Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to this very special Rest Is History bonus episode with the head of Disney, Bob Iger. Now, Tom, normally our bonus episodes are only for members of our much-loved Rest Is History Club, but this one is a little bit different, isn't it?
Yeah, so this week we've done two episodes on Disney. We looked at the man himself and we looked at Disneyland. And also, of course, if you're a member of the club, you would have got to listen to the coda to our epic series on Nelson, where we talked about what happened to Lady Emma Hamilton after Nelson's death.
But in this special bonus episode, we are with Bob Iger and we are discussing with him Walt Disney's legacy with the man who now runs Disney.
So a very unusual bonus episode for us, a bonus bonus episode, in fact. Hope you enjoy it. So Bob, here we are, amazing setting, stage one here at Burbank. And we've just come from Walt's office, which you showed us. And you're one of, I guess, really three people in the majority of Disney's history who've run the company. And I mean, no offense, but you're not going to be running it forever.
No offense taken. That's good. I hope I'm not. So what do you think, you know, we talked a lot about Wolfe's legacy, but what do you think your legacy will be when you look back on your time as the kind of custodian of this amazing, well, the captain of this fantastic ship?
Yes, I think about this often, actually. And I think because of the company's place in the world, I think the person running the company has a special responsibility of sorts to maintain Disney's position in the world as a beloved company, as an admired company, as a company that entertains really the world, everyone of all ages and from all different walks of life.
And I think more than anything else, I would want to be known as someone who was given the keys to this kingdom, so to speak, and quite a kingdom it is. and that I brought it to a place that even Walt would be proud of. And what that means is more great storytelling to a larger audience, more innovation, more risk taking, more really creation of happiness. It's really that simple.
At one point, I thought, well, okay, you're now running Disney. What's the most you want out of it? Well, don't screw it up, but it's much more than that. I really have been mindful of the duty that I feel has been handed to me to make it even better than it's ever been.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of Walt Disney's legacy?
We're all in favor of that. What I love about it is that, one, it gives me the ability to tap into things that I've already been interested in. and that I know a little bit about and you teach me more, but you also introduced me to subjects that I wouldn't have been even curious about. The recent one about Marie Antoinette comes to mind.
On the other hand, I was always fascinated with the Titanic and your multi-parter on the Titanic filled in so many blanks for me and created so much more context. I also am an aficionado of certainly American history, particularly American presidents. So the assassination of Lincoln comes to mind as one that I was particularly interested in.
One I recently listened to about Reagan and the attempt on his life. I also found interesting looking back, I think, at 1968 and Nixon and the anti-Vietnam movement. And of course, Custer, which was one of the all-time greats. I don't know, is that over yet? I don't know.
433 parts. Yeah. Still going strong.
He eventually died, fortunately, I guess.
I think we still carried on after he died. So to give you a sense of how the rest of this issue worked, this is not a production process that I would recommend at Disney.
We were originally scheduled to do one episode, which would be 55 minutes, and there was a point at which we'd reached, we'd done about eight or nine, and Theo and Tabby, our producers, left their mics on, and I could hear them bitterly complaining that the series had now swollen to about 10 hours.
I think originally we were going to do the entire history of Native Americans in four episodes. Yeah. And that just proved impossible. It did prove impossible. Yeah. Not a model for Disney planners. Would you have any areas of history or themes that you would particularly like us to explore?
I've studied and read a lot about Churchill, and I know you've touched on Churchill here and there, but I don't think you've ever done a full birth to death of Churchill.
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Chapter 3: How does Bob Iger view his own legacy at Disney?
He was then to the court of St. James and also had a thing or two to say about the rise of Nazism, which I know that's something that you've also covered.
Yeah, that's right. That's something we're always asked by our Restless History Club members, our beloved members of the Restless History Club. They always ask us, Tom, who would you like to have dinner with from history? Bob, it would be remiss of us not to ask you. So if you could have anybody from history for dinner, you could take them to Disneyland and have dinner with them. Who would it be?
It would have to be Walt Disney. Yes, I think about it often. People always ask me, what would Walt think? It's interesting, too, because one of the things that was problematic for the company after Walt died so suddenly in 1966 is the company spent so much time asking that question, what would Walt do or what would he think?
So I'm not really interested in turning to him for advice, per se, but I would be more interested in showing him what's become of the great company that he founded. And I wouldn't mind a bit of a report card. Perhaps it's cocky of me to think that he would give me all As.
Which of the rides do you think he'd be most impressed by?
Well, you know, he is, I know because you've done a little studying of Walt, he never even considered them rides. They were all stories to him. They were experiences. He wasn't building rides. And many of the, not just traditions, but values that he created and essentially built, we followed basically through on essentially either his instructions or his vision.
And so when we create attractions, we try to tell stories when we create attractions. Even when we create restaurants and hotels, there's a story behind it. And in particular, I'd love to show them what we built that's derived from Star Wars mythology. We call the lands Galaxy's Edge. There's one in Florida and one in his beloved Disneyland. By the way, they're billion dollar lands.
And they not only tell great stories, but as he really demonstrated back when he built Disneyland in the 50s into the 60s, he used technology to make those stories as compelling as possible in physical form, which is not easy.
And these attractions in Galaxy's Edge, there are two main attractions, are an unbelievably perfect example of the blend of great technology with great storytelling in the physical world.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Disney face in storytelling today?
I think about us having the luxury of, and that includes both the luxury of being involved with great artists and the luxury of having the resources to tell wonderful stories to the world. And hopefully through our storytelling, to have a positive influence on the world.
Certainly in today's world, just the ability to make really billions of people happy is an incredible luxury and something that I'm very mindful of. But I don't think about it in terms of having power, except maybe the power to do good.
Oh, that's nice. So that's a contrast with us, isn't it, Tom? Because we do reflect on our enormous power.
Yeah, but I just want to do good. Do you? You just want to do evil. That's true. That's the difference between us.
But that's the balance that makes the podcast successful.
That's the yin and yang.
By the way, in terms of storytelling, you may both appreciate this. One of the biggest challenges we have when we tell these stories is figuring out what the villain is all about. Right. You tell stories about villains all the time. What is motivating the villain? Why is the villain so villainous? Well, they never think they're the villain, do they? No one thinks they're the villain.
No, they don't. And we ultimately have to portray them, one, as villains, because I think people love stories about good and evil, particularly good triumphing over evil. But telling stories where you actually explain what is driving that villain to be so damn nasty.
Well, that's one of the fascinating things with the show, actually. And with any attempt to tell a good story, is to get inside the heads of people who have different assumptions from you, right? And so we did an episode about the Nazis to try to explain why they thought that they weren't the baddies. Yeah, why did they not think they were evil?
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Chapter 5: How did Bob Iger get involved with The Rest Is History?
Because again, it was so new. It seemed so big, so fresh, so just almost extraordinary. And actually, it's interesting. I was thinking back, bringing Disneyland to Shanghai.
So here we were in the earlier part of really this century, wanting to plant a Disneyland flag of sorts in China and thinking about not just what we would build, but whether it would become the beacon to people all around China that Disneyland was to Americans in the 50s. And it's interesting that actually has happened. that a lot of people in China are well aware of Disneyland.
It serves as the number one tourist attraction in Shanghai. Millions, tens of millions of people have visited it, which is tiny compared to the total population of China. But as we have done research, we've discovered that people's desire to visit, and by the way, we opened Shanghai Disneyland on national television in Shanghai just as Walt had done with Disneyland in 1955.
Learning from Walt, not just how to market, but how to ignite an interest. It's such an interesting entertainment experience that when you see it, even on the screen, you almost feel you have to visit.
So when we're going to Disneyland, what should we be looking out for? What are you most looking forward to showing us?
Well, first of all, you have to look at how other people are experiencing it. You'll see wonder on their faces. You'll see a rush to get through the gates and get to their favorite attraction. You'll see children and their parents and grandchildren and friends and groups of people from all different kind of collections of society walking in with a sense of wonder on their faces.
So look at the people first. I still, by the way, and I don't know how many times I've been to one of our parks, it's the first thing that I experience, the first thing that hits me really when I walk in is, my goodness, look how these people are enjoying themselves. And it's an incredibly powerful feeling to have. So watch that.
You'll see immediately things that were absolutely from Walt's vision. Castle and Main Street and things that are obviously referenced from older America. There's a lot of history there, but I think you should also look at how much we've continued to invent and expand. He was fond of saying, as long as there's curiosity left in the world, Disneyland will never be finished.
I've never been, but the vision of the future was important to Disneyland. Has the vision of the future evolved over time?
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