Help the other fellow
This was an unusual interview, but here's what I learned.
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Help the other fellow
When Michael Eisner, the former CEO and chairman of Disney, was young, he spent his summers at a camp in Vermont called Keewaydin.
It was an outdoor “tripping” camp, where kids do overnight canoe trips and spend most of their time outdoors, take on leadership roles and work as a team to accomplish goals.
“Survival, but not really survival,” Eisner told me when I had a chance to interview him recently. “I mean, they don’t put anybody at risk. But the idea of getting into a campsite by canoe or by foot before dark, before dusk, gathering the wood, pitching the tents, making the fire, cooking a meal, cleaning up—all that takes teamwork and leadership.”
Even 70 years after he was a camper, Eisner recalls some of the phrases that the camp counselors (known as “staffmen” then; Eisner himself became one when he was old enough) drilled into the campers.
One of the big ones was, “Help the other fellow.”
“They said it all the time. It was a cliche. But when you got down to it, it did penetrate your skin,” Eisner said. “When two of you have to carry [a] canoe two miles… and the other kid is smaller, you’ve got to help him. ... If you have a kid that can’t get the fire started, you’ve got to help him. If you have a kid that doesn’t pitch a tent correctly, and it rains at night and all the rain comes in under the tent, and everybody is soaked.”
The Eddie Dobson Story Part 1
When Eisner was about 10, his main "staffman" was an 18-year-old college kid named Eddie Dobson. This was back in 1950 or so, and Dobson looked cooler than cool for his era: "Like James Dean," Eisner rememebered, "with the boots and stuff."
Fast-forward to about the year 1995. As much of an impression as Dobson had made on Eisner back then, with the passage of time, he'd forgotten. Then, out of the blue, he got a letter from Dobson's daughter.
"She told me, he's written -- I think she said 14 books, but maybe more -- and nobody has read a word, including members of the family.
But she saw that we'd started Hyperion Press at Disney, and wanted to know if I'd have somebody look at one of them. 'He's now agreed that somebody can read one of them.' I said, of course! But, they never came.
I forgot all about it until about three years ago, when his other daughter called me.”
The Eddie Dobson Story Part 2
The story here gets a bit heartbreaking to my mind; having made the connection with one of the most powerful people in media at the time, as Eisner tells the story, Dobson had gotten embarrassed and maybe felt like he'd overstepped.
But now Dobson was almost 90 years old, and his family had convinced him that it was now or never. So they reached out again.
“I agreed to read his book, of course and I assumed it would be awful, like most unsolicited materials that don't have an agent or a lawyer.
But it was fantastic. I thought, well, I wanted it to be fantastic, so I had my wife read it. She said, No, this is really good. It's a page turner. I'm not sure it's high literature, maybe, but it was a great story.
So we bought it, and we're making it into a television series.”
Never Stop Paddling
Maybe this is a good time to step back and explain how and why I was talking with Eisner to begin with. He has a memoir about his summers at Keewaydin, which he credits as having been the most important formative experience of his life.
The book is called Camp: Life, Leadership, and Why You Never Stop Paddling, and it's actually 25 years old, but now released in an anniversary edition.
I should also mention the cost of Camp Keewaydin, as there's always going to be an element of privilege in a memoir by someone who grew up on the Upper East Side and whose family had the wherewithal to send him away for eight weeks throughout his childhood.
Keewaydin’s price tag today is $11,800 for a full summer but offers lots of financial assistance — which actually seems a bit less than some other camps of its type.
Also, Eisner funds scholarships for a cohort of California kids every year who would never otherwise be able to go.
"Some of them are kids who’ve never been on airplanes, parents who don’t speak English, and coming to Vermont from California, a very different place," he said. "A couple of them, the first night—we took them there a night early—had never slept in a bed.”
No cell phones
Besides reminiscing about his personal experience, a big part of Eisner’s effort here is about sharing the importance of finding ways for kids to get leadership opportunities and independence at an early age.
Also, while this was probably less of an issue when Eisner was a camper, here’s the current camp policy on technology:
No electronics… no iPods, cell phones, game machines. Actually, these are okay on the bus, or plane ride, but they’ll be locked in the camp safe upon arrival.
No cell phones are permitted, even for use as a camera.
(Apropos of nothing: Do they do this for adults?)
I have no idea
I enjoyed the talk, and I appreciated that Eisner spent a bit of time telling me that I should consider something like this for my daughter. (Maybe ... someday ... )
But I also couldn't quite put my finger on why there's a 25th anniversary edition of the book. So I asked Eisner directly. Why update it?
"I have no idea. Some guy called me up who's an agent. Never heard of him -- never met him -- said, "Do you own it?"
I said, Yes. He said, Well, I think we should put it out again. It's the 100th anniversary of your father being there. And I was reluctant, until I got involved with Eddie Dobson, and I thought that would be a good chapter.
I did not ask for any money or anything like that. I just thought, well I could write another book about Disney. I could write a book about Paramount. I could write a memoir. I did write a book about partnerships. But, I just thought this would be more important."
I don't know about you, but I'm rooting for Eddie Dobson now. And I have two takeaways:
Kids need independence and leadership opportunities -- whether they're at camp or elsewhere.
But maybe more important: Somewhere in your past, there's probably someone you've wanted to get back in touch with, who might be very glad if you did.
But don't wait until you're 90!
7 other things worth knowing today
Donald Trump called for the “unconditional surrender” of Iran five days after Israel’s surprise attack triggered a new war in the Middle East, one which has so far killed hundreds of Iranians and dozens of Israelis, according to government officials. Trump also alluded to the possible assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Whether a negotiating tactic or real threat, the risk of a wider conflict has others in the region taking precautions. (Bloomberg)
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a candidate for mayor, was "taken by masked agents and detained by ICE" after an incident inside an immigration court in the city, a spokesperson said. The incident followed a series of dramatic confrontations between immigration officials and Democrats opposing President Donald Trump's immigration policies. (NBC News)
Go viral for racist behavior, receive $750,000: inside the new extremist crowdfunding campaigns. Example: Shiloh Hendrix, who admitted in a video that she called a 5-year-old Black child the N-word at local park, drew financial support from over 30,000 people -- "spread by white supremacist circles." (The Guardian)
It’s Official: Streaming Is Now the King of TV: In May, more Americans watched television on streaming than on cable and network television combined, Nielsen said. It is the first time that has happened over a full month. (NY Times)
Dr. Salvador Plasencia, charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the “Friends” star's overdose death, will plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine; in exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop three additional counts of distribution and two counts of falsifying records. (AP)
A Maryland Lottery player said he was cleaning out his car when he found a forgotten Powerball ticket that turned out to be a $50,000 winner. The Philadelphia man, who frequently travels for work as an engineer, told Maryland Lottery officials he bought the ticket June 4 from Woodlawn Mart on Woodlawn Drive in Baltimore County. The man said he was cleaning out his car more than a week later when he rediscovered the forgotten ticket and found out it was a $50,000 winner. (UPI)
Police in South Carolina engaged in a not-so-hot pursuit as they chased a tractor excavator down a main highway for more than an hour at the speed an average adult walks. The chase reached speeds of 3 mph (4.8 kph) early Sunday morning in North Charleston, police said, and went on for an hour and 12 minutes before the excavator drove on to the Charleston County Fairgrounds property, where it got stuck. The driver tried to run, but was followed by a drone until a police dog and handler caught up, authorities said. (AP)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Artem Kniaz on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.
great, interesting story!!
As a kid, I always went to camps, day & overnight, as a Brownie/Girl Scout. A few times went to another camp/paid for, which was fun, full of a variety of activities. My 3 sons were in scouts, 1 became Eagle Scout, 1 'almost', & the lessons, etc., for girl/boy scouts always include help the other fellow & be prepared. As does every branch of the US Service.
Growing up in the 1950’s was independent. We rode our bikes for miles outside the neighborhood, spent the days outside after doing chores down in a wilderness area with a creek & wildlife, came home for dinner when we ate as a family then disappeared until bedtime. Now parents can be accused of child abuse if they let their children walk to school alone.
spending time this week w/ each of my sons/their families/my 6 grandkids, from 3 different states. Some talk going on about their schools & the issue, now a 'hot topic' about phones in schools, & other things. Only 1 of my grands owns a phone, & her school doesn't allow phones. The others, in 2 other states, don't. One allows tablets, but with limited use, & what's interesting, they're not learning to type, but do whatever 'handwriting' of their style on the tablet. That school teaches a LOT about independent thinking/reasoning, as does the Charter school the other grands go to in CA. It all seems good, & I thoroughly enjoy seeing my sons be dads.
My husband went to a boarding high school in Alberta where it was essentially that camp experience on steroids. 50 mile snowshoe trips in the back country in winter, and 150 mile canoe trips in summer, among many other fantastical stories! As you can imagine, it was incredibly formative. I'm going to get him Eisner's Camp book. I think he'll enjoy it!