Movie Musings: Disney and More

David Swift: Underrated as a Director

Walt Disney hired a great deal of talented to people to work in the animation as well as the live-action departments at his studio. Though only a few of the people he hired were fortunate enough to work in both. An example is David Swift. A relative unknown to the public Swift began his career at the Walt Disney Studios as an office boy and then worked his way up to being an animator. After war-time service he became a writer/director of live-action films, and many episodes of popular 1960s television series. 

David Swift was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 27th, 1919. He dropped out of high school at the age of 17 and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue his goal of working for Walt Disney. One of his first jobs in Los Angeles, however, was working as an usher at the Warner Bros theater. He also attended art school and Hollywood High School at night, then landed the Disney office boy job. By 1938, he was promoted to assistant animator under Ward Kimball, one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” Swift collaborated with Kimball on the films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), where they animated the Dwarves and Vultures and Pinocchio (1940), where they animated Jiminy Cricket. Together they also worked on Fantasia (1940), Peter Pan (1953), and the shorts The Reluctant Dragon (1941) and The Nifty Nineties (1941). While under Kimball’s tutelage, Swift became the original drummer for the Disney Studio Dixieland jazz band Firehouse Five Plus 2 in which Ward Kimball played the trombone and Frank Thomas played the piano.  

David Swift served with the 8th Air Force during World War II, organizing bombing missions over Germany. After returning to Los Angeles, he created the show Mister Peepers (1952-1955). He also wrote and directed episodes of the shows General Electric Theater (1953-1962), Playhouse 90 (1956-1961), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962), and wrote comedy radio scripts for the likes of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, and Red Skelton. Ultimately, he came back to the Walt Disney Studios and was hired to be writer/director of the film Pollyanna (1960) which ignited Hayley Mills’s career at Disney. Ironically, one if the shorts that Swift worked on for the studio, “Nifty Nineties,” played in front of “Pollyanna,” and in that short Ward Kimball voiced an animated, caricatured version of himself. “Pollyanna,” was not a critical success, though it earned Hayley Mills the Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor or Actress in a leading role, the last recipient of that category. Swift reunited with Mills the very next year writing and directing her in The Parent Trap (1961). 

One day while “Parent Trap,” was in production, David Swift had to run up to his office to get his script. On his way up, he ran into Walt Disney, who said “Hey Bud!” (He referred to David Swift has “Bud.”) “I want you to meet two guys.” Swift replied “Walt, I don’t have time.” Walt said, “It’s my studio, come with me.” Naturally, he went, and Walt introduced him to Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, whom he had hired to write music for the film. Swift was caught off guard, at first, because there originally were no plans to have any music in the film. But he immediately saw the potential of the Sherman’s music when he heard them play the songs “For Now, For Always,” which is played in the scene of the film where Maureen O’Hara and Hayley Mills are walking in the park together and the film’s trademark song “Let’s Get Together.” He ended up very excited that their music would be included. (The Sherman’s also wrote “The Parent Trap,” title song which is played in the film’s opening titles.) 

After “Parent Trap,” David Swift continued directing films with Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) and Good Neighbor Sam (1964), both of which starred Jack Lemmon, and the film based on the hit Broadway musical of the same name: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967). He returned to Disney a final time to write the film Candleshoe (1977) which was Jodie Foster’s final film for Disney. Swift was originally supposed to direct the film, but he decided to step down from the director’s chair due to belief that Foster was not right for the leading role in the movie. He was replaced with Norman Tokar. Swift is also given screen credit as one of the writers of Disney’s remake of The Parent Trap in 1998.

Throughout his career, David Swift never received any major awards for his unique body of work. Though his talents in school helped him produce films and television shows that to this day are loved by both kids and adults. He passed away on December 31st, 2001, capping a career that lasted for more than 50 years. The legacy of his screenwriting/direction will continue to live on, primarily because “Pollyanna,” and “The Parent Trap,” remain beloved classics among Disney movie fans.