor. I was hoping to be able to go on to college but I scored so low on my SAT that no college would accept me as a student.

Since I couldn’t get into any college I joined the Air force (as many of my family members thought it would be a good idea for my future) and ended up in Orlando Florida as a Medic. Long story about how I ended up as a Medic. When you volunteer to join the service they allow you to specify what job classification you would like to perform while in the service. I signed up wanting to be Ariel Photographer and ended up as an X-Ray Technician (well the Air force told me that they complied with my request as I was getting to take pictures. They trained me to be a medic in North Carolina and then sent me to McCoy Air force base and gave me a job in Medical Supply. When I complained, they informed me that when I enlisted I signed an agreement that did not guarantee me a position in the requested job classification I signed on for. So they wasted a lot of time and money training me to be a Medic and an X-Ray Technician. Ultimately, it was a godsend, as my job provided me with an incredible amount of free time, basically, it was a 9 to 5 job for 5 days a week. The reason I loved the job was it gave me time to continue my goal of becoming an actor. I started auditioning for parts at the Orlando Civic Theater and was very successful in getting parts. There was also another theater in Orlando called the Orange Blossom Theater, which was owned and operated by a woman named Lisa Hawley, the heir to the Samsonite Luggage Corporation.

The theater was awesome, and cost a substantial amount of money to build. It had a massive turntable as part of the stage and also seated more than 600 guests. It also had a full shop along with state of the art sound and lighting systems and two rehearsal halls and fully equipped dressing rooms.

I was lucky to be in many productions in the theater. My most memorable role was playing Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie. I was horrible in the part as I couldn’t sing a note no matter how much I rehearsed for the part. However, I did get great reviews and the audience loved the show.

I even met my first wife in a production of the Musical “Little Abner”. Based on my performances, I was approached by a scout for the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theater Arts in California who offered me an opportunity to audition for the school, which I did, and was instantly accepted to attend the school. The Playhouse, which at the time was the second most influential (Actors Studio was the # 1) actors training school in America. My enlistment in the Air Force was coming to an end and before it did I got married. I planned to move to California and attend the Pasadena Playhouse.

Part of my enlistment in the service entitled me to receive what was then called a stiffen of $125.00 a month for continued education. It was called a GED (Government Education Dispersant. My wife was going to get a job and with the money from the government, we would have enough money to live on while I attended school. We drove from Orlando to Los Angeles and just barely made it with the money we had. We went to Pasadena and got an apartment, which at the time cost us $100.00 a month, was fully furnished, and within walking distance of the school. It was a studio apartment and the landlady lived next door. She was very nice and made us feel very welcome, and the furnishings were first class.

Pasadena was not very welcoming to students of the playhouse and she was kind enough to wave several deposits we would have to make as students and we vowed to be excellent tenants which we were. My wife got a job and we were doing well. I started attending school and was also doing very well. The playhouse was incredible. The teaching staff was first class. The President of the College at the time was a known producer in Hollywood who was producing a sit-com called “Dennis the Menace” and the Dean was also associate producer of another Sit-Com Comedy called MASH. The instructors were, to my knowledge, some of the best in the business. I learned a great deal.

Classes began every morning at 8:00 AM, and started with acting classes. The first thing that happens in acting classes is to break you down to a point where you doubt you have any talent at all. It is brutal and a lot of the students don’t make it through the first semester, and for that matter, the first year. Each day you would be given a scene to perform and your classmates and instructor would critique your performance. Hardly anyone came out of this feeling good about their creativity and performance skills, The reason they do this is to make you see the role you are presenting outside your comfort zone. It’s about the author and capturing the essence of the role and your ability to translate it into your performance and that of the author.

Another reason for this approach is to teach everyone how to deal with rejection, which would be critical for your ability to cope as your career progresses.

This criticism of your talent only goes on for the first semester as the instructors begin to encourage your approach and begin to recognize your talent and performance abilities, This becomes very clear to you as you move forward. You have to destroy your ego to start with, so you can build a new sustainable one. This is hard, and you must have a strong inner sense to come through this without understanding the process and it’s important to your future as an actor. The second has your day is role-playing. Your instructor selects scenes and partners you up with other students to perform a short play, The Pasadena Playhouse had the main theater that seated about 650 guests. It also had about 4 smaller theaters that seated about 60 guests and one larger one that seated about 75, (these capacity numbers could be incorrect as it was over 50 years ago.) In addition to acting lessons, you were also required to take ballet classes, fencing classes, phonetics, and scenic design and fabrication. In other words, we were required from time to time to work on the fabrication of sets and props for productions we would be performing in.

Classes would go on until about 5:00 PM and then you were dismissed and required to return at 7:30 PM to rehearse a play you and the cast where given to perform in one of the smaller theaters, on the weekends some students would return to work in some of the productions in the main theater. Also, the main theater was used to present celebrity speakers who would come to address the students.

I did quite well and got straight A’s in all my classes throughout the year and won the Most Talented Student at the Playhouse for my first year. And won it again for my second year.

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Fun Company Event Ideas in the Disney Years Chapter Twelve Part Two

It’s always hard to come up with fun company event ideas. Getting everything together seems to be a difficult task. But remember, with these event ideas, you come up with a well-managed company. So, continuing on with chapter twelve…

Back to Pepsi’s convention. Our first job was to provide the stagehands and operators with a means to load in their production equipment and staging into the room and assist in the installation itself. Our next function was to work with the company that provided all the Pepsi products and display it throughout the ballroom, pre-function areas, as well as lobbies and breakout rooms. This consisted of decorating twelve-thousand cases of Pepsi Cola product strategically placed about the hotel. This goes back to a time before plastic bottles and packaging. Each case was wooden and the bottles where glass. You can imagine, then, that the size of those crates is nothing like what you’d see in the supermarket now, and was certainly more fragile while at the same time being heavier. The big job here was to get the cases off the elevator and stage onto the floor. Once that was done, we could move the items by forklift and minimize the risk of harming the product. It took several days working two shifts to get all of them into their proper places. We also had another crew working with the decorator to fabricate the displays themselves so as to avoid burning anyone out. This, I can say, was a logistical nightmare. Right now, I want you to close your eyes and try to picture twelve-thousand of anything, anything at all, then imagine how you’d get each one of that thing to a specific place in only a few days and limited crew. That was a stressful experience I’m not eager to repeat, but we got it done on time and to the satisfaction of our client, which is all that matters. He was so incredibly pleased with the job we did, in fact, that at the end he gave my department all twelve-thousand cases of product to express his gratitude. A kind gesture to be sure, but again, distributing those twelve-thousand cases was no picnic. Ultimately, we have a third of the product to the talent from the Entertainment Division, another third to the convention services department at the hotel, and the rest to our crews. But you can’t simply walk home with a case or two like it’s a bag of groceries. We had to hotwire a few trucks to move everything to crew members’ apartments and homes but got it done in record time. Needless to say, no one went without a Pepsi for several years.

Let’s discuss one of the main themed events we produced for Pepsi’s Anniversary. Bob Yani, the Executive Vice President of the Entertainment Division, created a spectacular luau on the Polynesian Beach that featured over two-hundred and fifty performers. It started with a larger than life luau showcasing over one-hundred performers during the opening with fire knife performers at the show’s finale. After the dancing was through, the Admirable Fowler Riverboat came sailing into view with the entire cast of a popular group called the Young Americans performing on its decks. As it moved into position, the luau talent continued as the electric water pageant moved into position while we lit up the sky with a custom Fantasy in the Sky fireworks extravaganza finale capped off with a massive Pepsi 75th Anniversary logo burned across the sky by a massive helicopter to close out the festivities.

There wasn’t more to this show than the grand opening in terms of coordination, but the timing of the helicopter had to be just right if it was going to push the wow factor through the roof. That one element was so important to Disney that Card Walker, the CEO of Disney, insisted on calling the helicopter logo to burn himself. The timing had to be perfect, as we only had twenty seconds from the cue call to make sure the logo burn was completely ignited over the audience as it passed above their heads and into the middle of the lake. Needless to say, it went off perfectly. Hats off to the Bob Yani for his inspiration for the show, hats off to Card Walker, hats off to the talent, and a special hats off to my technical team. Everything came together swimmingly and went off without a hitch.

Sometimes, the hardest part of fun company event ideas isn’t drawing up themes or even building anything: it’s the logistics of it all. With so many moving pieces, from the crew you employ to literal set pieces needing to be arranged, know where everyone is, what they are doing, and how it’s all going to come together can be problematic, to say the very least. In reality, there’s only so much you can plan for, and even then, there’s only so much you can control. I want to impress on you the importance of adaptability on a logistical level. There won’t always be a Card Walker to insist on pulling off the finale himself, and sometimes the finale you planned for may not be so easy to pull off in the first place. Event staging is a creative business, but not just in the audiovisual aspect. You need to be able to think creatively in order to solve logistical problems. Think back to the Construction Party. When we learned Oscar Myer was going to host an event with us, no one’s first thought was to slap on a hard hat and start hauling debris. We were initially stifled by limitations, but we didn’t let them hold us back for long. More often than not, quick thinking is what will keep an event from falling short of what you hope for.

I wanted to share some of the experiences we had in the early days after the Park and Resort Division opened.  I promise to get back on track in chapter thirteen when I get into some of the politics and challenges needed to succeed at Walt Disney World. If you’ve never worked with a massive corporation, you may be surprised by the things that I described. While there will always be people who simply want to their jobs, and others who want to do their jobs the best they can for the good of the company as a whole, there’s usually a group concerned with little more than advancing themselves, even it comes at the cost of efficiency or even the jobs of others. Learning to navigate among all of these people, let alone learning where each one stands, it a trick itself, but the art of keeping inline and not rocking the boat is something you’re always in the process of learning.

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Fun Corporate Work Event Ideas in the Disney Years Chapter Twelve Part One

Fun corporate event ideas is the backbone to a successful company. When fun is introduced into work events, you would have greater opportunities to reap better rewards compared to a routine boring 9 to 5 cycle. Let’s start with chapter twelve.

Things were moving along at breakneck speed as we hosted our first meeting at the Contemporary Hotel, which was for Oscar Myer. I remember this meeting particularly well because the Ballroom of the Americas was still in some respects incomplete and under construction. We had the tables as well as the chairs, but I don’t think we had any linen to speak of. How could the most magical place in the world not have linens? Well, it happens. Sometimes when you’re so focused on the big picture you lose track of all those little things that aren’t so important. Or at least, they aren’t so important until you realize you need them. Early on, while we were making preparations of Oscar Myer, there was a creeping feeling that we were going to come up short and leave the attendees with a poor impression of what Disney events were about. But Disney’s Banquet Department came up with what I thought at the time was a brilliant idea, and one that perfectly illustrates what it means to truly think outside of the box.

The stage was totally operational with lighting and sound systems, which at the time had to be portable because the in house systems were still being installed. The first meeting was to be a luncheon for about five-hundred or so guests. I don’t remember what the issues were that precluded the ability for Disney to provide a plated event itself or, for that matter, buffet, but the client knew in advance that there was going to be a problem and thus it wouldn’t be an issue. So Disney came up with its first themed event to be held in the ballroom: they mounted a Construction Party. It consisted of custom Oscar Myer hard hats and lunch boxes, which the Disney Banquet put together themselves. The client presenters were all in construction worker uniforms and the room was filled with as much construction debris as was reasonably possible (while still keeping it a safe environment, of course). There were even some forklifts, trussing, and other beverage stations to round out the feeling of the room. The client loved it, and because they knew what to expect, they were able to customize their presentations to comply with the construction theme. To my knowledge, the Construction Party theme was never to be repeated, which is understandable. But still, you’ve got to admire the creativity that came through at the eleventh hour on that one.

When you’re planning fun corporate event ideas, the theme itself is obviously important. But what is perhaps more important, and the reason why I think the Construction Party was such a hit, is synchronicity. Everything needs to match the theme; you can’t just put up some posters and lights and call it a day. Was it silly, perhaps even absurd, to park a forklift in the room? Sure. But it absolutely worked because it was part of such a strongly built atmosphere. It’s a simple matter of feeling like you’re part of something different, something that totally envelops you. It can be argued that it had absolutely nothing to do with Oscar Myer or their products (and no one would rebut that), but themes need not reflect those you are hosting to be effective. I think if more people in the industry understood this they’d have an easier time of things.

The second group to hold a meeting in the Contemporary, as I remember, was Tupperware. It sticks in my mind as the Ballroom of the Americas had virtually no way to get anything into the room. The Ballroom was designed for banquets and initially not for the conference market. As I believe I mentioned before, it had no elevator leading up to the ballroom, and the entrance doors we had, other than those of the main entrance, were not wide or tall enough to bring in anything larger than 7′ high by 4’in width. Tupperware had built a stage set that had to be carried by hand up the back external stairs to the 4th floor if we were to get it in there at all. Our team at Technical Services provided the team to make the installation. We also worked closely with Tupperware to make sure that all flame retardant certificates complied with Reedy Creek Fire & Safety Department guidelines and specifications which, at the time, were some of the most stringent in the country (and still are, for that matter). In something of an ironic twist, meeting safety requirements was actually the easy part of this event. The real struggle was actually staging it given the Ballroom’s unique build. For whatever reason, the designers lacked the foresight to see that we’d be hosting corporate events and might want to utilize as many of the buildings as possible for that purpose. Still, we managed despite all of the headaches it caused.

Probably the most spectacular convention I and my department worked on was the 75th Anniversary of the Pepsi Cola Company. This convention was to host Pepsi Cola’s top distributors from around the world. Every event we hosted was an opportunity to show ourselves off to attendees, but because these distributors were coming from all around the world, we felt more pressure than usual. Our job was to assist in and provide all the logistics for the events and activities of the meeting while on property. By this time we had one of the most sophisticated lighting and sound reinforcement systems in the country, plus we had one of the largest freight elevators allowing us to bring almost anything into the room, from automobiles to extensive trussing and staging elements. The elevator allowed us to drive anything into the elevator from what was called the “Fiesta Fun Center” on the bottom floor.

We also had substantially upgraded our electrical grid so that we could more readily comply with an ever increasing demand for production-grade electrical requirements. In short, we would be able to provide just about any production requirement asked of us at the time, allowing us to support a wider variety of shows and spectacles. Back then, the Ballroom of the Americas was the largest ballroom in Orlando, measuring at a whopping 10,000 square feet, at least until Marriott came along and started providing mega square-foot ballrooms. For several years Disney and Marriott engaged in a rivalry by building ever bigger ballrooms to try and top each other. I don’t know for certain who won, but it would be interesting to see how much money each party spent for the sake of showmanship.

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Corporate Event Benefits in the Disney Years Chapter Eleven Part Two

Corporate Event Benefits a lot of people. Any job that deals with employees would always need some kind of stress reliever, a way of knowing each other, getting the interest of the crowd, etc.… Everybody needs an event to make jobs more interesting and manageable. So to continue on with part 2 of chapter eleven, so Peter and I became fast friends as we were both functional beverage consumers. When our schedules allowed (which was about every day, mind you), we would meet up in the Monorail Bar to discuss our events of the last twenty-four hours and maybe have a fruit juice or something. It was a great way for us to get to know each other outside of our jobs, but it could also get pricey fast (our monthly bar tab was scandalous, as I’m sure some of the others we worked with could attest to). Back then everyone drank a lot, and especially with clients. It was simply a way for professionals to be sociable, even if it meant you got a little sideways from time to time. That sort of culture doesn’t exist these days, at least not in the same way: you might be got out for drinks with coworkers once in a while, but if you did it every night it’s a safe bet that someone is losing their job. But it was simply different then, and I can remember making my rounds being a little happier than I should have been on more than a few occasions. Fortunately, I was the kind of imbiber that could not show to what extent my happiness ratio was. Back then we worked incredible hours. My average day would normally be from about 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM and mostly to 10:00 PM, especially when we had shows or clients in-house. With hours like that, it also helped as a way to unwind.

We had purchased a very large inventory of audiovisual equipment to meet the needs of our incoming groups. Back then, the king of projectors was the Kodak Ektagraphic Projector. With producers lining up to create presentations with as many projectors in use at the same time as possible, a lot of presentations were shifting to video. While I can’t remember who the top producer of these projectors was back then (it was, after all, about 45 years ago), they cost between $45,000.00 to $60,000.00 dollars each, and any AV service worth its salt needed at least 6 of them in inventory. I’m sure anyone in the business back then could tell you who the primary manufacturer of these projectors was. With today’s technologies, a lot of these providers have long gone out of business, especially with the introduction of laser projectors commonly used today (I could write a book on this subject, and in fact, there probably is one out there). You can buy a state of the art presentation video projector for about $15,000.00 to $20,000.00, which is still a lot for an individual but not a company. I mention this only because any audio-visual equipment rental business back then would have to spend almost all their profits each year just to keep up with the technology. We at Disney did everything we could just to keep up ourselves. From time to time we would have to outsource equipment from outside providers just to meet the needs of clients as well as our own events, and sometimes doing just that could be a struggle.

Just as an aside, I’d like to take a moment to drive a point home. Disney as a company is thought of like a giant, well-oiled machine, and that reputation is well deserved. As I mentioned early on, the modern event planning industry owes a great deal to the Walt Disney Company. But Disney, like every other company on the planet, is comprised of people just like you and me. If it ever seems like Disney is on top, it’s not because the entity itself is incredibly powerful. It’s because of the people who are willing to make sacrifices and think fast in order to get all the pieces in place. This doesn’t stop being true no matter how successful you are. Part of this is accepting that you can’t always do everything yourself, or even in-house. These days I’m sure Walt Disney World is filled to the rafters with all of the equipment they could ever use, but if something unexpected happens I doubt they’d be too big on their reputation to get outside help. It’s all about flexibility.

In Orlando back then, there were only two sources for audiovisual rental equipment, the largest being a company called Photo Sound, and another one in Winter Park which was quite small and at the time did not deliver to Disney due to the distance from its office. Photo Sound, on the other hand, was not open after 5:00 PM and would only deliver to Disney on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It also was not open on Sunday. So if you needed something, you would have to drive to their office to pick up what you needed.  If Photo Sound would have recognized how huge Disney’s needs for equipment would have been back then, they would be huge today.   I was glad they were not so accommodating as it gave me an idea that ultimately made me a fortune (but not, of course, when I was still at Disney).

Sorry to have spent so much time on the AV side of Technical Services equipment needs and challenges. But it will become perfectly clear in future chapters. Obviously, all this equipment is important to what happens at Walt Disney World. That said, let me get back on track.

Once the Contemporary, Polynesian and other live venues were open and conferences were coming into the properties, we took delivery of the corporate themed events that Reid Carlson had designed and we were ready to go. As I mentioned before, I knew Reid from my Pasadena Playhouse days. The only way we could attract Reid to join us was to get a little creative in how he was compensated. We did it by making him work a tremendous amount of, shall we say, over time. We also got some clearance from the Entertainment Division as well as some blessings from WED. Reid and I became close friends for many years until I made a change which will be the subject of another chapter about a different era.

But even with all of these things going smoothly there were some challenges, as we needed to get the stagehands and technicians to support the production and themed event installations, presentations operations, and removals. This goes back to my real problem, which was to get enough qualified personnel to support our volume of activities. We also needed trucks and vans on top of the personnel issues. Being in the Facilities Division and not the Entertainment Division was creating some problems, especially in the area of operator compensation versus what was being paid to some, like classifications in the Facilities Division. In short, our people were being grossly underpaid, making it difficult getting the qualified personnel. We needed to support our growing responsibilities, and while we had a crack team of volunteers to build the grand opening event, that simply wouldn’t be sustainable on a full-time basis (nor would it be legal, I’m sure). Getting talented hands on board and on payroll was the key to solving many, if not all, of our labor issues. It may surprise you to learn that Disney was union, and at the beginning had set up a union council. It came up with a compensation schedule for all job classifications and all the various unions represented in the park, and together they came up with an agreement that would be binding for a five year period and then renegotiated at that time. While the pay may have been good for some departments, the amount of labor required in some didn’t meet the expectations of people we wanted to hire, putting us in something of a bind. Burnout was a real risk with those we did have and with labor spread thin as it was, we couldn’t afford to lose those we already had.

The next chapter of the Disney Years will address how we ultimately solved these challenges.

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Corporate Event Ideas in Orlando: The Disney Years Chapter Eleven Part One

We have the best corporate event ideas in Orlando. Needless to say, Disney’s theme for corporate groups are one of a kind. It doesn’t just work for children but also mature adults.  Before I get started on this section, I would like to add a footnote to the last chapter regarding my conflict with the head of the Animatronics Department who ultimately became my boss (we will call “Mr Wonderful”). I was told by many reliable sources at Disney World that he ultimately lost his job with the company for doing something absolutely stupid. It was so foolish, in fact that I have to wonder if it’s even happened since then. It’s not every day someone takes a misstep quite like this.

A fun piece of trivia for you Disney fans: Walt Disney himself had an office and suite of rooms in Cinderella’s Castle. Walt passed away before he ever got to use the accommodations, however, and it was decided by upper management that the rooms were never to be used in respect and tribute to the man himself. They were, in effect, sealed off—but not literally so. You may remember from the last chapter my describing how there was a real need for office space, and for whatever reason, “Mr Wonderful” decided he would move his office into Walt’s private space in the castle, no questions asked and certainly no permission given. I don’t think he occupied any of Walt’s intended accommodations, but space was never to be used except for members of his family and special guests, and perhaps for the occasional executive staff meeting. When upper management found out what “Mr Wonderful” had done, he has ushered off the property. At least, that’s what I was told, and I have no reason to doubt it.

I do not know why he did it—he and I haven’t spoken since I left, obviously. I’m sure in his mind it was the practical thing to do, and thus it shouldn’t have been a problem. Though we had our problems, I really doubt it was a matter of him having too high an opinion of himself. But for all the sense it made (and sure, it made sense on some level: why not use empty space when you desperately need offices?), it was flat-out against the rules. You don’t overstep the boundaries, especially at Disney.

There was probably more to this story than I was made privy to (as the old saying goes, “there’s three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth), but he did vanish. I felt it appropriate to add this footnote because I thought so much of him when the two of us were working together. This happened well after I left Disney to start my own business, so I should say that I don’t really know all the details for sure, but the person at Disney who told me was a close friend and pretty high up at the Mouse House, so they are pretty well in the loop of the goings on in the Magic Kingdom. It’s unlikely to me that they would make something like that up for my entertainment. I would love to know just exactly what went down that day, but I suppose I’ll have to settle for the story as I’ve been told.

That said, things were really heating up at the resort division (which is one of the main reasons I moved my office over to the Contemporary Hotel). The relationship between Technical Services and the Entertainment Division was becoming very strong since my department and the Entertainment Division having meetings was becoming a daily requirement. In order to maximize the communication, I was introduced to Peter Bloustien, whose responsibility was to meet with incoming clients coming into the hotel for on-site inspections and to sell them Disney entertainment and themed corporate events ideas for their conferences. Selling someone on Disney may seem like an easy task to you, especially when you consider the entertainment monolith it is today, but it’s not always so easy to sell to business people. Peter and I hit it off big time. He was an absolutely incredible salesman. What he would do when he met with a client (or clients) was to ask them what they wanted to provide their attendees for entertainment during their conference. Some would say that they just wanted a DJ or a trio, nothing that would strike us as particularly special. Peter would then tell them that Walt Disney World didn’t do DJ’s or trios and refuse to suggest any other entertainment. He would remind them that they were at Walt Disney World, the most creative and innovative themed entertainment and talent in the world. Usually, by the end of the meeting, he would sell them a themed opening reception and a special Disney Show for their awards night closing if they had one. If they had a trade show, we would build a package of entertainment groups from the park. He was always successful in reminding them at all times that they were at Walt Disney World, not Knott’s Berry Farm. My function at these site inspections was to let the site inspection committee know that Walt Disney World was totally full service and that we could handle all their needs, from audio visual rentals, staging, lighting sound as well as set design and custom fabrication.

From my perspective, part of Peter’s talent and success as a salesperson for the park was in his ability to let them experience what made us so unique in the first place. There’s a principle in writing called “show, don’t tell.” Part of the idea is that readers will be more engaged and find more value in what you’re writing if don’t directly come out and say it. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that the same guideline goes a long way when you’re trying to make a sale, too, but think about any time someone has made you a sales pitch on anything—a car, an appliance, whatever. Did they start rattling off a list of features? Chances are that they did. Did you know what all of them meant, or how they were even useful to you? Maybe not. They would have told you, surely, but does an explanation mean as much as getting the first-hand experience?

It would have been a simple thing for Disney to mail out a bunch of adverts to these people with photos and bullet-point lists about every little thing we could do and leave it at that. But the tours as Peter did them said a lot more than any materials we could have cooked up.

In these meeting, we would also have someone from transportation there to discuss their ground transportation, printing, and assistance in marketing the conference to their potential attendees. We also would have someone from reservations (who back then was Harris Rosen).  Disney was, to my knowledge, the first totally full-service convention services company in the USA. WDW could handle all the client’s needs under one roof, which ultimately gave me the idea of a lifetime.

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Simple Team Building Exercises in the Disney Years Chapter Ten Part Two

So I accepted the promotion and went to work straight away. The first thing I did was call in my team to let them know about my new position. Everyone seemed to be thrilled that I was going to be the “leader of the pack” going forward. Those in the Entertainment Division were also quite enthusiastic about my new role. I knew some of what I was going to be doing just from having observed so much in the past, but there’s really no way to know what you’re getting into until you’re already waist deep in it. While I was busy thinking about what Simple team building exercises I wanted to conduct and how I could open the lines of communication within the department, some of the unexpected aspects of my job were lurking just beyond my vision.

One of the problems we always had back then was the fact that the Technical Service Department was in the Facilities Division. It was always a challenge for the Entertainment Division not to have control of the Technical Services Department. They were happy about the promotion because I was considered to be one of them with a strong entertainment background, and they believed it would put their division in more direct control of the department.

The second thing I did was have my office moved outside of the tunnel and over to a spotlight booth at the Contemporary Hotel (which itself is a long story, so I won’t be getting into it here) where I didn’t have to listen to “It’s a Small World After All” all day long on an endless loop. My new job also entitled me to have a secretary, so I arranged to get one as soon as I could.  The new office, as I mentioned, was a spotlight booth in the “Ballroom of the Americas,” located in the Contemporary Hotel. The reason for this was that the spotlight booths were poorly designed, with the spotlight openings placed inexplicably at the ceiling level. This meant that the spotlight couldn’t hit the stage or front of the room, nor could it hit the sides of the room for that matter. Its shortcomings made for the perfect office space. There were four booths in total. One of them housed my office, another the night auditor for the hotel, and the other two we used for sound and lighting control. It was far from ideal, but it did the job back then. At the very least, it far and away better than a musical tunnel.

I got a pass to be able to park in the back of the Magic Kingdom so I could attend the 8:00 AM meetings with the Facilities Division and make my rounds to meet with my team at the various live venues throughout the park. Technical Services (as I have probably mentioned earlier) was responsible for providing lighting, sound reinforcement, and were the operators for all live venues in the park and resorts. It also was required to provide all staging, lighting, sound, and operators for all in house meetings and special events held in the park and golf courses, as well as the resort division, campgrounds, and the Disney film library that the guests could rent from when staying at one of the Disney properties, all duties I loved performing and felt I was performing admirably, as well as others in the Entertainment & Facilities Division. As I had mentioned many times before, I was required to attend the Facility Division heads of departments every weekday morning at 8:00 AM, still to discuss the day’s activities and goals. I got along with everyone quite well with the exception of the Superintendent of Animatronics, who we will call “Mr Wonderful” for this chapter (I can’t remember his actual name anyway, so it’s necessary). He was always trying to get my department to hand over our Pargo (an electric vehicle) that we used to move performers, operators, and equipment throughout the tunnel during the days and evenings. Hardly a week went by where he wasn’t asking Neil to take the vehicle away from us and hand it over to his department. Neil always told him he wouldn’t do it. I have to give “Mr Wonderful” credit, as he never gave up trying to get his hands on that thing. He was nothing if not persistent. But Neil always denied him because he understood we needed the vehicle more than Animatronics did—we did far more work that required frequent transportation in our department.

As you can imagine, this went on for months between us. Then one day Neil Gallenger got promoted up the line and “Mr Wonderful” was the next employee to be the Manager of All Departments. You may not be shocked to learn this, but one of the first things he wanted was my department’s Pargo. Perhaps he felt that his new position and sense of authority entitled him to whatever he wanted from the rest of us. But I wasn’t intimidated, and quickly came up with a plan of my own. I told him I didn’t know where it was at the moment but would get him the keys the next morning. He probably figured that I was stalling and went out searching for it by himself anyway. His thinking, I imagine, was that if he found it he could simply lay claim to it and deprive my department of it for good.

Fortunately, after hearing that “Mr Wonderful” was going to be the new boss, I instantly got hold of my guy I referred to as “Fast Eddie” and had him and his team get a truck and remove it from the tunnel ASAP, which they did. They had it out within an hour of the request. Then we arranged to take it to the Disney Shop late in the evening and build a crate for it. We marked the crate “Staging Equipment” and took it to the Shader Brothers Warehouse for storage, where it sat for almost two years collecting dust until Disney’s new warehouses where completed. I can remember the great joy I felt when I handed the keys to AH and told him I still didn’t know where it was. I also told him that we would keep looking for him but by all accounts and appearances, it just seemed to disappear. My hat went off to all involved, as everyone was sworn to secrecy and maintained the crate fabrication and its location for years. In its own weird way, our hoodwink were sort of exercises for team building! We were so careful that there was absolutely no paper trail on it, and I’m confident that had a serious search been conducted it still wouldn’t have been found. I realize now it was like cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I was damn sure not going to give it to the Animatronics Department. We had to do without it ourselves, of course, but later we did end up getting another one. Perhaps it wasn’t the most professional thing to do, messing around with a co-worker like that, but at the time I thought it was needed to keep him in check. I had no desire to deny my department something that was vital to their duties just because “Mr Wonderful” snapped his fingers and said I should.

The next chapter will discuss the ultimate marriage of the Technical Service Department and the Entertainment Division, and all the changes that were brought about.

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Exercises for Team Building in the Disney Years Chapter Ten Part One

The importance of exercises for team building is greatly seen as a tool to make people at work be productive in any way possible. Without the sense of teamwork, there is nothing great working for a company that doesn’t practice cooperation. Here is the tenth chapter of the Disney Years.

I had mentioned before the fact that we held a meeting every morning at 8:00 AM in the Facilities Division office located conveniently in “the tunnel”, the first floor where all goods and personnel moved into the park, to discuss the day’s activities along with any issues that needed to be addressed then and there, as well as any other problems that may (or may not, as was the case many times—people sometimes misidentified issues where none ever existed) have come up the day prior to the meeting itself. Normally I would meet with my boss Bill Blandon the day prior to the meeting and give him a thorough brief on the day’s activities and any issues I thought should be addressed once we were at the meeting with the others. Ultimately, he would be briefed on any subjects that would potentially be brought up during the next day’s meeting with the Facility Divisions Superintendents (under the direction of Neil Gallenger, the operations manager of the Facility Division). I remember this meeting in particular because it branched off on an issue regarding a minor accident with one of the operators in the Technical Services department the day prior. That there was an accident at all was an issue, of course, but responsible companies and crews have contingencies in place for such things, and Disney was no exception. The welfare of the worker wasn’t the issue—we were concerned, obviously, but they didn’t suffer anything debilitating or life-threatening. Simply put, when accidents happen you have to make sure everyone knows that the accident has happened. The folks in charge can assess the situation and determine if it’s necessary to implement more training or to revise current safety standards. We needed to make sure everybody heard the news so they could discuss any further action we would take.

The meeting started off with Neil asking Bill about the incident, and Bill referring to me to answer the question and status of the incident, which I did to his satisfaction. This wasn’t unusual for us; I’d come to be Bill’s eyes and ears around the park and answered on his behalf much of the time (with his permission, of course). However, this upset Neil Gallenger, who stated that he was tired of Bill always referring to me to answer questions he asked regarding the Technical Services Department. Bill tried to explain my role as well as his within the department’s operations. Neil was not happy with Bill’s response and told him he was displeased with his leadership of the department and fired him on the spot. Far from dignified, it was the last thing Bill deserved, and yet we were powerless to stop it.

This upset me to no end, as it was never my intention to create a situation like this for Bill. All I was doing was following my philosophy of making myself indispensable to Bill and the department to make his job easier and more effective. All I wanted to be—and all I was trying to do—was to be a good employee. I’m pretty sure Bill knew and understood this. More importantly, I believe he appreciated this. I wasn’t sucking up or trying to be a bootlicker. For me, it wasn’t about personal ladder climbing. While I did want to prove my worth, it was ultimately about making everything run more smoothly as a team. Regardless, I don’t think I was the reason for Bill losing his job. I think that perhaps there was more to the story than my participation in the operation of the department. I was very happy where I was. Bill had given me three promotions since he hired me, and he wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t very happy with the job I was doing for him and the department. Bill was a strong asset to the department (and Disney as a whole, I think) because he was such a talented technician with a strong knowledge of the technical side of the department. I, on the other hand, was strong only in the operations side of things. Good lord, when I started working there I didn’t have a clue about how to even turn on a sound system or operate it! I did learn fast but was never in league with Bill Blandon’s capabilities. I don’t think anyone expected me to be; it would have been such a high, unreasonable bar to pass.

At this point, with Bill gone, I wondered what was going to happen to my job and responsibilities within the department going forward. I was sure he wasn’t fired because of the role I’d been given and had been serving in, but at the same time, there was a small part of me that wondered if whatever upset Neil could quickly be applied to me if I unknowingly stepped out of line. I was valuable to Bill, but where did I stand with the other higher-ups? I felt that Bill was indispensable; one of the few people who was absolutely irreplaceable on the team, but with that notion shattered I had to question my own sense of job security. Through it all, though, I can say Bill never blamed me for what happened that morning. If he did, he never told me so after he left. But in our time together he never struck me as the kind of guy who would withhold something like that from a person. He was a kind but honest man.

Anyway, I didn’t have to wait long to know where I stood. I received an answer about my future later in the day when Neil called me into his office and promoted me to the position of superintendent (head of the department) and doubled my salary. To be honest, it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. A part of me was absolutely thrilled and another part of me was still crushed over Bill. No amount of money was going to make losing that man any easier. It was a blessing, however, as my wife and I just had a child which we proudly named Christopher.

A point I’ve been trying to stress throughout these chapters is that when you’re on a job and working as part of a team, you have to be flexible and adapt when things go off track. If you don’t, things begin to fall apart. Think back to everything I described in staging the grand opening of Walt Disney World and you’ll see how many times we had to be quick on our feet or risk letting everything fall to ruin. There’s a similar lesson that I feel is just as important, and that’s seeing the best in every bad situation. Losing Bill was a heavy blow to all of us, no doubt about that, but the promotion gave me the chance to grow professionally. There was certainly a time to dwell on his firing, which I did, but I also had to move forward if I was going to continue my own journey as a professional. Someone like Bill understood that, too.

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CREATIVE EVENT PLANNING IDEAS IN THE DISNEY YEARS CHAPTER NINE Part 2

All the pieces could be brought together to build sets of any height necessary or combine to build pieces and props that would otherwise be larger than those dimensions set. However, most ballroom ceiling heights back then were no more than 18′ in height with service doors at a minimum of 7′ in height. Also, as part of the design, we could build in the electrics to illuminate the sets. We also built in custom rolling carts to move the sets in and out of the room easily. The design required the complete theme to be set in completely within a 4 hour period, using a crew of no more than 6 stagehands. The staging to elevate the entertainment was a standard collapsible 8′ by 4′ with fabric skirting.

It’s probably hard for you today to imagine having to build so much onsite just to get all of the props and staging in place, but it all goes back to doing more than what’s expected. It would have been easier to scrap Bob’s idea, maybe scale it down to fit in the physical limitations of the room itself, and with Bob at the helm, I’m sure it would have still been a great show. But it wouldn’t be the same show, and it certainly wouldn’t be more than what was expected of us. So yes, it did require us to be flexible and change our plans on the fly and even perform more work than what we had anticipated, but that’s what was needed at the time. We wanted to bring Bob’s idea to life and were willing to change what we needed to do in order to get it done.

Now I imagine it’s easy to take space for granted with corporate event ideas. If a space is too small, you simply find another one. If you need set pieces of a certain size, it’s easy enough to find a workshop that already produces it. Same for props, lights, rigs, and sound systems. Those things are certainly more plentiful and much more accessible now, but try to imagine what you would do if you didn’t have that easy access. Would you change your plans entirely and settle for less? Or would you create a solution? For all the good modern convenience has brought to our industry, I do think that creativity, to a certain degree, is lost when tools and technology are taken for granted.

Though it wasn’t intended as such, I think all of our construction (and deconstruction!) ended up being one of our most creative event planning ideas. In the wake of all these modifications we needed to make, we had to collaborate beyond our designated jobs to come up with creative and practical solutions. It got everyone talking and pitching ideas back and forth.

Anyway, the first theme we built out was a New Orleans Bourbon Street theme. With a clear fabric we would hang up, we would use lights to project images onto it. We built out 6 initial art deco buildings as well as a full-sized setting for the stage. This particular theme was ultimately designed by my friend Reid Carlson in Technical Services. We would use up to 4 different entertainment groups. Also, each structure had complete F&B capabilities. We had to theme all the table settings as well. In the beginning, we had no ability to provide theatrical lighting from the ceiling or suspend any speakers. That was our first challenge to be tackled, and fortunately, I had a lighting designer named Bob Goble on my team.

Bob designed an electrical grid with hang points as well as a new structural support system to allow us to support almost anything we wanted to suspend in the room. The design gave us over 60 different rig points throughout the room. Once we got it approved and installed, we were capable of making Bob’s concept of moving the proscenium wall to the front entrance to the room a reality. We also got Disney to install a large freight elevator with access to the stage. Before that, we had to carry everything up to the massive stairs on the backside of the Contemporary Hotel that brought you onto the 4th floor and entrance to the Ballroom of the Americas.

This ingenuity was just the beginning. What Bob Yani wanted most of all was to create events that were affordable in keeping with Walt Disney’s overall philosophy of giving incredible value to their guests. His idea was to create one-of-a-kind themed experiences at a substantial value. His thinking was that we would build out these themed experiences at a fraction of the cost to design, fabricate, and develop the entertainment aspects of the theme.

The price of purchasing a Disney themes for corporate events was around 10 to 15% of the cost to produce it. So if it cost Disney, let us say, $35,000.00 to build the show and provide the entertainment, we would only charge $3,500.00 to the client, which is what it cost to produce.

The reason we could do this and still make a substantial profit is the fact that we would sell 150 performances of the show per year with the entertainment, design, and maintenance, lasting us at minimum of 5 years that would gross us at least of $ 262,500.00, which would give Disney a percentage provided we didn’t raise the price (which we would) over the life expectancy of the show. This would give Disney a substantial profit over the years, and with the ongoing work relationship, we’d make a large profit ourselves. Charging more upfront may seem like it would make us more money, but the reality is we would have likely priced ourselves out of a job instead.

All of these things I’ve described here are how the modern themed event business was initially started so you might want to thank Bob Yani when you get out of bed in the morning. Remember, there was only about 5 prop rental house in America back then. So if you wanted to create something you had to build it yourself. The biggest problem we had back in the ’70s was intellectual property theft (and it still is), and we applaud the theft as flattering.

The point I want to drive home with this is that you should never get too comfortable with your modern comforts when you’re working on event ideas for large groups (or even small groups). Adaptability isn’t just an insurance policy against something going wrong: it’s a source of creativity. Don’t let the tools you use take precedence over the ideas you want to build. If you do become overly reliant and take those things for granted, you might find yourself struggling if you’re suddenly without them.

The next chapter will address the Entertainment & Technical Services Departments participation that led to a lot of innovations in the special event industry. This will include more profiles of creative and unique individuals I’ve had the good fortune to work alongside. It will also provide more peeks behind the curtain of Disney’s staging process.

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COMMUNITY BUILDING EVENT IDEAS IN THE DISNEY YEARS CHAPTER NINE Part 2

It means taking your vision of your creativity in creating community building event ideas to a whole new level and never traveling down the road of least resistance. In short, never give what is expected or just enough, but be willing to give what is not expected to bring an event to life. That is how you build a name for yourself and separate yourself from everyone else in the field. Exceeding expectations is ultimately what makes you and your work memorable. If you simply choose to settle and create just what is expected of you, then your client will say that your event was as expected, which may be good, but is not memorable. Average doesn’t stand out. If you want to be one of a kind, you have to go beyond what’s expected to make your own mark.

When I was at Disney, the themed event industry was just becoming popular, especially among the larger groups who could afford to host them. The industry as a whole was still in its infancy and needed this attention in order to grow and establish itself. Most themed events in the early ’70s consisted of an attempt at a ceiling treatment, a themed centerpiece, and a themed linen treatment. Also, a tricked out stage façade for the entertainment to perform in front of, as well as (in some cases) a themed atmosphere lighting package, most of which had to be ground-based. If that sounds incredibly limited to you, that’s because it was so. The reason for this was that most hotel venue ballrooms, where the majority of events would be held, had limited access to all areas of the room. Back then most hotel architects didn’t see a need to provide large freight elevators or, for that matter, rigging capabilities and electrical systems. They were multi-functional, but even so, there was no way to foresee the needs of large scale events. So most themed activities were severely handicapped in what they could present just by the dimensions of the room itself. This isn’t to say that every event suffered because of these constraints. Sometimes, limitations like these can lead to truly creative solutions. But within the early days, few firms wanted to risk going outside of what was established and settled into groves of their own.

Disney’s Vice President of the Entertainment Division was a man named Bob Yani. He recognized these issues early on, but not in time to have the Contemporary Hotel properly fitted out to accommodate his vision for a Disney themed event, nor would they accommodate what the corporate and association market were going to need to create their opening general sessions and receptions. Mr Yani’s vision of a themed event was to take the proscenium wall of the stage and move it all the way to the entrance of the ballroom, thus allowing the event to encompass the entire audience, rather than just the activities being performed on the stage itself. By doing this we would build out an entire street or festival. This also allowed us to create some of the popular attractions in the park as a theme in the ballroom. Initially, we had about six themed experiences on offer when the Contemporary Hotel first opened. Mr Yani tackled the lack of access issues by engaging a staging designer in New York named Peter Feller to design all the sets and props to be no taller 6′ in height and 4′ in width. With those measurements, they would easily fit in the service elevators.

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CORPORATE EVENT ACTIVITIES IN THE DISNEY YEARS CHAPTER NINE Part 1

Now I would like to tell you about something that the Special Event Magazine, the ILEA organization, and many other special event periodicals think is of no value for you to learn about: the history of the industry, its pioneers, and how they created the modern day special events industry. I’ll be going over these wonderful people by name and in detail while outlining what their contributions to our field of corporate event activities were.

I actually tested Ilea members on who some of these people were and what their achievements were, only for them to look at me blankly as if I had been talking about aliens from another solar system. I can’t blame them for their responses, though. Like most planners, they simply didn’t have a clue about the history of our industry or why (and how) that history should be important to the work being done in the present. That’s because they get their information and creativity from outlets like advertisers or colleagues, people who work in the now but themselves had no direct experience with the past. There’s a desire to make the future and be trendsetters, which is understandable, but they fail to recognize that the future is always built on the past in some capacity, and as a result end up fumbling sooner or later without knowing why. Whatever came before, they believe, is obsolete. They are not interested, for example, in the four economic downturns that put almost 50 % of the smaller destination management firms out of business. You would think anyone jumping into a business would be especially interested in learning about that industry’s low points, if only out of morbid curiosity. But they simply want to learn how to make money rather than analyzing the people and events which made it all possible.

And make no mistake about it: the fundamentals of coming up with ideas ofr corporate event activities haven’t changed. Whether it’s seminar production or an elaborate event at Walt Disney World, the basics that started the business are still there. Factors that determine whether an event fails or succeeds are still the same at the core. You probably know the phrase “those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it” or some variation thereof. Well, it’s absolutely true, especially in our industry. People are so eager to mimic the success that they don’t bother to think about how we can learn just as much from failures. There are some really important lessons that can be learned from the past 40 years of corporate event planning, but newcomers don’t always take the time to look back and reflect. It’s a shame, but that’s how it goes.

What I’m going to tell you now is about how the Disney Corporation and other organizations of similar size are responsible for how the business you make your living through today operates. I know that you probably don’t think this is of any value to your business in today’s market, but you would be dead wrong. As I’ve already said, the past informs the future. This isn’t true just for event planning companies, but for any work and any walk of life. About 25 years ago, the computer visionary Bill Gates wrote a book called the “Road Ahead.” In this book, he made the case that if you want to succeed in your business (regardless of what that business may be), you need to be willing to get up every morning and totally reinvent yourself. That means looking at your business plan and re-evaluating your visions of your future.

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BUILDING TEAM EXERCISES IN THE DISNEY YEARS CHAPTER EIGHT Part 4

Looking back on a job well done is critical for building team exercises. It’s easy to pat yourself on the back when everything goes off without a hitch, and that’s certainly not a bad thing to do, but you’ll find the real value of looking back in introspection. When I think about the grand opening and all of the work we did to stage all of these events, it’s amazing to see how everything came together with the way that it did. I came in with little experience, we were all under intense time constraints, and we took on many volunteers from outside the industry to fill our ranks. From an outside perspective, you might say the odds were stacked against us, and that it was a miracle that the grand opening was as successful as it was. But that’s overlooking some important things. For one, we were all passionate about what we were doing. Beyond wanting to see the event itself succeed, we all enjoyed our jobs and wanted to do them. Second, and most importantly, we were flexible. Nothing is ever set in stone, and while we were lucky in that we didn’t have any major difficulties, we still had to adjust when things didn’t go according to our own plans.

Those two things go hand in hand. You have to like what you’re doing because you’ll more likely than not have to explore multiple options when it’s time to stage an event. If you’re set in your ways and don’t have the passion needed to endure the process of trial and error, you simply won’t be able to adapt to things that are beyond your control.

Walt’s designs were very specific because he was a perfectionist who knew what he wanted. But that didn’t mean there was only one way to reach his goals. Everyone knew this, including Walt. People sometimes have this romantic notion of what “Disney magic” is, that things always came together perfectly because there are so many creative geniuses in the company. In my time with Disney, we definitely had our share of brilliant minds (and I hope I’ve made that clear in these chapters), but there’s really no magic to it. It’s simply a matter of applying one’s self and willing to learn new ways of doing things. It’s nothing unique to Walt or anyone else.

As a post-script, I’d like to mention Roy Disney. Though he had planned on retiring, he took over operations shortly after Walt’s passing in 1966. He wanted to make sure that the finished Walt Disney World was as close to his brother’s vision as possible. His role sometimes gets understated because he wasn’t as prolific as Walt (honestly, who could be?), but I think he did an incredible job.

In my next chapter, we’ll fast-forward a bit and look at how the modern Themed Event came into fruition.

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