The Time I Almost Saw Walt Disney Vomit

Walt Disney Image by Getty Images
In Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s interview with Sam Adams, a former Hollywood errand boy-turned-dealmaker, Adams turns to Shapiro and asks her if he ever told her about the time that he saw Walt Disney nearly vomit. She asks him to elaborate and, well, here’s the rest of the story:
“One day when I was at the Hollywood Reporter, [Walt] Disney held a press conference to demonstrate 360-degree motion projection. Surprisingly few reporters showed up besides myself, just my counterparts at Variety and Film Daily. The three of us were brought in a room with Walt Disney himself, who said that he would lead us to where we would experience this amazing new thing. We followed Walt and then had to get on hands and knees to crawl in the prototype with a ridiculously low ceiling. We stood up in the middle of a set-up with a mounted camera, sort of like an early prototype of today’s virtual reality. It took me a minute to realize we were “in” an automobile driving through Beverly Hills. It was a little too real, frankly. All of us started losing balance and grabbing each other. Then we had arms around each other. Disney leans over to me and says, “Jesus, I may vomit!”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

