1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: I love all things tech. And it is Monday, May 5 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Memorial Day, which means it's holiday here in the United States, 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: and because of that, I am actually taking the day off, 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: and so rather than having a new episode for you, 8 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: this is an episode that originally aired on a different holiday, 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: the fourth of July, back in two thousand eighteen, and 10 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: it is titled tech Stuff Moments with Mr Lincoln because 11 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: I think of Memorial Days being like the beginning of 12 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: the summer season, and for me, summers were often coupled 13 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: with trips to Disney World because I lived in Georgia, 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: Florida was not that away, and my sister and I 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: were fanatics. So sit back, enjoy this episode, and on Wednesday, 16 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: We're going to continue our story about the very complicated 17 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: evolution of Warner Medium, and I'll chat with you a 18 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: little bit at the end of the episode. This episode 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: is to publish on the fourth of July two thousand eighteen, 20 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: and here in the United States that date is treated 21 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: with some reverence as we consider it Independence Day. And 22 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: back in seventeen seventy six, the Continental Congress representing the 23 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: thirteen colonies of the America's declared those colonies a new 24 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: nation called the United States of America. But that actually 25 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: happened on July two, seventeen seventy six. John Adams was 26 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: convinced that that was going to be the day we 27 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: all celebrated. As it turned out, we decided to do 28 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: it on July four, because that was the day the 29 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: Declaration of Independence, that famous document outlining America's arguments for 30 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: seceding on the British Empire was dated, was dated on 31 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: July four, seventy six. Also, um, despite what popular musical 32 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: numbers would have you believe, it's mostly likely that that 33 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: most of the representatives did not sign the Declaration of 34 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: Independence that day. They probably did it on August two, 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six. But never mind all that, The fourth 36 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: of July is when the US celebrates Independence Day. Whenever 37 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: it happened doesn't matter. It just matters when we celebrate it. 38 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: And in the past on tech stuff, I've tried to 39 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: time vaguely related topics to that date. Whenever we've published 40 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: on or around the fourth of July. We've talked about 41 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: the tech of say Independence Day, the movie, or like Fireworks, 42 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: and today I want to talk about a Disneyland attraction 43 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: called Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, because I feel that's 44 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: sort of quintessentially American, even though Lincoln was our sixteenth 45 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: president and governed in the nineteenth century, not the eighteenth century, 46 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: but never America, right, And you know, they're talking about Disneyland, 47 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: something that is truly a piece of Americana, and Great 48 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: Moments with Mr Lincoln is located on Main Street, USA. 49 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: That was Walt Disney's monument to the classic Americana, a 50 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,839 Speaker 1: small town almost like an America that never was an 51 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: idealized America. So I figured it was a good topic 52 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: to cover in this episode. Now I have done an 53 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: episode about audio animatronics in the past, and I'm going 54 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: to be covering some of that ground again here. But 55 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: we're specifically looking at the development of the Mr. Lincoln 56 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: attraction in this episode, so I'm not going to focus 57 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: too much on the other stuff. I'll have some stuff 58 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: to say about some of the predecessors, because that's important 59 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: to understand in order to figure out how Mr Lincoln worked. 60 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: So if you're unfamiliar with the attraction Great Moments with 61 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: Mr Lincoln, here's kind of how it goes. You would 62 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: go into a building, it's the Ground and Opera House 63 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: on Main Street, USA and Disneyland, and you would see 64 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: a little pre show piece before going into a theater, 65 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: and you'd sit down. You get another little film, and 66 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: then a screen would lift up and you would see 67 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: seated center stage, the audio animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln, 68 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: and then Abraham Lincoln stands up out of his chair 69 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: and speaks to the crowd. And the content and the 70 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: technology of the attraction have changed several times throughout the years. 71 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: In fact, these days you wouldn't call it audio animatronics 72 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: at all. It's the only reason anyone would refer to 73 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: it that way is just because that's what the technology 74 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: had been called for years and years and years. But 75 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: the current incarnation at Disneyland isn't really audio animatronic. It's 76 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 1: not working on that same system. Now, before I talk 77 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: about how it works, let's go into the history of 78 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: audio animatronics and the development of this attraction in particular, 79 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: because I think it's pretty fascinating to learn about not 80 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: just the technology side, but the business side of this. 81 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: So first we got to go back to nineteen That's 82 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: when Walt Disney took his family on a vacation in Europe, 83 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: and on that trip, Disney got enamored with some clockwork 84 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: mechanical toys, including a mechanical little bird. You would wind 85 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: it up and it with tweet and flap its wings 86 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: and would move in a pretty convincing way. And he 87 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: was inspired by that to take these toys back to 88 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: his his folks over at Walt Disney Studios and say, 89 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: you know, we've we've animated stuff on film. We've taken 90 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: cells and we've drawn pictures on them, and we've taken 91 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: photographs of that and turned it into a film where 92 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: it looks like the inanimate is moving around. What if 93 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: we did something similar, but we did it in the 94 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: real world. We brought it into the three dimensions around us, 95 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: and make make this idea sort of a grander scale. 96 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: We're gonna take these little mechanical elements that I've seen 97 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: here and make it something much bigger. So he returned 98 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: to California, he brought ideas to his team of developers 99 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: that we now today would call imagineers. That's a portmanteau 100 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: of imagination and engineer, And he said, what if we 101 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: were to make something like this but bigger? So in 102 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one he gave an assignment to two of 103 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: his employees, Roger Braggy and Wattle Rogers Uh. Roger Braggy 104 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 1: was born in nineteen o eight in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and 105 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: he attended a vocational school and trained in machine shop work. 106 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: He would relocate to Los Angeles and he found a 107 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,039 Speaker 1: lot of work in the film industry. He even developed 108 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: technologies like a rear projection system for major movie studios, 109 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: and in nineteen thirty nine he got an invitation to 110 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: join the Walt Disney Studio as a precision machinist. One 111 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: of his first jobs he had was to install the 112 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: multiplane animation camera in the studio's brand new Burbank location. Now, 113 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: this was a camera that consisted of not just a 114 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,679 Speaker 1: film camera, but also a massive frame, and that frame 115 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: could hold multiple layers or planes of an animated cell. 116 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 1: So you might have a foreground image, you might have 117 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: a main image, you might have a couple of background images, 118 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: and they would all be held at different heights relative 119 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: to this camera lens, and then by moving the frames 120 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: either closer to or further away from the camera, you 121 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: can make elements within that animated scene appear to move 122 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: at different speeds and give this illusion of depth. So 123 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: it's almost like you're zooming in through an animated scene. 124 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: And that was something that was really really innovative. Well, also, 125 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: I should mention that Disney did not necessarily invent that 126 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: one of his former employees more or less invented this 127 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: approach of eyeworks, but that's a different story. Disney made 128 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: extensive use of that technology when his studio made snow 129 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: White in the Seven Dwarfs. By nine, Broggy had been 130 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: promoted to the head of the studio machine shot, and 131 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: when Walt started thinking about building a theme park, Braggy 132 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: was one of his go to engineers for attractions. Rogers, meanwhile, 133 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: was born in nineteen nineteen in Stratton, Colorado, and he 134 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: studied art at an institute in Los Angeles. He became 135 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: proficient in lots of different areas of art, including sculpting, 136 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: so he joined the Walt Disney studio also in nineteen 137 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: thirty nine, along with Braggy and Early on, he worked 138 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: primarily as an animator on films like Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella, 139 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: and Peter Pan. He also created props and managers for 140 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: the studio's live action films, and like Braggy, he would 141 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,719 Speaker 1: be invited by Disney to work on attractions for the 142 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: upcoming Disneyland theme park. So Walt Disney comes up to 143 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: these two guys and he says, I want you to 144 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 1: build me a figure approximately nine inches tall of a 145 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: man that can move around like a human can, so 146 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: sort of like a puppet, but not puppeteered by any 147 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: person in real time. It would be an entire mechanical 148 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: system that would be able to do this, and it 149 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: was called Project little Man, so as to build a 150 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: nine inch human figure that could move and and move 151 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: its mouth as if it's talking, and be able to 152 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: synchronize that with an actual voice track. And essentially he 153 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: just wanted to bring that concept of animation into the 154 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: real world. Buddy Ebsen, the actor who would become Jed 155 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies, would come into the studio 156 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: and he did this whole song and dance routine in 157 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: front of a screen that was just a bunch of 158 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: grid lines so that the animators had a reference they 159 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: could work from. And Buddy would later say of Disney, quote, 160 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: he took me to a room where there were these 161 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: seven little guys with aprons and thick glasses working on 162 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: a contrivance that pulled wires, and a little mechanical man 163 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: that moved his arms, legs, head, and mouth end quote. 164 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: So the two engineers lead this team. They used cables 165 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: and cams and hinged limbs to create sort of a 166 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: rudimentary muscle and skeletal system for this little figure, and 167 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: the machinery would end up being underneath this little figures stage, 168 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: so the whole thing was actually quite large. The figure 169 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: was only nine inches tall, but the whole system was 170 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: really big, and it wasn't really that dissimilar to a puppet, 171 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: except again, the puppeteer was mechanical, not a human, and 172 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: it was it was. It kind of worked, but it 173 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: wasn't practical. Later, when it came time to look into 174 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 1: making audio animatronics for theme park attractions, Broggy would actually 175 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: go to All Disney and say that we should really 176 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 1: create larger life sized figures. It would actually make it 177 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,079 Speaker 1: easier because you could fit a lot of the elements 178 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: inside the figure itself instead of having to find places 179 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: in the environment to hide all the mechanisms that would 180 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: make the figure move. So this would serve as the 181 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: genesis for a new field of innovation in Disney, which 182 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: was audio and animatronics. The term is defined as being 183 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 1: or consisting of a lifelike electro mechanical figure of a 184 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,319 Speaker 1: person or animal that has synchronized movement and sound. Although 185 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: to be fair with the audio animatronics, it's synchronized to 186 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 1: sound and it's not the sound you hear. Ha ha. 187 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: So Walt Disney has this idea. He says, you know, 188 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: we've got Disneyland. We're opening that up. What have we 189 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: created a restaurant. Let's make a Chinese restaurant. And in 190 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: the lobby of this Chinese restaurant is a figure of 191 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: a little, old wise Chinese man who will dispense words 192 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: of wisdom like Confucius. But it's not an actor. It's 193 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: actually gonna be a mechanical man. And the team got 194 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: to work designing that kind of a figure. And according 195 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,640 Speaker 1: to Rogers, he said, quote you could always tell who 196 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: was working on the job because they never looked at 197 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 1: your eyes when you were talking to them. They were 198 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: always looking at your mouth end quote. They did eventually 199 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: build a mock up of a head for this figure, 200 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: but they didn't get much further than that. Disney had 201 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: decided to drop that idea for something else, and that 202 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: idea would eventually be the Enchanted Teaking Room, which we 203 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: will come back to in just a minute now. Disneyland 204 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: open on July sev In nineteen fifty nine, Walt Disney 205 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: was working on the design of a new land that 206 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: would go in Disneyland. He was already thinking about how 207 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: to build it out more and originally this was going 208 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: to be called Liberty Street. It would run parallel to 209 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: Main Street and would feature an attraction called One Nation 210 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: Under God. In this attraction, the audience would be treated 211 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: to a view of audio animatronic figures of every single 212 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: president up on stage. Every president would be life sized, 213 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: would have lifelike motions, and would be animated. So he 214 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,319 Speaker 1: tasked his engineers to get to work on that concept, 215 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: and they had to start somewhere. So the team chose 216 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln as their first figure, and they were able 217 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: to get a copy of a life mask that Lincoln 218 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: had made back before he was president. They got a 219 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: copy of this, and a sculptor named Blaine Gibson, who 220 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: would go on to create most of the faces for 221 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: Disney Animatronics, would use that as a guide to create 222 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: the mask for the Lincoln animatronic. By nineteen sixty one, 223 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: they had an early build of the Abraham Lincoln figure, 224 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: and it had some limited mobility and expressions. It could 225 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: be controlled or manipulated if you prefer, live, by an 226 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: actual UH engineer, so it wasn't automated yet. So it 227 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: was not the finished product, but it was apparently quite 228 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: impressive even early on, because in nineteen sixty two the 229 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: team received a visit from a guy named Robert Moses. 230 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: Robert Moses was a public official from New York City 231 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: who held numerous positions, none of them publicly elected, and 232 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 1: had become incredibly influential. He was responsible for massive projects 233 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: in New York and some of them were controversial, and 234 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: he was in charge of getting New York City ready 235 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: for a World's Fair to be held there in nineteen 236 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: sixty four. So Disney introduced Moses to the audio animatronic 237 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. An engineer controlled Lincoln to make him stand 238 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: up and reach out his arm to shake Moses hand, 239 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: and Moses was so impressed they declared the World's Fair 240 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: would absolutely have to feature this technology, which would require 241 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: the team to step up their work if they were 242 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: to meet that particular deadline. How did they do it, Well, 243 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: I'll tell you in just a moment, but first let's 244 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: take a quick break to thank our sponsor. So the 245 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: team had a goal get a show featuring an audio 246 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: animatronic Abraham Lincoln ready to go for the New York 247 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: World's Fair in nineteen sixty four, that was thirteen months away. 248 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: A few other components outside the technology fell into place 249 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: to make this possible. Because the tech part was just 250 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: one aspect, another part was where is the money going 251 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: to come from? So part of that piece of the 252 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: puzzle was from the Illinois Commission. They had decided that 253 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: the theme for the Illinois pavilion at the World's Fair 254 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: would be the Land of Lincoln. The provisional chairman for 255 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: this commission was a guy named Fairfax Cone. So Moses 256 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: tells Cone, you gotta go and see what Walt Disney 257 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: is working on out in California. It's gonna make you 258 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: flip your lid. And Cone goes out there and ends 259 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: up meeting with Disney. He sees the Lincoln figure for himself, 260 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: he too, is really impressed. He would then recommend to 261 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: the Permanent Commission chairman, who was a Lincoln historian named 262 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: Ralph Newman, that he incorporate the Abraham Lincoln figure in 263 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: the Illinois Pavilion. So Newman would end up going out 264 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: and meeting with Walt Disney and he would see the 265 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln figure and he too was blown away, and 266 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: he said, yes, we have absolutely need this. So the 267 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: next step was convincing the Governor of Illinois, Otto Kerner, 268 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: that this, in fact was something that the state should 269 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: sponsor in order to get that out to the New 270 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: York World's Fair. So Otto Kerner met with Walt Disney 271 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: and he was convinced that the Lincoln figure would be 272 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: a great addition to the Illinois Pavilion. But the expense 273 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: of the project was pretty high. Originally Disney said a 274 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: million dollars and that was kind of a figure that 275 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: was out of nowhere, but that was the point the 276 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: starting point for negotiations. Eventually, the Disney company would say 277 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: we can go as low as six hundred thousand dollars, 278 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: and we could divide that up over two years, so 279 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: the first year would be three fifty thousand dollars and 280 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: the second year would be two hundred fifty thou dollars. 281 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: But that was kind of putting Illinois in a tough position. 282 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: Kerner was having to negotiate not just with Walt Disney, 283 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: but with Moses as well in the World's Fair, because 284 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: Moses was demanding that any exhibitor at the World's Fair 285 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: had to go through him and his departments for things 286 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,880 Speaker 1: like power and set up and tear down and all 287 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: these other things that had fees associated with them. So 288 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:21,880 Speaker 1: the state was going to have to pay two different 289 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: groups an enormous amount of money in order for this 290 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: to happen. But Newman knew that Moses was really impressed 291 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: by this Lincoln figure, and Newman and Disney together met 292 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: with Moses talked to him about this stuff. They were 293 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: trying to convince him to uh to lower some of 294 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: the World's Fair requirements in order to make this happen. 295 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: And Newman in fact even let it slip that he 296 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: was going off to meet with some people over the 297 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 1: United Nations to make it sound like things were super 298 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: important on his end, and eventually Moses decided to renegotiate, 299 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,400 Speaker 1: and so they gave several concessions to the state of Illinois, said, 300 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: you're not gonna have to pay these fees. These fees, 301 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: you're going to have a maximum amount of five thousand 302 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: dollars for something that could have cost you ten times 303 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: as much, and even agreed to a two hundred fifty 304 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,439 Speaker 1: thousand dollars stipend to help fund the Lincoln attraction, because 305 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: that's how impressed Moses was of it. So Disney had 306 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: cut that deal where the nineteen sixty four rental fee 307 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,479 Speaker 1: for Lincoln would be three fifty thousand dollars, and then 308 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: there was the option for the state to extend that 309 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: through nineteen six two hundred fifty thousand dollars. After Illinois 310 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: got that two d fifty thousand dollars stipend from the fair, 311 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: that men they got Lincoln for the low low price 312 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: of a hundred grand for that first year, and it 313 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: also marked the one and only time in the World's 314 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: Fair history that the fair subsidized and exhibit. The state 315 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: gave Disney the official news in August nineteen sixty three, 316 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: so nineteen four World's Fair was right around the corner. 317 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: It was super fast for them to get this turned around. Meanwhile, 318 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: the team was really hard at work to try and 319 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,119 Speaker 1: put the show together. Much of the groundwork for audio 320 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: animatronics had already been laid by an electrician named Lee Adams, 321 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,639 Speaker 1: who created the giant squid featured in the film twenty 322 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 1: Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. A lot of people point 323 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: at that as being the first true animatronic figure under Disney, 324 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: although of course that wasn't used as an attraction. It 325 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: was used in a movie. The tentacles of the massive 326 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: squid in that film were actually kind of like balloons, 327 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,160 Speaker 1: so you would use a pneumatic system to pump air 328 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: into the tentacles. That would cause them to unfold, and 329 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: allowing the air to escape would cause the tentacles to 330 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: curl back up, so controlling the airflow would allow you 331 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: to puppeteer this giant squid. Disney Imagineers had also already 332 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: created a theme park attraction used audio animatronic technology at 333 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,360 Speaker 1: that point. The Enchanted Tiki Room, which I mentioned earlier, 334 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 1: was the first attraction to feature audio animatronics, and it 335 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: opened at Disneyland in nineteen sixty three. It was originally 336 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: going to be that Chinese restaurant, then they decided to 337 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,239 Speaker 1: change it to a Polynesian themed restaurant, and then they 338 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,239 Speaker 1: decided to eventually drop the restaurant angle entirely and just 339 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: making an attraction. So how does it actually work well? 340 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: With the Tiki birds, everything was pretty much binary. Every 341 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: single element, every moving element had a neutral position. So 342 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:36,639 Speaker 1: let's say that we're looking at one of the four 343 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,439 Speaker 1: hosts that are macaus, and you're looking at the beaks 344 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:46,359 Speaker 1: of those macaus. The neutral position would be a closed beak. 345 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: So if nothing is going to the the that particular bird, 346 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: it's beak should be closed. A pneumatic system, which is 347 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: one that uses compressed air to do work, would activate 348 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: a solenoid would actually act fate and allow compressed air 349 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: to move through to force the mouth to an open position. 350 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: So if you were to do that manually, you would 351 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: pull a trigger and that would open up a valve 352 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,639 Speaker 1: and that would cause air to flow through the system 353 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: to the appropriate element, causing the beak to open. But 354 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: how was this done automatically, not with an actual human 355 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,880 Speaker 1: operating the thing? Well, the secret was an ultrasonic tones 356 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: recorded onto magnetic tape, like like the kind of tape 357 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,400 Speaker 1: you would use in a real too real tape machine 358 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,399 Speaker 1: or even a cassette player. Disney used tape that was 359 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,879 Speaker 1: an inch wide when it was first doing this, and 360 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: that inch wide tape that they used in in the 361 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: Enchantiqui room had fourteen tracks that you could lay on 362 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: that one inch of tape, and you could put up 363 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: to sixteen signals on a single track. So you would 364 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: record these ultrasonic frequencies on the tape and when played back, 365 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: they would cause metallic reads to vibrate in various relays. 366 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: When the reds vibrated, they would close a circuit. That 367 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: circuit would send an electric current to a solenoid valve 368 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: that would allow air to flow to the appropriate feature 369 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 1: like that mccause beak, causing it to open. And because 370 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: the system worked off these audio cues, Disney called the 371 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: tech audio animatronics. Even though the audio in question is 372 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: inaudible to humans, right, we don't hear in those ultrasonic frequencies, 373 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 1: So you could record an audible track that's within human 374 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: hearing on that same tape, and that way you synchronize 375 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: the ultrasonic frequencies that give the commands to the various 376 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: elements in the animatronic figure with the audio track, and 377 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: that way you can have the birds sort of. I 378 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: was gonna say lip sync, but I guess it's more 379 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: like beak sinc to the audio track you recorded. Some 380 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: of the audio animatronic technology Mr. Lincoln dependent upon was similar. 381 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: They had the pneumatic switches for certain parts of the 382 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: Lincoln animatronic, but only for the smaller features, because pneumatics 383 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: would not supply the power needed to move some of 384 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: the larger elements, like arms. A person's arms are pretty 385 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: big and the the air would not be sufficiently powered 386 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 1: to move them. Also, if you did use air and 387 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: you did use enough compression to make the arms move, 388 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: they would shoot around like like like Lincoln was some 389 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: sort of crazy karate monster. That would not work very 390 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: well for the attraction. So instead they put hydraulic systems 391 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: in place for some of the larger elements. Hydraulics use 392 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: liquids and they use pressure to move the liquids around, 393 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: and the liquids act as a source of mechanical force. 394 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: So it's similar to pneumatics, but With hydraulics, you can 395 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: do a lot more. You can move much heavier things, 396 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: and you can do so in a controlled way with 397 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: the right amount of pressure. So in theory, Mr Lincoln 398 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: would move according to the ultrasonic recordings on that magnetic tape, 399 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: and the playback would cause the reeds to vibrate, completing 400 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: circuits and forcing either air or liquid through the relevant 401 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: tubes to make Lincoln move in the appropriate way in theory. 402 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: Oh and um, let's talk about solenoids really quickly. I 403 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: mentioned it before. A solenoid valve. A solenoid is a 404 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,679 Speaker 1: cylindrical coil of conductive wire, and when you pass a 405 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: current through the wire, it generates a magnetic field. You know, 406 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: this is a basic principle of electromagnetism. A solenoid valve 407 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,360 Speaker 1: has a solenoid with a movable ferromagnetic core in the 408 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: center of this coil, so the core can move uh 409 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: laterally through this coil. The core is typically called a plunger, 410 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,679 Speaker 1: so when there's no current running through the coil, the 411 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: plunger is in a rest position. Typically that means it's 412 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: closing off an opening that's otherwise inside this valve. So 413 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: the valve is closed. When you run a current through 414 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,439 Speaker 1: the coil, it creates a magnetic field that pulls the 415 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: core out of its rest position. It lifts the plunger, 416 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: it opens the valve, so the solenoid valve acts as 417 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:09,400 Speaker 1: the switch for the pneumatic and hydraulic elements. In addition, 418 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: the team began to develop a technology to make movements 419 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:17,360 Speaker 1: more smooth and natural and less just on off or jerky. 420 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 1: You know, you didn't want your your positions to all 421 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: be one or two. You wanted to have a range, 422 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: especially once you started to get too larger figures, human 423 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 1: sized figures. So to do that, they need to create 424 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: systems that could respond to variable voltage. Increasing or decreasing 425 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: the voltage would activate the complex movements. So instead of 426 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,879 Speaker 1: going from one to two, you could adjust the voltage slightly, 427 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: make it move from one to one point three or 428 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 1: one point seven, and you're not going all the way 429 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:53,479 Speaker 1: to your final possible position. And that ended up creating 430 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: a much greater range of movements. Performers would use either 431 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,959 Speaker 1: a potentiometer joystick for every single joint to send varying 432 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: voltages to the control system for that joint, or later 433 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: on they created harnesses, and the harnesses were able to 434 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: capture more complicated, coordinated movements by measuring voltage changes at 435 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,360 Speaker 1: all of the different various joints. Otherwise, doing something seemingly 436 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,199 Speaker 1: as simple as making the figure lifting arm and point 437 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: with its hand would be incredibly difficult because every single 438 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: joint needed its own control system under the potentiometer joystick approach, 439 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: and you had to coordinate all of that correctly, right. 440 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 1: You couldn't just have one person move the arm and 441 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: then rewind it back, and then try and move the 442 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: wrist and then try and move the hand. All of 443 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,120 Speaker 1: that was really complicated. So once you rehearse all this, 444 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: whether it was with the potentiometer joysticks or with the harness, 445 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: you would then record this in the form of audio 446 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: tones overlaid on thirty five millimeter film stock, and each 447 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: joint would take up a real film and then all 448 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 1: the reels would be recorded to a master tape. Lincoln 449 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: would use both the potentiometer approach and the harness approach. 450 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: They got an actor named Royal Dano to provide the 451 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: voice for Abraham Lincoln. That would actually get some criticism 452 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: later on, where people said that his voice was not 453 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: appropriate for President Lincoln because Lincoln's voice was said to 454 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: have kind of a high tenor pitch to it and 455 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: Royal Dano's voice had a lower pitch to it. But 456 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: you know, some people argue that that was a show stopper, 457 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: and other people say it wasn't such a big deal. 458 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: Near mileage berries. One story does say that during an 459 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,119 Speaker 1: early trial run of the show, one of the hydraulic 460 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: hoses inside the Lincoln figure ruptured. The valve itself actually broke, 461 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: and that red hydraulic fluid began to leak out and 462 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: staying Lincoln's shirt, prompting one of the guests to joke 463 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: that perhaps they were commemorating Lincoln's assassination, which did not 464 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: may Walt Disney laugh. He then told his team to 465 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: switch to clear hydraulic fluid, which they did from that 466 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: point forward. Then there were times when the valves didn't 467 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: operate properly. They would cause the figure to jerk around unpredictably, 468 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: which put more pressure on the rest of the system. 469 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: The technical issues forced the team to delay the opening 470 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: of the Lincoln exhibit at the New York World's Fair 471 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: for about two weeks while they worked out all the bugs. 472 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: But when it did open, it was so convincing that 473 00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 1: some people were certain that the figure was a human 474 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: actor in a costume and not an audio animatronic figure. Now, 475 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 1: when we come back, I'll tell the rest of this 476 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: story as well as what has happened since Mr Lincoln 477 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: debut at Disneyland. But first let's take another quick break 478 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. So while the World's Fair was 479 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: going on, Disneyland prepared its own identical attraction. The Great 480 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction would open in the park 481 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: on July eighth, nineteen sixty six, and it would use 482 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: pretty much an exact copy of the World's Fair exhibit. 483 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: Both would operate around at the same time for a while, 484 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: so you had the same show happening on both coasts. 485 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: And the Disneyland version was sponsored originally by Lincoln Savings 486 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: and Loan, not the state of Illinois. It was housed 487 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: in the Opera House on Main Street, USA. Disneyland never 488 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: built Liberty Street, but they did decide to repurpose the 489 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: Opera House that was one of the first, if not 490 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: the very first building constructed for Disneyland, and during the 491 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: construction phase for the park, it had served as sort 492 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: of a carpentry shop and workshop. Back in those days, 493 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: Disneyland attractions were divided up into various categories related to 494 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: how elaborate the attraction was. And this is where you 495 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: get terms like a ticket or a ticket attraction, and 496 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: that just referred to the level, uh that that attraction 497 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 1: belonged to. A ticket attractions were simple attractions, little bitty 498 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: things you you know, weren't weren't huge crowd pleasers. Maybe 499 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: it's a simple ride on Main Street, like a trolley ride. 500 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: But if you wanted to write something a little more advanced, 501 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: then you needed to be ticket or see ticket and 502 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: the really big ticket items were e tickets. Great Moments 503 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: with Mr Lincoln was different. It was absolutely free once 504 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: you got into the Disneyland park. Ticket books did often 505 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: contain a coupon for the attraction, but that was just 506 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: meant to help encourage people to go see it. There 507 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: was no need to actually have a coupon in order 508 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: to see it. You could just walk right in. The 509 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: original script for Great Moments with Mr Lincoln included snippets 510 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 1: from various speeches Lincoln gave throughout his life. The general 511 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: theme was freedom Liberty and Independence, and it would stay 512 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: that way until January one, nineteen seventy three. At that point, 513 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: Disneyland closed the attraction to convert it into a new 514 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: exhibit called The Walt Disney Story that was to honor 515 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: the life of Walt Disney himself, as he had passed 516 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: away several years earlier from lung cancer. The Walt Disney 517 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 1: Story was a twenty eight minute film about the life 518 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: of Disney and his work, but guests were upset at 519 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: the removal of Mr Lincoln, and so in nineteen seventy five, 520 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: the attraction was revised as The Walt Disney Story featuring 521 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 1: Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, and it became a combined exhibit. 522 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: The pre show area was dedicated to Disney's life, and 523 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: the theater was back to the Lincoln Show. In the 524 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: late nineteen sixties, Disney Imagineers developed the Digital Animation Control System, 525 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,800 Speaker 1: also known as DAX D A c S. This system 526 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: could record control commands onto a disk rather than on 527 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: magnetic tape. That meant that programming could be done from 528 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: a control board with various buttons, switches, and dials, rather 529 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: than with a harness or a potentiometer. Joystick, and elements 530 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: could easily be deleted or overwritten, so you didn't have 531 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: to worry about doing endless takes to get just the 532 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: right performance. You could just fix any mistakes you made 533 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: as you went along. In the nineteen eighties, imagineers introduced 534 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: in another system called compliance. Compliance was meant to reduce 535 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: the wear and tear on animatronics as well as to 536 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: make them more show worthy. If an animatronic has to 537 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: do a quick move, let's say it's waving and it's 538 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: moving its arm from left to right. Once it reached 539 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: the end of its movement, it would frequently caused the 540 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: entire figure to vibrate. Usually get that little robotic vibration 541 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: at the end of a movement. If you ever see 542 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: anyone dance the robot, you know what I'm talking about. 543 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: There's that little jerky motion when you get to the end. Well, 544 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: Compliance would allow limbs to move just a little past 545 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 1: their normal end location, and that was in order to 546 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: be a shock absorber. So think about where your wave 547 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: would end and the the animatronic would start to slow down, 548 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: but it would continue to allow itself to move past 549 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: that point for just a little bit, so that it 550 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: had more of a gradual slowing instead of just a 551 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: sudden stop, and you wouldn't get that robotic shake great 552 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: moments with this or Lincoln underwent a refurbishment and there 553 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: was a new animatronic Lincoln installed that used more of 554 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,239 Speaker 1: this technology. It also had updated artificial skin, It had 555 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: a new costume, it had more advanced digital electronics. But 556 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: that one closed in two thousand for another refurbishment, and 557 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: two thousand one it reopened and Lincoln now delivered the 558 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: Gettysburg Address instead of this sort of sort of grouping 559 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: of various clips from various speeches, so now he gave 560 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 1: the Gettysburg Address, And that version closed again in two 561 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: thousand five because Disneyland was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and 562 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: the theater was given over to a special attraction about 563 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: the history of the park itself. That kept on going 564 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: until two thousand nine, and then Lincoln came back again. 565 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,800 Speaker 1: The newest version is an electric animatronic figure. The speech 566 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: Lincoln gives is more or less the original one from 567 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty four World's Fair. Does have a few 568 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: edits to it. It's not quite as long as the 569 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: original speech was, so it's more like the version, though 570 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: not exactly the same. In two thousand thirteen, Disney would 571 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,320 Speaker 1: shut down its internal division called MAPO M A p O. 572 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,719 Speaker 1: Some people say that stands for Mary Poppins because it 573 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:18,560 Speaker 1: was formed after the success of the movie Mary Poppins O. 574 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: They say, no, it's manufacturing and production. That was where 575 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: the name came from. But anyway, whether whatever its name 576 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: came from, that was the division that was responsible for 577 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: producing audio animatronics and then later electronic version of animatronics. 578 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: All of them came out from there for the most part, 579 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: and toward the end of its run, more and more 580 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 1: of those projects we're getting outsourced to other companies. So 581 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen the company decided, you know, we're just 582 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,080 Speaker 1: gonna go with this contract approach. We're not going to 583 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: build them in house anymore. And the company that's mostly 584 00:34:54,840 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 1: in charge of developing animatronics for Disney is Garner Holt Productions. 585 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,439 Speaker 1: That company is located out of California. It also makes 586 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,399 Speaker 1: animatronics for lots of other clients, not just Disney, but 587 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: that's the company that's mostly responsible for them and has 588 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: had incredible demonstrations of really complicated, sophisticated animatronic figures that 589 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:27,400 Speaker 1: are eerily realistic, like we're talking Uncanny Valley style realistic, 590 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:32,960 Speaker 1: including an Abraham Lincoln bust that makes faces that I 591 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: would say start to lean toward the scary. But you 592 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: have to see the videos to to understand what I'm 593 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,799 Speaker 1: talking about. Anyway, that wraps up the great moments with 594 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 1: Mr Lincoln's story. It's fascinating to me to see how 595 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: an idea could go from just hypothesis to an actual, 596 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:59,839 Speaker 1: working attraction. How do you go from I want this 597 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: thing to exist to making it so. Walt Disney's imagineers 598 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,600 Speaker 1: have a reputation for doing that time and time again, 599 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,880 Speaker 1: and the attractions that Disney are are evidence of that fact, 600 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,439 Speaker 1: And as a lifelong Disney fan, I have a great 601 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,080 Speaker 1: appreciation for that, although I have seen comparable work at 602 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: other parks. I mean, there are plenty of other places 603 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: that have used that same philosophy to great effect, like 604 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:31,359 Speaker 1: Universal's Islands of Adventure, for example. But that wraps up 605 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: this fourth of July episode. If you have any suggestions 606 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,319 Speaker 1: for future episodes of tech Stuff, let me know. Why 607 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 1: don't you send me an email The addresses tech Stuff 608 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,840 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. Or drop me a 609 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: line on Facebook or Twitter. The handle of both of 610 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,200 Speaker 1: those is tech Stuff hs W. Don't forget to follow 611 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: us on Instagram, and I'll talk to you again really soon. Well, 612 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that Classic episode. I guess Classic 613 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,280 Speaker 1: is a little much right, came out in two thousand eighteen. 614 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that episode from three years ago. 615 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,760 Speaker 1: And uh, I look forward chatting with you guys later 616 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: this week about tech News and about Warner because that 617 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: story continues to go into really interesting and weird places. 618 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,720 Speaker 1: A lot of different players involved in that Warner story. 619 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 1: And if you thought the first two parts were complicated, 620 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 1: well just wait to have part number three. And with that, 621 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: I'm going to head off and enjoy the rest of 622 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,879 Speaker 1: the day. I hope you do too, whether you are 623 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: in the United States and you know, observing Memorial Day 624 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: or wherever in the world you may be. May you 625 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,800 Speaker 1: have a safe and pleasant day, and I'll talk to 626 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart 627 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 628 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 1: the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 629 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:01,040 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite jows