Forbidden Animation by Karl F. Cohen

Author:Karl F. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2013-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Nothing in the FBI file suggests that any of this information is true.

Eliot claims to know for certain of two tasks Disney undertook as a spy: to fly to New York City in 1943 and 1944 to attend left-wing cultural events. Eliot says Disney then returned to Los Angeles each time and wrote reports on the events for the FBI. While it was clear Disney donated money to the events and was listed as a "sponsor," nowhere in the file, which includes news clip-pings, advertisements and two FBI reports about the events in New York, does it say Disney attended either event. The FBI reports were filed in New York, not in Los Angeles, and the authors' names are blacked out so we do not know who filed them. It would not have made sense for Disney to attend the events, as he would not have recognized who was in the audience. The FBI had more than enough people available in New York to spy on the crowds.

Another distortion of the truth in Eliot's book is his statement that Disney traveled to an event in Reno and gave an "impassioned" speech. The FBI file says Mary Pickford read a telegram sent by Disney to the Reno event. Eliot quotes what he claims to be part of the speech, but actually he quotes the entire telegram!

On January 12, 1955, the FBI made Walt Disney a Special Agent in Charge-Contact (SAC-Contact), which means he was recognized as an unpaid reference person that they could trust and call upon for information. Eliot calls the position a promotion for Disney and claims (but offers no proof or examples) that other spies reported to Disney once he became an SAC-Contact. As a friend of the FBI he did meet with the organization on a few occasions. He made a four-part newsreel about the FBI for the Mickey Mouse Club, and he once discussed making a film with their help about child molesters. He probably provided them information from his company's employment records, probably answered general questions about subjects that he was an expert on and possibly suggested where they might go to find information about questions he could not answer. There is no reason to believe Walt Disney ever knew he was called an SAC-Contact. It was simply an in-house designation that the FBI used to designate trusted friends, according to news stories that came out after Eliot's book was published.80

Can a hoax be good, clean, honest fun and not something that is damaging? In 1987 Re/Search published a book called Pranks! that covers various mischievous acts by artists and other assorted characters including Timothy Leary, Paul Krassner, Jello Biafra, John Waters, John Cale and dozens of other individuals. One group in San Francisco that has been inspired by the book is the Cacophony Society, a fun-loving group that does unusual things like dressing up in formal attire for an unauthorized guided tour of storm sewers, or celebrating somebody's birthday on the Golden Gate Bridge.

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