As UCLA students, I'm sure we have all worked hard to maintain our grades in this educational system. I have always been driven by a fear of failure and falling behind. But what's "behind?" Bob Gurr overturns any notion of a successful and secure life-path. As one of the most influential engineers in modern history, he has not only flunked out of geometry in high school but has switched between hundreds of jobs unrelated to his degree.
In this abbreviated interview Q&A, Bob gives advice about working with a passion and describes some of his experiences at Disney. I really enjoyed this talk and I hope you'll learn something from this too.
A bit about Bob
If it moves, it's Bob. Robert Henry Gurr, also known as Bob Gurr, is known as one of the pioneering Imagineers for Disney. After receiving an automobile styling degree from Art Center College, he worked various jobs until landing at Disney for the construction of Tomorrowland. Working directly under Walt himself, Bob has built hundreds of famous Disneyland attractions including Autopia, Haunted Mansion, Disneyland Monorail, and Matterhorn. Even after retiring from Disney in 1981, he has continued to be prolific in the entertainment industry, creating the King Kong ride for Universal Studios as well as The T-Rex animatronic for a movie by Steven Spielberg.
Bob Gurr currently holds the Themed Entertainment Association's Award as well as the title of Disney Legend for his unforgettable influence in entertainment.
The Q&A
You've worked on a lot of projects over your lifetime. In your early days at Disney, which project were you least prepared for?
Haha, all of them except Autopia. I'm a car guy. I love cars and I was called an automobile stylist those days at the Art Center. The automobile design was the one skill I did bring into Disney. But I did not bring in any engineering skills whatsoever. But when Walt assumed I did the body, he assumed I did the mechanical engineering. I didn’t do that, I shut up and never said a word and had to teach myself car engineering as I went. And that's why 2 of the cars were running at the end of the first week. But after that, more of the things I designed mechanically began to work better. And by 1959, I designed a lot of machinery with very little difficulty. I got the engineering training I needed on the job and never had to pay for it!
What has been your most gratifying experience?
That's so simple: Disneyland fire engine. All these jobs and I picked the Disneyland fire engine! Walt would come into my office once in a while. I caught him in a dead moment and I said "Walt, we don't have a fire engine on Main Street. I mean we have a horse-drawn thing, *which didn't work*, but we don't have a fire engine." Walt goes "no, Bob, we don’t." Ten minutes later, the accounting department phones up and the accountant says "here's the account number for the new fire engine project." I thought "Whoopee! We're gonna have a fire engine! Walt had to go get a number to get started. Everyone knew Walt alone picks out what's in his parks and I'm the only person in record that talked him into something that was not something he specified. I didn't find out til' many years later, when he walked around with an entourage of people, that he secretly wanted a fire engine. If you look at the final photograph Walt Disney took in his park, it was in my fire engine.
With so many job changes, have you ever been worried about money?
I've always been heart-driven. Passionate - doing exciting stuff with a passion. I didn't worry too much about living and putting food on the table because when I was going to Art Center in 1949, I lived in a boarding house with about 15 Art Center students. I know what it's like living in a boarding house and sharing a bedroom the size of a closet with another person and a drafting board so you can do your homework. The room and board was 25 dollars. My grandmother gave me 15 for gasoline, coals, and entertainment. After I came back from Detroit (before Disney) I got hired and living in a rented room in the back of an old woman's house. And I never gave it a thought! It just was the way it was. But eventually, I wound up buying a house. And then pretty soon I moved to another part of the city. After 29 years, I'm in a house up in the hills at a dead-end street with a hot tub. And you know - nothing fancy. I never did anything to respond to advertising, branded clothes, shoes, anything like that. None of that meant anything as long as I had dinner at night, breakfast in the morning, and a reasonable interior. My youngest vehicle is 14 and I got a 15 and 16-year-old car. They run well. Why would I get something new? I grew up in the depression 1930s so I know what the big depression was like; I know what world war 2 was like. I lived through that I know what it's like to brown bag and I know what it is to save string. Never do anything for the money, just don't.
Are there any projects that you’ve been involved in your career that you would redo now that you have all this experience under your belt?
That's a hypothetical question and I respectfully decline to answer hypothetical questions. There's no point in doing energy and thinking in something that has already happened. It's happened. Your ship sank. Your machine doesn't work. Life only goes forward. The future has no reverse gear, you can't back up!
Is there anything that inspires you?
Anything where I can dive in or make out of something that never existed before. I still do that today. Quick story: I haven't touched a CAD system in 23 years. I'm down in Florida last year and a guy talks me into "why don’t you design a super-advanced electric mobility for handicapped people for magic kingdom?" Well okay, these are called scooters and everybody rents them. I went and drove on scooters for a whole day and I took notes. Do you know how many scooters there are that don't even fit theme parks? It's an open invitation to design a scooter that will work! So one thing led to another and I wound up doing 2D cad again. Now using SolidWorks of all things! An 89-year-old man learning solid works at this age! I've completed the design too. I've been working with one of my Disney trainees who started as a young kid, now 44 years old. We just completed the scooter design, all the tooling design, and all the mechanical design. Everything's all figured out and has all these new and advanced features that are very buildable. Manufacturing is so excited and I'm up here with a sunset view and hot tub and I'm designing stuff! I can't stop designing stuff! The minute somebody says something, I'm like "I'll get started right away." It's an incurable disease!
it was really insightful to read this and have a look into the mindset of someone who has had such a big impact on amusement parks. Really admire how passionate he is about what he does.