One Saturday morning in 1953, artist Herb Ryman sat down in front of Walt Disney and started to sketch. He had two full days to create a visual concept depicting an idea of Walt’s: an amusement park that would appeal to both children and adults.
The year was 1905. Theodore Roosevelt was president, a quart of fresh milk cost about 7 cents, and Eric Cleon Larson was born on September 3 in Cleveland, Utah. While Disney fans know Larson as one of Walt’s famous “Nine Old Men” of animation, his path to get there was hardly a straight line. In fact, during an interview not long before his retirement, he was asked how he ended up with Disney. His reply: “This is the last place I expected to be.”
Walt Disney’s Melody Time celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. Released in May of 1948, it was one of the last of the so-called package features, which took precedent from Fantasia (1940) by combining more than a half dozen short subject cartoons, each musically inclined.
Veteran Disney producer and Walt Disney Family Museum Advisory Board member Don Hahn has recently completed work as Curator of our newest special exhibition, Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: Masters of Animation. Historian Lucas O. Seastrom sat down with Don to look back on the experience of putting the show together.
Veteran Disney producer and Walt Disney Family Museum Advisory Board member Don Hahn has recently completed work as Curator of our newest special exhibition, Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: Masters of Animation.
Following the success of his attractions at Disneyland, Walt Disney developed four attractions for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Progressland, “it’s a small world,” and Ford Magic Skyway.
In June of 1963, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room opened its doors for the very first time. The birds sang words, the flowers crooned, and the guests stared, awestruck, at the attraction’s feathered inhabitants.
