Discover how and why Disney created a mobile school to support actors in one of the studio’s productions
A constant in the production of Disney films, series and TV shows in which real actors are seen is the presence of children and teenagers. These young actors can be seen in major studio titles from different generations, such as ‘Operation Cupid’, ‘Hannah Montana’ and ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’, for example, which has probably already raised a question in the minds of those who watched the plots : How did all these young people study and still have time to dedicate themselves to their work on the big and small screen?
Well, for one of these productions, there is a clear answer, as Disney created a mobile school where little ones could learn everything they would have access to in standard educational institutions — a concern of the studio’s co-founder, Walt Disneywho argued that quality education could provide incredible learning for young people.
Young people of school age are capable of absorbing and retaining an enormous amount of learning. If given the opportunity, they have an incredible aptitude for knowledge. We must not deny them this opportunity through a shortage of classrooms and inadequate educational facilities. Having spent most of my life creating materials for children and observing their potential, I am convinced that a full-time education for our young people is our best investment in the future,” said Walt in a quote shared by The Walt Disney blog Family Museum.
Mobile school?
The school in question was created to support the cast of the television program ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’, produced by Walt Disney Productions and shown on the ABC network, which originally premiered in 1955, but which received new versions and re-releases several times.
This is because the main cast of presenters, called Mouseketeers, was made up of young people and children, with the members of the Red Team as the main names. There are some of them: Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Lonnie Burr, Tommy Cole, Annette Funicello, Darlene Gillespie, Cubby O’Brien, Karen Pendleton, Doreen Tracey, Cheryl Holdridge, Nancy Abbatebetween others.
In this way, the concern of guaranteeing education for young actors extended to the defense of Walt to quality teaching, as the “Los Angeles Board of Education had very specific rules and regulations that governed the studio in relation to children and school work”, as revealed by the author and Disney historian, Lorraine Santolito The Walt Disney Family Museum blog.
As a result, school trailers were organized and parked next to Soundstage One, home of ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’. Each of them provided learning space for 20 students, who had their study schedules set up individually by the teacher, Jean Seamanbased on a master schedule, depending on the needs of each of them.
In addition to Seamanyoung people could count on several other teachers, as well as personalized study time, since, even though there was an obligation to complete three hours of classroom time per day, the study time was adhered to according to the Mouseketeers’ schedule, and they could be interrupted whenever they were called to the set, as they added up the time invested until reaching the determined number of hours per day.
Source: Recreio
