Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt This page intentionally left blank Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt Essays on Disney’s Edutainment Films Edited by A. B V R OWDOIN AN IPER McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt : essays on Disney’s edutainment films / edited by A. Bowdoin Van Riper. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-5957-5 softcover : 50# alkaline paper ¡. Walt Disney Company. 2. Walt Disney Pictures. 3. Disney, Walt—Criticism and interpretation. 4. Animated films—United States—History and criticism. 5. Documentary films—United States. 6. Motion pictures in education—United States. I. Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. PN¡999.W27L43 20¡¡ 79¡.43'66—dc22 20¡0047490 British Library cataloguing data are available © 20¡¡A. Bowdoin Van Riper. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Front cover by TG Design Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com For Cindy, who believed This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction A. BOWDOINVANRIPER 1 Section I: War and Propaganda 1. The Canadian Shorts: Establishing Disney’s Wartime Style BELLAHONESSROE 15 2. “Desiring the Disney Technique”: Chronicle of a Contracted Military Training Film DOUGLASA. CUNNINGHAM 27 3. Cartoons Will Win the War: World War II Propaganda Shorts RICHARDJ. LESKOSKY 40 4. Cartoon Combat: World War II, Alexander de Seversky, and Victory Through Air Power JOHND. THOMAS 63 Section II: Science, Technology, Mathematics and Medicine 5. The Promise of Things to Come: Disneylandand the Wonders of Technology, 1954–58 A. BOWDOINVANRIPER 84 6. A Nation on Wheels: Films About Cars and Driving, 1948–1970 A. BOWDOINVANRIPER 103 vii viii Table of Contents 7. “A Journey Through the Wonderland of Mathematics”: Donald inMathmagic Land MARTINF. NORDEN 113 8. Paging Doctor Disney: Health Education Films, 1922–1973 BOBCRUZ, JR. 127 Section III: Nature 9. “Nature is the Dramatist”: Documentary, Entertainment, and the World According to the True-Life Adventures EDDYVONMUELLER 145 10. Sex, Love, and Death: True-Life Fantasies RONALDTOBIAS 164 11. It Is a Small World, After All: Earth and the Disneyfication of Planet Earth EDDYVONMUELLER 173 Section IV: Times, Places and People 12. A Past to Make Us Proud: U. S. History According to Disney MARIANNEHOLDZKOM 183 13. Reviving the American Dream: The World of Sports KATHARINABONZEL 201 14. Beyond the Ratoncito:Disney’s Idea of Latin America BERNICENUHFER-HALTEN 209 15. Locating the Magic Kingdom: Spectacle and Similarity in People and Places CYNTHIAJ. MILLER 221 16. America’s Salesman: The USA in Circarama SARAHNILSEN 237 About the Contributors 255 Index 259 Acknowledgments This project had its origins at a 2006 conference, The Docu- mentary Tradition, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Film and History. For helping to bring it from there to here, I am grateful to Dan Vogel and Ron Weekes, for their contributions to the original conversation; Peter Rollins, organizer of the conference and director emeritus of the Center, for his encouragement; Skip Elsheimer, for his generous offer of access to his film collection; Kathy Merlock Jackson, for her astute comments and suggestions; several anony- mous referees, for sharpening my ideas about the shape of the proj- ect; and my daughter Katie, for her patience with a project that I began when she was in elementary school and finished when she was in high school. Finally, my thanks go to Cindy Miller, whose insight, enthu- siasm, and willingness to be my first, best editor have been invalu- able throughout this project’s long life. ix