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how adelquist is known for being instrumental in bringing the Mickey Mouse Club TV show
to the air and making it a success during its first season he worked for the Disney company
for decades prior to that and was involved in departments ranging from animation to personnel
a falling out with Walt entered his career in Show Business this is his story
Harold Hal Williams adelquist was born on July 11 1914 in Salt Lake City Utah
his father was an accountant and a member of a family of immigrants from Sweden who were living
in Iowa while his mother was a Utah native before 1920 house family moved to California eventually
settling in Los Angeles Hal attended Los Angeles high school there and graduated from it in 1932.
after graduating he went to work for Disney Studios in fact he went to work there the
very year he graduated during his career at Disney he married and had two daughters
Hal worked in a variety of capacities during his career at Disney including as an animator
a storyboard writer an animation producer and a TV producer most notably he is known for helping
to create and produce the iconic Mickey Mouse Club TV show this show premiered on TV in 1955
and was created at the particular request of Walt Disney himself on the show Hal was credited as an
associate producer where he served as a right-hand man to producer Bill Walsh prior to working on
the Mickey Mouse Club Hal had been involved in numerous other high-profile projects at Disney
he was an assistant director on Snow White in 1937 though he did not receive screen credit for it the
he also LED training sessions for new and experienced animators where they would work
on things like character development and learning the technical skills necessary to film demos of
their work how was transferred to the Personnel department at Disney in 1938 in that department
he organized employee picnics among other more standard Personnel tasks during the 1941 animators
struck against Disney how was placed in charge of all the operations of the Disney Studio personnel
after working in Personnel for a time how was promoted to the head of the story Department
while there he did many things but one of the most important tasks to which he was assigned
was to serve as a liaison between Walt Disney and the nine old men animators the animators chose Hal
as their spokesperson to Walt though his official position at the company was in studio management
after Walt Disney decided he wanted to make the Mickey Mouse Club his first two hires and the most
important ones were Bill Walsh and Hal adelquist in their respective positions Bill basically made
the decisions on the development and production of the show with Walt's approval and Hal carried
out those decisions this was actually a lot of work for hell he sat in on every planning meeting
during the creation of the show he developed his own ideas that bill and Walt greenlit
he communicated decisions to people in every department on the show managed talent scouts and
casting directors in recruiting The Mouseketeers and guest stars and even worked with the costume
designer Chuck Keane to develop the iconic Mouse ear caps based on the original sketches of Roy
Williams in addition Hal served on the editorial committee that planned and implemented the launch
of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club Magazine and selected and organized the technical crew
who would make the show how was kind of a jack of all trades in the planning and launch of
the Mickey Mouse club during the Show's first season he served as production supervisor for
several special episodes after the filming was completed on the first season Hal was asked to
Stage the live Mickey Mouse Club circus shows at Disneyland this circus was a Daily Show from
November 25th 1955 including the Christmas Day and New Year's Day holidays until early January 1956.
this was not an easy task to do for Hal or anyone as it involved managing more live performers than
had ever been assembled for a show at the park and working on it was frustrating for not only how but
for others involved in producing the show it is said by many in Disney circles today that the
only reason the Mickey Mouse Club made it to air on time and as a success in his first season was
solely because of the efforts behind the scenes of howequist the pressure to get the show to air
in a presentable format in just a few months fell largely on how more than anyone else involved in
the creation and production of the show Hal's nerves were said to be badly shot after this
stressful experience and he turned to drinking after the first season of filming was done the
production job performed by Hal was taken over by Mike holuboff which left Hal with only the task
of finding winners for talent Roundup day on the second season of the show how did this job
along with Jimmy Dodd which involved going on a 10 City tour in the late spring of 1956. this job was
essentially a demotion for Hal who was resentful of it after all the hard work he'd put into making
sure the show went on the air and was a success in the first place because of his demotion to talent
scout after he'd been an assistant producer on the show Hal argued with Wald about it and the
two of them had a falling out with each other Hal resigned from the Disney Company after his
Tent City tour in 1956 though he did write a letter asking to be rehired not long after that
Walt turned him down and Hal never worked for the Disney company again in fact there is no evidence
that he ever worked in show business again after leaving Disney because of his shot nerves and
drinking Hal eventually ended up homeless in Los Angeles making money by panhandling a New
York Times columnist tracked him down in 1977 to interview him during which period house seemed to
be at his lowest eventually Hal moved in with his mother Hal was still living with his mother when
he passed away on March 26 1981 and Long Beach California at the time Hal was only 67 years old
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