Keeping mum goes back a long way at the Walt Disney Co.
Mickey Mouse's first film in 1928, "Plane Crazy," was silent (although audiences didn't see it until after "Steamboat Willie" -the release of which was moved up because it had sound).
So it shouldn't be surprising that Disney spokesmen are keeping their mouths shut about the company's intended use of an airport hangar in San Bernardino.
Nevertheless, such resolute corporate tradition can be vexing for the curious.
Why, for instance, does Disney want to lease a 53,955-square-foot hangar at San Bernardino International Airport for 10 to 13 months at $9,712 a month?
Disney spokesman Ken Green won't specify. "I understand there are several uses in mind for the space," he said.
Meanwhile, the airport says only that the lease approved last week will enable Disney to assemble and test "equipment." Beyond that, Inland Valley Development Agency Executive Director Jim Gourley, who oversees the airport, doesn't know what the mouse infestation will bring.
But it's Disney. We've got to know.
One possibility is suggested by a similar deal with Ontario International Airport that Disney nipped in the bud last month. Jess Romo, the airport's property manager, reportedly told The Press -Enterprise that Disney Imagineering wanted the hangar so it could test a flight simulator ride destined for Tokyo Disneyland.
Is San Bernardino inheriting Ontario's failed Disney deal? It's a reasonable deduction. But Green either doesn't know or isn't saying.
"I can't say that they're related," he said. He also can't say whether Romo was right. "I don't know where they got that information."
Green did allow that Disney likes airport hangars because they can be rented for short periods of time. Other than that, the company's motives are unclear.
Perhaps Disney is just plane crazy.
Who's king of the mountain?
Snow Summit radio ads have started dissing the competition. And though the rival isn't named, it's pretty clear the target is upstart and former underdog The New Mountain High Ski Resort in Wrightwood.
After all, The New Mountain High is the only resort that boasts about "no mountain driving." And that's what appears to have inspired sarcasm in the Snow Summit ad's whimsical, baritone announcer.
"Here's some important news," he says in a new radio spot. "Mountain resorts are in the mountains."
He then impishly suggests anyone afraid of winding mountain roads is a wimp, and closes with: "Snow Summit - More mountain driving."
Before this year, Snow Summit ads wouldn't let on it even had competition.
The New Mountain High is planning a response ad, which should embroil the resorts in a full-fledged snowball fight. New Mountain High marketing director Brad Wilson takes the jab as another sign the New Mountain High has arrived.
In mid-1997, the run-down Mountain High got new owners and a new lease on life. Skiers who once considered the Wrightwood area ski park a slope of last resort returned in droves, setting record attendance of 430,000 skier visits.
One factor behind the New Mountain High's own progress may be the ease of the drive: The trip to Wrightwood involves Interstate 15 and a short, sans-cliff road.
The New Mountain High has had aggressive advertising of its own. Perhaps you've seen the billboards on the road to Snow Summit, which say things like, "The drive to heaven shouldn't be hell."
Eventually, someone was bound to return fire.
Gray Scott may be reached at (909) 980-7330, ext. 26. His e-mail address is grays@pe.net
Originally published in The Business Press 01/18/99