Q : Rumors have circulated for years that the mascot for Staten Island Community College (now the College of Staten Island) was drawn by Walt Disney himself. It was of a dolphin holding a book and a T-square while wearing a hat with the initials SICC on it. The Disney Company is said to have given the college permission to use the design on the condition that there be no association with the Disney name. Any truth to this rumor?
Chuck, Freehold, New Jersey
A: I find nothing in the Disney files to confirm the rumor you have heard.
Q : I was recently listening to a Cinderella episode of the Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air show from 1938, and the voice of the Fairy Godmother sounded like Verna Felton, who did the voice in the 1950 animated feature. Did she do the voice both times?
Louis, Rego Park, New York
A: That episode of the old Disney radio show aired on the NBC radio network on February 27, 1938. That would make it a dozen years before we made our Cinderella feature film. We do not have voice credits for that episode, but there have been Internet postings noting that Verna Felton was the Fairy Godmother.
Q : I am helping to create a flight jacket for a wonderful WWII veteran, who wore (I think) a Disney-designed fighter squadron patch on his A-2 jacket back in 1945. I plan to surprise him with this jacket in July. Problem is, I’d like to confirm this patch was Disney-designed, and my Air Force records show the patch in black and white, and I don’t know the exact colors. It is the 364th Fighter Squadron? Is there somewhere I could quickly get an answer?
Jerri, Upland, California
A: While Disney designed some 1,200 insignia for military units during World War II, there is no record that we ever designed one for the 364th Fighter Squadron. Insignia were also designed by a number of other animation studios, and some units designed their own. There are color pictures of the insignia, which featured a crow riding on a snake, on the Internet.
Q : In Golden, Colorado, there is a place called Heritage Square. It is rumored that Walt Disney had something to do with this place. Also a place that has now closed in Denver called Celebrity Sports Center was a bowling alley and indoor pool, and it’s been said that Walt was an investor along with Art Linkletter. Do you know anything about either one?
Carissa, San Jose, California
A: Disney had nothing do so with Heritage Square, but several former Disney employees (including early Disneyland vice president C. V. Wood) were involved in its inception. It was originally created as an amusement park called Magic Mountain in 1959, but it closed due to financial difficulties the following year. A decade later, the park was reborn and opened as Heritage Square. The Celebrity Sports Center was indeed a Disney facility. It was opened in 1960, having been built by a group of celebrity investors that included Walt Disney and Art Linkletter, but in 1962 it was purchased from the original investors by Walt Disney Productions.  Disney kept the Center until 1979, when it was sold. It had been used by Disney to train personnel who would be involved in similar occupations at Walt Disney World. The Center was demolished in 1995, and a Home Depot store is now on the site.
Q : I am a Disney media collector and use your book as reference. I wonder what your position is about The Avengers franchise aside from the 2012 movie that you listed in the Appendix. For example, the DVD releases of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that plays on Disney XD… Would that be considered a Disney film?
Rodulfo, Mexico City, Mexico
A: In Disney A to Z, I generally do not list individual DVD releases, so, no, this show’s DVDs will not be listed there. On the other hand, it was made by Marvel after Marvel had been purchased by Disney, so technically it is a Disney film.
Q : I was hoping to learn more about Alice Estes Davis and her life in Escalon, California, before she moved with her family to Southern California. I’m from Escalon and a huge Disney fan so to read about a Disney Legend that came from the same hometown as me would be amazing! Are there any books about her I could read? Maybe you or the Disney Archives have more information about her?
Katie, Escalon, California
A: The Walt Disney Archives does not have biographical information on Alice Davis’ childhood, but we do know that she was born in Escalon in 1929, and moved from there to the Los Angeles area when she was four. For those who don’t know, Escalon is a small town in California’s San Joaquin Valley, not far from Stockton and Modesto.