Sunday, February 8, 2015

My Dad, Walt Disney


Bits and pieces of this 1956 series of articles from the Saturday Evening Post have surfaced online, but since I have scans of all of them, I thought you might enjoy the whole lot (posted in increments). In the mid 1950s journalist Pete Martin interviewed Walt about his life and career. This resulted in a book, in which his daughter Diane talks about her famous dad.
I have had the chance to listen to the entire interview, and even though Pete Martin (who seems somewhat intimidated by Walt) asks the questions, Diane is present the whole time, giving input.
Walt's grandchildren Joanna and Christopher are pictured throughout the articles, and today they are "old" enough to remember their Grandfather. I have had the pleasure of speaking to them just recently. As much as the Disney family prefers to be private, they are very much engaged in their mother's mission to portray the life of Walt Disney sincerely and properly.
Here is the first installment of Diane's and her dad's reflection on how it all began.











11 comments:

  1. Great post, but it appears that a page is missing - #4 or d in the series of JPGs.

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  2. Wow. What a cool article about Walt and his family. It broke my heart when I heard Diane Disney died. She did a great job helping Tom Hanks with Saving Mr. Banks.
    Out of curiosity Andreas did you ever meet Walt's daughters?

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  3. Surprised no mention was made of who painted the cover of that Post issue.

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  4. The name of the artist who created the artwork for the cover appears in the signature,(Bottom left!) so it is easy to identify it.

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  5. Besides, the second page reproduced, entitled "keeping posted", has a long write up about that Disney artist and illustrator in its second hafl AND a picture of him!
    Many thanks, Andreas, for reproducing those documents for the benefit of everyone!

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  6. Yes, Diane Disney Miller had a hand in the book on her father but the main work was namely done by Pete Martin however, as Diane herself revealed here, many years after!

    http://briansibleytheworks.blogspot.fr/2008/01/how-i-got-walt-disneys-autograph-how.html

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3RaT_8-tQ5c/R703GFEpePI/AAAAAAAADcE/WK7quFCff04/s1600/IMG_0206.1.jpg

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  7. To my knowledge, The Story of Walt Disney was also published as a book in French, German, English - of course - and Spanish. Sometimes with different pictures and illustrations.Does anyone know if there were other foreign editions? (Come to think of it, I am not too sure about the Spanish edition ...).

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  8. Answer to myself; yes, there's a Spanish version of Diane and Pete Martin's book. LOL! http://laanimacionescrita.blogspot.fr/2010/08/walt-disney.html

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  9. My great-grandfather was Pete Martin. He wrote this over a course of several months. Walt really wanted to see the Amish in Lancaster, so my great-grandmother and Pete took them. Pete was not intimated by Walt at all. There is a great section in my great granmothers book about their time with the Disney's.

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  10. Hello. You mentioned that you have scans of the series of articles from 1956 that the Sunday Evening Post did on Walt Disney. I hope that you will post the rest of them. This first part was a very interesting read. Thank you for posting it.

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