So today, we are up to part eight in our story of Disney legend, Mary Blair, the person

who many believed was Walt's favorite artist.

As we left off last time, we were in Latin America about to finish up the Disney's

CIA Goodwill Trip.

The Blair party, which included Lee and Mary, also Herb Reimann and Jack Miller,

had moved through Peru and Bolivia and were spending a few final days in Mexico,

before they headed home to California, where large changes were about to come down around all of them.

But before we jump into today's episode, I want to touch

down on one more thing. I know many people listen to these episodes long after they are posted.

So this past week was the third week of January, 2025, the week of the presidential inauguration, and something on the news caught my

attention as it relates to our story here, specifically the place that the incoming president

stays before the inauguration ceremony. To be clear, I have absolutely no interest in bringing in politics to our podcast,

but this residence is where both Republican and Democratic President elects stay and have stayed

for decades in preparation for the big ceremony. Here's a clip from the CBS news coverage.

It is tradition for the incoming president to stay at the historic Blair House ahead of

their inauguration, and that's where Donald Trump is this morning.

And so in this, we have a small link in contemporary events back to the world of our story.

This is the Blair House that was built

by Lee Blair's family. Beyond this house, his ancestors worked with presidents and also were on the

Supreme Court. The success of the early Blair's is part of the reason that Lee feels pressure to

focus on public attention for his work as a way of

proving himself in terms of being a cultural success. And I thought it was interesting that on pretty

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