Q: I am an art history graduate student studying American visual culture at USC. I am hoping to develop a project around the multiple versions (and display contexts) of Walt Disney’s short film America the Beautiful during the late 1950s and early 1960s. While grainy footage from the 1958 version has been uploaded to YouTube, I would like to be able to view a better quality version of the 1958 film and its 1960 iteration (when it was moved for display at Disneyland). Could you provide any information about how a researcher like myself would be able to access such materials? It’s such a fascinating film and I would like to devote more attention to it! Thank you so much in advance.
Emma, Glendale, California
A: Unfortunately the film is not currently available. Here is the entry from my Disney A to Z encyclopedia.