As part of our month-long salute to Donald Duck, we asked Disney historian, Paul Anderson, to tell us about Donald's golden era of the 1940s.
Over Thanksgiving, our registrar, Anel Muller, traveled with her family to visit her parents in Miami. During this visit, Anel's father, Rene Rodriguez, wore his WDFM logo wear proudly, especially on the family trip to Walt Disney World, where he wore not only his cap but his logo tee-shirt as well.
Over the course of nearly eight decades, Donald Duck has become one of the most celebrated and fondly remembered of all Disney characters. What is sometimes not remembered is that Donald began life in 1934 as a very different duck. His physical appearance, in his earliest films, was one that many of today’s Disney fans would scarcely recognize.
To highlight our new exhibition of Disney Live-action film posters in our theater lobby, we asked Disney historian, Jeff Kurtti, to give us some background on why Walt Disney moved into that genre and the success he found there.
Design in the work of Walt Disney is a major emphasis in our programming here at The Walt Disney Family Museum during the first months of 2011. And, we are using the term “design” in a broad sense: of a duck and the voice of a duck; of new characters and a new look for Disney animated films with 101 Dalmations; and of a monumental classic—Mary Poppins—with a focus on costumes and music.
In most parts of the country, New Year's Day can be cold and dreary, but in my hometown of Pasadena, California, the roses are always in bloom. The Tournament of Roses Parade was first held in 1890 by members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club. The club members were eager to showcase their new home's mild winter weather...
For the new year, we're introducing a series titled "What Do YOU Do?" where we'll be asking a museum staff member to answer five questions about their position at The Walt Disney Family Museum, their fondest Disney memories, and other personal tidbits. This month, we highlight Jessica Blake!
Christmas is the most exciting time of the year, and not just because of Santa Claus. It is a wonderful time of celebration, of expectation, filled with glorious music. In our home, the excitement began with the Nativity set, which had been carefully packed away just after New Year's Day. It was brought out and all the figures carefully removed from the cotton in which they'd been wrapped...
The Walt Disney Family Museum is filled with personal treasures from Walt’s life. These artifacts open a window into a world of a very ordinary man albeit one of the most ingenious men of his generation. The menu that we are highlighting was written in Walt’s own hand for the family's Master Housekeeper and Cook, Thelma Howard. For someone as prominent and important as Walt, you might expect extravagant items like champagne and caviar; instead, you find spam and eggs.
This holiday season, The Walt Disney Family Museum led a group of local Presidio and Bay Area museums and organizations in collecting toys in support of the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots collection drive. Following in the generous shoes of Walt Disney himself, the Museum, its partners, and the Marines, collected numerous toys and books to share with less for fortunate families...