As the first decade of the 20th century comes to an end, we here at Mouse Extra usually mark the holiday with a look back at the past year and speculate on what the next year may bring us. Hopefully we will have the time to do that before we leave for Walt Disney world this weekend. But there was one event this past year that stands out among the rest, and I wanted to be sure to talk about it. It is an event that may have the kind of lasting effects felt by fans for years to come, the passing of Roy E. Disney.
It has been reported that certain empty suit Disney executives would refer to Roy as the “idiot nephew”. However, he was anything but that. While he may not have had the type of creative influence over Disney as his uncle or the financial prowess of his father, Roy’s contribution to the company may be as important as anyone’s since the original Disney brothers And it is entirely possible that his absence could cast a fog of doubt over the future.
Twice, Roy saved his family’s company from those who seemed to be drifting too far away from what makes Disney Disney. In the early 1980’s, the company was in disarray and ripe for a takeover which could have meant the end of this American institution. But through Roy’s willingness to stick his neck out, things changed and Disney turned into the juggernaut it is today.
He did it again this past decade when he bucked the entrenched leadership, the same leadership he himself helped install and acheived amazing success before its eventual fall from grace. With his Save Disney program, Roy rescued Disney from a period of creative collapse and changed the company again for the good. The fruit of his work was the installation of Bob Iger as Chief Executive and John Lasseter as the creative leader of Disney. In that short time, we have seen Iger accomplish goals like ending the feud with Pixar and acquiring Marvel, while Lasseter has embarked on projects, such as the much needed remake of California Adventure and the return of hand-drawn animation, which have brought Disney back to the creative forefront of entertainment.
It should never be forgotten that it was Roy E. Disney who did this. It should be his legacy. Perhaps it was that Roy had the type of special insight into what made the company great that could only come from family, a combination of life, loyalty, and genetics. He was the only high ranking official left at Disney who knew what made his father and his uncle tick. Who lived through the toil and grinding that brought the Disney Brothers to the top. Many big shots claimed to know “what Walt would do”, but only Roy could ever really know.
Unfortunately for me and my fellow Disney fanatics, and for Disney executives, we no longer have that insight, and that is why his passing is so important to all of us. Should this current management team fail, or be replaced by people with lesser abilities, who then will save Disney from disaster? Who would have the kind of family loyalty to this company that is required to stick themselves in the line of fire and do what is right? Who else will have the kind of name recognition and connection to lifelong Disney fans and shareholders that Roy E. Disney had, the kind of connection needed to enact change in such a large corporation?
Perhaps there is an answer to these questions waiting within the ranks of the Disney family. Maybe there is another Disney, with a unique love for the company and understanding of what Roy stood for, waiting to pick up the torch and run. Only time will tell. But until those questions are answered, we enter a future with no Disney at the top of the Disney company, and no way of knowing what that means.
