Chapter 18: Chairman of the Board
Excerpt from Jim Henson: Storyteller, an authorized biography by Jay O’Brian
“Meet the Frog Prince,” said the headline in the January 1993 edition of
Fortune, one of seemingly hundreds of similar headlines across the Entertainment and Financial press. They all covered the same story: that Jim Henson was suddenly the acting Chairman of the Board for Walt Disney Entertainment.
With Al Gore sworn in as President of the United States, Chairman Frank Wells was on a leave of absence and taking a job as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Sustainable Growth, leaving Jim as Acting Disney Chairman and promoting Dick Nunis to Acting President. It wasn’t a job that Jim had sought, but it was one that he vowed to perform to the best of his abilities. He was still the CCO as well, but delegated the position of Chairman and President of Walt Disney Studios down to Roy Disney as Acting President.
As Acting Chairman, Jim still refused to use the gavel out of principle, but he was quickly reestablishing his standing with the board, who seemed to support his ascension. He’d gained a reputation with them even through the challenges of 1990-1991 as a “straight shooter” who told them the truth, however awkward, took ownership of the problems, and didn’t try to cover up issues or downplay their concerns, even as he stood by his decisions and refused to compromise his ethical and moral prerogatives. He had demonstrated the ability to remain calm in the face of adversity and deescalate the tension, steering things towards a meaningful, good faith agreement. He took responsibility when things went awry and didn’t “throw people under the bus”. Ron Miller was personally amazed that he could work directly with the cantankerous Stanley Gold, who though not a board member remained Roy Disney’s most outspoken advocate.
Still, the kerfuffle over
Toys and
The Song of Susan remained in very recent memory. Perhaps this was a final sink-or-swim test for him. While not a suspicious man by nature, Jim wondered if he was being set up to fail as an excuse to remove him from the board. He also wondered if mattered to him if he was.
Disney Chairman was a strange duck of a position compared to most Fortune 500 corporations. The precedent in Disney in the early 1980s of splitting the roles of Chairman and CEO had lasted for over a decade at this point, and had led to a divergence of tasks for the two positions that were typically claimed by the same person in most corporations at the time, who then became the undisputed “head” of the company. And yet at Disney it became an “outside-inside” thing where, as Wells put it, the CEO was the “Commander in Chief” of all internal Disney operations while the Chairman was the “Secretary of State” tasked with addressing “outside entities”. The CEO “ran the company” and the Chairman was “the face of the company” with both the shareholders and the public at large. That meant being the media presence, the face of negotiations (though Jim let the “Legal Weasels” guide his hands there), the person who calmed the board and charmed the investors, and the guy who “cut the ribbons and smiled for the camera”. Some had begun to call the positions the “Walt” and the “Roy”, often with a touch of irony. Remaining Chief Creative Officer (another “Walt” job) also kept Jim in a position of authority with regards to creative decisions and the strategic direction on things creative, the “Navigator” to Ron’s “Commanding Officer”, to use Card Walker’s Navy-based terminology.
And 1993 was certainly a challenging time to be the Face of Disney and the Navigator, even though Ron continued to manage the strategic execution of the company as CEO. Disneyland Valencia was still struggling a bit and had been wildly over budget. Port Disney Phase II was about to open, but costs continued to soar, with some fearing that it could top $5 billion before all was said and done. And while Phase I, Disney’s Pier Revue, was getting a reasonable attendance and generally meeting or exceeding attendance projections, it wasn’t nearly enough to justify the operating costs when you had to pay tax on all of the pier, even the idle parts, though Acting President Dick Nunis swore to him and Ron that Phase II would drastically increase revenues and that Phase III would be “the crown jewel of Disney Resorts”.
Things were better in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The Good Sports Resort was performing above expectations, which made Ron, its “daddy”, ecstatic. EPCOT was still pulling in numbers as was the Magic Kingdom. And the Disney-MGM Hollywoodland Resort would open in the spring of 1993. The half-day park’s costs were kept much more constrained and controlled than Valencia or Port Disney, with the opening day costs ultimately topping $525 million, not counting the $200-250 million already spend separately by Disney-MGM Studios building the working Disney-MGM Studios East complex, which was already receiving tours from the soon-to-be closed Entertainment Pavilion. Despite, or perhaps because of competition from nearby Universal Studios, Hollywoodland and the Disney-MGM Studios tours were expected to be an immediate success. Best yet, from a purely company politics perspective, the majority of the work had been managed by Bass’s Arvida subsidiary, which helped calm the disgruntled Sid Bass. Jim began to talk with Imagineering and Parks & Recreation (soon renamed Disney Resorts and Recreation or “R & R”) about what else could be done at WDW.
The Disneytowns were performing at or above expectations, and the studios continued to perform spectacularly, balancing the art and the finance.
Another discussion surrounded the possible creation of a residential neighborhood within WDW itself, a corporate-administered township as a sort of mini-E.P.C.O.T., with Roy and some of the board in favor but Jim and others vehemently opposed to the idea on principle. “Are we to be feudal lords now?” asked Jim, facetiously, “I mean, I get that we have the castle already…”
Jim instead pushed for well-built and rent-controlled housing for Disney employees as a perk, seeing Lake Buena Vista and the like as places where WDW employees and their families could live comfortably and affordably. Others wanted to continue the policy of reserving the homes for VIPs and business partners or rent them out as premium vacation homes. They eventually compromised on a division of the houses between employees, guest renters, and visiting company partners, expanding with new “neighborhoods” throughout the coming decades. The debate on whether to sell houses to anyone off the street raged on.
His artistic reputation was also recovering with the board after the debacle of
Toys, a film that he still felt deserved better. Not only had
Aladdin been a spectacular hit, shattering records for an animated film, but the unwanted
Shrek! had made a good profit and found a receptive audience precisely
because it was so far removed from (and so deconstructive of) the Disney Formula. While it didn’t sell as many toys as other animated features, teens and adults flocked to it and soon the kids’ toys were abandoned in favor of adult-aimed “collector’s items” and snarky, ironic T-shirts to sell at places like Spencer’s Gifts and beachside tourist shops. Terry Gilliam’s
Lost in La Mancha had become a hybrid animation hit as well, though not to the level of Roger Rabbit, a franchise that was still pulling in money in animated shorts and a TV animated series.
Closer to his heart, they did a Muppets version of Dickens’
A Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Scrooge, with his own son Brian making his directorial debut. And while Jim played no part other than Executive Production, plus some “pick-up” background Muppet work, it made him happy to see his creations still doing well on the big screen.
The Bamboo Princess was also a major hit when released that winter, beloved by critics and ultimately breaking $280 million internationally, even as it pushed
A Muppets Christmas Carol into the #3 slot. The Ghibli-influenced animation, which took visual cues from traditional Japanese ukiyo-e art, probably lost some ground with American audiences due to that animation difference and the bittersweet ending, but its artistic beauty and the inherent innocence and beauty of the eponymous princess managed to connect with the “girly girls” who’d been somewhat alienated by the more modern Princesses of late. It was also scoring high with Asian American audiences, in particular Japanese Americans. Freddie Mercury, who was working on the
Little Mermaid soundtrack with Brian May, even shocked and amused Jim by mentioning how much the LGBTQ culture adored
The Bamboo Princess, particularly the “Gaysian” community, and how Kaiguyahime was becoming a popular “drag” look.
And indeed “drag” was on the minds of everyone at animation, because Ron Clements’s villainous Sea Witch Ursula from
The Little Mermaid was, per the request of the lost but still beloved Howard Ashman, based in appearance off of the infamous drag queen Divine. Roy Disney, who was considered an “ally” despite his political conservatism and seemingly “old fashioned” values[1] (and still stinging a bit from Vice President Quayle’s not entirely unfounded accusations about
Aladdin), was overwhelmingly enthusiastic with the project since it had been in production consideration since the days of Walt.
Jim and Roy discussed their next options in animation and ultimately decided on launching another Japanese partnership, this time attempting a partnership with Tezuka Production to make a feature length film based on
Kimba the White Lion. The deal would, alas, fall through amidst the chaos of Tezuka Productions in the aftermath of Osamu Tezuka’s untimely death in 1989. Instead, writer Linda Woolverton suggested that Disney make an original story. Advising Tezuka of their plans for a “King of Beasts” type story as a professional courtesy (and receiving a thumbs-up), the film went into production and included an “inspired by the brilliant artistry and storytelling of Osamu Tezuka” credit[2]. Woolverton, at the advice of Jim, enlisted Harry Belafonte as the musical director. Belafonte also worked with Woolverton and animator/storywriter Brenda Chapman on the evolving story, ultimately basing the plot on the legendary Malinke “Lion King” Simba of the
Epic of Sundiata. Belafonte ultimately shared a “story by” credit with Woolverton and Chapman and would even voice the soothsaying mandril griot Nounfari.
When
Shrek was in post, Joe Ranft also came to Jim with plans for an all-computer-animated feature using three-dimensional vector images. Not hand-drawn images digitally inked and painted through the DATA process, but full, 100% digital vector creations, completely three-dimensional without a single hand-drawn sketch or painting beyond concept art. “We can make
everything interactive with this tech,” Ranft told him. “The walls, the clouds, the trees, even the horizon! The days of static backgrounds and forced multiplane parallax are over!” It was a revolutionary idea, technically risky, and Jim greenlit it immediately. Since humans created by the software still looked plastic and uncanny, the feature was to be based on non-organic characters, specifically the story
The Brave Little Toaster, which had been a passion-project of Ranft’s friend John Lasseter, who would help with the storyboards as part of his “redemption tour” at 3D.
Similarly, the success of
Spider-Man led to the sequels and, naturally, other Marvel productions
. The Incredible Hulk was a natural follow-on given the name recognition from the somewhat-recent Bill Bixby TV series, and went almost immediately into production.
The Fantastic Four would be the next film greenlit with Joss Whedon writing. Whedon was also pushing to do an
X-Men film, which was given the tentative greenlight based upon the performance of
The Incredible Hulk. Ultimately, it was determined that the necessary effects to do
The Fantastic Four “right” were still a few years away, which led to the
X-Men film, which had the benefit of the comics series and TV animation being at their peak of popularity, being produced first and scheduled for release in 1996 after
Spider-Man 3, with
Fan-Four pushed to 1997. With this, a full-blown Disney/Marvel rivalry with Warner/DC became inevitable, particularly with Warner now fully into the theme park game and directly challenging Disney as the King of Immersive Experiences thanks to the Warner Movie World parks.
And managing all of this fell on to Jim as CCO while justifying the decisions to the board fell on him as the acting Chairman. And as the Chairman of the Board, even Acting, Jim was undeniably the Face of Disney now, where his friendly smile and “Santa-like” beard, which was becoming increasingly white with each passing year, were inevitably linked to Disney in the public eye. Ron Miller was digging into the day-to-day operations, finance, and strategic planning alongside Stan Kinsey and Dick Nunis while Jim focused on the creative aspects as well as the marketing, outreach, shareholder relations, and “public image” stuff. While Roy continued to host
The Wonderful World of Disney, Jim continued to make television appearances and appear in interviews. When a photo-op was needed, Jim Henson was there, occasionally with a Muppet (usually Kermit) in tow.
The new position fed his inclination towards workaholism, which began to once again affect his private life. Jim and Daryl Hannah were still dating behind the scenes, but with Jim increasingly absorbed in his work, the thrill and the intimacy were dwindling. Then the plans for DisneySea came to Hannah’s attention. She immediately assumed that it was a Sea World style “animal show” and was appalled. Jim maintained that no, it was like a fancy aquarium and that education and animal rescue and rehabilitation were the principal aim, along with conservation. Still, she was increasingly disturbed by stories that she heard about its construction possibly damaging or polluting the waters around it even as Jim swore that they were, at great expense, attempting to preserve and restore as much as they could. Still, DisneySea would drive a small wedge in their relationship exacerbated by this increasing work tempo.
And while Jim almost never made it to “the strip” anymore, he soon received a call from his son John. Bob Forrest, John Frusciante, and Johnny Depp had dragged an unconscious River Phoenix into his Wellness Center in the middle of the night, the victim of an apparent drug overdose. Teresa, the on-site RN, began giving him medical attention as they awaited the ambulance, with Phoenix entering into ventricular fibrillation at one moment and requiring the crash cart.
The ambulance arrived and Phoenix was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where he was put into the intensive care unit. Phoenix would wake up three days later to discover that friends and family, to include the Skeleton Crew and the Henson family, had been running a 24-hour vigil on him. “I awoke to see [my sister] Rain by my bed. John Henson was out in the waiting area. I had no idea what had happened,” said Phoenix.
Phoenix entered into a rehabilitation program with John as his sponsor and Jim paying the bills. Unlike the other young men that they’d tried to help over the years, Phoenix actually stayed off of the drugs and redoubled his wellness lifestyle, even giving up alcohol. He would take the experience and, with the help of screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, wrote, produced, directed, and starred in
Moneymaker, a semiautobiographical account of a young film star driven to drugs by the stresses of Hollywood. Released by MGM in 1997, it would earn him Oscar nominations for acting and Best Picture and win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Jim and Daryl would briefly restore the bonds of their relationship in the midst of caring for Phoenix, though soon their diverging lives would start pulling them back apart. “Chairman Jim”, the “Frog Prince”, would relish the small moments, but the ever-devouring hydra of his work at Disney continued to dominate his time and energy.
* * *
The Board of Directors for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company, January 1993:
Ronald “Ron” Miller, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, CCO, Acting Chairman
Stanley “Stan” Kinsey, COO
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President, Disney Recreation, Acting President of Walt Disney Entertainment
Roy E. Disney, Vice President, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Acting President, Walt Disney Studios (head of Shamrock Holdings)
Al Gottesman (President, Henson Arts Holdings)
Dianne Disney Miller (Partner, Retlaw Enterprises)
Peter Dailey (former US ambassador to Ireland and Roy Disney’s brother-in-law)
Charles Cobb (CEO of Arvida Corp.; representing the interests of Bass Brothers)
Alfred Attilio “Al” Checchi (representing Marriott International)
Advisory Board Members (non-voting, ad-hoc attendance):
E. Cardon “Card” Walker, Chairman Emeritus
Donn Tatum, Chairman Emeritus
Sid Bass (CEO of Bass Brothers Enterprises)
Steven Spielberg (Partner, Amblin Entertainment)
John Sculley (CEO & President of Apple Computer, Inc.)
George Lucas (CEO of Lucasfilm, Ltd.)
J. Willard “Bill” Marriott, Jr. (CEO of Marriott International)
Ray Watson, Chairman Emeritus (former head of the Irvine Company)
Caroline Ahmanson (head and founder of Caroline Leonetti Ltd.)
Philip Hawley (Carter Hawley Hale)
Samuel Williamson (senior partner, Hufstedler, Miller, Carson, & Beardsley)
Stan Lee (Chairman of Marvel Entertainment)
The Disney Executive Committee:
Ronald “Ron” Miller, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, CCO and Acting Chairman
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President, Disney Recreation
Thomas “Tom” Wilhite, President, MGM Studios
John Hench, President, Walt Disney Imagineering Workshop
Roy E. Disney, Vice President, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Acting President, Walt Disney Studios
* * *
Stocks at a Glance: Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
January 4th, 1993
Stock price: $54.14
Major Shareholders: Henson family (20.4%), Roy E. Disney (13.4%), Disney-Miller family (12.7%), Sid Bass (9.6%), Bill Marriott (6.3%), Amblin Entertainment (1.3%), Apple Comp. (0.7%), Lucasfilm Ltd. (0.5%), Suspected “Knights Errant” (5.7%), Other (29.4%)
Outstanding shares: 451.2 million
* * *
Pictures Released by Walt Disney Studios, 1991-1992
| Release date | Title | Studio label | Co-production with |
| January 18, 1991 | White Fang | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| February 8, 1991 | Valkenvania | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| February 14, 1991 | 101 Dalmatians [Re-release] | Walt Disney Pictures | |
| February 22, 1991 | A Resounding Maybe | Hyperion Pictures | Woody Allen Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| March 1, 1991 | Sand | Fantasia films | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| March 15, 1991 | Shipwrecked | AB Svensk Filmindustri | Distributed in North America by Buena Vista |
| April 5, 1991 | An American in Paris [Re-release] | MGM | Columbia Entertainment |
| April 12, 1991 | Killer Klowns from Outer Space | Fantasia Films | Skeleton Crew Productions |
| April 26, 1991 | Tiny Titans Two: Trophy Troubles | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| May 17, 1991 | What About Bob | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| May 24, 1991 | Spider-Man | MGM | Marvel Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| June 7, 1991 | City Slickers | Hyperion Pictures | As You Wish Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| June 14, 1991 | Roger Rabbit’s Toon Platoon [w/ Short Captain America: Battling the Blitzkreig!] | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| June 21, 1991 | Jungle Fever | MGM | 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| July 12, 1991 | Muppets: Impossible | Walt Disney Pictures | Paramount Pictures, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| July 26, 1991 | Toys | MGM | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| August 2, 1991 | Devil in a Blue Dress | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| August 16, 1991 | The Spirit: The Long Reach of the Octopus [w/ Short: Spider-Man Meets Mysterio] | Walt Disney Pictures | Bird Brain Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| August 23, 1991 | The Sword of Cerebus | Fantasia Films | Brooksfilm, Silver Screen Partners III |
| September 7, 1991 | Only Yesterday | Studio Ghibli | Distributed in North America by Buena Vista |
| September 27, 1991 | Playing with Fire | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| October 4, 1991 | Ed Wood | Hyperion Pictures | Skeleton Crew Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| October 25, 1991 | The Addams Family | Fantasia Films | Skeleton Crew Productions, Orion Films, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| November 1, 1991 | Hercules: The Howard Hughes Story | MGM | Warren Beatty Productions, Amblin Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| November 22, 1991 | Aladdin | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| December 11, 1991 | Thinner | Fantasia Films | As You Wish Entertainment, Dino De Laurentiis, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| December 24, 1991 | Ben Hur [Re-Release] | MGM | Columbia Entertainment |
| January 10, 1992 | Juice | MGM | Island World, Moritz-Heyman Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| January 31, 1992 | A Gnome Named Gnorm | Fantasia Films | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Interscope Communications, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| February 7, 1992 | Pinocchio [Re-Release] | Walt Disney Pictures | |
| February 14, 1992 | Wayne’s World | Hyperion Pictures | NBC Films, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| March 6, 1992 | Faber | Action Films | Bioskop Film, Stefi 2 Productions, As You Wish Entertainment, Distributed in North America by Buena Vista |
| March 27, 1992 | TMNT 2: The Rise of Krang | Fantasia Films | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| April 3, 1992 | A Miracle in Venice | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| April 10, 1992 | FernGully: The Last Rainforest | Walt Disney Pictures | Hoyts, Kroyer Films, Inc., Youngheart Productions, FAI Films, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| April 24, 1992 | Mask of the Lone Ranger | Walt Disney Pictures | Amblin Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| May 1, 1992 | Porco Rosso | Studio Ghibli | Distributed in North America by Buena Vista |
| May 8, 1992 | Sister Act | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| May 22, 1992 | Lost in La Mancha | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| June 12, 1992 | Shrek! [w/ Short Roger Rabbit: Roller Coaster Rabbit] | Fantasia Films | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| June 26, 1992 | A League of their Own | Hyperion Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| July 1, 1992 | Honey, I Blew Up the Kids! | Fantasia Films | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| July 17, 1992 | Mr. Saturday Night | Hyperion Pictures | As You Wish Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| August 7, 1992 | A Few Good Men | MGM | As You Wish Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| August 28, 1992 | Kid Ninjas | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| September 11, 1992 | The Fisher King | MGM | Hill/Obst Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| October 9, 1992 | The Mighty Ducks | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| October 16, 1992 | Mr. Right Now | Hyperion Pictures | As You Wish Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| October 23, 1992 | Bunnicula | Walt Disney Pictures | Skeleton Crew Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| November 21, 1992 | The Bamboo Princess [w/ Short: Origami Mommy] | Walt Disney Pictures | Studio Ghibli, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| December 7, 1992 | Malcolm X | MGM | 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Warner Brothers |
| December 11, 1992 | A Muppets Christmas Carol [w/ Short: Roger Rabbit: Trails and Tribulations] | Walt Disney Pictures | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| December 19, 1992 | Schindler’s List | MGM | Amblin Entertainment, B&B Productions, Silver Screen Partners IV |
| December 25, 1992 | Brigadoon [Re-Release] | MGM | Columbia Entertainment |
- ∞ -
End of Part VIII; Part IX begins Tuesday (weather permitting!) [3]
[1] Roy E. Disney and his wife in our timeline were reportedly close friends with the openly gay Thomas Schumacher and his partner Matthew White, inviting them to stay at their castle in Ireland. Roy was also a professional mentor for Schumacher. Though a Reagan Republican, Roy by all reports was tolerant of and friendly to LGBTQ people.
[2] I debated just doing a Kimba partnership for a long time, but decided that was too obvious. Instead, a truly African legend based on Sundiata seemed inherently more satisfying all around. With the official “inspired by” credit, there will be no controversy in this timeline.
[3] This is where I preferably would have ended Book I and set up Book II, but que sera sera.
