The Walt Disney Story as told by Laki
Laki is a long time resident of Neapolis and has many stories to tell about his life and the Town of Neapoli and the beautiful Island of Crete. This is one story from him that he took the time to write for our website and we hope you enjoy reading his recollections from his past.…. A big “Thank You” to Eleni Sou for doing the translation.
The Moon Spinners by Walt Disney
The story begins one year before the filming of the movie, when
Disney’s people came to Crete to find a suitable place for filming.
When they came to Heraklion the problem was, where to go. East
or West? They preferred East by chance, even though Lassithi
was not known at all. All tourists that were visiting the area were
200 tourists maximum. At that time, the road with the tunnel was
not constructed. (The construction began 5 years later).
Passing by the villages of Vrachassi and Latsida they reached
Neapoli and then continued to Aghios Nikolaos.
The Americans from the (military) base that accompanied them,
suggested they have a look at Elounda as well. When they arrived
at Elounda, there was a suggestion to go on a hill in order to see
the entire gulf of Mirabello. Then, they realized why Italians
named this particular area of Crete this way. MIRABELLO in
Italian means something spectacular. (This name was given by
the Italians in WWII.)
A year passes and suddenly one day Neapoli’s square got full of
cars from the American (military) base of Gouves. They stopped to
drink a coffee at the cafeterias before departing to Aghios
Nikolaos and Elounda. In one of the cafeterias there had
gathered many people with military uniforms, like they were
hiding something and it was Walt Disney. When it came out who
the visitor was, my father who was a journalist and publisher of
two newspapers wanted to make a small interview, and was
surprised that Walt Disney agreed and he managed to talk for a
while for the local newspaper.
I am writing these, my dear Christine, as preliminary in order to
see how the story went….
The filming started at Houmeriako village after three months,
where many people gathered to see the actors and how a movie
is filmed. I was there with a friend who had a car, which we had
filled with soft drinks which we sold within half an hour. (2000 soft
drinks). There is an uphill slope of 50 meters in the middle of the
village, that goes to the big church that has a big courtyard with a
wall of 70meters around it. There, they had 100 girls dressed up in
traditional dresses, to wait for the actors.
Suddenly two donkeys came up with the actors to storm the road
and the girls started to applaud. When I heard the applause and
the voices I ran to see what was happening. I sneaked in between
the girls and I saw the donkeys with the actors. At that exact time
a loud STOP was heard and two men came and grabbed me away.
Then they started again to film the scene.
When the girls started again to applause I ran and sneaked in
again within the girls. Please note that my little head was barely
visible.
Finally, they filmed again the scene while a man from the crew
was holding my hand and everything was good.
After a minute the scene finished, and the girls got off the
donkeys and at the cinema it looks like they got off at Elounda.
What editing/montage can do!!!
When the film was shown in the cinema, here in Neapolis
everyone wondered how the donkeys got from Houmeriako to
Elounda. That's all I had to say, dear Christina, the way a child of 8
years old remembers but to know that this is how things
happened.
Lakis
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The Walt Disney Story as told by
Laki
Laki is a long time resident of Neapolis and has many stories to tell about his life and the Town of Neapoli and the beautiful Island of Crete. This is one story from him that he took the time to write for our website and we hope you enjoy reading his recollections from his past.…. A big “Thank You” to Eleni Sou for doing the translation.
The Moon Spinners by Walt Disney
The story begins one year before the filming of the movie, when
Disney’s people came to Crete to find a suitable place for filming.
When they came to Heraklion the problem was, where to go. East
or West? They preferred East by chance, even though Lassithi was
not known at all. All tourists that were visiting the area were 200
tourists maximum. At that time, the road with the tunnel was not
constructed. (The construction began 5 years later).
Passing by the villages of Vrachassi and Latsida they reached
Neapoli and then continued to Aghios Nikolaos.
The Americans from the (military) base that accompanied them,
suggested they have a look at Elounda as well. When they arrived
at Elounda, there was a suggestion to go on a hill in order to see
the entire gulf of Mirabello. Then, they realized why Italians named
this particular area of Crete this way. MIRABELLO in Italian means
something spectacular. (This name was given by the Italians in
WWII.)
A year passes and suddenly one day Neapoli’s square got full of
cars from the American (military) base of Gouves. They stopped to
drink a coffee at the cafeterias before departing to Aghios Nikolaos
and Elounda. In one of the cafeterias there had gathered many
people with military uniforms, like they were hiding something and
it was Walt Disney. When it came out who the visitor was, my
father who was a journalist and publisher of two newspapers
wanted to make a small interview, and was surprised that Walt
Disney agreed and he managed to talk for a while for the local
newspaper.
I am writing these, my dear Christine, as preliminary in order to see
how the story went….
The filming started at Houmeriako village after three months,
where many people gathered to see the actors and how a movie is
filmed. I was there with a friend who had a car, which we had filled
with soft drinks which we sold within half an hour. (2000 soft
drinks). There is an uphill slope of 50 meters in the middle of the
village, that goes to the big church that has a big courtyard with a
wall of 70meters around it. There, they had 100 girls dressed up in
traditional dresses, to wait for the actors.
Suddenly two donkeys came up with the actors to storm the road
and the girls started to applaud. When I heard the applause and
the voices I ran to see what was happening. I sneaked in between
the girls and I saw the donkeys with the actors. At that exact time a
loud STOP was heard and two men came and grabbed me away.
Then they started again to film the scene.
When the girls started again to applause I ran and sneaked in again
within the girls. Please note that my little head was barely visible.
Finally, they filmed again the scene while a man from the crew was
holding my hand and everything was good.
After a minute the scene finished, and the girls got off the donkeys
and at the cinema it looks like they got off at Elounda. What
editing/montage can do!!!
When the film was shown in the cinema, here in Neapolis everyone
wondered how the donkeys got from Houmeriako to Elounda.
That's all I had to say, dear Christina, the way a child of 8 years old
remembers but to know that this is how things happened.
Lakis
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Page 4
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