Below: Lou Debney, by T. Hee
This story was told to me by Keith Cheney Chaney (a veteran of the Diz Co. Projection Department) long ago. It's amusing, and I don't think I've told it before. (If I have, skip this post and move on. I won't hold it against you.) ...
KC: Back in the fifties, after I got back from Korea, I was the projectionist up in Projection Room 13 on the third floor of the animation building. Walt would look at dailies in that projection room just about every day after lunch. I'd have everything ready to go at one thirty, and we'd unspool film for forty-five minutes or an hour, however long it'd take that day, and then Walt would leave.
One of the first times I ran dailies, a weird thing happened. We finish, and Walt steps out of the sweat box, and along comes Lou Debney down the hall. Lou had been at the studio forever, used to sell papers outside the Hyperion Studio as a kid, had been an assistant director on Snow White and was now an associate producer on television stuff. And Walt sees him coming and starts yelling at him, just rips him a new one: "Lou! What the hell is going on about [blank]?! What was with [blank]!"
Lou stands there looking stricken, like somebody ran electric current through him. He says: "I'm sorry Walt! I'm sorry! I'll take care of it! I'll fix it!"
And Lou runs off down the hall. Walt goes back to his office. And I peer out the door thinking: "Wow, that poor guy. What lousy timing to be walking down the hall just as Walt comes out of the booth and get it like that ..."
But then, and this is the really weird part, the next day, the exact same thing happens. Walt walks out of the booth, here comes Lou down the hall, and Walt starts yelling at him again. It's a new set of complaints, but it's the same routine: Lou cowers, tells Walt he'll get right on the problem, and hurries away. And Walt goes back to his office.
So about the fifth time this happens, I finally catch on: Ah. This is part of Lou Debney's job description. He's supposed to walk down the hall every day when Walt's done with dailies, so that Walt can yell at him.
And that's when I stopped feeling so bad for Lou Debney*.
Keith Cheney Chaney was one of my favorite people at Disney's. He had a sardonic but jovial view of life, always had a funny tale to tell (and yeah, this story might be a tad hyperbolic, but I enjoy it anyway), and was always the life of the department Christmas party.
And yes. Keith was related to Lon Cheney Chaney.
* Lou Debney's son John is a well-regarded composer of motion picture scores.
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15 comments:
Thank goodness he's not related to traitorous dick cheney and only projects people instead of SHOOTING them.
Are you sure Lon Chaney and Keith Cheney were related?
(And as to Dick Cheney, I can understand the confusion given Dick's resemblance to several of Lon's characters.)
Did Lou actually own the tasks that were yelled at him or was he there just to allow Walt to vent? Seems like some of the topics Walt would yell about could be completely out of one person's realm of expertise. I'd hate to be required to fix whatever daily issue one person could rant about because you never know what it may cover.
I've corrected my horrid spelling error, above.
Type fast, type inaccuratly, that's my motto.
Anonymous number one needs to get a life, seriously. I understand that his idol Obama is sinking even faster than many of us thought he would, but hey, the guy's in charge, the Donkey Party's in charge, and so you'd think Anonymous Number One could be happy, no?
But then, Obama IS sinking even faster than many of us thought...
As for the story, I'd love to hear corroboration on it from the other Cheney guy...
Actually Obama's approval ratings are solid. The dip very recently has come the left-wing of the party, who are unhappy about his centrist governance.
Nonetheless, his approval ratings are higher than Reagan's were at this point in his presidency.
PLEASE take the politics elsewhere guys.
Yeah, who wants to read political comments on a labor union blog?
Hey, this is about Walt Disney ... and his employees.
Barack hadn't been born yet.
Actually, according to Gallup, Reagan's approval ratings were 3 points higher than Obama's during the same period. And W's ratings were 35 points higher. Those were the good old days...
"And W's ratings were 35 points higher. Those were the good old days..."
Yes, we long for the simpler days when a President could appear to be a decider just by standing on the rubble of the giant building that got destroyed while he was out of the office reading "My Pet Goat".
Yeah. That's the guy we want back.
Actually, according to Gallup, Reagan's approval ratings were 3 points higher than Obama's during the same period.
Three whole points??! You mean within the margin of error?? B-b-but you had assured us that his approval ratings were sunk! And now you confirm that they are essentially the same as Reagan's for the same time period?? I'm just verklempt!!
As mentioned before, the main movement in Obama's numbers has come from the left-wing section of the party, who are upset at his centrist governance.
Steve, PLEASE please start policing comments a little. The above comments have NOTHING to do with animation.
Thanks for the story. I love hearing Walt stories.
Yes, PLEASE do something!!! My panties are all in a wad now.
Hulett's rule of thumb:
Unless the comments get hugely nasty, Hulett lifts not a finger to delete them.
My suggestion is, ignore the off-topic blatherings. (I guess it's my fault because I initially misspelled Keith Chaney's name.)
Oh well.
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