FROM 2007
ARLENE LUDWIG
talks about her Publicity education and her Disney Legend father

by Scott Wolf

One of the biggest surprises I've had in doing interviews is learning about the wonderful Arlene Ludwig.

Before meeting Arlene, I knew little about her other than she was in Publicity for Disney and her father is a Disney Legend. In doing my research and even contacting people at Disney, I found less about Arlene than any other person I've interviewed. 

Feeling unprepared, I interviewed Arlene, only to learn what a truly fascinating person she is, not to mention warm and kind. I've seen Arlene at events since the interview and continue to learn more about her such as she was a bridesmaid at Annette Funicello's wedding!

I'm tremendously delighted to introduce you to Arlene Ludwig!

Scott Wolf: Your father is Irving Ludwig and he started working for Disney when you were a child. What was his job?

Arlene Ludwig: He was the first VP of Buena Vista Distribution and that was very short-lived because then he became President and he was President of Buena Vista Distribution until he retired. Buena Vista started in 1953.

SW: Do you have any childhood memories of Disney?

AL: What I remember, and it’s funny I can picture it as I’m talking to you, he used to bring home some of the movies in 16 millimeter and we would show them in my backyard. It was the driveway and all the houses were lined up next to each other and we just had friends and he brought out chairs… I don’t even know what he used as a screen, he may have had a screen that you just pull down. I can see it as we’re talking. I don’t even remember what the first one was or what they were but I remembered it was like, “Yes!” It was really wonderful.

SW: Long before home video.

AL: Yes, this is when you did everything in 16 millimeter that you took out of the theatre, so it was way, way long before that, so I do remember that, and I remember when he used to go away on business trips he would always bring something back from his trip to California or wherever it was. It wasn’t always Disney related, it was just a present to bring back when you were away.

SW: Were you in New York?

AL: I was brought up in New York, I lived in Forest Hills basically until we moved out here in 1972.

SW: Did you ever get to visit the Disney Studios when you were younger?

AL: Yes, the picture behind you with Walt and my father and me with Ed Wynn in the background is at the studio. I wasn’t working yet. I think that was a trip where I must have gone with him, I don’t even know what the occasion was but obviously it was magical. I don’t know if it was an exhibitor party. I don’t think it was "Mary Poppins" because I was working for the studio by that time so it was before that.

SW: Did you know Walt?

AL: No, only like that. You know, the thing about Walt is when Walt was in the room there was just an aura. It was not pretentious, it’s not like he walked into a room and commanded attention. He just did. His presence was just felt.

SW: Did you like "Disney"?

AL: I was such a fan. I don’t know if I realized what they did then, when they four-walled “Fantasia” because that was the only way the exhibitors would play it, nobody knew what this was. They didn’t have the equipment, they had to go around putting sound into the theatres which they called Fantasound. They literally carried the cans from theatre to theatre. I don’t know if I understood all that. I think that was even before my time, but it was the beginning.

When I was growing up my father was with Rugoff and Becker which were the exhibitors at the time, then he was with Disney and went back to exhibition and then Roy, Sr., Roy O. Disney said to him, “Why don’t you just come onboard?” I think it was around the “Fantasia” time.

SW: Was it a goal of yours to work for Disney?

Arlene Ludwig: No. Interestingly enough, when I graduated from high school and was getting ready to go to college I thought wanted to be a teacher because I love my vacations and I love to travel, and if you are teaching you have the entire summer off.

Somehow or other my father rerouted me because I think he thought there was a better thing than doing that. I don’t know if I was passionate about it or if I was just following what a lot of my fellow graduates were doing, but he took me up to Boston University and we met with one of the counselors because they had a school of Public Relations and Communications. We liked them and I guess they liked me and they accepted my application and that’s where I went.

When I graduated there were not a lot of women doing publicity. I thought, “Well, I’m going to sit back and those calls are going to just come in.” But, it doesn’t happen that way. You have to go out and pursue the job hunting. In the meantime, I was going to beach club during the week. I wasn’t desperate to go to work, but what I found out was that it was a lot harder than I thought.

“Look” magazine was around then and there was an offer made but at that time, what do you know about salary other than what you have in your head that you think you’re worth? It was so low I thought, “I can’t do that.”

I went to work one day for a music company, I don’t know what made me accept that job, I guess it sounded good, and they played rock so loud and I was sitting in the reception area and I thought, “I can’t do this.” I left with the worst headache imaginable and I called them and thanked them and said that wasn’t for me.

I actually worked in an ad agency that handled Disney in New York on Madison Avenue for two summers before I graduated. My father thought it would be a good opportunity and I thought this was the most glamorous thing in the world. I almost didn’t want to go back to college. I’m sure it was a big favor to my dad and I had the most wonderful time, but I did go back and graduated college.

The nice thing about going to that school was you got an accelerated Liberal Arts course, four years in two, you get an AA degree at the end of the two years because that was all Liberal Arts education and then we went right into the School of Public Relations and Communications. So I got a good Liberal Arts education first and then majored in this and thought it was very interesting.

I actually did intern a summer at Disney where I went from one department to another, learning about the TV ad buys and it was just very general, it was nothing in particular, but it was good. I enjoyed that.

The Field Director at the time… years ago they used to call him the Exploitation Director, but that has such a bad name, but what they meant by exploitation was really field promotions and things like that but I think after awhile they realized that title doesn’t sound very good. He had somebody working for him who liked to take naps in the afternoon and stuff. He liked to do a lot of his own work but you still needed somebody outside. So according to the story I am told, the Publicity Director in our New York office who watched me grow up basically, said to my father, “She’s got the education, why don’t we see if this will work out.”

SW: That was Disney in New York?

AL: Yes, it was for the distribution arm, and that’s sort of how it started so I parked myself there and never left. After I finished that sort of secretarial/assistant stint, the woman who had been the Publicity Director’s Assistant for over fifteen years finally said to him, “I’ve been doing this for so long. Please give me an opportunity,” and they actually did, so they moved her out of that secretarial role and she was doing publicity and I learned a lot from her. She became pregnant and decided she did not want to come back so it was a nice segue over.

There was a guy, Frank Petraglia who was doing Publicity so it then became Frank and me.

I remember running around with photos then, they didn’t have digital, so you would take a sheet of slides and you’d go down… they had fan magazines, like what “People” and “Us Weekly” is now, they had “Photoplay” and “Modern Screen” and what you would try to do is get your starlet placed in one of those magazines. I started there, and then broadcasting started to become more prevalent, like you had “The Mike Douglas Show” and Merv Griffin, and the “Tonight Show” was in New York then, but this was before the “Entertainment Tonight’s,” and you didn’t do entertainment on a news show. It just sort of evolved and I just continued on really with broadcast.

SW: Did you ever work with your father?

AL: Yeah, when I was at Buena Vista in New York, so for the first ten years. The first thing he said to me, basically because I was his daughter, he said I had to be extremely careful. He said, “Don’t make any kind of comments, like if somebody is leaving early for whatever reason, you don’t say to them, ‘Oh, half a day?’” I wouldn’t do that anyway, but he was so careful about what the perception of me would be so people would never be walking around saying, “Oh, she’s the boss’ daughter.”

When we moved out here, Buena Vista went to Glendale. I left Buena Vista at that point and came to the studio so I was part of studio Publicity and then they moved him over and they were on the first floor of this building. So during the day I would see him under more professional circumstances.

I learned a lot from just watching him.

More from Arlene:
Her early days at Disney

See other interviews

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.