meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Disney History Institute Podcast

The Life and Art of Mary Blair - Part Fourteen

Disney History Institute Podcast

Todd James Pierce

Arts, Tv & Film, Performing Arts

4.7606 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The story of Mary Blair, the person who is often described as Walt Disney's favorite artist. Part Fourteen.

Bandcamp subscriptions: dhipodcast.bandcamp.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

So today on the podcast, we continue our story of Disney legend Mary Blair.

0:05.8

In Disney circles, there are a set of features that in terms of Mary's involvement are

0:10.7

often called the Big Three.

0:13.3

The three were her contributions made the most significant difference in creating the final

0:18.8

film.

0:19.8

These are also the features that did the most to bring the Disney studio back to profitability after the war.

0:26.6

These films are Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan.

0:31.6

Last week we looked at the development of Cinderella, particularly how Mary's artwork for this feature was among

0:38.8

the most personal in her Disney repertoire.

0:42.2

Some of the isolation she felt moving to New York surely influenced the sense of isolation

0:47.3

and confinement that permeates her set of concept images for Cinderella.

0:52.8

Today we'll look at Alice in Wonderland and also explore

0:57.0

how Mary's contributions were essential to bring that story from an idea up to an actual feature.

1:06.0

That is, we'll take a look at what Mary did with the Alice material to turn it into a Disney feature,

1:13.1

overcoming many of the struggles and challenges that had stymied previous Disney artists and

1:19.6

story teams working on this same material. In fact, Disney had tried to put this material

1:26.8

forward as a feature multiple times but was unsuccessful,

1:31.6

that is, until Walt gave the material to marry and a new set of story artists, and they began

1:38.8

to work on it in the late 1940s.

1:41.2

We'll also take a look at the growing friendship and sense of mutual admiration

1:47.0

that was developing more between Walt and Mary during these years. But before we get into

1:53.5

all of that, I need to thank another round of Bandcamp subscribers as these here are the people who keep this whole podcast going.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Todd James Pierce, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Todd James Pierce and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.