So, today on the podcast, we continue our story about Disney legend Mary Blair, the person

who many believed was Walt's favorite artist, but also as with many people who were

close to Walt, his passing slowly changed how the company related to them. In this episode, we begin to track the changes that

move through WED, through the Florida project, later known as Disney World, and through Mary's

personal and professional life. When we left off last time, we were looking at Walt's final days

and also how Mary remained focused on her murals for

New Tomorrowland after Walt passed away and the company began to enter a period of deep uncertainty.

And that is exactly where we will pick up today, with the story of how Walt's older brother Roy

tried to keep the company moving forward,

even if that also led to deep changes for and questions about the project that Walt once death radiated slowly through the company.

At the time of Walt's passing, Roy had wanted to retire as he had recently turned 73 years

old and had planned a retirement trip which clearly needed to be

canceled. Following a period of mourning, Roy looked for an outside executive to take over management

of Walt Disney Productions. Initially, he tried to convince the president of Bank of America and

longtime Disney board member, Clark Bees,

to take the reins, essentially occupying the roles that both he and Walt had held for decades.

To move this process along, Roy and his wife Edna drove up to San Francisco to discuss the

matter in person.

But Bees turned down the offer.

Bees, too, was looking forward to retirement.

Without a defined company leader, movement on the Florida project,

aside from some early survey and design work, came to a halt, Roy questioned whether the company,

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