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Disney History Institute Podcast

The Life and Art of Mary Blair - Part Seventeen

Disney History Institute Podcast

Todd James Pierce

Arts, Performing Arts, Tv & Film

4.7606 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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

Bandcamp Subscriptions: dhipodcast.bandcamp.com

The new book - Making Mary Poppins (out Nov. 11):

Amazon: amzn.to/4mhHUaU

Independent Booksellers: shorturl.at/qTosR

Transcript

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0:00.0

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

0:06.0

We're at the point where Mary is expanding her artistic skills while working in publishing,

0:12.0

advertising, designing shop windows, designing sets for stage plays, and even designing a line of

0:19.0

clothes for an established fashion brand.

0:21.7

Most artists, once they leave the Disney studio,

0:24.6

tend to fall away from Walt's social circle.

0:28.1

There's only a few exceptions to this, such as Herb Ryman and, of course, Mary Blair.

0:34.3

During the 1950s and early 1960s,

0:42.4

no artist not presently employed by Disney, was closer to Walt than Mary. They had a unique relationship in which Walt not only admired the work

0:48.7

she did for the studio, but also the work she produced for other companies. But one of the difficulties in this arrangement was her husband Lee,

0:58.0

who by this point struggled with his choice to become a business owner

1:03.0

rather than continuing to be an artist,

1:06.0

and because of this, he often needed the approval of other people

1:10.0

in terms of his abilities and

1:11.9

career decisions, including somewhat oddly from Walt himself.

1:17.5

But we'll get to more on that in a moment.

1:20.4

But before we launch into today's installment, I need to thank another round of Bandcamp

1:26.5

subscribers.

1:31.7

These here are the people who keep this whole enterprise running. I'm grateful to each and every Band Camp subscriber because without them, this podcast would

1:40.2

literally cease to exist.

1:42.7

But going out today is a special note of thanks to a few new

1:47.8

subscribers. These include Aaron, Bruce the Shark, J, Bicostal Jen, and Swim ATM. Thanks to you and to all of our subscribers for keeping this podcast going,

...

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