So today on the podcast, we continue our story of Disney legend Mary Blair, a person who

many believed was Walt's favorite artist.

Already we've explored how she designed multiple Disney animated classics in the

1940s and 1950s, and how she oversaw and created designs for It's a Small World,

both the version at the World's Fair and the expanded version that later showed up at Disneyland.

Then we followed her as she moved into ceramic art for large-scale projects assigned to her by Walt,

such as for the entrance corridor for New Tomorrowland in 1967, and today we continue

our journey with Mary, as she works on the Florida resort and also as her family life again

takes a turn for the worse. So if you're ready, let's go.

After returning home to Great Neck, New York, Donovan attended the School of Visual Arts on 23rd Street in New York.

As it wasn't a bachelor's program, Donovan had an easier time fitting himself into classes wholly focused on art without math, literature, or science requirements.

His classes were mostly devoted to developing his skills

in drawing and painting, also in art history. But here he had trouble arriving on time for

his first class, which was one of his few non-studio classes, an overview focused on the history of Western art. In the morning, Lee would go off

to film TV graphics, Mary might focus on her own paintings or perhaps a small assignment,

and Kevin went to high school. Donovan was left to get himself dressed and ready, and then

take the train down to the Gramercy

area of Manhattan, where his day was filled with glasses. But even living at home, he had

trouble keeping up with the schedule. I had to commute two hours to New York, Donovan

explained. I always missed my first class.

By this time, Mary was receiving some small assignments from Disney.

Initially, she sketched out furniture concepts that might be used at Disney World Hotels,

...