



|
|
|
|
|
|
1956
RETURN TO MARCELINE
In 1956, Roy and Walt took a nostalgic trip back to Marceline,
the little Midwestern town where they grew up. They were received
as heroes. In this photograph, Walt seems to point to his initials
on a desk in the school. Though residents were ecstatic about
the idea that these were actually Walt's initials, it seems highly
unlikely that they would have survived that long. To see a report
on Walt's Centenary celebrations in Marceline, click
here.
|

|
1957
WALT AND CHRIS
When Diane gave birth to a baby boy, Christopher Miller,
Walt was overjoyed to have a grandson. Here he shares his kingdom
with his first grandchild in 1957. Walt was somewhat disappointed,
though, that Diane and Ron didn't name the boy after him. He had
to wait six more years before Diane gave birth to another boy
-- the fifth of her seven children. She named him Walter Elias
Disney Miller. Walt was deeply moved. (More
about Walt in the 1950s)
|
|
1959
SHARON'S WEDDING
Sharon married an architect, Bob Brown, on May 10, 1959. According
to biographer Bob Thomas, Walt followed the precedent he had set
at Diane's wedding and cried. The whole family liked Sharon's
husband very much. He came to work for Walt in 1963.
Sadly, a year after Walt's death in 1966, Brown also passed away
from cancer. (More
about Walt in the 1950s)
|

|
1964
THE WORLD'S FAIR
Walt tells television viewers about the 1964-65 New York World's
Fair. The Fair was the biggest project for WED, the company that
Walt set up to build attractions for Disneyland. WED (the initials
of Walter Elias Disney) wound up designing four attractions for
the Fair, three of which were later moved to Anaheim to form part
of the permanent attractions of Disneyland: "it's a small world,"
"Carousel of Progress," and "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln." (More
about the World's Fair)
|
|
1964
"MARY POPPINS"
In the 1960s, Walt devoted his energies to television, the World's
Fair, and EPCOT rather than feature films, but he made an exception
for "Mary Poppins," based on the book by P.L. Travis. Originally
no one thought that "Mary Poppins" would include animation. When
Walt first proposed the idea, the writers and artists were appalled. "You could hear the Sherman Brothers [who wrote
the music for the film] drop over dead," recalled Ron Miller.
(More
about "Mary Poppins") Of course, the animated sequences contributed
to the overall magic of the film, as described here by Dick van
Dyke, the star of the film, in an excerpt from "WALT: The Man
Behind the Myth." Choose either 56K modem or DSL/ISDN.
|
|
|