Theodore Thomas, J.B. Kaufman, and Didier Ghez
The newest entry in a series of Monographs published by the Hyperion Historical Alliance Press, this volume brings to life a remarkable chapter in Disney history. In 1941, with the backing of the United States government, Walt Disney and a hand-picked group of his artists conducted a goodwill tour of South America. The group, self-nicknamed “El Grupo,” spent the better part of three months on the tour, gathering their visual, musical, and cultural impressions of the Latin American nations. That research material would later be distilled into Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, and other classic Disney films. Now, three independent historians have pooled their collective research to produce the definitive chronicle of that historic trip. Drawn from personal accounts in private collections as well as archival sources, lavishly illustrated with hundreds of photos (most never published before), this is a vivid recreation of El Grupo’s journey.
Chapters
August 1941
Divided into smaller subgroups, the Disney party leaves Florida for the flights to South America, beginning their journey with a stay in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro they meet top Brazilian artists and musicians, including the great Ary Barroso, whose “Aquarela do Brasil” has already become a national sensation. The spirit of the samba is everywhere, and the artists revel in the colorful sights and sounds of the Brazilian capital. Highlights of the stay include discovery of the traditional papagaio, who will evolve into a new Disney character; and the Rio and São Paulo openings of Fantasia, both mounted as charity benefits, and both tremendously successful.
September 1941
El Grupo moves on from Brazil to Argentina (with a side trip to Uruguay), establishing a temporary “studio” atop the Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires. This serves as a working space to consolidate their growing wealth of sketches, paintings, and notes, as well as a central meeting point where they meet and confer with Argentine artists. Walt and company are warmly welcomed by an association of Argentine cartoonists; a troupe led by cultural historian Andrés Chazarreta performs traditional Argentine dances for the artists; El Grupo is hosted by several estancias at lavish asados; and Fantasia enjoys more blockbuster openings in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
October 1941
By October the group is starting to break down into smaller splinter groups, visiting as-yet unexplored areas of South America. Walt and some of the party travel on to Santiago, Chile; another group penetrates deep into authentic Argentine gaucho country that most tourists never see; and yet another group moves on to Bolivia and Peru to explore the Lake Titicaca region. Eventually most of the group reconvenes on the Grace Lines ship Santa Clara to sail from Chile up the west coast of South America and through the Panama Canal, while one splinter group remains independent, traveling north through the interior and visiting Guatemala and Mexico City before returning to the Disney studio in California.
Epilogue
Walt and most of El Grupo sail into the port of New York late in October, still reeling from their three-month adventure, and are mobbed by the press. There’s little time to reflect on their group experience; they arrive in New York just in time to attend the triumphant premiere of Dumbo (which had gone through post-production during their journey), then return to California to tackle production of a new slate of Good Neighbor films, built around the tremendous assortment of visual and musical riches they have gathered in Latin America. The trip is over, but it has launched a ripple effect of cultural influences that will continue for generations afterward.
Appendix
A selection of press coverage of the trip, culled from Brazilian, Argentine, Uruguayan, and U.S. newspapers, provides a lively supplement to our recreation of El Grupo’s journey.
