The Spirit of the Time · Zeitgeist Design & Production

Zeitgeist's The Spirit Of The Time Episode 49: Paul Osterhout

·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

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1. The Spirit of the Time Zoomcast turns to Paul Osterhout, a themed-entertainment designer whose work is tied to Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and Universal Studios Beijing. 2. Becky Kiefer introduces Ryan Harmon, JoLynn Cicero, and Paul Osterhout as the time-machine pilots and guest, and Paul is framed as a production designer and storyteller. 3. The episode asks how a boy from Boston who loved magic became one of the people shaping major Disney attractions. 4. Paul says a Boston magic shop visit at age seven made him focus on “smoke and mirrors” and on how tricks are engineered. 5. He describes moving to Orlando after his father retired from the military and joining a volunteer fire department in Winter Springs. 6. He explains that he became a licensed firefighter and EMT while taking night classes at college. 7. A job at the Mystery Funhouse in Orlando put him across from a magic shop and into contact with project manager Bruce Gordon. 8. Bruce Gordon hired him to work overnight on a chamber of horrors project because he could sculpt, use hand tools, and build his own props. 9. Paul says the project moved to Daytona Beach and then to Southern California with Entertainment Environments in Buena Park. 10. He names Von Dutch and Big Daddy Ed Roth as part of the Bohemian creative circle around the Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame Museum. 11. Paul says he and Bruce Gordon built the Bonnie and Clyde Death Car Museum before the company ran into hard times. 12. He recalls calling WED Enterprises to interview for Epcot and starting on 8 January 1980 as one of the first two hires in the property department. 13. He says Tahunga was the production facility and that around 600 artists worked on Epcot-era projects before the park opened. 14. Paul remembers working with Yale Gracie, Lee Thomas, Ward Kimball, Matt Pretty, Maggie Elliott, Michael Morris, and Bill Vanik. 15. He tells the story of being taken to Disney security after watching fireworks backstage at Disneyland and getting his ID back from Matt Pretty. 16. He says he left for Cinnabar, where he worked on roughly 600 commercials, television shows, and game-show builds in three years. 17. Paul explains that Joe Rohde later asked him to come back for what became Disney's Animal Kingdom, but instead he was assigned to Disney-MGM Studios. 18. He describes producing Superstar TV, Monster Sound Show, and Star Tours while the studio expanded. 19. He says the Muppet Studios meetings involved Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and a test scene for a larger buildout that never fully happened. 20. He adds that the episode stays conversational and anecdotal, with detailed recollections of staffing, pitch meetings, and production improvisation.

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