Martin Sklar was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father was a high school. His aunt and uncle had moved to California in the early 1940s. They raved about their new locale and urged Sklar's father to move there. They did when Sklar was 12 and his brother was nine years old. His father continued to teach at the high school level before then became a vice-principal, and ultimately, a principal in the Los Angeles school system. Sklar and his brother attended high school in the Long Beach area. His brother later attended Princeton and became a professor of cinema studies at NYU. He focused on cultural history of the movies. Sklar attended UCLA and became the editor of The Daily Bruin during his senior year. His ambition was to become a sports writer. He worked as sports editor and got to know Coach Wooden [Annotator's Note: University of California, Los Angeles basketball coach John R. Wooden]. The university went on to win ten championships in 12 years in later years. Sklar was recruited by Disney [Annotator's Note: Walter Disney] during this period. He received a call from E. Cardon Walker who was head of marketing. Walker asked Sklar to come in for an interview in May 1955. Walt wanted to put out a tabloid newspaper on Main Street at Disneyland for its opening. Sklar went to work in June 1955 with that as his task. That was a month before the opening of Disneyland. Two weeks after being hired, he had to present his concept to Walt Disney. Sklar was 21 years old at the time and had never worked professionally. He was still in school. He was scared as hell. [Annotator's Note: Sklar chuckles.] That was the turning point in his career. If Walt did not like what he pitched, they would have hired a professional to do the newspaper and Sklar would not have maintained his job. Fortunately, Walt liked Sklar's concept. Sklar completed his college work after his first summer at Disneyland. He returned to Disneyland and spent the remainder of his career there. He was initially hired on at WED Enterprises, later to become Imagineering. He worked in 1961 and for three years on the New York World's Fair. He focused on the Ford Motor Company and General Electric pavilions. Sklar always loved to write. That was his incentive to enter journalism and to become the sports editor of The Daily Bruin. His father had a strong influence on his aspirations. Sklar also enjoyed sports, tennis in particular. He played until his knees went bad. Sklar traveled with the undefeated UCLA team of 1954. The team was co-national champions with Ohio State. He was interested in the manner in which Coach Wooden treated his players with their talents, as well as, how he organized the practices. Those observations benefited Sklar down the road in providing leadership skills. When the call came from Card Walker, Sklar thought it was a joke. [Annotator's Note: Sklar laughs.] Sklar was at his fraternity when the call came in. He assumed it was related to a fraternity brother's father who ran a casino in Las Vegas. Sklar thought it was a card shark calling him. He did not return the call. Luckily, Walker called back after Sklar found out who he was. Walker's call was prompted by Johnny Jackson who was the head of the UCLA Alumni Association. Sklar had received a scholarship covering his 50 dollar per semester tuition in 1952. Jackson had gone to work for Disney. When he heard that someone was being sought to do the tabloid newspaper for Main Street, Jackson recommended Sklar to Walker. It was fortunate that all those good things came out of UCLA. Prior to his interview, Sklar knew very little about the Disney operations and products. He was only three years old when Snow White was released. He had not yet developed into a Disney fan. Everything associated with Disney's efforts was quite new to him at the time. He knew little about the evolution of what would become Disneyland. He first met Walt Disney in the former home of Ron Dominguez. Dominguez eventually became the executive in charge of Disneyland. Dominguez had moved, and the home was on the grounds of the park development site. It served as the administration building. A new building would come later. Sklar entered the room with Disney and four or five other people. He presented his tabloid concepts to them. Through his efforts with UCLA, he had gained access to a Hollywood printer who had old 1890 style wood block newspaper type. Sklar used that type to create the demonstration of how he would publish the paper with the feel of a turn of the 20th century newspaper. Sklar was amazed that Disney had the time for this small thing that he was developing. There was chaos all around with the opening of Disneyland only a few weeks away. Sklar has witnessed similar crazy stuff at the end of the preparation period for each opening on all the parks he has been associated with. It is difficult at that time to get the shows and the rides all completed with a big opening television show looming in two weeks. Later, Sklar discovered that the newspaper was a vital part of Disney's effort to show what life was like in that period. To Walt Disney, Main Street was a real town. Every town of the period had a newspaper. Main Street and the details of the story had to be real to communicate the whole story. Storytelling and realistic details make the parks outstanding.

Martin Sklar could tell upon meeting him that Walt Disney was the man in charge. He made his goals clear and never left a meeting without a decision being made. Those who worked with him respected that. With so many things going on for the opening of the World's Fair [Annotator's Note: the 1964 New York World's Fair], Walt would always provide the direction his people needed. No meeting ended with doubt about what Walt wanted. Not all executives operate that way. It can be frustrating for people working on projects if executives do not make decisions. Sklar learned that important decision making trait from Walt and implemented the same approach in his management style over his career. When Sklar first walked onto Main Street, he realized that he had walked into a dream and it was Walt Disney's. It was real. A few days before the grand opening, a television director was quizzing each of the art directors about what he would be able to shoot on that first day. The Tomorrowland art director told the television director that he could shoot them pouring concrete. So many things were not finished or broke down the first day. There was a plumber's strike that was only settled the day before opening. A priority had to be given to getting toilets to work rather than providing for drinking fountains. People accused Disney of trying to sell more Coca Cola and Pepsi soft drinks as a result of the decision. Both sodas were in the park in those days. When Disney's wife questioned her husband's dream to build another amusement park, she was concerned that it would be dirty with unsavory characters running it. Disney reassured her that his park would not be like the previous unpleasant parks. He would change all of that in his park. Disney knew where he was going from the beginning. In previous years, he took his daughters, Diane and Sharon, to the merry-go-rounds in the local amusement park and sat on the bench eating his popcorn and visualizing how to make the experience better for both children and their parents. His original thought was to build something for his employees, but the idea expanded tremendously as sketches and thoughts went into the concept. He proposed acquiring more and more property to build a park in Burbank. The City Council did not approve of his vision. He, along with Buzz Price [Annotator's Note: Harrison A. Price] and Stanford Research, worked on developing a site in the Anaheim area. Because Sklar was new to the organization, he was assigned to help the local television people as a runner on Disneyland's opening day. Later in the day, Sklar went into the park to help wherever and whomever he could. Buzz Price was on the drawbridge into the castle when everything stopped. A television broadcast was blocking the area. Price remembered Frank Sinatra using language that children were not supposed to hear. [Annotator's Note: Sklar laughs.] Despite all the opening day issues, there was no concern because Walt took charge. His optimism and determination to fix the shortcomings gave others confidence. Bob [Annotator's Note: Robert Gurr] said that just a few Autopia cars remained operational at the end of the opening day. [Annotator's Note: Robert Gurr was an engineer who designed vehicles for Disneyland attractions. Gurr's oral history is also available on this Digital Colections website.] In order to correct the problems, it became obvious that the job would not be a six or even eight hour workday. Sometimes the work required 16 hours a day. Things had to work. Technology had to be discovered that would work on a continuous basis. Film ran on a constant loop so material could not wear out. Materials that had evolved for other uses had to be adopted to fit the park's requirements. Walt was right on the solution path for each of the issues that arose. Product longevity and adaptability were his focus. While Sklar was in his senior year at UCLA, he worked for a Los Angeles advertising trade publication. He continued that work for the summer following his graduation. In the fall of 1956, he was hired by Disney. The Main Street tabloid he had developed would be changed to a paper that would have a spot where a visitor's name could be inserted in the headline to show that they had visited Disneyland. Sklar took on the assignment of inventing a new tourist magazine called "Disneyland Holiday." It was changed to "Vacationland" after the "Holiday" magazine threatened to sue over the naming rights. The "Vacationland" magazine went on to be distributed to hotels in the one day drive distance from Disneyland. The intent was to inform tourists what was available in the theme park. The publication continued for years.

Martin Sklar became Walt Disney's personal writer. Disney did not make speeches except for the one he gave for theater owners the year before he died. It was a wonderful speech, but Sklar did not write it. Sklar wrote materials for Walt that related to the park. That included a 28 page newspaper insert in 1958 about the growth of Disneyland. It discussed the Matterhorn, the submarines, the monorail and so forth. He wrote three pieces in Walt's name for that. Sklar also did a booklet for sponsor support of Disneyland. He developed a brochure on "Liberty Street" which eventually became "The Hall of Presidents" in Disneyworld. Sklar also did a booklet on "Edison Street" which was to run off of Main Street. That would eventually evolve into "The Carousel of Progress." Along with those things, Sklar wrote Disney's messages for the annual reports. He also wrote the material for Walt Disneyworld and EPCOT [Annotator's Note: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow]. At first, Sklar worked closer with Disney, but as his boss gained confidence in him, Sklar would work up messages or correspondences for his review and signature. Sometimes meetings with Disney were not necessary, but in the case of the film about Florida, two meetings were held. Sklar still has the seven pages of treasured notes from those meetings. Disney knew exactly what he wanted in Florida and the notes reflect that.

Martin Sklar became an Imagineer in 1961 when he began work on the World's Fair [Annotator's Note: the 1964 New York World's Fair]. He worked with John Hench who was a great designer having previously developed "Space Mountain" and "Spaceship Earth." The team had a couple other people working with Ford Motor Company on their pavilion. The original concept was not acceptable as it seemed similar to the theme Chevrolet had adopted. Sklar and Hench would travel to Dearborn, Philadelphia, the Philco developmental lab in Palo Alto, and Aeronutronics in Newport Beach. Satellite work was in development in the Newport Beach site. All of these were Ford work centers. The Ford executives told Sklar and Hench that they had come to know more about Ford than anyone else. [Annotator's Note: Sklar laughs.] Out of those tours evolved the concepts for the Ford pavilion at the World's Fair. In addition to the Ford designs, Sklar also worked with General Electric on "The Dome Show" which dealt with the power of the sun. This was after the Carousel which Walt called "the weenie" to get people in [Annotator's Note: the "Carousel of Progress" was a popular attraction at the Walt Disney theme parks]. G.E. wanted to communicate all the work they were doing in communities. Sklar did not work on that particular aspect, but his one project concerning atomic energy was very frustrating. A toucan was to speak for the attraction, but, by the time Sklar was reviewing the ninth revision of the script with G.E., he was exasperated. He asked the G.E. representative who the audience was supposed to be for the presentation. The response was that G.E. executives were the audience, not the public. That was no fun. [Annotator's Note: Sklar laughs.] The demonstration using real nuclear power was interesting, but records had to be kept in detail about the extent of nuclear energy being released. There was a concern about someone suing on that basis. The actual recordings show just a miniscule amount of released energy being documented. The World's Fair was important in the growth of Disneyland. The year 1959 had been a watershed year for Disneyland with the introduction of the monorail, the Matterhorn and the submarine. Walt made deals with the companies during the Fair. He insisted that his company would own all rights to the exhibits and attractions. The Carousel, the Lincoln show developed for Illinois were all owned by Disney. Everything in "It's a Small World" including the water trout were Disney property. The same was true for the Ford Motor Company dinosaurs that came from their pavilion. Disney wanted more of the Ford World Fair pavilion in Disneyland, but the company turned him down. WED, which was Walt Disney's company, had to decide on a naming fee for his company with sponsors. It was determined that it would be 1,000,000 dollars. If the company came into Disney, they did not have to pay the naming fee. Ford and other Fair companies decided not to pay, but the shows developed for them did come into the theme park.

Martin Sklar saw many mistakes related to sponsors for Disneyland in the beginning of the theme park. A brassiere manufacturer had a shop on Main Street. It might belong on a Main Street but not in Disneyland. [Annotator's Note: Sklar laughs.] ABC [Annotator's Note: American Broadcasting Company] was a one third owner in Disneyland long before Disney owned ABC. In 1957, Roy and Walt [Annotator's Note: the Disney brothers] bought out ABC. In order to get Disney to do a television show, it was necessary for ABC to become an investor in Disneyland. That was important because the cost of the park was far more than anticipated. It was essential that sponsors such as ABC, Coca Cola, Swift and Company, as well as, many others be brought on for financial support. Walt came to realize that many of these companies did not live up to his standards. For those in that category, their leases were not renewed when the termination date came. Ultimately, Disney would fully own everything. Carnation still exists in the park even though the company sold out to another firm. Disney hit the right time to buy land in Orange County. Despite that, he could not purchase as much as he wanted because it was not available. The right amount was available for his Florida venture, and he procured all he wanted. Disney had to find a location, as well as a city government, that was looking for growth. Both would define the right locality. Anaheim turned into that spot for Disneyland. That was fortunate because so much of Orange County land was being dedicated to housing. Five years later things would have been hugely different. The allocation of space within Disneyland was predicated on Disney's own business and things he had done in other media that were popular at the time. "Davy Crockett" was an example. Fantasyland was based on some of his feature animations. Tomorrowland was based on "Mars and Beyond" which he had done with Werner Von Braun and Willy Ley. Adventureland was based on "True Life Adventures." Frontierland had its origin in the "Davy Crockett" episodes. The Main Street was what he had experienced during his boyhood. It was all based on things he had done in other media. It was like walking into a movie. The idea was to give the visitor the feeling that he could live the adventures instead of just watching them on a screen. People fought him on some of his ideas, but they were based on popular things he had previously done. The viewers had been anxious to see the presentations such as "Seal Island" that he produced for the screen.

Martin Sklar realized that he [Annotator's Note: Walt Disney] was creating fads, popular songs, and new markets. It was all part of the milieu that was the 1950s. He began visualize this when, in the early 1950s, he made a television show for CBS [Annotator's Note: Columbia Broadcasting System] that was the most watched show at the time. Walt was a hugely popular figure, even before he started doing the lead-ins for his television program. When he did those introductions, it seemed as if an uncle entered the viewer's living room and had a conversation with the family. He was interested in producing family fare because his attitude was that adults were only children grown up. Additionally, he was a family man. He spent a lot of time with his two daughters and his grandchildren. Keeping the family together was important to him. Sklar had prepared a 150 page booklet about Disneyworld for his boss, Dick Irvine, who was head of design for WED and then Imagineering. The idea was that they would all be on the same page after Walt died. The booklet contained eight or nine pages of quotes made by Walt about Disneyland. The recurring theme in the quotations was that what they did was not done for themselves or for the dollar, but, for the people who visited the park. It was done for them to have a good time. Disney was focused on his audience. Making money would result, but that was never the primary goal. Rather than listen to others who suggested cutting costs on maintenance, Walt insisted that things be pristine. Things had to work and not breakdown. He wanted the visiting families to have the best experience they ever had. He cared about people. It was real and not phony. John Hench, an associate of Sklar, stated that Disney was about reassurance. Things can be done in a quality way. It is alright to talk to a stranger in a public place. Importantly, that place had to be clean. "Quality will out." It is a contrast to so much seen outside of Disneyland. If you work at it, things can be done the right way. All of Disney's parks represent that concept. Walt was an eternal optimist who viewed the future as something that would be better for the individual. EPCOT [Annotator's Note: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow] was all about life being made better by things that were being done. That was not just in a sense of entertainment but in a living sense. Much of Walt Disneyworld was predicated on and based on the experience of Disneyland. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the interview and some remarks about Sklar's two books, "Dreaming to Do It" and "One Little Spark," ensue. Comments were not fully captured.] Disney's legacy to Sklar is the belief that things can be accomplished that others think not possible. That is the optimism Walt conveyed. Setting goals and sticking to them are important. Walt was not interested in focusing on past accomplishments but what was next around the corner. It was a beautiful way to live life. It involved always trying to top your last achievement. Sklar learned from Disney that when in control, a leader has to make decisions. Disney always made a decision so there was no doubt about the next step. That is important to people working for the leader. They have to have confidence that a decision will be made concerning their next assignment. Sklar will not comment on the genius of Disney. He was not the smartest man in the world, but he learned a lot about everything. When he developed EPCOT, he visited various laboratories to see what new innovations were underway by the great companies like G.E., DuPont and others. They showed off their latest ideas to Walt. Disney wanted to confirm the public's interest in their new inventions so they would understand they could move forward. That interested the companies because they wanted to be viewed in a leadership position. They wanted to show that their product was the best. Disney planned an industrial park where those fresh concepts could be demonstrated in real homes and businesses as part of EPCOT.

Martin Sklar learned that Walt Disney wanted EPCOT [Annotator's Note: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow] to be a demonstration and proving ground for new products to make life easier in the future. It reflected Disney's optimism about the future. It was a product of the times since so many things were evolving in the late 1960s and 1970s. He wanted EPCOT to be an antidote to those issues. Many of the ideas that were the basis for Disneyland and Walt Disneyworld became part of EPCOT. It was a proving ground for those ingrained ideas and future developmental research. Waste systems, energy systems and the monorail system extension to a much larger scale were some of the conceptual initiatives that were deployed at Disneyworld. Behind the scenes, engineers changed waste water into drinkable water. Construction philosophy and building methods for Disneyworld were built into EPCOT. The Contemporary and Polynesian Hotels were built in conjunction with US Steel. Initially, the priority was to just get Walt Disneyworld work but by 1974 the Imagineers were ready to get into the development of EPCOT. The Chairman of the company, Mr. Walker [Annotator's Note: E. Cardon Walker], called in Sklar to ask his advice on the next steps to be taken for the launch of EPCOT. Sklar went to work on developing the notion of an experimental community into a theme park. It was difficult in the beginning because the designers did not know what to do. Meetings were held on various critical topics such as space systems, agriculture, and energy. Research was done to discover experts on the topics. The specialists were brought together at Disneyworld. The outside consultants confirmed that the public did not trust the large companies, but they did trust Mickey Mouse. They expressed the need for the Disneyworld designers to take the lead in winning over public confidence in new technologies. That encouraged the Disney Imagineers to tell the story in the theme park. Of all the innovations of EPCOT, probably the things that would have pleased Disney the most would be its agricultural capabilities, as well as, the "Living Seas" exhibits. Things have changed over time, but in the beginning, the "Seas" exhibit was the largest standalone ocean environment apart from the sea. There was 6,000,000 gallons of water involved. There were many demonstrations involving "The Land" and "Living Seas." This included showing visitors how food was grown to serve in the park. A quarter scale mockup was established in Tucson prior to the opening. Dr. Carl Hodges, the director, said he was pleased with it but with a caveat. Where would bees be kept to pollinate the food? Sklar reminded him that boatloads of people would be traveling through the exhibit. Bees would not be possible in the display without risk of injury. Sklar gave Hodges the task of determining how the vegetation would be pollinated without bees. It was found out that the best solution was to do so by hand. It took four or five hours out of each week to do the work of pollination by hand. Disney would also be very proud of "The American Adventure." Sklar still finds the exhibit to be very emotional. After 32 years in existence, it is still pristine. It looks the same as opening day. The maintenance crew puts a lot of energy into keeping it up. That is typical of Disney. Places are clean, and things always work.

Martin Sklar was in the 1401 Building when he heard that Walt Disney passed. Sklar was paged and told to call Card Walker's [Annotator's Note: E. Cardon Walker] office. He was told to join them right away at the studio. When Sklar reached Walker's office, he was told that Disney had passed away. Sklar was tasked with immediately writing Roy's [Annotator's Note: Roy O. Disney] statement in the next room. Sklar was surprised that no advanced work had been done to prepare a statement on Walt Disney's passing even though it was obvious he was dying. Nevertheless, Sklar wrote in an hour the message that Roy issued. Roy was so distraught that he may not have spent any time on the message prior to its distribution. In reviewing its message, Sklar would have made only minor changes but not much. It basically said all the right things, and he is proud of it. It may have been Sklar's journalism and editorial background that aided him in the document development. Working under deadlines also helped him through the tight time frame required to formulate it. He learned to not be intimidated by deadlines because of his earlier news experiences. Disney's illness was known. He pushed Sklar to complete the script for the presentation on EPCOT. Disney wanted to personally provide the introduction to the new venture. That was to be the last thing he completed on film. It was filmed in late October 1966. Sklar had gotten the script for the rest of the presentation approved by Disney when he returned from the hospital in mid-October 1966. Disney insisted on finishing his part first. No one, including Walt, knew just how ill Disney was at the time. Sklar was affected by Disney's death in possibly more ways than when his father died. He loved his father dearly, but he never had to think like he did. Conversely, to write for Walt Disney meant that he had to think like the man and express Walt's thoughts under various circumstances. Sklar felt very emotional because of his close association with Disney. Much of what Sklar did was directly in support of Walt. About a year was lost on the Florida project because of the loss. Corporate executives, including Roy O. Disney, Card Walker and Donn Tatum, did not know whether there was sufficient talent in the organization to complete Walt Disneyworld without Walt's leadership. It was a huge undertaking and staggering without Walt being there. Dick Irvine [Annotator's Note: Richard Irvine] and John Hansley [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] convinced the executives that they should proceed. The talent was there and the venture became successful. Financially, the success was enormous. Disney came out of building Disneyworld debt free with an increase in stock value. Sklar is now retired from the enterprise and does not want to second guess any of those now responsible for the corporation. The world is constantly changing and the challenges are different than those Sklar faced in his tenure.

Martin Sklar feels his legacy with Disney is that he hired and trained many of the key people in the current organization. He helped them grow into their current positions of responsibility and they know what they are doing. It is a nice legacy to see them being creative and running the place. Sklar is satisfied with having a role in helping them get to where they are. [Annotator's Note: A side conversation between Sklar and the interviewer ensues. Much of the conversation is in regard to strategies related to obtaining other interviews of key Disney personnel and managers. The interviewer had completed a discussion with Robert Gurr the previous day.] Sklar feels that "It is a Small World" is his favorite attraction because of its message. To pass that message on to the young people is very important. The song is so ubiquitous. He also views "Space Mountain" as hugely important because of it being the first thrill ride in Disneyworld. The Disney archives located at the studio is a great source of information. There is a history room in Anaheim that has a lot of information about the development of Disneyland. [Annotator's Note: A conversation about the differences in traveling to Disneyland versus Disneyworld ensues and then the interview is terminated.]