deekaypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2006
- Messages
- 3,538
I thought my fellow DISers might enjoy this article in the New Yorker, entitled "Wonderful World: What Walt Disney Made." It takes as its starting point Neil Gabler's new biography of Walt, and then writes about the public's changing perceptions of Walt as Disney grew and expanded. For those of you who don't know early Disney and Walt, I found this to be a good primer--even though I'm not sure I agree with some of Lane's points about why critiques of Walt Disney emerged.
I've included the first paragraph:
WONDERFUL WORLD
What Walt Disney made.
by ANTHONY LANE
Issue of 2006-12-11
Posted 2006-12-04
The weather was kind to Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955. So kind, in fact, that the heels of womens shoes got stuck in the warm asphalt. Anything other than sunshine would have been an insult to the opening of Americas latest Shangri-La: Disneyland, or, as its creator called it, the happiest place on Earth. On that day, if you believe one estimate, as many as twenty-eight thousand people poured through the gates, with seventy million more, about half the population of the country, watching the event on television. Walt Disney had already conquered TV through Disneyland, which was broadcast every week on ABC, and that day the Mouseketeers, Disneys troupe of performing children, danced live for the public, wearing their black skullcaps with rounded earsthe most recognizable corporate headgear after that of the Playboy Bunnies. The broadcast was hosted by three celebrities, who, just to double the delirium, played hopscotch through the crowds around the park. One of them was the movie star Ronald Reagan.
I've included the first paragraph:
WONDERFUL WORLD
What Walt Disney made.
by ANTHONY LANE
Issue of 2006-12-11
Posted 2006-12-04
The weather was kind to Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955. So kind, in fact, that the heels of womens shoes got stuck in the warm asphalt. Anything other than sunshine would have been an insult to the opening of Americas latest Shangri-La: Disneyland, or, as its creator called it, the happiest place on Earth. On that day, if you believe one estimate, as many as twenty-eight thousand people poured through the gates, with seventy million more, about half the population of the country, watching the event on television. Walt Disney had already conquered TV through Disneyland, which was broadcast every week on ABC, and that day the Mouseketeers, Disneys troupe of performing children, danced live for the public, wearing their black skullcaps with rounded earsthe most recognizable corporate headgear after that of the Playboy Bunnies. The broadcast was hosted by three celebrities, who, just to double the delirium, played hopscotch through the crowds around the park. One of them was the movie star Ronald Reagan.
