Even us Canadians know that not all black hate crimes were Klan-related. The pre-Civil Rights Deep South was just a bad place in general for anybody who wasn't a White Anglophone Protestant (TM).
When you Wish Upon a Frog (Book II of the Jim Henson at Disney saga)
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
- Start date
- Status
I read it as less low key racism and more food snobbery and @Geekhis Khan's reply seems to reinforced that opinion.
Undank ist der Weltenlohn
Chapter 18: Chairman of the Board (Cont’d)
Excerpt from Jim Henson: Storyteller, an authorized biography by Jay O’Brian
Jim and Roy looked on in dismay as Kindred Spirits underperformed. Trapped in a three-way battle with Universal’s Spirit of the West and Columbia’s The Flintstones 2, it had managed to win the day, but the three-way competition took its toll. Roy also wondered if they were stretching the definition of “Princess” too far with Céline, who was the daughter of a New Orleans “Queen” by stature, but not actually royalty (unless one counted her mother’s unsupported claim to be descended from French royalty). The two upcoming animated features, The Poet and the Dragon and Heart of Ice, both featured more traditional princesses (though one was in reality a dragon), and Roy was confident about their chances, though Jim had to admit to himself that the growing competition from all sides was leaving him scared that they’d soon reach a point to where rising costs and increased competition would combine with dwindling novelty to make animated film once again a money-losing proposition.
That said, there was a bigger issue at play in December of 1997: all three animated films struggled against the juggernaut that was Lucasfilm and Fox’s Star Wars, Episode I. The achingly-anticipated film had been all the buzz for two years straight (arguably for two decades straight), and if the film failed to meet the impossibly high expectations of the fans, it still cleared a record-shattering $1 billion and utterly dominated the Holiday movie season. Stanley Gold openly wondered why, if George Lucas was a Disney shareholder, the Prequels weren’t being released by MGM rather than Fox? Didn’t Disney already have Star Wars at the parks? Associate Director George Lucas even walked out of a meeting after Gold floated the idea of Disney just merging with Lucasfilm and making Star Wars a Disney IP alongside Marvel and The Muppets.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I sell Star Wars to Disney!” George angrily told Jim.
All said, it had been a rough year at the movies. On one hand, the summer had been fantastic. The Secret Life of Toys had dominated over the summer, breaking $380 million and proving that full-CG animation was a real player. Furthermore, the combined T- and R-rated releases of The Lost World had broken $500 million, earning 3rd place at the yearly box office behind Star Wars and Terminator 3, while The Fantastic Four had come in fourth, breaking $400 million (officially $444.4 million, a number that Jim suspected was too perfect to be true, knowing how opaque the earnings game was). On the other hand, the Holiday season had, of course, been rough. In general, the studio made good profits, though much of the largess from The Lost World would be shared with Amblin. Parks were doing well even as costs increased. Still, net income had only increased less than 12%, which was a darn good increase, but far less than the previous year’s near 21% jump, though this was largely driven by the NBC acquisition.
And with NBC dropping in the ratings against ABC, CBS, and PFN and the LA Rams only just breaking even when Disney-exclusive merchandise was included, stocks were flat, and shareholders annoyed. Les Moonves would be summarily let go in the spring of 1998 after multiple charges of quid pro quo sexual harassment. His severance package, though, had been generous and he almost immediately got a job at WB to run their upstart network TV station. Some shareholders began to second-guess the decision to lose a “genius” just because he “had a weakness for the ladies”. Jim assured them that Moonves’s actions were unbecoming of the Disney name and created massive legal risk, but the leadership turnaround, combined with the continuing Disney-NBC culture clash, were increasingly being seen as Bernie, Jim, and Stan losing control of the situation. Jim and Bernie assured them that Jamie Kellner, whom they’d recruited from CBS, where he ran the successful TBS, was going to build back NBC, but the young exec had never managed a network of NBCs size.
“It’s bullshit,” Bernie told Jim after the contentious meeting. “You fucking rebuilt this company from the joke of Hollywood to a leading studio, and the ungrateful bastards play Tuesday Morning Quarterback with each decision.”
“Undank ist der Weltenlohn,” Jim replied with a shrug, a phrase that one of the German Imagineers working on Disneytown Berlin had taught him, meaning “Unthankfulness is the World’s prize”.[1]
Instead, the fastest growth remained from Genie, the Internet Portal that they’d taken over from GE following the NBC deal. Some, seeing the increasing profit margins at Imagine, Inc., were suggesting that a larger investment in online presence and technology might be called for, in particular GE’s Bob Wright, though Leo Tramiel and his son Brian both warned Jim that the slow dial-up speeds were not compatible with his hopes for expanding Disney’s online video presence. “We can post exclusive artwork and sell toys and T-shirts, a few simple Shorts and games and puzzles,” Brian told him, “But we’re a long way out from when someone can just download and play a movie.” New technologies in high-speed internet beyond the old 5.56 kbps telephone modem were showing promise, as was a new scheme for how regional network interconnections were managed, but it would be years before high-speed internet would proliferate beyond tech hubs and major cities.
“I guess the screech is here for the foreseeable future,” he said, referring to the dial-up modem tones instantly familiar to anyone who signed in to Leap or Genie.
“Yep,” said Brian, “Get used to it, pops.”
And as he grew more experienced as Chairman, particularly in the areas of finance, Jim began to notice things, rather underhanded things, that he’d never really noticed in day-to-day operations. Like how the Disney Plazas at each Disneytown, including at Port Disney and Pleasure Island, were officially classified as “Shopping Malls”, which, due to an odd tax loophole, allowed them to be used as tax shelters[2]. Similar dodgy issues surrounded Disney’s strange extra-governmental enclave in Florida, the “Reedy Creek Improvement District”, which made Walt Disney World practically an independent polity within the State of Florida. What, Jim wondered, would happen if the State of Florida decided to change the terms of the deal? Even Kermit’s Swamp and Disney’s growing Green Energy generation assets, which he’d spearheaded as a good faith means of protecting the environment and the endangered Florida wetlands, were effectively being leased to fossil fuel companies as “carbon offsets” under a provision in the Green Growth Act, allowing the partnering companies to continue to pollute while avoiding some Carbon taxes. On the plus side they had expanded the protected wetlands under the deals, but then again, so much of the area they’d “protected” was serious wetland that Disney had no plans to develop due to cost issues. His son Brian even ironically noted how many gas-guzzling private jets flew in to Orlando for the yearly Green Technologies Summit and how much trash the Earth Day Celebrations created. Jim didn’t like any of it.
“Politics are like sausage. It's best not to see it being made,” Stan Kinsey told him, misquoting Bismarck.
But Jim still increasingly felt like a phony and a hypocrite. And not just from sketchy business deals. Overtly merch-driven shows, like those from Sunbow that he’d dumped in the 1980s out of dislike for the “manipulation” of children inherent to them, were now back on Disney TV courtesy of Princess Squad and Hero Squad. Brenda Chapman had convinced him that the shows themselves had redeeming value, even impressing him with some particularly moving scenes, so he gave them a pass, but he had to ask himself, am I changing Disney for the better, or is it changing me for the worse?
Princess Squad was also creating friction with Roy, who feared that it was “cheapening” the classic Walt-era Princesses, in particular the “big three” of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Roy had been instrumental in delaying their films’ release on home video and steadfastly refused to entertain the idea of sequels for precisely that reason, and yet here they were: teaming up to fight villains like Charlie’s Angels! Jim and Brenda worked with him to at least ensure that the characters stayed true to Walt’s vision for them, but even so, it was another point of contention between Jim and Roy at a time where Jim’s cache with both sides of the Disney family was increasingly at risk.
But far beyond the studios, 1997 had been a rough year. Five people including a 5-year-old girl had been killed at the Disneyland gate following a shooting by a mentally unstable man. It was one of many incidents of politically-motivated violence that year and that decade. A bizarre letter from a man claiming to be a witness to the shooting and also a gun-runner, which Jim ascribed to a sick hoax, was turned over to the FBI to deal with. The stresses caused by the shooting were causing acrimonious arguments on the board as different factions blamed each other for the lapse in security, even as Sonny assured Jim that little could have been done to prevent such a random act of violence. Diane and Stanley Gold used every opportunity to snipe at each other as acrimony grew, and while nobody specifically called out Jim’s centrality in the anti-Disney rhetoric, Jim began to suspect that he might be run out in an effort to deflect the anger.
But the burgeoning return of the Disney Family Civil War, or any potential intrigues against Jim, would be put on hold in December of 1997 when, on the 31st anniversary of Walt’s death, Lilian Bounds Disney suffered a minor stroke caused in part, the doctors said, by the stress and emotion of the day. By dumb luck her grandson Walt Disney Miller had been visiting her after producing an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney and was able to get her medical attention[3]. Ron, Diane, and Roy put their differences aside and all went out of their way to help out, as did Jim and his family. Lilian was recovering in the hospital and had some damage to her right occipital lobe, ultimately losing sight in her left eye[4], but was otherwise fairly unaffected. After a brief hospital stay, she returned to her West Hollywood home with a full-time nurse to care for her as she recovered.
The close call would bring the two sides of the family together in mutual care and concern, and led to a three-way mending of fences with both sides of the Disney family and the Hensons as all sides worked in good faith to get the family matriarch the care that she needed in her recovery. It was a brief reprieve and “cease fire” that would soon be severely tested.
Jim also got a call from his son John. Actor Chris Farley had been dragged in to the nurse’s station at the back of his shop on Sunset Boulevard following an apparent overdose. The Nurse administered some medication and he stabilized. But what came next would make headlines.
“I woke up in John’s back room,” Farley told Good Neighbor. “I’d been on a long nod, and really spiraling fast. I’d done my best to follow in John Belushi’s footsteps, and I was on the verge of burning out the same way. But as I came to, the very first face that I saw was Christ’s. I mean, it was a picture that Nurse Maria had put up, the one with the burning heart and the thorns that you see all over LA, you know the one. Well, yea, I know it was a picture and I was definitely still fogged up from the drugs, but Christ spoke to me at that moment. I’d grown up Catholic, of course, but never really got into church. But after I recovered, John introduced me to Padre Jose and I had my first communion and confession in years. With the Lord’s help, I cleaned myself up.”
Farley’s salvation and sobriety made headlines, as did John Henson, whose fluid spirituality had made him the subject of attacks by the religious right, being his sponsor at a Catholic recovery center. Farley thanking Maria and John Henson for saving his life and thanking Jesus for saving his soul helped diffuse some of the energy of the ongoing attacks against the Hensons, and gave them a bit of a reprieve.
“I don’t care what [Pat] Robertson says,” he told Good Neighbor, “Jim and John Henson are Godly men.”
As such, as 1998 dawned, Jim was cautiously optimistic about the future. He and Stan and Bernie would, he was sure, be able to turn NBC around, see the Rams into profitability in time for the Stadium to be completed, and retake Disney’s place as the undisputed master of animation.
Little did he know that he’d have a far bigger challenge ahead of him.
3-Year Financial Data, Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
* Includes earnings from NBC starting Oct. 1995, hence the jump in revenues
** Includes Park Expansions and NBC operating expenses starting Oct 1995
The Board of Directors for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company, January 1998:
Stanley Kinsey, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, Chairman and CCO
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President and COO
Roy E. Disney, Chairman and President, Disney-MGM Studios
Bob Wright (General Electric)
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
Sid Bass (CEO of Bass Brothers Enterprises)
Steven Spielberg (Partner, Amblin Entertainment)
Steve Jobs (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)
Ronald “Ron” Miller (CEO Emeritus)
Frank Wells (Chairman and CEO Emeritus)
The Disney Executive Committee:
Frank Wells, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, Chairman and CCO
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President
Thomas “Tom” Wilhite, Chairman, Disney-MGM Studios
John Hench, President, Walt Disney Imagineering Workshop
Roy E. Disney, President, Walt Disney Studios
Stocks at a Glance: Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
January 4th, 1998
Stock price: $94.78
Major Shareholders: Henson family (18.6%), Roy E. Disney family (12.2%), Disney-Miller family (12.1%), General Electric (10.4%), Sid Bass (8.7%), Bill Marriott (5.7%), Amblin Entertainment (1.2%), Apple Comp. (0.7%), Lucasfilm Ltd. (0.5%), Suspected “Knights Errant” (4.8%), Other (25.1%)
Outstanding shares: 498.6 million
[1] Hut tipp an dich, @Shiny_Agumon.
[2] Hat tip to @ajm8888 for digging up that tricky little fact about the Mall.
[3] In our timeline she died in her home.
[4] I have no idea what blood vessel caused the stroke in our timeline, and whether it was due to blockage or hemorrhage, but assuming it was hemorrhagic if she then laid down following the stroke, such as due to the headache, it would cause blood to pool towards the back of the skull and primarily damage the occipital lobe, regardless of source, primarily affecting vision.
Excerpt from Jim Henson: Storyteller, an authorized biography by Jay O’Brian
Jim and Roy looked on in dismay as Kindred Spirits underperformed. Trapped in a three-way battle with Universal’s Spirit of the West and Columbia’s The Flintstones 2, it had managed to win the day, but the three-way competition took its toll. Roy also wondered if they were stretching the definition of “Princess” too far with Céline, who was the daughter of a New Orleans “Queen” by stature, but not actually royalty (unless one counted her mother’s unsupported claim to be descended from French royalty). The two upcoming animated features, The Poet and the Dragon and Heart of Ice, both featured more traditional princesses (though one was in reality a dragon), and Roy was confident about their chances, though Jim had to admit to himself that the growing competition from all sides was leaving him scared that they’d soon reach a point to where rising costs and increased competition would combine with dwindling novelty to make animated film once again a money-losing proposition.
That said, there was a bigger issue at play in December of 1997: all three animated films struggled against the juggernaut that was Lucasfilm and Fox’s Star Wars, Episode I. The achingly-anticipated film had been all the buzz for two years straight (arguably for two decades straight), and if the film failed to meet the impossibly high expectations of the fans, it still cleared a record-shattering $1 billion and utterly dominated the Holiday movie season. Stanley Gold openly wondered why, if George Lucas was a Disney shareholder, the Prequels weren’t being released by MGM rather than Fox? Didn’t Disney already have Star Wars at the parks? Associate Director George Lucas even walked out of a meeting after Gold floated the idea of Disney just merging with Lucasfilm and making Star Wars a Disney IP alongside Marvel and The Muppets.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I sell Star Wars to Disney!” George angrily told Jim.
All said, it had been a rough year at the movies. On one hand, the summer had been fantastic. The Secret Life of Toys had dominated over the summer, breaking $380 million and proving that full-CG animation was a real player. Furthermore, the combined T- and R-rated releases of The Lost World had broken $500 million, earning 3rd place at the yearly box office behind Star Wars and Terminator 3, while The Fantastic Four had come in fourth, breaking $400 million (officially $444.4 million, a number that Jim suspected was too perfect to be true, knowing how opaque the earnings game was). On the other hand, the Holiday season had, of course, been rough. In general, the studio made good profits, though much of the largess from The Lost World would be shared with Amblin. Parks were doing well even as costs increased. Still, net income had only increased less than 12%, which was a darn good increase, but far less than the previous year’s near 21% jump, though this was largely driven by the NBC acquisition.
And with NBC dropping in the ratings against ABC, CBS, and PFN and the LA Rams only just breaking even when Disney-exclusive merchandise was included, stocks were flat, and shareholders annoyed. Les Moonves would be summarily let go in the spring of 1998 after multiple charges of quid pro quo sexual harassment. His severance package, though, had been generous and he almost immediately got a job at WB to run their upstart network TV station. Some shareholders began to second-guess the decision to lose a “genius” just because he “had a weakness for the ladies”. Jim assured them that Moonves’s actions were unbecoming of the Disney name and created massive legal risk, but the leadership turnaround, combined with the continuing Disney-NBC culture clash, were increasingly being seen as Bernie, Jim, and Stan losing control of the situation. Jim and Bernie assured them that Jamie Kellner, whom they’d recruited from CBS, where he ran the successful TBS, was going to build back NBC, but the young exec had never managed a network of NBCs size.
“It’s bullshit,” Bernie told Jim after the contentious meeting. “You fucking rebuilt this company from the joke of Hollywood to a leading studio, and the ungrateful bastards play Tuesday Morning Quarterback with each decision.”
“Undank ist der Weltenlohn,” Jim replied with a shrug, a phrase that one of the German Imagineers working on Disneytown Berlin had taught him, meaning “Unthankfulness is the World’s prize”.[1]
Instead, the fastest growth remained from Genie, the Internet Portal that they’d taken over from GE following the NBC deal. Some, seeing the increasing profit margins at Imagine, Inc., were suggesting that a larger investment in online presence and technology might be called for, in particular GE’s Bob Wright, though Leo Tramiel and his son Brian both warned Jim that the slow dial-up speeds were not compatible with his hopes for expanding Disney’s online video presence. “We can post exclusive artwork and sell toys and T-shirts, a few simple Shorts and games and puzzles,” Brian told him, “But we’re a long way out from when someone can just download and play a movie.” New technologies in high-speed internet beyond the old 5.56 kbps telephone modem were showing promise, as was a new scheme for how regional network interconnections were managed, but it would be years before high-speed internet would proliferate beyond tech hubs and major cities.
“I guess the screech is here for the foreseeable future,” he said, referring to the dial-up modem tones instantly familiar to anyone who signed in to Leap or Genie.
“Yep,” said Brian, “Get used to it, pops.”
And as he grew more experienced as Chairman, particularly in the areas of finance, Jim began to notice things, rather underhanded things, that he’d never really noticed in day-to-day operations. Like how the Disney Plazas at each Disneytown, including at Port Disney and Pleasure Island, were officially classified as “Shopping Malls”, which, due to an odd tax loophole, allowed them to be used as tax shelters[2]. Similar dodgy issues surrounded Disney’s strange extra-governmental enclave in Florida, the “Reedy Creek Improvement District”, which made Walt Disney World practically an independent polity within the State of Florida. What, Jim wondered, would happen if the State of Florida decided to change the terms of the deal? Even Kermit’s Swamp and Disney’s growing Green Energy generation assets, which he’d spearheaded as a good faith means of protecting the environment and the endangered Florida wetlands, were effectively being leased to fossil fuel companies as “carbon offsets” under a provision in the Green Growth Act, allowing the partnering companies to continue to pollute while avoiding some Carbon taxes. On the plus side they had expanded the protected wetlands under the deals, but then again, so much of the area they’d “protected” was serious wetland that Disney had no plans to develop due to cost issues. His son Brian even ironically noted how many gas-guzzling private jets flew in to Orlando for the yearly Green Technologies Summit and how much trash the Earth Day Celebrations created. Jim didn’t like any of it.
“Politics are like sausage. It's best not to see it being made,” Stan Kinsey told him, misquoting Bismarck.
But Jim still increasingly felt like a phony and a hypocrite. And not just from sketchy business deals. Overtly merch-driven shows, like those from Sunbow that he’d dumped in the 1980s out of dislike for the “manipulation” of children inherent to them, were now back on Disney TV courtesy of Princess Squad and Hero Squad. Brenda Chapman had convinced him that the shows themselves had redeeming value, even impressing him with some particularly moving scenes, so he gave them a pass, but he had to ask himself, am I changing Disney for the better, or is it changing me for the worse?
Princess Squad was also creating friction with Roy, who feared that it was “cheapening” the classic Walt-era Princesses, in particular the “big three” of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Roy had been instrumental in delaying their films’ release on home video and steadfastly refused to entertain the idea of sequels for precisely that reason, and yet here they were: teaming up to fight villains like Charlie’s Angels! Jim and Brenda worked with him to at least ensure that the characters stayed true to Walt’s vision for them, but even so, it was another point of contention between Jim and Roy at a time where Jim’s cache with both sides of the Disney family was increasingly at risk.
But far beyond the studios, 1997 had been a rough year. Five people including a 5-year-old girl had been killed at the Disneyland gate following a shooting by a mentally unstable man. It was one of many incidents of politically-motivated violence that year and that decade. A bizarre letter from a man claiming to be a witness to the shooting and also a gun-runner, which Jim ascribed to a sick hoax, was turned over to the FBI to deal with. The stresses caused by the shooting were causing acrimonious arguments on the board as different factions blamed each other for the lapse in security, even as Sonny assured Jim that little could have been done to prevent such a random act of violence. Diane and Stanley Gold used every opportunity to snipe at each other as acrimony grew, and while nobody specifically called out Jim’s centrality in the anti-Disney rhetoric, Jim began to suspect that he might be run out in an effort to deflect the anger.
But the burgeoning return of the Disney Family Civil War, or any potential intrigues against Jim, would be put on hold in December of 1997 when, on the 31st anniversary of Walt’s death, Lilian Bounds Disney suffered a minor stroke caused in part, the doctors said, by the stress and emotion of the day. By dumb luck her grandson Walt Disney Miller had been visiting her after producing an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney and was able to get her medical attention[3]. Ron, Diane, and Roy put their differences aside and all went out of their way to help out, as did Jim and his family. Lilian was recovering in the hospital and had some damage to her right occipital lobe, ultimately losing sight in her left eye[4], but was otherwise fairly unaffected. After a brief hospital stay, she returned to her West Hollywood home with a full-time nurse to care for her as she recovered.
The close call would bring the two sides of the family together in mutual care and concern, and led to a three-way mending of fences with both sides of the Disney family and the Hensons as all sides worked in good faith to get the family matriarch the care that she needed in her recovery. It was a brief reprieve and “cease fire” that would soon be severely tested.
Jim also got a call from his son John. Actor Chris Farley had been dragged in to the nurse’s station at the back of his shop on Sunset Boulevard following an apparent overdose. The Nurse administered some medication and he stabilized. But what came next would make headlines.
“I woke up in John’s back room,” Farley told Good Neighbor. “I’d been on a long nod, and really spiraling fast. I’d done my best to follow in John Belushi’s footsteps, and I was on the verge of burning out the same way. But as I came to, the very first face that I saw was Christ’s. I mean, it was a picture that Nurse Maria had put up, the one with the burning heart and the thorns that you see all over LA, you know the one. Well, yea, I know it was a picture and I was definitely still fogged up from the drugs, but Christ spoke to me at that moment. I’d grown up Catholic, of course, but never really got into church. But after I recovered, John introduced me to Padre Jose and I had my first communion and confession in years. With the Lord’s help, I cleaned myself up.”
Farley’s salvation and sobriety made headlines, as did John Henson, whose fluid spirituality had made him the subject of attacks by the religious right, being his sponsor at a Catholic recovery center. Farley thanking Maria and John Henson for saving his life and thanking Jesus for saving his soul helped diffuse some of the energy of the ongoing attacks against the Hensons, and gave them a bit of a reprieve.
“I don’t care what [Pat] Robertson says,” he told Good Neighbor, “Jim and John Henson are Godly men.”
As such, as 1998 dawned, Jim was cautiously optimistic about the future. He and Stan and Bernie would, he was sure, be able to turn NBC around, see the Rams into profitability in time for the Stadium to be completed, and retake Disney’s place as the undisputed master of animation.
Little did he know that he’d have a far bigger challenge ahead of him.
* * *
3-Year Financial Data, Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
Year | Revenues ($M)* | Expenses** | Net Income |
1995 | $ 13,321 | $ 9,662 | $ 3,659 |
1996 | $ 18,358 | $ 13,939 | $ 4,419 |
1997 | $ 19,804 | $ 14,890 | $ 4,914 |
** Includes Park Expansions and NBC operating expenses starting Oct 1995
The Board of Directors for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company, January 1998:
Stanley Kinsey, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, Chairman and CCO
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President and COO
Roy E. Disney, Chairman and President, Disney-MGM Studios
Bob Wright (General Electric)
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
Sid Bass (CEO of Bass Brothers Enterprises)
Steven Spielberg (Partner, Amblin Entertainment)
Steve Jobs (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)
Ronald “Ron” Miller (CEO Emeritus)
Frank Wells (Chairman and CEO Emeritus)
The Disney Executive Committee:
Frank Wells, CEO
James M. “Jim” Henson, Chairman and CCO
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President
Thomas “Tom” Wilhite, Chairman, Disney-MGM Studios
John Hench, President, Walt Disney Imagineering Workshop
Roy E. Disney, President, Walt Disney Studios
* * *
Stocks at a Glance: Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
January 4th, 1998
Stock price: $94.78
Major Shareholders: Henson family (18.6%), Roy E. Disney family (12.2%), Disney-Miller family (12.1%), General Electric (10.4%), Sid Bass (8.7%), Bill Marriott (5.7%), Amblin Entertainment (1.2%), Apple Comp. (0.7%), Lucasfilm Ltd. (0.5%), Suspected “Knights Errant” (4.8%), Other (25.1%)
Outstanding shares: 498.6 million
[1] Hut tipp an dich, @Shiny_Agumon.
[2] Hat tip to @ajm8888 for digging up that tricky little fact about the Mall.
[3] In our timeline she died in her home.
[4] I have no idea what blood vessel caused the stroke in our timeline, and whether it was due to blockage or hemorrhage, but assuming it was hemorrhagic if she then laid down following the stroke, such as due to the headache, it would cause blood to pool towards the back of the skull and primarily damage the occipital lobe, regardless of source, primarily affecting vision.
"Heart of Ice" featuring a "traditional princess" - Nineties!Elsa, I presume?
He's surrounded by progressive Christians so probably not down the conservative loop Gibson's in.
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1997 was definitely a rollercoaster, that's for sure. I do feel bad for Jim though, considering how he has to deal with so many tragedies from Lilian's stroke to the Disneyland terrorist attack. The pressures from his own job are not letting up with the spotty box office track record of Disney's films and the rise of competitive rivals like Universal Animation. Hopefully, 1998 will be a better year for him, because there might be a point where he will be overwhelmed by the weight of being Disney's steward.
Well, at least he has the Tomorrowland 2055 project to look forward to in the future.
In all seriousness, it is very unlikely that Lucasfilm will ever sell the Star Wars IP to Disney, which is good. Sometimes it is not good to bite the hand that feeds you, Gold.
Maybe he'll live a much happier life now that he is committed to reforming himself from his constant drug/alcohol abuse. OTL was definitely not kind to him.
Frozen, but as a coming-of-age story...? Neat.
Well, at least he has the Tomorrowland 2055 project to look forward to in the future.
What an ironic thing for him to say considering what happened to OTL.
In all seriousness, it is very unlikely that Lucasfilm will ever sell the Star Wars IP to Disney, which is good. Sometimes it is not good to bite the hand that feeds you, Gold.
Farley is actually alive? Wow, now that's a miracle.
Maybe he'll live a much happier life now that he is committed to reforming himself from his constant drug/alcohol abuse. OTL was definitely not kind to him.
Seems likely.
How ominous.
Mixed bag for Disney right now.
Hmmm... ATL Mulan and Frozen? I love Mulan, so excited
Good choice.
Well perhaps that can be fixed.
It seems he had the fears I had when it all started out.
Wholesome.
Thank god he lived - even if I have my suspicions about these conversions.
Neat, new projects!
A dragon Princess is going to be so popular with young girls and certain parts of the Internet alike. But seriously I like the concept, feels like a good juxtaposition to Maleficent's evil dragon form, wonder if that's intentional.
If they ever have a Fantasmic like show in the Parks they should definitely include her and Maleficent dueling it out. But maybe don't use two animatronic dragons just in case we got another Murphy at our hands.😅
Heart of Ice sounds like it will be an Adaptation of the Snow Queen but I doubt it won't be anything like OTLs Frozen. Probably a lot more faithful to the Anderson Tale with maybe a bit more empathy for the titular Queen. Can't wait to see it!
Ah there it is the Trademark Allohistorical Irony we so love about this series!
Mr. Gold should be careful with his words or he might lose his chair if he's responsible for pushing George away from Disney and into the Arms of a competitor.
I bet he will think twice about another Star Wars Attraction in Disneyland now!
Eww, not surprising, but ewww non the less. Old sentiments die hard, especially in a company that's so conservative like Disney. Let Les Moonves fail his way upwards at Warner and see the shareholders change their tunes once WB is in hot water thanks to their "genius" and his grabby hands.
Hat tip back, mein Freund.
I love that Jim took the time to speak to some of the construction workers in Berlin too. Can't wait to see what the completed Disneytown will look like.
Disney sure is on the forefront of modern communication. I wonder how and if Genie can keep its market share and if it will survive the Dot Com Bubble bursting. Will people in this Timeline call searching something online "genieing"? Or will maybe something more appropriate and easy to say.😅
Poor Jim, he's doing so much good but still his concerns are real.
I hope the Disney's will finally come together as a family thanks to this. Quarrels between family members are not uncommon but they have been so unbelievably toxic to eachother for no good reason for so long that they don't even know how it feels like to be at peace.
Also I'm glad Lilian is alive, I hope she has some good years left.
Farley survived, honestly something I'm ashamed to admit I didn't expect. I already saw him dying of an OD on Jim's couch or Jim reading it in the newspaper. I'm glad he survived and seems like he and John are going to be a team for now.
Not to sound cynical but with so many religious authorities villainizing Jim as the Anti Chrìst having someone religious in his team might be just what he needs right now. I hope Farley stays clean.
Oh oh, I wonder how much worse it can get! We already had a terrorist attack on Disneyland so I wonder what could be even worse? I hope it's nothing medical or with his family.
Great chapter @Geekhis Khan
Thanks, all, for the kind words. 1997 was crazy, but 1998 will be a serious roller coaster, so stay tuned, folks.
I got a lot of requests on Farley, and to be honest, he was a "tough case", bound and determined to flame out like his idol John Belushi. It seemed like divine intervention of a sort was required here. But Farley isn't just a "save him to save him". He'll be back, as will Lillian.
I got a lot of requests on Farley, and to be honest, he was a "tough case", bound and determined to flame out like his idol John Belushi. It seemed like divine intervention of a sort was required here. But Farley isn't just a "save him to save him". He'll be back, as will Lillian.
A little of column A, a little of column B...
Yep, recall that this section is named Scylla and Charybdis.
Being a devout Christian doesn't automatically make someone a sanctimonious, judgmental hypocrite any more than being an atheist automatically makes one an amoral, nihilistic asshole. I've known good and generous people of many faiths and good people who are atheists or agnostics. In my personal experience beliefs can amplify internal personality traits, positive and negative, give good people the motivation they need to do good things, or give bad people the "top cover" for their bad actions. In Farley's case, rediscovering his childhood faith is giving him the support he needs to escape a downward spiral (finding a "higher power", be that figurative or literal, is one of the 12 steps, after all), and hopefully give him a chance to learn to seek love for himself, not live vicariously for the love of others, which can be a self-defeating trap.
Meta-Discussion: 1998
Setting the Stage 10: Nowhere to go but up!
Everybody (yea yea!) is makin’ bank on this Dot Com thing, and is in the mood to party!
The Stock Market just keeps going up, with everyone increasingly wishing that they’d gotten in on the ground floor with those new “dot-com” stocks that grow and grow without any signs of stopping. It’s time to put all of your money into the market and party like it’s 1929! I hear that Enron is a brilliant investment.
What could possibly go wrong? (Image source Documentary Heaven and Wikimedia)
In our timeline, Titanic from the year before is still the massive success of all successes, its box office receipts going up and up even as the titular ship goes down again and again on screen after screen. Armageddon and Deep Impact vie for your asteroid-apocalypse-based thrills as something comes crashing violently down, with the ensuing box office battle asking a critical question: is it easier to train astronauts to drill, or drillers to astronaut? Godzilla (or at least a Godzilla-adjacent kaiju) tears up New York City and tears apart Kaiju fandom (at least her kids are adorable). And surely these hit blockbuster movies, full of disasters and stark lessons on man’s hubris, are no indication of what’s to come, right?
“One of these things is not like the others…”
Well, they’ll have some competition from Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan along with the surprise hits There’s Something About Mary and Shakespeare in Love.
Oscar Bait singles from many of these films will battle for the Billboard Charts too.
“There…you are……stuck in my heeeaaad…!”
Speaking of sticking in your head, Pop music! The Barenaked Ladies will break out on the pop charts with a quirky indie sound. Not-so “Alternative” anymore bands like The Goo Goo Dolls and Semisonic will play on the charts. The Offspring will prove “Pretty Fly” for white guys. Brandy and Monica will insist that “The Boy is Mine”. And surprisingly enough, Ska and Neo-Swing will appear out of nowhere, dominate the charts with a horn-heavy sound, and then disappear again just as suddenly, giving the world musical whiplash.
(Image sources Metro, Great Song)
TV-wise That ‘70s Show will launch and Whose Line is it Anyway? will come to the US. Will and Grace will feature an openly gay SITCOM lead. Babylon 5 will end and Stargate SG-1 spin up. And HBO will start to redefine television with Oz, The Sopranos the very next year, and soon other high production value dramas, leading to a new era for television as more than just the place for those who can’t make it in the movies.
At least in our world. Your alternate timeline mileage may vary.
Meanwhile in the world of actual disasters (as opposed to the cinematic ones), hurricanes in Central America, flooding in China, tsunamis in Papua New Guinea, fires and tornadoes in Florida, and famine in Africa kill thousands. Many blame at least some of these disasters on climate change and demand action.
Answering the call, Exxon and Mobile say “hold my beer” and merge into a petroleum giant that will spend more than the GDP of most nations every year feeding climate skepticism.
In a nice moment of disaster aversion, the Good Friday Agreement is signed, leading to the Belfast Accords and helping bring an end to nearly a century of Northern Irish violence known (in typical British/Irish understatement) as “The Troubles”.
They’re so cute when they’re little (Image source NASA)
In another World Peace moment, the International Space Station begins to be assembled. It will be a great place of scientific discovery and world diplomacy and a milestone in Space Exploration, despite opposition by detractors to the high price tag.
Well, this is going to suck…
While back on Earth in the US, scandal will erupt when President Bill Clinton is accused of having an affair – in the Oral, err, Oval Office no less – with young Intern Monica Lewinsky. This will lead to America’s first Impeachment since Andrew Johnson in the aftermath of the Civil War.
And in slightly related news, the FDA approves Viagra for use with erectile dysfunction so things can indeed keep going up.
And America soon demands that Pfizer come up with a pill that does the exact opposite for their elected officials.
Everybody (yea yea!) is makin’ bank on this Dot Com thing, and is in the mood to party!
The Stock Market just keeps going up, with everyone increasingly wishing that they’d gotten in on the ground floor with those new “dot-com” stocks that grow and grow without any signs of stopping. It’s time to put all of your money into the market and party like it’s 1929! I hear that Enron is a brilliant investment.
What could possibly go wrong? (Image source Documentary Heaven and Wikimedia)
In our timeline, Titanic from the year before is still the massive success of all successes, its box office receipts going up and up even as the titular ship goes down again and again on screen after screen. Armageddon and Deep Impact vie for your asteroid-apocalypse-based thrills as something comes crashing violently down, with the ensuing box office battle asking a critical question: is it easier to train astronauts to drill, or drillers to astronaut? Godzilla (or at least a Godzilla-adjacent kaiju) tears up New York City and tears apart Kaiju fandom (at least her kids are adorable). And surely these hit blockbuster movies, full of disasters and stark lessons on man’s hubris, are no indication of what’s to come, right?
“One of these things is not like the others…”
Well, they’ll have some competition from Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan along with the surprise hits There’s Something About Mary and Shakespeare in Love.
Oscar Bait singles from many of these films will battle for the Billboard Charts too.
Speaking of sticking in your head, Pop music! The Barenaked Ladies will break out on the pop charts with a quirky indie sound. Not-so “Alternative” anymore bands like The Goo Goo Dolls and Semisonic will play on the charts. The Offspring will prove “Pretty Fly” for white guys. Brandy and Monica will insist that “The Boy is Mine”. And surprisingly enough, Ska and Neo-Swing will appear out of nowhere, dominate the charts with a horn-heavy sound, and then disappear again just as suddenly, giving the world musical whiplash.
(Image sources Metro, Great Song)
TV-wise That ‘70s Show will launch and Whose Line is it Anyway? will come to the US. Will and Grace will feature an openly gay SITCOM lead. Babylon 5 will end and Stargate SG-1 spin up. And HBO will start to redefine television with Oz, The Sopranos the very next year, and soon other high production value dramas, leading to a new era for television as more than just the place for those who can’t make it in the movies.
At least in our world. Your alternate timeline mileage may vary.
Meanwhile in the world of actual disasters (as opposed to the cinematic ones), hurricanes in Central America, flooding in China, tsunamis in Papua New Guinea, fires and tornadoes in Florida, and famine in Africa kill thousands. Many blame at least some of these disasters on climate change and demand action.
Answering the call, Exxon and Mobile say “hold my beer” and merge into a petroleum giant that will spend more than the GDP of most nations every year feeding climate skepticism.
In a nice moment of disaster aversion, the Good Friday Agreement is signed, leading to the Belfast Accords and helping bring an end to nearly a century of Northern Irish violence known (in typical British/Irish understatement) as “The Troubles”.
They’re so cute when they’re little (Image source NASA)
In another World Peace moment, the International Space Station begins to be assembled. It will be a great place of scientific discovery and world diplomacy and a milestone in Space Exploration, despite opposition by detractors to the high price tag.
Well, this is going to suck…
While back on Earth in the US, scandal will erupt when President Bill Clinton is accused of having an affair – in the Oral, err, Oval Office no less – with young Intern Monica Lewinsky. This will lead to America’s first Impeachment since Andrew Johnson in the aftermath of the Civil War.
And in slightly related news, the FDA approves Viagra for use with erectile dysfunction so things can indeed keep going up.
And America soon demands that Pfizer come up with a pill that does the exact opposite for their elected officials.
"Ten years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t warm to Jim Henson’s congenial, bearded face." - still true many years later and across Universes.
"But listen to Talk Radio today and you’ll hear all about how this “socialist witch” is “undermining traditional American values” and “tarnishing” the holy name of Walt Disney." - got to fill those airwaves with ill informed BS right?
"awash with eye-straining Comic Sans manifestos" - well the font alone puts me off ta.
"in opposition to their idealized view of Walt Disney, whom they forget maintained a strictly secular entertainment portfolio" - cos why would truth get in the way of opinion?
"It’s possible that a more “business first” leadership might have led to a higher valuation" - you don't know the bullet you dodged there mate.
"making everyone around him aware that he knows that he’s playing a part and having a bit of fun while he’s at it." - that sounds about right to me.
"but arguably sticks to both his core values and honors the core values of Walt Disney on a fundamental level." - this reader would like to hope so.
Thoughtful look at how Jim is 'currently' portrayed there @Geekhis Khan
"But listen to Talk Radio today and you’ll hear all about how this “socialist witch” is “undermining traditional American values” and “tarnishing” the holy name of Walt Disney." - got to fill those airwaves with ill informed BS right?
"awash with eye-straining Comic Sans manifestos" - well the font alone puts me off ta.
"in opposition to their idealized view of Walt Disney, whom they forget maintained a strictly secular entertainment portfolio" - cos why would truth get in the way of opinion?
"It’s possible that a more “business first” leadership might have led to a higher valuation" - you don't know the bullet you dodged there mate.
"making everyone around him aware that he knows that he’s playing a part and having a bit of fun while he’s at it." - that sounds about right to me.
"but arguably sticks to both his core values and honors the core values of Walt Disney on a fundamental level." - this reader would like to hope so.
Thoughtful look at how Jim is 'currently' portrayed there @Geekhis Khan
"Puppets, a surealisté take on corporate America, free will, intention, and consequences." - ok that sounds interesting indeed.
"avante garde marionettes designed by the Muppet Workshop in partnership with Images in Motion." - oohh they will look great.
"discovers a secret portal into the brain of Pinnacle Studios CEO John D. Ashbury (Malkovich)," - yup def a turn for the odd.
"Things turn particularly surreal when Malkovich’s Ashbury enters the tunnel, possessing himself," - roll 3d6 on the Sanity Table...
"It was a film that asked many questions" - I suspect a lot of the audience asked "WTF was that?"
"He has never publicly said what the film meant to him, and speculation abounds." - Jim's diary on this one would be insightful one things. That is if he writes one.
"making a good $62.4 million against a $22 million budget" - nice return. Probably make decent return on disk sales too.
"winning Kaufman his first Best Original Screenplay Oscar." - cool beans.
"And somewhere, alternate me is undoubtedly reviewing the parallel universe’s version of this film." - I would like to hope ITTL me is a little more caught up on entries for this timeline!
"[2] If you want to know how it ends…you already know. Your alternate self is in it, after all. #MassiveMetaMindfuck" - humm... true!
Fun, bonkers chapter @Geekhis Khan
"avante garde marionettes designed by the Muppet Workshop in partnership with Images in Motion." - oohh they will look great.
"discovers a secret portal into the brain of Pinnacle Studios CEO John D. Ashbury (Malkovich)," - yup def a turn for the odd.
"Things turn particularly surreal when Malkovich’s Ashbury enters the tunnel, possessing himself," - roll 3d6 on the Sanity Table...
"It was a film that asked many questions" - I suspect a lot of the audience asked "WTF was that?"
"He has never publicly said what the film meant to him, and speculation abounds." - Jim's diary on this one would be insightful one things. That is if he writes one.
"making a good $62.4 million against a $22 million budget" - nice return. Probably make decent return on disk sales too.
"winning Kaufman his first Best Original Screenplay Oscar." - cool beans.
"And somewhere, alternate me is undoubtedly reviewing the parallel universe’s version of this film." - I would like to hope ITTL me is a little more caught up on entries for this timeline!
"[2] If you want to know how it ends…you already know. Your alternate self is in it, after all. #MassiveMetaMindfuck" - humm... true!
Fun, bonkers chapter @Geekhis Khan
"last Monday, Disney, The Smithsonian, and PBS announced that they would be launching a partnership" - well that's interesting news.
"will air a mix of original documentaries and syndicated material," - sounds like my sort of channel.
"and even a few Imports, like the UK’s Eyewitness." - well that is great news for the BBC.
"with at least one show to be hosted by Bill Nye," - going to be a busy man!
"The Smithsonian will gain display spaces at EPCOT, Port Disney, and several Disneytowns to be known as Smithsonian Education Stations," - well that a nice tie in.
"The Walt Disney company will further donate $25 million to the Smithsonian" - I bet someone on the Board complained even with the good PR.
"to include the original Sam & Friends Muppets, including the original pre-amphibian Kermit" - wonder how you preserve a Muppet?
"The origins of the Disney-Smithsonian partnership began with the collaboration on the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose" - got to maintain the old Ladies!
"followed by A&E and The History Channel, focusing on arts, culture, and human history" - ah, they started well. Hopefully it goes better than OTL.
"This partnership with The Smithsonian is an excellent opportunity to bring the light of learning to millions around the world.” - Keep it up Jim!
Educational chapter there @Geekhis Khan
"will air a mix of original documentaries and syndicated material," - sounds like my sort of channel.
"and even a few Imports, like the UK’s Eyewitness." - well that is great news for the BBC.
"with at least one show to be hosted by Bill Nye," - going to be a busy man!
"The Smithsonian will gain display spaces at EPCOT, Port Disney, and several Disneytowns to be known as Smithsonian Education Stations," - well that a nice tie in.
"The Walt Disney company will further donate $25 million to the Smithsonian" - I bet someone on the Board complained even with the good PR.
"to include the original Sam & Friends Muppets, including the original pre-amphibian Kermit" - wonder how you preserve a Muppet?
"The origins of the Disney-Smithsonian partnership began with the collaboration on the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose" - got to maintain the old Ladies!
"followed by A&E and The History Channel, focusing on arts, culture, and human history" - ah, they started well. Hopefully it goes better than OTL.
"This partnership with The Smithsonian is an excellent opportunity to bring the light of learning to millions around the world.” - Keep it up Jim!
Educational chapter there @Geekhis Khan
Well, this is going to suck…
While back on Earth in the US, scandal will erupt when President Bill Clinton is accused of having an affair – in the Oral, err, Oval Office no less – with young Intern Monica Lewinsky. This will lead to America’s first Impeachment since Andrew Johnson in the aftermath of the Civil War.
- Status