I watched this beautiful tribute to Walt Disney 3 times this weekend. It really is an amazing story of an unstoppable man with vision. He commanded such a huge staff and struggled to be "the nice guy". But being at the helm of a such a giant enterprise, Walt Disney had to be tough. Yes he had a huge ego and rarely complimented his workers, but his drive and creativity brought forth a new concept cartooning and animation as an art form. To say he was brilliant is like describing the stars as merely twinkling...
My mom loved the Disney cartoons that were before movies she and her sisters saw in the 1940's. My grandmother loved the Wonderful World of Disney Show and we (grandkids) loved watching it on her big color TV. My daughter grew up loving all the Disney movies, her favorite was Fox and the Hound. Walt Disney and his massive team had such an influence on us.
I loved this 4 hour PBS Special on Walt
PBS.ORG
In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and close to seven million visited Disneyland.
Few creative figures before or since have held such a long-lasting place in American life and popular culture.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE offers an unprecedented look at the life and legacy of one of America’s most enduring and influential storytellers in Walt Disney, a new two-part, four-hour film premiered Monday and Tuesday, September 14-15, 2015, on PBS.
Executive produced by Mark Samels, directed and produced by Sarah Colt, and written by Mark Zwonitzer, the film features rare archival footage from the Disney vaults, scenes from some of his greatest films, and interviews with biographers and historians, animators and artists who worked on Snow White and other early films, and designers who helped create Disneyland.
"Walt Disney is an entrepreneurial and cultural icon," said AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Executive Producer Mark Samels. "No single figure shaped American popular culture in the 20th century more than he."
