The Trip Diary. First, I have to explain the middle 1950’s to put this all in context. Understand that this was the middle of the growth of what came to be known as “popular culture.” Magazines, newspapers, movies, radio and the new kid on the block, Television. It was all fairly new, fairly exciting and always provocative. As a kid and now a teenager, this was my view of the outside world. What I knew of what was happening was through these windows. And what what a melange it was. I consumed it all with my eyes hanging out. I read the newspapers and magazines to get a sense of the world, Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post and occasionally Time and Newsweek. Radio and then Television were entertainment, movies not so much as they actually cost money.( if truth be told, scared the living pejabbers out of me- the final irony was I taught a class for 20 years on the History of the Movies!) And there were the Comic Books- the underground message aimed directly at people like me.
Images were my mete’. If I was going to be an artist then I had to understand the visual world and magazines supplied those images. The middle 1950’s saw the end of the flowering of the golden age of illustration and advertising that was not photographic. I bought magazines every time then appeared fresh on the local news stand, to look at, study and finally to keep in carefully created files to copy, understand and keep for reference. ( this passion for the image has continued even down to now and the files are still in the filing cabinets in folders carefully labeled.)
Then there was the appearance of Walt Disney and his program on ABC Televison- this program was really facinating to me to see how the “magic” was done. Animation was a laborious process but it took artists to do it. The more I saw the more I was interested, never making the jump to thinking about working for Disney, making animated films or even seeing the “real place” where it was done.
Suddenly, the opportunity presented itself! My uncle, who had raised me, offered to take me to California for month for a visit, totally out of the blue. ( in fairness, I need to mention that I am sure that somewhere along the line it had been discussed with my father and there was my brother and sister that were not invited, and how that was going to be worked out.) So in 1954 I was going to California, on the train, to actually see ” La-La land!” One of the first things I wanted to do was to see the Disney studio, this required some stratagem. You just did not walk up to the gate and ask to see the place! So I carefully crafted a letter to the Disney studio, asking if it would be possible to take a tour of the place. Within a week I received a formal reply to contact the studio when I was in California and I would be accommodated. Well, now!
(I am California-bound!)
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