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What's New

 


As it happens, we're writing this on December 5, 2002, and we've just gotten a note from JB Kaufman, who is both a friend and a scholar, and the author of "Walt in Wonderland." The purpose of his e-mail was to take note that today is the 101st anniversary of Walt Disney's birth.

It struck us almost immediately what a contrast this day is from the same date a year ago, when we visited Walt Disney World to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt's birth. At the time, you'd have had to move to a deserted island to get away from all the talk about Walt. Personally, we felt like we were at the center of a maelstrom. The documentary "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth," had just come out and our book, "Inside the Dream," was rolling off the presses.

Now, on the same date one year later, December 5 has ceased to be of any great significance to anyone outside, perhaps, of Walt's immediate family and some die-hard fans. Frankly, from our point of view, that's absolutely sensible.

It's also the reason we feel so devoted to this Web site. Walt Disney's work, we believe, will continue to be an important part of world culture for generations to come. And so it continues to be critically important that Walt Disney, the man - as opposed to the corporate icon - is remembered. Not just when a special occasion rolls around. And not just when it's an opportunity to market some product or another.

If we're doing our job right, that's something the Walt Disney Family Museum should help accomplish. We're kind of proud of the features we bring you every month, and want to invite you once again to e-mail us here with any suggestions you may have for ways to better serve you, our guests.

For those of you who haven't visited the Museum for a few weeks, we want to once again encourage you to visit two newly refurbished major exhibits: Masterworks and The Private Walt.

Among the new features available this month are a Spotlight On. . . the new DVD about Walt Disney. As many of you already know, the DVD includes the full two-hour version of "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth" (the ABC version had to lop out more than half an hour in order to make room for commercials). It's also chockfull of bonus materials. We won't tell you more about it here, though. You can read all about it in the Museum - and even get a couple of sneak peeks at some of the new materials on the disc.

Inasmuch as the inclusion of this feature also doubles as marketing for a product, it seems only appropriate to us that we're featuring an interview with Jack Lindquist, marketing man extaordinaire. Jack worked with Walt in the earliest days of Disneyland, and continued with the company for years to come. He's not just a great source of information about Walt's marketing efforts in the late '50s and early '60s - he's also full of funny stories. We think you'll agree when you read the interview.

Sometimes we worry that we're so intent on bringing you brand-new material - about topics you may never have considered before - that we may ignore the obvious. With that in mind, this month you'll also find an essay about Mickey Mouse and his friends, by Charles Solomon.
Enjoy.

Katherine and Richard Greene
Museum Curators



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