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Article on Von Braun and Walt Disney
"The Disney-Von Braun Collaboration and
Its Influence on Space Exploration"
by
Mike Wright
Marshall Space Flight Center Historian
Note: The
following paper was presented by the author in 1993 at the Southern
Humanities Conference entitled "Inner Space/Outer Space: Humanities,
Technology and the Postmodern World." It was later included in
"Selected Papers from the 1993 Southern Humanities Conference,"
published by Southern Humanities Press in Huntsville and edited by Daniel
Schenker, Craig Hanks, and Susan Kray.
The years after World War II left the American public with an almost
insatiable desire for space-related science fiction. In countless movies and
stories space warriors suited with fish bowl helmets focused their ray guns
on creatures from outer space. According to space historian Walter McDougall,
"After V-2s and atomic bombs, any fantasy seemed credible." Perhaps
more important, he says, the public's post-war devotion to science fiction
was a "form of cultural anticipation" regarding the coming space
age. [1]
Jules Verne's science fiction had inspired Wernher von Braun when he
was young. Years later, von Braun designed the famous World War II V-2 rocket
for his native Germany, but he also dreamed of developing vehicles that would
propel artificial satellites and men into outer space. In fact, his interest
in developing rockets for space exploration, rather than for defense, angered
the Gestapo and led to two weeks in a German prison.[2] As World War II ended,
von Braun and other German rocket experts surrendered to Allied forces and
eventually emigrated from Germany to work for the U.S. Army. Initially
assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas, the von Braun team was eventually transferred
to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. On January 31, 1958, the von
Braun team used a modified Jupiter C rocket to launch Explorer 1, America's
first orbiting satellite. Two years later, von Braun became director of
NASA's new George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville where he and
an expanded team would develop the Saturn rockets that launched men to the
moon in 1969.
As the 1960s ended, von Braun had realized his dream of exploring
outer space by helping place a human on the moon and satellite probes to the
planets. His engineering and managerial expertise contributed to a
technological revolution but his respect for the power of imagination had
changed the way America perceived space exploration much earlier in the
1950s. He believed that America's devotion to space fiction in the early
1950s could be channeled into interest in space fact. "It was a matter
of synthesizing the philosophical aspects into neat packages and solid
statements which the public would buy," according to Erik Bergaust, von
Braun's biographer.[3]
In the early 1950s, Collier's magazine invited von Braun to publish his vision regarding space
exploration. Space historian Randy Liebermann has explained the significance
of the Collier's articles:
"After 25 years of continuous and directed thinking and endless hours of
experimentation, von Braun, the world's leading rocket engineer, had the
chance to come out of his sequestered military environment and through a
national magazine inform the general public of his detailed blueprint for
realizing manned space travel.[4] "
The articles, illustrated by leading space artists, seemed to
accomplish more than any other seriously respected cultural or artistic
medium had done in the early 1950s to suggest that the future of space
exploration would emerge indebted to both science fiction and science fact.
At its highest point, Collier's
attained a circulation of approximately 4 million and these readers were
excited by von Braun's vision of the future. Even so, there were already more
than 15 million television sets in America by 1952 and von Braun recognized
that this change in American culture had the potential to fundamentally
reshape American past perceptions.[5] So did Walter Elias
Disney who had used film as a powerful medium to entertain and inform
Americans since the 1940s. "Neither Walt Disney nor Dr. von Braun were
ever backward in making maximum use of new media for advancing their ideas:
Now was the age of television," said one observer.[6]
Von Braun served as technical advisor on three space-related
television films that Disney produced in the 1950s. Together, von Braun (the
engineer) and Disney (the artist) used the new medium of television to
illustrate how high man might fly on the strength of technology and the spirit
of human imagination. According to David R. Smith, Director of Archives at
Walt Disney Productions, von Braun caught the attention of Disney senior
producer Ward Kimball. [7] The Collier's series had appeared about the time that Disney
decided to use television to promote Disneyland in California. The theme park
would include four major sections: Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland
and Tomorrowland. Disney producers would incorporate ideas from Disney
fantasy films like Snow White, Pinocchio, and others to promote the first
area of the park. The second and third areas would be built around Davy
Crockett and other adventure films. Tomorrowland, however, represented a real
challenge. In response, Kimball contacted von Braun who, according to Smith,
"pounced on the opportunity."[8] As a technical
consultant for Disney, von Braun would join Heinz Haber, a specialist in the
emerging field of space. medicine, and Willy Ley, a famous rocket historian.[9] All three space experts
had authored the Collier's
series. Disney personally introduced the first television show, "Man in
Space," which aired on ABC on March 9, 1955. The objective, he said, was
to combine "the tools of our trade with the knowledge of the scientists
to give a factual picture of the latest plans for man's newest
adventure." He later called the show "science factual." The
show represented something new in its approach to science. But it also relied
on Disney's trademark animation techniques. [10]
For example, a portion of the show was devoted to explaining basic
scientific principles using an animated bust of Sir Isaac Newton. In one
scene, an animated puppy sneezes and moves backward across a sheet of graph
paper to illustrate that for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. Disney also filled "Man in Space" with stereo-typical
images of learning and science. For example, Disney appears on camera against
a bookcase backdrop and introduces producer Ward Kimball complete with a
sketch pencil behind his ear. In turn, Kimball introduces the German
scientists whose accents add more style to the show. Kimball then offers
viewers the privilege to go behind the scenes to see the scientists
conferring with the Disney artists. Chalk-talk technical explanations soon
break into humorous animation. Haber begins explaining weightlessness in
space. His points are illustrated by a cigar puffing, slightly clad animated
character called "homo sapiens extra terrestrials," whose movements
are set against a graph-like grid. Although the Disney producers employed
humor and cartoon animation in the first part of "Man in Space,"
von Braun's on-camera segment was much more straightforward. "If we were
to start today on an organized, well supported space program, I believe a
practical passenger rocket could be built and tested within ten years,"
von Braun said. "Now here is my design for a four-stage orbital rocket
ship... First we would design and build the fourth stage and then tow it into
the air to test it as glider... This is the section that must ultimately
return the men to the earth safely."[11]
If Disney had chosen to close "Man in Space" after von
Braun's brief lecture on the mechanical relationships between the weight of
the four-stage rocket and the fuel and power requirements for each stage, he
would not have achieved his previously stated objective. Instead, the Disney
artists used the tools of their trade to create a dramatic animation sequence
illustrating von Braun's futuristic ideas for a four-stage rocket. The scene
takes place at a launch site on a "small atoll of coral islands in the Pacific
where man is dedicated to just one cause--the conquest of space."
Against a dark blue pre-dawn sky, search lights bathe the waiting launch
vehicle while sirens sound a warning, and square-jawed technicians study
their consoles. "Now man will bet his life against the unknown dangers
of space travel," a narrator reports. [12]
In reality, von Braun's on-camera appearance in "Man in
Space" and the other two films represented only a portion of his
involvement in the actual production of the three shows. Dr. Ernst
Stuhlinger, who had worked with von Braun since his days in Germany, also
worked for Disney as a technical consultant. According to Stuhlinger, von
Braun made sure the Disney artists built accurate models of the space
vehicles for the three shows. "Here von Braun was really on home
grounds.... He provided a wealth of information on technical details, from
in-orbit fueling operations down to problems of cooking and eating under
weightlessness," Stuhlinger said. He also recalled the many hours that
von Braun devoted to the Disney projects. Von Braun's official duties for the
Army often took him to the West Coast to meet with Jupiter and Redstone
contractors. After the meetings, he and Stuhlinger would go to the Disney
studios where they would work into the morning hours with the artists and
producers.[13]
The second show in the series also aired in 1955 and was called
"Man and the Moon." It began with an animated sequence devoted to
legends and superstitions regarding the moon, among them the idea that the
left hind-foot of a rabbit found in a graveyard during the dark of the moon
will bring good luck.[14] As one reviewer wrote
in the New York Times
following the show which aired on December 28, "this is the kind of
material that Walt Disney's technicians can devise their brightest graphic
effects and they made the most of it." [15]
An educational brochure published to promote "Man and the Moon,"
said, "This film presents a realistic and believable trip to the moon in
a rocket ship - not in some far-off fantastic never-never land, but in the
near foreseeable future."[16] Von Braun, complete
with a slide rule in his pocket, narrates a section of the film and describes
his ideas for a two-phase trip to the moon. The first part of the effort
would require building a space station. This base would serve as the staging
area for the second part of the trip to the moon. "Our space satellite
(station) will have the shape of a wheel measuring 250 feet across. This
outside rim will contain living and working quarters for a crew of 50
men," von Braun said. "Just below the radio and radar antenna is an
atomic reactor. Its heat will be used to drive a turbo generator which
supplies the station with electricity."[17]
Disney archivist David Smith noted that von Braun invented a special
space suit for "Man and the Moon" and nicknamed it the "bottle
suit." [18] According to
Stuhlinger, the suit resembled a miniature space vehicle with its own
atmosphere and rocket propulsion system along with manipulator arms to
accomplish assembly work in orbit.[19] Just as he had done in
"Man in Space," Disney decided to illustrate von Braun's technical
concepts. For the second show, however, Disney decided to use live actors who
portray an astronaut crew departing from the space station for their journey
around the moon. The drama intensifies when a meteor strikes the ship, and
one astronaut dons a bottle suit to make the repairs. [20]
The final show in the series aired on December 4, 1957, and was
entitled "Mars and Beyond." E.C. Slipher, an astronomer from the
Lowell Observatory in Arizona, joined von Braun and Stuhlinger as technical
consultants on the film. All three appeared on camera. The show also included
colorful animated accounts of the legend and lore related to Mars. The
narrator introduced the segment featuring von Braun and Stuhlinger by saying,
"at the present time an atomic-powered space ship has been suggested by
a leading scientist in the rocket and guided missile field, Dr. Ernst
Stuhlinger... This atomic electric space ship features a revolutionary new
principle that will make possible the long trip to Mars with only a small
expenditure of fuel." [21] Again the Disney artists
employ dramatic animation to convey Stuhlinger's and von Braun's technical
explanations regarding the 13-month journey to the Red Planet.[22]
An estimated 42 million people saw the first show in the Disney
"science factual" series. [23] Contemporary television
critics responded favorably to all three shows, and they recognized the
contributions that von Braun and the other technical advisors made.
"Into it went the thinking of the best scientific minds working on space
projects today, making the picture more fact than fantasy," one reviewer
said after seeing "Mars and Beyond."[24] Disney producer Ward
Kimball realized all three shows were headed for success after the first one
aired on March 9, 1955. On July 29, 1955, President Eisenhower announced that
the U.S. would launch a small unmanned earth-circling satellite as part of
the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year which would be
held from July 1957 through December 1958. [25] On August 24, Kimball
wrote a letter to von Braun saying that in order to promote plans for the
next show in the series, the Disney studios planned to "ballyhoo"
the first show as an item that contributed to Eisenhower's satellite announcement.
[26] In an August 30 letter
back to Kimball, von Braun reacted with astonishment. "For God's sake
don't put it that this show triggered the presidential announcement."[27] Kimball agreed and
replied with a letter of apology.[28] Von Braun feared that
Kimball's idea might be embarrassing and upset serious discussions regarding
America's future role in space.
In an article published in 1978, David R. Smith, the Disney
archivist, reprinted the correspondence between Kimball and von Braun.[29] He also published an
account from Kimball which stated that on the morning after "Man in
Space" aired, Eisenhower called Disney to compliment him on the show and
to request a copy that could be shown to top space-related officials in the
Pentagon.[30] Although it is
difficult to verify Kimball's account, the story has gained increased
attention in recent years. For example, one historian has recently used it to
illustrate that, contrary to other viewpoints, Eisenhower was not
"hostile to the idea of space exploration or to science in
general."[31]
Eisenhower's personal response to the first Disney film is open to
debate. However, "Man in Space," apparently impressed one
high-level Soviet space official. This is indicated by a copy of a September
24, 1955, letter from L. Sedov to F.C. Durant, President of the International
Astronautical Federation. "If the Disney Studios supplies us with one
copy of this film on whatever terms it may put, it will make considerably for
the cause of promoting our contact." [32] Erik Bergaust, von
Braun's biographer, called Sedov the "front man for Russian space
delegations during the Sputnik era." Bergaust also claims to have
introduced von Braun to Sedov in 1958. [33]
Naturally, many leaders in the emerging American aerospace industry
endorsed the efforts that von Braun and Disney had made to promote public
interest in space exploration. In 1955, the American Rocket Society held its
largest-ever regional meeting in Los Angeles. As part of the entertainment
for the meeting, more than 600 persons were invited to tour Disneyland and
participate in a special screening of "Man in Space."[34]
As indicated by von Braun's response to Kimball's plan to relate the
Eisenhower satellite announcement to the first Disney space show, von Braun
wanted to avoid any indication "that I myself through the vehicle of the
Disney Studio am trying to get credit for more than I deserve." [35] Biographer Erik
Bergaust has written that von Braun understood the perils of going to the
public for support of the space program: "During the fifties, many
people thought of von Braun as some sort of science fiction hero who for the
most part was dreaming of big space conquests and who spent most of his time
on Walt Disney television shows... Some high priests of science were, of
course, snobbish enough to frown on all this loud glamour."[36] Another author has
written that the Walt Disney documentaries and the Collier's articles made von Braun a "space nut"
or a "space hero." [37] In 1958, one von Braun
supporter lamented "the discouraging spectacle of hard headed and
reputable scientists calling the latest proposal of Dr. Wernher von Braun to
send a man 150 miles into space a 'circus stunt.'"[38] Ernst Stuhlinger
acknowledges that von Braun was aware of being criticized for promoting space
outside of previously established circles. But he adds that von Braun's
desire to see man travel into space meant convincing scientists, industry,
politicians and, in particular, the public. "He fought on all fronts
each in its own language. That was his genius," Stuhlinger said.[39]
In 1965, 10 years after "Man in Space" first aired, von
Braun invited Disney and others involved in the 1950s films to tour the
Marshall Space Flight Center.[40] Von Braun and his
employees clearly hoped that the reunion might rekindle Disney's enthusiasm
for space exploration. One Marshall official wrote, "Out of this we
would at least establish good will, and maybe (if we play our cards right) we
could get something going that would be of tremendous benefit to MSFC,
Apollo, NASA, and the entire space effort." [41] Von Braun himself wrote
that the Disney tour "may easily result in a Disney picture about manned
space flight." [42] On April 13, 1965, Walt
Disney, his brother Roy, and other Disney executives visited the Marshall
Center.[43] In an interview with
The Huntsville Times, Disney said, "If I can help through my TV shows...
to wake people up to the fact that we've got to keep exploring, I'll do
it."[44] In reality, the tour at
Marshall and other NASA sites did not inspire Disney to use the 1950s
television series as a model for a new film about space exploration. No
doubt, Wernher von Braun was well qualified to imagine what the show and the
future American space program might have looked like if Disney had chosen to
do so.
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