John J. Geoghegan’s Post

Transcript

Hi, I'm John Gahagan and I'm going to read to you today a brief excerpt from the introduction of my short story, which is called The 8th Dwarf. So here we go. Yeah, I remember sleazy. He was the 8th dwarf had more Huzzah than all 7 dwarfs put together. Didn't make the final cut because Walt was so vindictive. Problem was, he kept sticking his hand up Snowy's dress and making her laugh. Each time he did it, she'd blow her lines in. The production would fall further behind schedule. Walt got ****** because he didn't have enough money for a reshoots. That girl had problems, though, and not just the usual Hollywood hangups. You didn't need 10 minutes talking to her to realize something was wrong. I don't know if it was her German upbringing or the tough time she'd been through, but she was the kind of girl that ended up banging on your hotel room door at 3:00 in the morning looking for the party. Everybody loves Sleazy, though. That guy was a pistol. One time after the big high ho number, he sneaked Goofy onto the set when the cameras were rolling and talked that crazy pooch into ******* Thumper. After that, Sleazy was suspended for a week without pay. The poor guy had to get on his hands and knees to beg the Chief Mousketeer for his job back. Walt liked throwing his weight around even then, but what could Sleazy do? He was a dwarf in a town that loves tall people. Disney Studio was always a sweatshop. You had a daily page count to shoot that nobody in their right mind could meet. Sometimes tension on the set got so bad you had to let a little steam off to keep from going crazy. But we never complained. It was the middle of the Depression. We were just happy to have jobs. That's why Walt loved animation. You could pay the talent next to nothing and they wouldn't complain. Of course, Sleazy was a red. How could he not be? Things were different back then. Everybody was a red. Popeye was a red. Betty Boop was a Red. Heck, even Superman was a red, though he later told people he never got his party card. Bullets weren't the only thing that guy could dodge. You have to understand we were living hand to mouth, some of us not even that. Walt kept us on a pretty short leash. If anybody got out of line, they were yanked back into place. Of course people don't know that today you say Magic Kingdom and they automatically think Happiest Place on Earth, but that's not how it was. Walt was a businessman first and an artist second. If he had to step on the talents neck to make money, well, he wouldn't think twice about it. The same thing happens today, only it's more subtle. You think wood and buzzy Buzz are happy at Pixar? Not since Disney bought that place. But Sleazy was never one to follow the rules. That's why we liked him. Sleazy may have been a dwarf, but he stood tall on the things that mattered. Guys like Sleazy pay a price, though in his case it was a lot higher than he deserved. Now I never heard it from Wall, but it was clear he had it in for sleazy from the start. Walt knew he was a rabble rouser, and those sleazy boosted morale. Walt could have cared less about morale. What he wanted were his pictures finished on time and on budget. Plus, Sleazy was a bad influence on Snowy, and that day never met a bad influence she didn't like. Nobody thinks of it now, but Snow White and he ate dwarves was a big risk for Disney. It was the world's first animated motion picture and he was into the Bank of America for something like $2,000,000 to fund it. Everyone back then thought an animated feature was crazy. The trades were calling it Disney's Folly, but that didn't stop Walt. You have to remember we were printing money back then. Mickey Mouse shorts cost only 30 K to produce. But since Walt plowed every dime back into the business, we were constantly having cash flow problems. Then came Snow White. That picture cost 1,000,005 to produce. By the time Walt caught his deal with the banks, we were up to our eyeballs in debt. It all started after the Three Little Pigs. That's when Walt decided Shorts had no future. They're the filler before the picture, he kept saying. We gotta make features. The truth is, World hated making shorts. He felt he'd outgrown them. If I heard him say Mickey's peaked once I heard it 1000 times. But Walt didn't say is he wanted to be respected as a filmmaker. Unfortunately, you don't earn respect drawing cartoons in this town. Walt was ambitious, though, even if no one took him seriously. The chief reason world made Snow White was because the rights were in the public domain. Walt was always a cheapskate. If he could get something for nothing, he would. That doesn't mean he didn't know how to add value. He did. But I never once saw him pick up a check. And of course, that's how we found Snowy. She was in Germany making mountain climbing pictures with Lenny Riefenstahl, went by her given name then, which was Vice, which means white in German. Was a few years before the war, and though her father wasn't Jewish, her mother was so snowy was desperate to immigrate. She may not have been a rocket scientist, but she was smart enough to know that Hitler was bad for her career. I forget what Walt saw in her. It was either Storm over Mont Blanc or Blue Light, one of those movies. He always had an eye for talent and given her circumstances, he signed her for a song. There was a reason they called her Snowy, though her Willowy figure in pale complexion didn't come naturally. Of course, Hollywood is great at covering up that kind of thing. Plus, Snowy was determined to make it in Snowbird show business. With a little help from us. She kept her drug problem a secret. The one thing Sleazy couldn't help was his altruistic streak where Snowy was concerned. Obviously he wasn't conventionally handsome. After all he was only four foot two. But he had a Clark Gable mustache and a snappy way of dressing. Everything you wore was custom made. He never once set foot in the kids section and Snowy looked up to him. So he'd ask because he'd actually read a book or two. One day during a shooting break, Snowy starts telling Sleazy about an older guy she's been seeing. Sleazy had a way of making people feel comfortable around him, so before you know it, Snow is pouring her guts out. I'll forgo the German accent, but just think Verner Hertzog only three octaves higher. I've been troubled, sleazy, she said. With those peepers any guy would fall for. What's the matter, kid? You pregnant or something? No, I'm involved with the wrong guy. Romance can be a terrible thing. Snowy. He hurts me sleazy, she said it almost like a whisper. Oh, everyone gets their heart broken, kid. He's not my heart. He hurts. And Snow White pulled down her collar to show purple finger marks around her neck. Jesus, kid, how'd you get those? He likes it. How long has this been going on Snow White side? Ohh since before the picture started. Gosh kid, that's terrible. Who is this guy? At first, Snow White was too scared to tell him. All she'd say is that he was an older guy, very high up in the industry, who promised to make her a star. Geez snowy, that's the oldest trick in the book. I'm surprised you fell for it. Who knows what Snow White was thinking, or even if she was thinking it all. But she got the idea into her head that Sleazy could help solve her problem. As I've said, Sleazy liked to play the hero, even if the movies never cast him that way, and nothing makes a dwarf feel taller like a regular sized woman in trouble. Sleazy got so steamed listening to Snow White story he wanted to straighten the guy out with a few choice words and a well placed punch which you know coming from a dwarf means in the you know where. Before he knew it, Sleazy agreed to take Snow White's place at her next date with the abuse of boyfriend. Although Sneezy Light playing the clown, we all knew he had a soft spot when it came to Snowy. Obviously he thought he could protect her, but I also think somewhere in the back of his mind, or maybe closer to the front, Sleazy thought he and Snow White had a future together. Anybody who knew Snow White knew that wasn't possible. Not because Sleazy was a dwarf, but because she was a flake. Still, sleazily agreed to meet the man, and like I said, he enjoyed playing the hero. I happened to run into him the afternoon of his fateful meeting, and not by accident. It was a Sunday and filming it knocked off early. I was in wardrobe when sleazily walked in wearing a double breasted suit and a fedora with a brim so sharp it could have sliced a lemon. Sleeves. You want some company tonight? I asked, knowing full well where he was going. Now I can handle it, he said, checking his reflection in the mirror. This kind of guy gets embarrassed by too much attention. OK, I said with a wink. But I'll be having a drink around the corner if you need any help. So he sleeps. He took one long last look at his reflection, not at a thanks, and headed out the door. OK. That's the introduction of the A2 Wharf. Thanks for listening.