The Fly

What’s the Buzz — A look at The Fly

By Cesar Gallegos, Walt Disney Archives To help celebrate the Halloween season, let’s take a look back at a classic science fiction tale of transformation, The Fly. This 20th Century Fox film from 1958 starred David Hedison, Patricia Owens, and notable horror and science fiction actor, Vincent Price. Adapted from George Langelaan’s short story of …

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Walt Disney’s Snow White Dairy Recipes

D’scovered – Dining with Dwarfs

By Becky Cline, Director, Walt Disney Archives One of my favorite pastimes is collecting vintage recipes. So, this week I just had to share a fun little cookbook from the former Walt Disney Studios Library, now preserved in the Walt Disney Archives ephemera collection. It is called Walt Disney’s Snow White Dairy Recipes, was published …

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Archives MMC

65 Years in the Making: A Club for You and Me

By Nicole Carroll, Walt Disney Archives “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!” Sixty-five years ago, on October 3, 1955, this popular anthem was heard for the first time as the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on ABC and became one of the most popular children’s television series of …

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Return to Oz

Behind the Emerald Curtain: Concept Art from Disney’s Return to Oz

By Kevin Kern, Walt Disney Archives Every now and then, while working with the historical production artwork preserved in the Walt Disney Archives, one has to pause to appreciate just how special each individual piece is, and what story it helps to tell. Some of my favorite examples to peruse in this way come from …

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Bongo

Wild Design: Bongo’s Frontier Fashion

By Rebecca Cline, Director, Walt Disney Archives Long before Henry led the Country Bears in their “Jamboree,” or even before Walt Disney made Davy Crockett’s raccoon skin cap all the rage in the 1950s, another famous Disney bear nearly sported some very “lively” headgear on top of his little red cap. These story sketches for …

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The Golden Girls

Picture It: Celebrating 35 Years of The Golden Girls

By Julia Vargas, Walt Disney Archives Thank you for being a friend! September 14, 2020, marks 35 years since Touchstone Television’s The Golden Girls first aired on NBC. Early press materials describe the show as “[capturing] the humorous and poignant relationships that develop between four single women—two widows, a divorcee and her mother—spending their golden …

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Pluto

A Dog’s “Tail”: Celebrating 90 Years with Pluto

By Nicole Carroll, Walt Disney Archives Everyone knows that a dog is man’s best friend and classic companion. And, as Walt Disney once said, “Dogs are known and loved in every land.” This is certainly the case in the many worlds created by The Walt Disney Company. Countless new and old Disney favorites include a …

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Miranda Sisters

The Gang’s All Here: Carmen and Aurora Miranda

By Cesar Gallegos, Walt Disney Archives In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Good Neighbor Policy was created to foster better relations between the United States and various South and Central America countries. The entertainment industry took considerable steps to encourage these relationships: For 20th Century Fox this included films showcasing themes and talent …

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World of Motion

Fashion and Fun: Costume Art from World of Motion

By Nikki Nguyen, Walt Disney Archives World of Motion, an opening-day attraction at EPCOT, provided Guests with a fun-filled look at the history of transportation. Former Disney animator and train-enthusiast Ward Kimball came out of retirement to lend his characteristic sense of humor to the attraction’s action. As an art director, Ward helped shift the …

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Are You Walt Disney

D’scovered – “Are You Walt Disney?”

By Becky Cline, Director, Walt Disney Archives When doing research in the collections of the Walt Disney Archives, it’s always fun when you stumble across interesting tidbits from Disney History. One day, while looking in Walt Disney’s 1955 correspondence files (for something else entirely), I came across this very charming note to Walt­—and his equally …

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