Show notes:
Special thanks to our special guest, Mark Olsen, who played Walt Disney.
The starting point for this episode was the speech given by Meryl Streep at the National Board of Review awards dinner in January 2014, in which she detoured from a tribute to Saving Mister Banks star Emma Thompson to call out WaltDisney for being a “gender bigot” who “had some racist proclivities.” While some stepped up to defend Disney against these allegations (see particularly this post by Amid Amidi on Cartoon Brew), it felt as though the general reaction online ranged from unquestioning enthusiasm (Vanity Fair put the phrase "best speech ever" in the URL of their article) to unquestioning shrugs, as though Streep was merely saying out loud a truism that a lot of people thought was old news. At the same time, I knew that whatever he felt personally, Disney’s animation studio had been active in using their characters to drum up support for World War II and, particularly, distaste for Hitler and the Nazis. Then, shortly after Streep’s speech, in researching Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here for an essay I wrote for the film’s recent UK DVD release, I came across some information about Walt’s 1941 visit to South America in indirect support of what would soon be known as the Allied cause. Then, a couple of months ago, I came across a new book called Disney During World War II. Written by John Baxter and commissioned/published by Disney themselves, this book isn’t pure puff piece — it’s particularly critical of Walt’s interest in Victory Through Air Power — but it doesn’t go near the allegations articulated by Streep. I figured these different versions of who WaltDisney was and what he believed would be fertile territory for exploration.
This episode includes audio clips from Der Fuehrer's Face, The New Spirit and The Three Caballeros.
Other sources:
WaltDisney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
In Defense of Walt: WaltDisney and Anti-Semitism
The full text of Ayn Rand's Screen Guide for Americans
Discography:
Life Round Here by James Blake
Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie
I Want to Fall in Love on Snapchat by Chris Zabriskie
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, by Paul Dukas, performed by Leopold Stowkowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider
Private Hurricane by Josh Woodward
Readers! Do You Read? by Chris Zabriskie
Rite of Passage by Kevin MacLeod
Divider by Chris Zabriskie
Gymnopedie No. 3 by Eric Satie, performed by Kevin MacLeod
Money by Jahzzar
Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie
Snow Drop by Kevin MacLeod
Passing Fields by Quantum Jazz
All of My Tears by Spiritualized
Something Against You by The Pixies
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