Walt Disney's Garage of Dreams

by Arthur C. "Buddy" Adler, Bob McLain (Editor), Jim Korkis (Editor)

When Walt Disney took up residence in California, he did some of his first animation work in his uncle Robert's ramshackle garage. He soon moved to better quarters, the garage left behind, forgotten. Until, six decades later, Disney executive Art Adler heard on television that the garage—which he knew had once been Walt's—was being auctioned. The Disney Company had no interest in it. Whoever bought the garage would likely demolish it and use the lot for something else. So, Art made it his mission to save Walt's garage. In Walt Disney's Garage of Dreams , which Art completed shortly before his death in 2014, Art shares the history of the garage, his tireless efforts to save it, and a unique insider's look at his ten-year career with the Disney Company, from the perspective not of an animator or an artist, but that of an executive. Here's just some of what you'll find inside Walt's Walt Disney's Garage of Dreams also features narratives from Bob Penfield, an original Disneyland Cast Member, and from retired Disney VP of Merchandising Bob Bowman, with additional contributions by Disney historian Jim Korkis. This is your chance not only to learn where Walt set his feet upon the path to greatness but also get a rare peek into the "suit-and-tie" side of Disney.

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2014

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

One hundred years ago this October, two brothers from the Midwest opened up a small animation studio in the back room of a real estate office in Los Angeles. At the time, the brothers lived down the street in the home of their uncle Robert; before the brothers set up shop, one of the brothers took the first steps to start the business on hiss uncle’s garage. As you may have already guessed, the brothers were Walt and Roy Disney; the brothers moved on from their uncle Robert’s garage and the real estate office to bigger and better places, but about 40 years ago, the garage was one step away from the wrecking ball, until a group of Disney fans stepped in. “Walt Disney’s Garage of Dreams” tells the story of how the garage was saved and one of folks responsible for saving it.

Arthur “Buddy” Adler was a strong-willed and opinionated person with a great admiration for Walt and what he’d done. Arthur parlayed his talents into a job behind the scenes at the Disney theme parks, and he helped lead the effort to buy and save the Disney garage - only to discover that many potential recipients of it didn’t see a reason to save it or to spend the money to rebuild and maintain it. The first half of the book tells how Arthur and his friends found a home for the barn. The book also tells a bit of Arthur’s Disney story, including the work he did for Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and the most significant people who he met along the way. He also shared how he worked to get a Congressional proclamation honoring Walt approved, and what finally convinced him to walk away from a career at Disney.

It was fascinating to read the story of the Disney garage - both the story of how it was saved and the reason some folks didn’t really think it needed saving. It was also interesting to read about some of the folks who did important work at the theme park but had never received much recognition for their efforts until this book was published. The downside is that even with everything Arthur shared (he passed away before his book was published), the book’s Tory was essentially unfinished. I’m not sure if that’s an indication that the stories in the book needed to be further fleshed out or that there just wasn’t enough to the story to make it worthy of a book. In any case, thank goodness Arthur’s story has been preserved for posterity; if you’re in Southern California and would like to visit the garage, the book’s a good introduction to its story and the building’s historical significance. It may not be of great interest to a casual Disney fan, but someone interested in Disney or entertainment history should find it interesting.