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“FROG KISSIN’”
LIFTING THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN
AND STRENGTHENING THE FEEBLE KNEES
A. DAVID THOMAS
Well if you’ve never been a Frog Kissin’—
Then you don’t know what you’ve been missin’—
There’s a world of opportunity under each and every
log.If you’ve never been a charm breaker
And if you’ve never been a handsome prince maker
Just slow down, turn around, bend down, and kiss
you a frog.—from Frog Kissin’ by Chet Atkins
We all know the classic story. A young princess has the courage to plant a kiss on the warty face of a big green frog and thereby magically transforms him into a handsome prince. A fairy tale for sure, but it has a major thread of truth running through it—we can transform people through kindness. It happens all the time.
One of my children, my son Michael, is a gentle man. In the world of rough and tumble boys, as an artist and a musician, he didn’t always fit in. He could play a good game of basketball and always had lots of guy friends, but he was a gentle, not a “macho” man. There is something needlessly mean about little boys growing up. For some boys, this results in a lot of pushing and bruising. Some boys like it. They even seem to need it, but Michael didn’t. He had his art and his music. Now, lots of guys don’t have music and art. In fact, pushing and shoving is all some boys have. It was such a group of boys who singled out Michael.
Every day (while growing up) Mike would have a bout with these artless little boys, and he would quietly “take it.” Some thought he was chicken, but he just wasn’t into pushing and hurting. Michael had gentility. He also had music and art.
Now, Michael had friends who recognized his talents. His friends encouraged him to practice, and when the time came, they encouraged him to display what he could do. He entered art contests and won. He tried out for plays and got parts. And then he went for the ultimate test of his courage—he would display his talent to the kids at junior high. Michael would sing and dance.
He practiced for weeks. He would be the first to perform in the talent show. The curtain went up. A whaling Chuck Berry guitar put down the opening licks, and the spotlight hit Mike:
Way down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy, name of Johnny B.
Goode.Never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like ringin’ a bell
Go, Go, Go, Johnny Go!
—from Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry
The room exploded. Only a few people knew this Michael. Most of the kids knew him as the guy who let the little boys pound on him. Everyone was clapping their hands and swaying. Some were on their feet dancing. Mike was all over the stage—a dancing and singing machine. He finished. The audience gasped for air and then exploded again. A standing ovation. Even the kids who had picked on him were yelling and screaming. Now they had seen, and now they knew what Michael had known for a long time. Michael was into art and music and he was good at it. And because there were some few of his friends and family who had encouraged him—frog kissers all—he hadn’t given up.
Everyone has to follow the path that Michael courageously took, but a good frog kiss here or there can help. How many people miss their spotlighted mark because no one happens along with the courage to kiss a frog.
“That’s Frog Kissin’.” Everyone can do it. And God wants us to. Consider these scriptures: “Members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26). “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). “That which does not edify is not of God, and is darkness” (D&C 50:23). To edify means to lift, improve, or enlighten—to help others see the good in the gospel, in life, and in themselves.
“Succor [help] the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5).
Have you ever felt unsteady or been a little limp, or felt a little weak at the knees? People who encourage you at those times or who say kind things help, don’t they? You could too. Heavenly Father wants us to look out for each other. We are commanded to be kind and speak the words that reveal and heal.
Do you see? We’re all in this together. Each of us has a part to give and receive, but if we don’t frog kiss, if we don’t edify and lift each other, we don’t do it the way the Lord has planned it.
Walt Disney was a genius. Once a young visitor to the Disney studios marvelled at all the people Walt had gathered around to help him, and she asked “Well, what do you do?” Walt explained that he was like a bumblebee. He would move from one part of the process to another like a bee visiting flowers. He would brush off a little of his visionary pollen at one artist’s station while picking up some of that artist’s creative input to carry to another artist. Walt buzzed and fussed about until the studio’s output would match the vision in his head. You see, Walt Disney was the studio’s heart and vision, but the staff was its body, its arms and legs. They drew and colored in the pictures that originated in Walt’s mind.
Lots of talented people began their careers with Walt and then left. Walt Kelly (who draws the Pogo comic strip), Hank Ketchum (Dennis the Menace), and Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck), just to name a few. Walt had difficulty sharing the stage. Many talented artists would come and glean from the Disney approach and then leave. But some stayed. And all of them agreed on one thing: “Walt’s a genius.” But so was Ub Iwerks.
Who was Ub Iwerks? Listen and I’ll tell you, and in the story we will see the hazard of failing to be as kind as we should.
Walt Disney loved to draw, and his brother Roy knew of Walt’s dream to be a cartoonist. Out of love, Roy began looking for opportunities. An outfit by the name of PesmenRuben was looking for an apprentice illustrator to give a little life and color to their farming equipment catalogues. Walt got the job and in the process met another eighteenyear-old cartoonist—Ub Iwerks.
Honest, that’s his name. Ub was an artistic craftsman, a brilliant technician. He could take a simple idea and make it come to life. If the idea was brilliant, he would make it soar. And Walt had lots of brilliant ideas. As the two young artists’ relationship developed, Walt was dazzled by Ub’s skill and became his eager student. Ub could take a simple illustration of plows and other farming equipment and vitalize it with crowing roosters, sunrises, and barns full of energetic animals. The mundane came to life under Ub’s skill, and he could do it so quickly. The Disney flash and the Iwerks brilliance made for an effective and productive partnership, so, when they both lost their jobs, they went into business together—Iwerks and Disney. Two brash but highly talented kids had stepped into their destiny together. Walt was the creative thinker and the boss, and the crew of what was originally only Ub eventually grew into a room full of artists and inkers. Walt would continue to be the idea man, and Ub, with the help of his staff, would take Walt’s sketches and turn them into remarkably smooth, moving pictures. Walt stopped drawing altogether in 1928.
With Disney’s vision and flair and Iwerks’s draftsmanship and expertise, the world of animation was just inches away from some of its finest hours. The phantasma of Disney began to produce. Oswald, and Mickey, the Silly Symphonies, Snow White, and more. And Ub was right there putting flesh on Walt’s spirit creations. In their partnership, Ub was always recognized as a significant force, but Walt was the star. It would be a strange but creative marriage. And every aspect of what would one day be labeled “Walt Disney” had Ub Iwerks’s signature written all over it. Walt had the vision—Ub gave the vision its fluid form. Walt envisioned Mickey Mouse, but Ub Iwerks actually brought him to life.
And there was a third force—Roy, Walt’s brother. He was the money man, waiting just off stage in case they needed some help. This was the genesis of Disney Magic.
Walt was flamboyant and confident, but, being shy and somewhat tongue-tied, Ub’s genius could only be seen in his drawings. His quiet, withdrawn personality stood in total contrast to Walt’s cocky, loud, and arrogant style. Their business had its ups and downs. There were some truly dark days. But Walt kept hustling, and whatever Walt could get, he’d share it with Ub. Ub never forgot this, and he was both a loyal employee and friend. Walt knew it and loved him for it. And Walt protected Ub from everything, everything that is, but Walt’s jokes.
Walt loved a tall tale, and Ub believed all of Walt’s stories. The man never smelled a rat. Jokes and pranks came thick and fast and Ub fell for them every time. Walt never sensed or saw the hurt. Ub just kept his feelings to himself. He was a tender soul and needed far more kindness than Walt was giving. Oh, Walt was never deliberately cruel, but he loved a good joke and Ub was so easy to set up. Walt would lock him in the bathroom, and then ignore his quiet pleading for help. Painfully shy, Ub would finally be forced to scream for help. Everyone seemed to take pleasure in his humiliation.
A favorite joke of Walt’s was to send racy postcards with suggestive messages to Ub from women named Lulu or Fifi. Of course, the letters were sent and then intercepted by Walt before they could be delivered and then read for everyone’s enjoyment. But for Ub, there was only hurt and shame.
Walt never saw or sensed Ub’s pain. After all, these jokes were intended only to poke a little fun and get a laugh. But one joke went way too far. One of the staff, a woman named Margaret, really liked Walt. Ub had revealed to Walt how much he cared for Margaret. Sensing an opportunity for a “great” joke, Walt invited Margaret to spend the evening with him. Then he told Ub that Margaret had agreed to a date with Ub. When his two friends realized they had been tricked, a hidden camera set up by Walt caught Margaret’s rage and Ub’s humiliation on film. Of course, the practical joke was too good for Walt not to share it. The next day, as the entire staff gathered for lunch, Walt turned the film on. Margaret, still angry, reacted by splashing ink on Walt’s sport jacket, but Ub characteristically kept his feelings to himself. One day, there would be a payback. One day, Walt would pay for his insensitivity.
Now, Walt Disney was not a bad guy. He was just possessed by his vision of how things could be. He was looking to set a new standard of excellence and he wanted his name on that standard. As he explained to one young animator, “I’m impressed with what you’ve been doing, but I want you to understand one thing—there is just one thing we are selling here and that’s the name—’Walt Disney.’ If you have any plans of selling your name you best leave right now.” Walt was the last word and the sun around which the entire creative planetary system rotated, even for Ub.
This approach got Walt what he wanted in animated perfection, but it cost him a lot of friends. One of them was Ub. Someone gave Ub a chance to put his name on the product and he “jumped ship.” Sadly, he failed at his only attempt to be independent of Walt. He had the talent and brilliance but not the aggressiveness that was so much a part of Walt’s personality. Ub came back and continued to be a major force behind the Disney name. Of the thirty-twoplus Academy Awards and a multitude of other recognitions Disney Enterprises received, Ub earned his share. He’d learned to play it Walt’s way, but the friendship was never the same. This fracture cost them both. When Ub left Disney, he sold his twenty percent share in Walt Disney Productions for $1500.00. Today, that stock would be valued at $750,000,000.00. The shock of losing Ub caused Walt to lose his confidence in the loyalty of people. If Ub would turn on him, he figured, he couldn’t trust anybody. A bit more give and take and a whole lot more frog kissin’ and it might never of happened.
We’ve got to frog kiss. Heavenly Father wants us to frog kiss. Frog kissing can help each of us discover the best that’s inside us. We all mutually benefit when we all get our fair share of praise and credit.
David Thomas is a seminary principal and instructor in Park City, Utah, and an instructor of business at the University of Phoenix in Salt Lake City. Holding a doctorate in education, Brother Thomas has taught in youth and family programs at Brigham Young University. He is the author of There Are No Dragons Out There. Besides writing, his interests include reading, running, swimming, and traveling. He and his wife, Paula, have six children.