Special Exhibit The Story of Walt's Comedies Walt's sense of humor could be described in any number of ways. But "subtle" wasn't one of them. From childhood on, he enjoyed big broad jokes, silly puns and slapstick comedy. As a boy, inspired by the films of Charlie Chaplin, he and a close friend, Walt Pfeiffer loved performing for classmates. They featured skits like "Fun in the Photograph Gallery," in which Walt pretended to take a classmate's picture with a camera that squirted water in the unsuspecting victim's face. Then, when he pulled a sheet of paper out of the camera, it would be a cartoon of the person that Walt had drawn in advance. The two boys even put together a comedy act which went by a variety of names including "Hans and Mike," "Pat and Mike," "The Two Walts," "Chaplin and the Count," and, perhaps most peculiarly, "Chaplin and the Cow." Since Walt was unsure of how his father would react to such activities, he had to sneak out of his house to perform these shows in local vaudeville houses. One time, though, big brother Roy heard that Walt was appearing in an amateur night. Recalled his little sister Ruth, "So, we all hurried down to the theater and sure enough he was acting like Charlie Chaplin. According to us, he was the best. But he didn't win the prize." As Walt grew up and became a master of animation and live-action films, he was never afraid of keeping his humor simple – readily accessible to audiences of all ages. When he was accused of favoring "corny" jokes, he didn't flinch. He loved "corn," he insisted, and as far as he could see so did the American audiences who devoured his films. "In one of my pictures, I tried to pull out a gag I thought was pretty corny," says actor Dean Jones. "but Walt said, 'That gag was funny in 1923 and it'll be funny today.' He didn't listen to me -- he kept it in the picture. When that gag came up at the premiere I laughed along with the rest of the audience. Walt was right -- it was still funny." Walt's sense of humor turned out to be extremely important to the Disney Studios. Starting in 1959, the Studio churned out a series of successful comedies that were remarkably well received at the box office. The list started with "The Shaggy Dog." As historian and critic Leonard Maltin wrote, "Though essentially just a low-budget comedy shot in black and white, 'The Shaggy Dog' is an important film in the chronology of Walt Disney's output. It was the first live-action comedy he ever made and it was the first of his films to star Fred MacMurray. Its astounding success (grossing over $8 million in its first release) led to important changes in Disney's production outlook in the years that followed. As with all his live-action films, Walt left a great many decisions to the writers, producers and directors. But when he had a strong opinion – there was very little way around it. Ron Miller, a close collaborator of Walt's and his son-in-law recalls a telling incident that came up in the making of "That Darn Cat!" --. "Bill Walsh and I were associate producers," Ron recalled. "We were watching one scene in which the young boyfriend of Hayley Mills gets up after eating a lot of potato chips and wipes his greasy hands on the curtain before he leaves the room. I urged Bill to edit it out because I found it distasteful. Lo and behold, when we screened the picture, Walt asked, 'What ever happened to the scene where the kid wipes his hands on the drapes?' At that point, Bill Walsh who was a wonderful guy and a dear friend of mine said, 'Ron had it cut out. It was his decision.' So, I sat there with egg on my face while Walt said, 'You're going too far in cutting these things. Let me make some of the decisions.'" Soon thereafter, the Studio turned out a rollicking movie called "The Absent-Minded Professor," which starred Fred MacMurray and a goofy substance called Flubber that could make things fly in the air. 'Time' magazine called it "the season's kookiest science-fiction farce. . . 'Flubber' provides fuel for a very funny piece of the hyperbolic humor in the grand American tradition of Paul Bunyon … " A few of the other comedies that the American public came to associate with the Disney brand included: * "The Parent Trap." The story of two identical twin sisters (played by Hayley Mills) who were separated by a divorce – and then are reunited, the film combines a sweet story of two girls who are desperate to reunite their divorced parents with a great deal of physical humor. As Maltin writes, "At summer camp, before they know they are sisters, the twins play a series of practical jokes on each other, culminating in a melee at a Saturday night dance, in which the directress of the girls' camp gets a creamy chocolate cake in the face." * "Bon Voyage" features an American family visiting abroad and are confronted with a series of humorous obstacles. This film wasn't one of Walt's most critically successful, but he learned an important lesson. One of the scenes in the film featured an actress playing a prostitute. Though the scene was as "G" rated as possible, it nonetheless roused many filmgoers to write to Walt and complain that this simply wasn't the kind of thing they expected from a Disney film. He was more careful about stretching the lines ever after. * "Son of Flubber" is notable for the fact that it broke one of Walt's fundamental rules. With very few exceptions in his career, he avoided making sequels. But after the great success of "The Absent-Minded Professor," he was persuaded to do so in this case – and the decision certainly paid off. Although critics didn't fall in love with it to the extent they had in The Absent-Minded Professor, audiences couldn't stay away, and the film grossed some $9 million. As Maltin writes, that "explains why sequels are made." Be sure to also visit: The Special Effects of Walt's Comedies Exhibit Walt's Stable of Comedy Stars Exhibit Walt's Thoughts on the Comedies