So today on the podcast, we continue our story of Disney artist Mary Blair, as Walt begins to explore

ideas for feature films that will be released after the war.

In our last episode, we looked at Mary's trips as a Disney artist to Mexico and then Cuba,

specifically to create more material for CIA-sponsored

animated features, designed to encourage a wartime spirit of hemispheric unity between North,

Central, and South America.

But by 1944, the war effort at the studio was beginning to change, with a hope that

the Allies might find victory in the next year or so. Inside of this, the production schedule

of the studio changed as well, as fewer wartime films would be needed and as the Disney

brothers explored ways to move the studio back toward general entertainment.

In Mary's life, the shift during these years was clear. She was now a central artist,

who helped visually plan large projects for Walt.

And this here is where we pick up our story today.

While Mary focused on projects, assigned to her by Walt, thousands of miles away.

In Washington, D.C., her husband, Lee worked his way up a different organizational ladder.

He worked with a group that made military training films, with some elements presented as live action, others as animation.

Initially, Lee was more focused on animation, while others also recruited from Hollywood,

worked more with live action. But Lee quickly learned how to move between the two

different modes of production. Discounting the 16mm footage he had shot with a

handheld camera on the first Disney Good Neighbor trip, this was his introduction to studio-based

live-action cinematography. He observed how shots were assembled, how the camera was positioned,

and how sets were dressed and lit.

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