Waiting Just Outside Walt’s Office March 2024

Beautiful blown up photos adorn the walls of the original animation building that now hosts offices for executives and producers.

A waiting room for Walt’s office

A second waiting room that now exhibits a traditional Disney animator’s desk. The information page reads:

“Walt Disney Archives:

Animator's Office

DESIGNING THE ANIMATION BUILDING GAVE WALT DISNEY THE OPPORTUNITY TO CRAFT A SPACE DEDICATED TO THE FUNCTIONALITY AND COMFORT OF HIS ARTISTS, ANIMATION DESKS AND OTHER STUDIO FURNITURE WERE LARGELY DESIGNED BY WALT AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER KEM WEBER, HOWEVER, AS WEBER WAS NOT AN ANIMATOR, SEVERAL OF WALT'S ARTISTS ALSO PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN HELPING TO IDENTIFY THE NEEDS OF THEIR NEW OFFICE FURNISHINGS,

WALT ASKED HIS STAFF TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR WORK SPACES AND HAD THEM TEST A VARIETY OF CHAIRS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT TO ENSURE THAT IDEAL WORKING CONDITIONS AND CREATIVE NEEDS COULD BE IDENTIFIED. THIS "DESIGN-BY-COMMITTEE" APPROACH ENSURED THAT THE END RESULT WOULD BE CUSTOM-CUT TO FIT A VARIETY OF ARTISTIC NEEDS AND FUNCTIONS.

IN THEIR NEW BURBANK OFFICES, SIMILAR TO THE ONE RECREATED HERE, WALT'S ARTISTS WORKED IN A COMFORTABLE, AIR-CONDITIONED, WELL LIT SPACE COMPLETE WITH CUSTOM-DESIGNED ANIMATION DESKS. EACH DESK WAS EQUIPPED WITH ROTATING METAL PLATES AND FLUORESCENT LIGHTING, GIVING ONE THE ABILITY TO LOOK THROUGH A SERIES OF DRAWINGS. WINGS AFFIXED TO THE SIDES OF THE DESKS, WHICH SOMETIMES FEATURED A MIRROR, ALLOWED ANIMATORS TO USE THEMSELVES AS MODELS FOR THEIR DRAWINGS.

COUNTLESS NOTABLE ARTISTS OCCUPIED THE HALLWAYS OF THE ANIMATION BUILDING, INCLUDING THE FAMED 1D WING ON THE FIRST FLOOR, WHERE SEVERAL OF WALT'S "NINE OLD MEN" ONCE WORKED.

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Animator drawing mannequin and a Fantasia maquette of a pegasus.

Close up of the animators desk. Art of the title sequence from The Reluctant Dragon (1941) of some animator caricatures, art supplies and maquettes from Fantasia (1940 and Pinocchio (1940) are wonderfully arranged.

Goofy award I don’t have the details of unfortunately 

National Association of Amusement Parks, Pools and Beaches

Presented

In Grateful Appreciation to

Walt Disney

or the outstanding Summer meeting

held at beautitul

Disneyland Anaheim, California

September 18-20 - 1956

Presented at the 38th Annual Convention

Chicago, November 28, 1956

Signed by the

Executive Secretary and President

The famous War Engine “General” Art presented to Walt Disney in conjunction with The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)

General and Sleeping Beauty Castle. Cards are too small to read who the artists may be.

Walt’s Time Magazine cover art for December 27, 1954. By Boris Chaliapin. You can read about this cover and Walt’s other  appearance on the cover of TIME here at D23.

Awards galore including some of Walt’s many Oscars and Emmys among other honors. Grammy for Mary Poppins

Various awards including Anaheim’s Halloween Festival Pageant Parade 10/30/1954, unique Homorary Academy Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (this is a recreation, the real one has the Oscar figures turned towards you), etc…

The inscription is difficult to read on this cup, but it says as best as I can tell, 

“Presented to Walt Disney Productions for Follow Me Boys…” with quite a bit more that I can’t make out. It appears to be dated 1966.

The plaque is much easier to read: “Presented by Brigham Young University Deseret News Improvement Era KSL TV-Radio.”