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"We won't turn into a live-action studio, but we'll get into the live-action business." —Walt Disney

The end of World War II presented a new creative opportunity for Walt. Like most war-damaged countries, Britain had frozen payments due to American film companies. Disney and RKO had millions of dollars that could only be spent in the United Kingdom...

In the December 1959 issue of Wisdom magazine, Walt Disney is quoted as saying: “Animals have personalities like people and must be studied. The spontaneity of the animal—you find it in small children, but it’s gradually trained out of them.”

Marc conceptualized characters, while Alice dressed them. To date, they are the only married couple to be dedicated Main Street, U.S.A. windows for their contributions to Disneyland.

In the 1950s, when Walt’s childhood hometown of Marceline, Missouri asked permission to name their new swimming pool and park after him, it triggered events, full steam ahead, toward a very historical event in the town’s history...

On January 10, panelists and guests gathered at Lucasfilm to discuss the power of storytelling in our lives, and in particular the life of one boy, Owen Suskind. Dig deeper into Owen's story and the power of myth, fable, and legend via new discussions with journalist Ron Suskind and historian Jeff Kurtti.

“The greatest wealth a man may acquire is the wisdom he gains from living. And sometimes, out of the small beginnings, come the forces that shape a whole life.” These words invite visitors of The Walt Disney Family Museum into the main galleries, setting the stage for the story of Walt Disney’s birth and early life and, as Diane Disney Miller has said, “explain the purpose of our museum better than I ever could.” They were written by screenwriter John Tucker Battle, for the opening scene of one of Walt Disney’s favorite films, So Dear to My Heart (1949).

Two years before Mickey Mouse debuted in color in The Band Concert (1935) and several years before his iconic redesign popularized by his turn as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia (1940), he starred in a black-and-white short film that encapsulated where The Walt Disney Studios was in the development of animation as an American art form. Ye Olden Days it was, in more ways than one.

On June 9, 1934, Donald Duck made his first appearance in The Wise Little Hen. Eighty years later, let's salute one of America's most beloved, and "exasperated," ducks!

For more than four months, visitors to the Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall have been dazzled by numerous examples of the vivid and unique artistic style of Mary Blair. The inspiration for her style came during the tour that Walt and a group of his artists took of various Latin American countries. Our staff members delved into this story for June’s Spotlight Talks.

On March 18, 1967, Pirates of the Caribbean opened to the public at Disneyland. The atmosphere, music, and rich Disney history of the attraction has helped it remain one of the most loved and cherished pieces of Imagineering innovation, even 50 years on.

Many of us can speak at length about the ways that Walt Disney's creativity and imagination have touched our lives. Sharing the wide-eyed excitement and wonder he brought to everyday life, our stories continue his legacy as we share them with our children and generations to come. Here is your opportunity to help fill Walt’s impossibly large shoes and share a happy holiday with those who can often be overlooked.

Every kid wishes they could make their favorite toys and characters real and Peter Kelly has the amazing job of bringing such characters to life. Kelly creates motion and performance of computer generated characters for feature films. He has worked at Industrial Light & Magic for almost 12 years and has had the opportunity to work on characters such as Iron Man, Yoda, and Davey Jones... and we are honored to introduce Peter Kelly to you, who has agreed to share a little bit about what he loves about animation and how he got where he is today.

“…my father had a very close brother [Robert Disney] all his life,” Roy O. Disney recalled in a 1968 interview. “His wife’s name was Margaret. We called her Maggie. She was a wonderful character with an infectious laugh, and laughed at the slightest provocation, and she was always enamored with Walt from the time he was a little fellow.”

In observance of this Easter Sunday, our consulting historian Paul F. Anderson takes a few moments to reflect on the fundamental impact of charity and generosity of spirit, and Walt's commitment to these attributes.

Although devastated by his brother’s death in December 1966, Roy mustered the resolve to see through Walt’s plans for the Florida project, which would not be a replica of Disneyland. John Hench recalled Roy saying, “I simply had to do it. Because when I meet Walt again, if I hadn’t even tried to build that thing, I would really catch hell.”

Legendary artist Burny Mattinson passed away recently at the age of 87. Born in San Francisco, he had moved to the San Fernando Valley later in childhood, and first wandered up to The Walt Disney Studios’ gates back in 1953. He was just 18 years old—still a high school student—and was looking for a job.

In celebration of The Walt Disney Family Museum's 10th Anniversary, we're listing our 10 favorite highlights from our permanent collection.