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Disney History Institute Podcast · Disney History Institute

The Life and Art of Mary Blair - Part Twenty-Two

·36 min·1 clip
Walt stood next to the figure with his elbow on the plywood, leaning in a little to the figure.
California gives way to New York. The story picks up after Mary Blair, Rolly Crump, and the Disney team finish the five large It's a Small World stages and prepare them for shipment. Disney had moved attractions from the studio or WED to Disneyland before, but this was different: trucks had to carry sets and figures across the country, then the team had to rebuild the whole thing for the fair. Mary is still right in the middle of it. Her art is not treated as a stack of drawings; it is a chain of decisions made inside the actual show building. Rolly stays close, too. He and Mary visit the installation daily, checking placement and making the attraction work in the room they have. The episode spends real time on lighting and color, especially how Europe, Africa, Asia, and the finale each get their own mood. Blues, greens, yellow, white, and silver are talked through as structure, not just decoration. Then Lee arrives in Mary's New York life. Wine, restaurants, and awkward nights run alongside the fair work. His jealousy stings, especially when Rolly remembers Lee comparing himself to other men, Rolly included, while drunk and insecure. Mary keeps smoothing things over. Rolly sees the pattern and links her drinking to the marriage, while keeping his own feeling for her in the realm of friendship and respect. The fair work stays at the center, but the private strain is hard to miss.

As heard by us

A practical account of the move, with Mary Blair and the tension around her work kept in view.

This episode frames the move of Its a Small World from California to the New York World's Fair as a practical job with an art history center. It follows the attraction being taken apart, trucked east, and put back together, then turns to Mary Blair and the question of how much…

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Why you'd press play

You want the making-of story behind Disney's It's a Small World, from California to the 1964 New York World's Fair.

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