Disney History
Topic: How to Track Down a Disney Historian

#	Author	Message
1	sherrytodd Tue 12/25/2007 6:40p	I'm trying to research an extremely obscure Disney legend and am trying to figure out where to go to try to locate information. In Colorado on Berthoud Pass there is an avalanche chute that is called the Disney Chute, supposedly named after a Disney photographer who was killed while filming an avalanche in the 1950's. I'm trying to determine if there really was a death there or if this is just an urban legend. I've started with the Colorado Avalanche Information Society to try to find any records of avalanche deaths from the 1950's and if I can at least pinpoint it down to a date I could also start going through newspaper archives, but I would like to also tackle this from the Disney side as well and if there was actually a photographer killed, I'd like to try to get more of the story. Any suggestions on where else I should start?
2	Ursula Tue 12/25/2007 7:03p	Write to Dave Smith at the Disney Archives, care of the studio. (use the intergoogle for the mailing address.)
3	sherrytodd Fri 12/28/2007 10:41a	Well, here's what I've got so far. I've tracked down a summary of the avalanche report for 1957... "On April 8, 1957, an avalanche killed two men. One was a photographer who had set up three movie cameras in the path. The avalanche ran huge: HS-AS-R5, 8-12' deep, covered the highway 10-12' deep for 500', with an estimated 121,500 tons of snow." I have initials of the victims, but not names, H & Wy. The two were the photographer and a CDOT worker. The avalanche was knocked down with a 75 mm howitzer. There may still be a full report in the Colorado Avalanche Information Center office archives and they're trying to find it for me. Apparently the footage was recovered from all three camaras and supposedly still exists and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center was trying to figure out how to locate it. I've emailed Dave Smith, but he is out of office till the 30th.
4	sherrytodd Fri 12/28/2007 6:21p	Just spent the afternoon with the microfiche. This is quite the story... John Hermann (26) was contracted by Disney Studios to film avalanche footage for a documentary. He had worked for Disney for 4 years. His friend Roland White (18) was helping him. There were two cameras. Roland had a camera set in the path strung with a 200 ft line with the plan to fire the camera and then run for shelter when the avalanche was triggered. John was standing down on the road next to the station wagon with a second camera. There were three CDOT workers. Two on the shooting team (Ted Bakken and Clarence (Sonny) Maire) and Wayne Whitlock was down in his truck stopping traffic and on the two way radio to give directions to the firing team. They shot three shells, the third shell triggering the slide. This was around 2pm. John shouted at Roland to get out of the way and Roland ran for the trees, but he was caught and was buried two feet deep. He was able to dig himself out. The slide jumped the creek and covered the road burying the station wagon, the truck and Hermann and Whitlock. There were about 100 volunteers in the search including highway patrol, road workers and the Loveland ski patrol. They used mine detectors and probe poles to search. They found Whitlock's truck in the early evening and the cab was smashed and full of snow and the windows were broken out and Whitlock was not in the cab. They dug around the truck and found his body around 6pm. They did not find Hermann's body till 1:25am 150 ft from the station wagon pinned against a log. This was not the only footage they filmed. They also filmed avalanche footage on Wolf Creek Pass the week before this. Disney True Life Series White Wilderness came out the next year. I'm wondering if that is what they were filming for.

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