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A living legend
Pueblo West man honored for service to Disney
By AMY MATTHEW
Special to The View
Most people wouldn't want to work for a Mickey Mouse organization, but one man who did wouldn't trade the experience for the world.
Pueblo West resident Carl Bongirno is a Pueblo native, but he spent his career in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Adventureland, literally and figuratively. When you work for a dreamer like Walt Disney, anything can happen. Anything is possible.
"We just went in with that attitude. You never said something couldn't be done," said Bongirno, 70.
Bongirno is a certified legend - a Disney Legend. Last month, in a ceremony at Disney headquarters in California, he was honored for his 26 years of work with the company.
"I never expected it. The majority of those people (honored) are creative in nature. I was really taken by that," he said.
Bongirno can visit Disney World and Epcot Center and realize he was a central figure in creating two of the biggest entertainment attractions in the world. He also directed the creation of Tokyo Disneyland and was one of three men who decided where Euro Disney (now called Disneyland Paris) would be located.
Yet his career with one of the greatest entrepreneurs almost didn't happen. The starting point for Bongirno wasn't Disney headquarters in Glendale, Calif., but Celebrity Sports Center in Denver, which at that time was owned by Disney and his brother, Roy. Even though Bongirno was eager to find a good job, he says this one made him hesitate.
"I thought about canceling the interview," he said. "I saw Celebrity Sports Center and thought, ‘I'm going to stake my future on a bowling alley?’ ”
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This sketch of Sleeping Beauty's castle, drawn by acclaimed Disney artist Herb Ryman, convinced investors like the ABC network to contribute money toward the creation of Disneyland. ‘That's how impressive these artists are. The world is changed through their work,’ Bongirno says. Ryman gave Bongirno a print of the sketch, with a personal message written at the bottom. |
Disney dreams
It was 1963; Disneyland was eight years old. Bongirno, a certified public accountant with two degrees from the University of Denver, decided to go ahead with the interview and took the job with the understanding that he would "have a lot of exposure to Walt and Roy" and be considered for promotions to other areas of the Disney corporation. Less than a year later, he and his wife, Carolyn, were moving their family to California. (The Bongirnos have a daughter, Cara, and a son, Chris.)
"I always hated that we had to leave and raise our family elsewhere, but I couldn't find an accounting job in Pueblo," he said.
Spend even a few minutes with the friendly Bongirno (who is wearing a Mickey Mouse golf shirt, naturally) and you might think he worked in the public relations department, but that was part of the Disney creed, too: No matter what area a person worked in, they had to understand the value of relating to people. A photo on Bongirno's office wall illustrates that message. In it, he and several other Disney executives are pictured in costume - Bongirno as Goofy - because they occasionally were required to get in character and walk around the theme parks.
"Oh, people's reactions!” he said. "It was wonderful."
For two years, Bongirno was able to work directly with Walt Disney, briefing him on schedules and budgets.
"He didn't want anyone to know he was financially astute, but he was," said Bongirno.
He described watching Disney conduct a meeting with the creative team that was working on a new project - one that was $300,000 over budget. By the end of the three-hour meeting, Disney had eliminated the $300,000 without ever mentioning money or damaging a single ego.
"He would say things like, ‘I love this feature so much I want to use it for something better,’ ” Bongirno recalled. "It was something to see."
Heading for Florida
Bongirno was part of the inner circle that began working on what was then called Project X: Disney World. The team began accumulating land in Florida - enough to be able to fulfill Disney's vision of a huge theme park, lodging and shopping, all connected by a monorail system.
Visitors - or guests, as they've always been called - would never have to leave the area.
"We bought 30,000 acres without anyone knowing," said Bongirno. "Our people went there under assumed names and would take indirect flights (to keep the visits secret)."
Word eventually got out - Walt Disney himself let it slip during a conversation with an editor from the Orlando newspaper - and the price of all the remaining land in the area skyrocketed.
"We probably paid an average of $200 an acre before that. Within a few days it was $100,000 an acre," Bongirno said.
In fact, there still is land within the Disney World realm that isn't owned by Disney, he said. But the company was able to acquire all of the acreage it felt was necessary for the project.
Walt Disney died in December 1966, but Roy Disney decided to complete Disney World in honor of his brother. Bongirno, by then vice president of finance for the company, took a trip to Florida in 1970 to meet with the contractor and never left.
"I called my wife and said, ‘Put the house up for sale and plan to move,’ ” he said.
Disney World opened Oct. 1, 1971. Exactly 12 years later, Epcot Center opened - another project under Bongirno's financial direction. By that time, he was president of Walt Disney Imagineering, overseeing a staff of more than 3,000, all directly involved with the Epcot project.
"Basically, everything (for Epcot) was done in-house: concept, artists, model-makers, manufacturing, construction management, every imaginable kind of engineering," he said. "We developed stuff that's still amazing to me, even with the technology that's available today."
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Disney artist John Hench created this concept sketch of the Snow White fountain at Disneyland. ‘It looks exactly that way (in reality),’ says Bongirno. |
Walt Disney's original vision for Epcot - the name stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow - was that it would be a real city "that would address all the problems of humanity," Bongirno said. Evolutions in transportation, communications and other areas would be put to use in the community, which would be a living experiment.
Ultimately, "We just couldn't do that," said Bongirno. "But we did make it a place that can entertain and also teach."
Life after Mickey
Bongirno loved his work but acknowledges the stress involved in creating world-class entertainment. On tough days, however, an antidote was easy to find.
"I'd even leave (the office) and drive down to Anaheim, spend an hour in the park. Everything seemed better once I'd get a dose of that good environment," he said.
Bongirno remained in the top tier at Disney for several years after Michael Eisner took over the company, but the Epcot project had taken a great toll on his health. Doctors warned him he risked an early death if he stayed in such a high-pressure environment, so he retired in 1989.
These days, healthy and active, he and Carolyn split their time between here and La Quinta, Calif., but Pueblo is home. Their kids and their families now live here. Bongirno still seems just as busy as a high-level executive, but his days are filled with things he chooses to do, like golfing, flying his airplane and playing with the grandkids.
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Courtesy photos/The Walt Disney Co.Pueblo West resident Carl Bongirno (right) accepts congratulations from Marty Sklar of Walt Disney Imagineering as Chip and Dale look on. Bongirno last month was named a Disney Legend for his decades of service with the company. Working in the financial department, he oversaw the creation of Walt Disney World and Epcot Center. |
He's happy to reflect on his tenure with an organization that sounds like it was a true Magic Kingdom, devoted to families instead of just dollars.
"We worked for the company at the right time. There was great risk but such wonderful, wonderful rewards. Only a few of us were able to share that," he said.
He still visits the parks in California and Florida occasionally and raves about the Animal Kingdom in Florida, one of his favorite newer attractions. Tops on his list is American Adventure at Epcot, but perhaps the best production is the one that takes place every day in the parks, watching guests experience the fruition of so many Disney dreams.
You really can't ask for a better legacy than that, Bongirno said.
"I get so much satisfaction from being a small part of providing so much joy to so many people."
THE AWARD
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends award recognizes those who have made "extraordinary and integral contribution" to the Walt Disney Co.
Pueblo native Carl Bongirno, who now lives in Pueblo West, was one of 12 recipients this year. The group was honored Oct. 10 at the Disney Legends Plaza outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif.
The bronze Legends award features Mickey Mouse's gloved hand, a magic wand, Sleeping Beauty's castle and a spool of film. According to the Walt Disney Co., "The . . . award has three distinct elements that characterize the contributions made by each talented recipient. The spiral stands for imagination, the power of an idea. The hand holds the gifts of skill, discipline and craftsmanship. The wand and the star represent magic: the spark that is ignited when imagination and skill combine to create a new dream."
Actor Fred MacMurray was the first person to receive the award. Other recipients include Julie Andrews, Fess Parker, Elton John, Annette Funicello, Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald Duck), Jack Hannah, Dick Van Dyke, Tim Rice and Randy Newman.
- Amy Matthew
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