There was already a friendly business relationship between Walt Disney and Derann or should I say Disney and Derek Simmonds, when I joined the company in 1975. At that time Walt Disney had their own world wide and well established 8mm sales catalogue and issued numerous 6-8 minute edited sequences and highlights from their theatrical features, as well as many cartoon shorts. [Walt Disney had in fact been in the 8mm home movie market from as early as 1934, when it had licenced the use of Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts to Hollywood Film Enterprises (HFE), for use on 16mm hand cranked projectors of the period. By the 1940s HFE would offer 8mm copies, which like the 16mm were edited to around 5 minutes. However in 1968 Disney decided to create its own 8mm division. Walt Disney 8mm Home Movies, like Castle Films (which itself had been set up in 1937) had excellent distribution and could be found in almost every photographic shop and showroom.]
I seem to recall that their UK headquarters was in Pall Mall and was somehow connected with GAF, who perhaps used their already extensive distribution, to get Disney product into stores, or perhaps it was the other way around. Derek would often arrange to meet his good friend, a high ranking Disney sales manager, for coffee and we would talk about trade, their new releases and generally have a good 30 minutes of chit chat. We would often know what their release schedule was months before the rest of the industry. So good was that relationship, GAF would make regular calls at the shop, although we didn’t have an account with them and it’s here that our vast supply of 3D Viewmasters originated.
…. to be continued.
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