Walt Disney Archives Visit

Dave Smith, former head of the Walt Disney Archives with a Mickey Mouse hand drawn and signed by Walt Disney. 

Before I started this blog, I was lucky enough to visit the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, California.  I was looking back at the photos this weekend and they are just too good not to share.

The bed knob and spell book from Bed Knobs and Broomsticks

The photo above is of props from the movie, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, starring Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson and Roddy McDowell. I got a big kick out of seeing these items and the comic book below, which leads our heroes and the time traveling bed with the bed knob steering mechanism to the Isle of Naboombu. 

Here is Mary Poppins' hat:

Spit spot

And the globe below... We were told that movie props weren't saved in the early days of the company and that Dave Smith the archivist at the time lucked out when he found this globe had been saved and cared for for years by one of the company janitors. Dave found many of his treasures in old hall closets and nooks and crannies of the building. 

Here is one of three remaining multi-plane cameras invented by the Walt Disney Company, so they could give depth to their animated features. Drawings would be placed at each of the three levels and the camera would film them from above. 

The Multiplane camera

Dave Smith, former Walt Disney Archivist and our host for the day.

Pirate jewelry

One way to get into visit the Disney Archives is to become a member of Disney's D23.  You can learn more about that here.
You can read about Disneyland's very own fortune teller, Esmerelda here. 

Annotated That Darn Cat script, comments from Walt

The dwarves are holding up the corporate headquarters. Heigh Ho!