Sarah Colt‘s Walt Disney, a four-hour PBS American Experience doc airing on 9.14 and 9.15, will offer a learned study of Walt’s adventure — his landmark achievements in animation, studio-building, TV success (Mickey Mouse Club, the Davy Crockett trilogy) and the creation of Disneyland in 1955. But will it also look at the unflattering stuff in a fair way? Will it address Disney’s alleged anti-Semitic leanings and his distrust of women, as Meryl Streep mentioned in a National Board of Review speech in January 2014? Will it get into the Mary Poppins story and tell stories about Walt’s chain smoking and other personal foibles? Boilerplate: “A polarizing figure, Walt Disney’s achievements are indisputable. He created one of the most beloved cartoon characters in history, conceived the first ever feature-length animated film (i.e, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), pioneered the integration of media and marketing with thousands of branded products, invented the anthropomorphic wildlife documentary and conceived Disneyland, the world’s first theme park and the fulfillment of a lifelong desire to create a world unto itself.”
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