Originally Posted By Park Hopper I ran across this clip from the opening of Epcot in 1982 where Braverman worked on the Imagination Pavillion of all things. It's very interesting especially when you think where he's going to be in about 15 years. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egKmeb0MlOo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =egKmeb0MlOo</a>
Originally Posted By idleBrain Nope. Got word in June 2005, left the building in Dec 2005, then kicked off the payroll in Feb 2006.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA What part did Braverman play in the creation of 'Journey Into Imagination.'? Or is he just a spokesperson?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA The guy portraying Dreamfinder is very good -- reminds me of Frank Morgan's version of the Wizard of Oz.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt ^^I thought so too. Very cool. Can you imagine Disney creating an original character for one of its parks today? If that interview took place today Bryant Gumble would be interviewing Buzz Lightyear.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< reminds me of Frank Morgan's version of the Wizard of Oz. >>> ... which makes him all the more frightening. Look at his eyebrows - he uses them as if he's an actual animatronic whose eyebrows always move in unison and have only two settings: "highbrow" and "lowbrow." I'm not criticizing - it's just an observation. <<< Can you imagine Disney creating an original character for one of its parks today? >>> Don't have to imagine - Harrison Hightower was inagurated as a new park-original character just two weeks ago as a major show element of TDS's ToT. And, if they needed a live model to make a promo appearance, my understanding is that they could find someone who bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Hightower.
Originally Posted By TP2000 >>"Got word in June 2005, left the building in Dec 2005, then kicked off the payroll in Feb 2006."<< Good riddance. He may have once been a happy little worker bee at WDI, but once he gained the political clout required to be tapped for a big project like DCA he was clearly in way over his head. This is the guy that made DCA what it is today, and is responsible for most of the things they now need to fix and replace to finally make the park succesful. He should be happy he got away with as much as he did, and that Disney gave him as much salary and financial gain as they did. And where is Braverman now? Did he go to The Gap too?
Originally Posted By Park Hopper It's funny how he talks about taking creative risks. I guess throwing out the play book Disney had been using for 40 odd years to build theme parks could be termed a creative risk.
Originally Posted By TP2000 A quick Google search on Braverman didn't come up with anything for him post-Disney. At his senior executive level he would have received a healthy golden parachute, so perhaps he is just puttering around the house and grumbling to himself that the general public still doesn't understand how great DCA is.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "And, if they needed a live model to make a promo appearance, my understanding is that they could find someone who bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Hightower." Mr. Hightower isn't exactly what I meant by "character". I guess what I should have said was "marketable character". It isn't likely that they are going to offer Mr. Hightower plush toys for sale.
Originally Posted By leemac Like many former imagineers Barry is a freelance consultant. He specializes in the edutainment industry and works predominantly with museums to make interactive educational installations. With his background in education and movies this was a natural migration for him.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA leemac, do you know what his role was during the creation and opening of 'Journey Into Imagination'? Wondering how he was chosen to talk on 'Today' with Bryant Gumbel, which at the time, would have been a pretty big profile gig.
Originally Posted By idleBrain There's a photo of Barry with Tony Baxter in the Imagineering book, discussing development of the ride. (I believe Julie Svendsen is also in the photo.) If I'm not mistaken, Barry was a show producer for the Imagination pavilion.
Originally Posted By leemac <<leemac, do you know what his role was during the creation and opening of 'Journey Into Imagination'?>> I'd have to look it up. If I remember rightly Barry was technically a show writer in those days. He had input in a lot of pavilions (particularly those post '82 ones). A lot of WDI's existing staffers worked on Epcot like Tony Baxter and Tom Fitzgerald.
Originally Posted By idleBrain Lee... Tom Fitzgerald was definitely hired by Marty right after he graduated from Northwestern to be a show writer for Epcot (Tom and I both hold a B.A. in Speech Comm, so I pay particular attention to the Imagineering show writers.) But Barry was the show producer for the original ImageWorks in 1980. This is probably why he was on the Today Show with Bryant Gumbel on Epcot's opening day, since the pavilion's ride didn't open until March 5, 1983. Barry gave an interview to MouseInfo in 2004, which chronicles his Disney career: <a href="http://www.mouseinfo.com/showupdate.php?id=20040515&page=1" target="_blank">http://www.mouseinfo.com/showu pdate.php?id=20040515&page=1</a>
Originally Posted By idleBrain <<Like many former imagineers Barry is a freelance consultant. He specializes in the edutainment industry and works predominantly with museums to make interactive educational installations. With his background in education and movies this was a natural migration for him.>> Precisely what he should have been doing all along! Disney did both Barry and the company a huge disservice by promoting him up the executive food chain, further and further away from his area of expertise where he could have had a more positive influence on the parks. Innoventions with the proper level of funding (budgets were way too cheap) could have produced a high-tech version of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, or at least something more akin to the original ImageWorks at Epcot, instead of the dumbed-down glorified consumer exhibits a la Fry's Electronics, which desperately need to be ditched. Barry and I are fellow alum of the College of Education, SFSU. There was an article about his Disney career in the alumni newsletter, a few years back. Education has always been his forte, his major strength. I'm glad to know that he's consulting in the development of interactive educational exhibits at various museums. I wish him all the best in his new career. Thanks for the info, Lee.
Originally Posted By SIR at X-S Tech Based on his later work, Innoventions, Wonders of Life exhibits, I wouldn't be surprised if he worked on the Imageworks area. Just a guess.
Originally Posted By DlandDug The real irony of this piece was teaming up Braverman with Dreamfinder and Figment. Indeed, when the graphic "Barry Braverman" was superimposed over Dreamfinder early in the segment, I laughed out loud. Journey into Imagination was shaping up to be a rather earnest, and slightly dull, educational exhibit (rather like The Land or Energy). It is well known by now that Tony Baxter created the concept of Figment, not only because he felt that a pavilion about Imagination needed something more imaginative, but because he was also appalled that the decision had been made to include no Disney characters in EPCOT Center. I have no idea how the idea was received. But Dreamfinder and Figment were definitely Baxter's contribution-- and easily the most beloved aspect of the original EPCOT Center. (Plush Figments were a very popular opening year souvenir.) Braverman and Baxter's career trajectories have often been pitted against each other by Disney theme park fans. It's a shame, because each has strengths and weaknesses which could have better been utilized in creating great attractions, rather than battling it out in the corporate culture that was Disney Imagineering during the Eisner era.
Originally Posted By SIR at X-S Tech I think the decision was more to exclude Mickey and Friends from Epcot, not necessarily to have "no" characters. That's always been my understanding at least.
