Person: Walt Disney

Think of all the areas Walt's imagination created -- animated feature films, family movies, children's television, prime time variety TV, and theme parks. He changed American entertainment. Uploaded by marciodisney.blogspot.com.

Lots of people have changed American culture. Some for better, some for worse. But few have had the positive influence that Walter Elias Disney brought to the world of entertainment.

Uploaded by heather-cunningham.blogspot.com.

From Steamboat Willie to The Wonderful World of Color to Epcot Center, Walt Disney’s imagination has inspired and delighted generations of Americans. His movies managed to achieve the near impossible task of simultaneously enthralling both children and adults.

Just think of all the areas his imagination affected. He virtually invented the animated feature film with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Great American Things, October 22, 2010) … Made memorable live-action movies for families, such as The Absent-Minded Professor and Mary Poppins … Had a huge impact on the development of television, with both The Mickey Mouse Club and the Wonderful World of Disney… virtually invented the theme park with Disneyland, then ratcheted it up to a whole new level with Disney World.

In the Disney movie Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket said it best: “Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.”

Originally posted April 14, 2009

Kid Stuff: View-Master

View-Master disks were originally marketed as a replacement for travel postcards. Then somebody finally figured out that the real market was kids. Uploaded by screenrant.com.

The stereoscope, a way of viewing 3-D images, wasn’t a new thing when View-Master began producing its first viewers and disks. So when it was introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, its purpose was to replace the traditional postcard with travel images. Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon (Great American Things, August 4, 2009) were the destinations featured on the earliest disks.

Although the manufacturers featured some lighthearted subjects along the way, it wasn’t until the early 1950s — and the use of Disney characters and the newly opened Disneyland — that View-Master came into its own as a toy.

Uploaded by t3.com.

The company changed hands many times over the years. Its owners have included GAF, Ekco Housewares, Ideal Toy, Tyco Toys, Mattel, and Mattel’s Fisher Price division. Scenics are still produced, but animated characters is still where the real View-Master money is.

Though the exterior materials have changed, the actual viewing device isn’t all that different from the first model made back in 1939. When you’ve produced more than 25 models of the viewer and 1.5 billion disks, people take notice. View-Master was among the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame back in November, 1999…

Person: Walt Disney

Photo courtesy of Flickr. Posted by Andy Latham82.

Lots of people have changed American culture. Some for better, some for worse. But few have had the positive influence that Walter Elias Disney brought to the world of entertainment.

From Steamboat Willie to The Wonderful World of Color to Epcot Center, Walt Disney’s imagination has inspired and delighted generations of Americans. His movies managed to achieve the near impossible task of simultaneously enthralling both children and adults.

In the Disney movie Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket said it best: “Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.”