Q: I am on a quest to solve a Walt mystery. I have a photograph of Walt Disney with our company (Publix Super Markets) founder George Jenkins. According to our company historian, Walt and George were acquaintances but not close friends, meeting only a handful of times, including a golf outing. This is the only photo we have of the two of them and it was taken in 1947 in Walt’s office when George went to visit him in California. In the background of the photo you can see background scenes from what appears to be Peter Pan pinned up on the wall. In the foreground, you can see Walt and George looking off to the left (maybe at someone else in the room?). In George’s hands you can see a stack of papers/books of some kind wrapped in twine. We have no record or mention of what that package was but suspect that it may be some kind of office gift that Walt gave to George. I know this is a long shot, but do you have any idea what that object is? Was there a standard office gift that Walt gave VIP visitors? I’m hoping you might be able to shed some light on this for us.
Jason, Davenport, Florida
A: I could not find the 1947 photograph you describe at the Walt Disney Archives, nor is there any correspondence between Walt and Jenkins for that year.
Dave Smith