Sue, Concord, California
A: How fun that must have been! Those conversations were live and no copies were kept (this was before the days when video recording became widely available).
Helen, Malaysia
A: The Walt Disney Archives currently has a number of warehouses to store its huge collection of Disney history. The items needed for frequent reference are kept at the Archives’ offices at the Disney Studio in Burbank, California. Items are selected for the collection if the staff believes they will have future use, whether it is for displays or for documenting company history. I personally like the items related to Walt Disney himself that are preserved in the Archives.
Greg, Downingtown Pennsylvania
A: Even before the New York fair, in 1958, Walt Disney had produced America the Beautiful in CircleVision, to be shown at the Brussels World’s Fair. But after doing the four shows for the 1964–65 fair, Walt decided to build his park in Florida, so he had no time for outside work for world’s fairs. However, after Walt died, the Disney company did produce additional CircleVision films for fairs in Canada—Expo ’67 in Montreal and Expo ’86 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Donna, Shawnee, Kansas
A: This is indeed the insignia that Disney designed for the U.S.S. General D. E. Aultman, a troop transport ship manned by U. S. Coast Guard personnel. It is one of 1,200 insignias Disney designed during World War II. The insignia was requested by the ship’s captain, S. P. Swicegood, drawn by Disney artist Roy Williams, and delivered to the ship in July 1945.
Barbara, Sheridan, Michigan
A: We celebrate Mickey’s birthday on November 18—that is the date in 1928 when Steamboat Willie made its debut at the Colony Theater in New York City. There were 39 episodes of Five Mile Creek, with the three seasons released on 20 DVDs. The series debuted in 1983 on Disney Channel; it was filmed in Australia.
Leo, Santa Maria, California
A: I cannot think of an artist with the initials of DJR, but Kevin Kidney has been a merchandise designer for Disney for more than 25 years. You can see his blog at http://miehana.blogspot.com/. Kevin originally worked on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, but later became a Disney staff artist and now does freelance work with his design partner, Jody Daily.