Hoover Told FBI to Probe Disney Studio

Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered agents to scrutinize Walt Disney Productions because he felt that a 1962 Disney film portrayed his agents as inept and inane, it was reported Monday.

The late director was upset that bumbling characters in the Disney movie “Moon Pilot” were identified as FBI agents and that Disney, a friend, reluctantly changed the reference to them to “federal security agents,” the Arizona Republic said.

An FBI file on Disney, obtained by the newspaper through a Freedom of Information request, contained a copy of a review of the movie with a handwritten note in the margin that said: “I am amazed Disney would do this. He probably has been infiltrated.”

There is no proof who wrote the comment but other information in the file indicates it was Hoover, the newspaper said.

Jerry Lewis Mentioned

The file deals primarily with Disney but also contains information on comedian Jerry Lewis. The file has a single, unexplained reference to Lewis as “the unscrupulous actor,” the paper said.

After reading a summary of the script of “Moon Pilot,” Hoover directed his chief agent in Los Angeles to meet with Disney and tell him “the bureau will strongly object to any portrayal of the FBI in this film,” the report said.

“He (Disney) stated that he would never portray the FBI other than in a favorable light due to his esteem for the director and the bureau,” said a memo to Hoover.