Stuff from my Studio: Marceline, MO!

It’s another exciting episode of “Stuff from my Studio”! Today we look at a couple of mementos I was presented with for being a speaker at the “Walt Disney Toonfest” in Marceline, Mo, which I did in 2005 and again in 2009.

The story of Walt Disney and the small town of Marceline, MO (pop about 2500, roughly 2 hours outside of Kansas City) is a fascinating one. The Disney family moved to Marceline from Chicago in 1906 when Walt was five, and spent 5 1/2 years there on a small farm before moving to Kansas City. Those were very important, formative years for the young Walt Disney. The small town, rural lifestyle made a major impression on him. Most people do not realize when they walk into the entrance of any of the major “Disneyland” style Disney parks and stroll down “Main Street USA”, they are looking at an idealized recreation of an early 1900’s era “Kansas Avenue” in Marceline… right down to the brick streets and corner clock posts.

Walt was said to often credit Marceline with firing his imagination and getting him interested in show business (he starred in a small town production of “Peter Pan” when there. After his success in animation, film, and eventually theme parks, Walt returned to Marceline with his brother Roy and their wives in 1956 for a visit, and again some years later on his own.

Walt was concerned that the changing times were eroding the small town, rural life that he thought was the lifeblood of America. He made plans to use his wealth to create a kind of theme park attraction in Marceline that would be a tribute to small-town America. He had a local partner quietly buy land through a personal corporation, and Walt sketches of his vision of the park. Walt knew this was going to be a labor of love, since it was FAR off the beaten path, and probably not a money making venture. However, he was Walt Disney… so if he wanted it done, it was going to be done.

Sadly the “Marceline Project” did not long survive Walt’s death in 1966. The opening of Disney World in Florida consumed most of surviving brother Roy and the Disney company’s attention. It’s likely that, while the Marceline park was important to Walt, with him gone there was no one else to drive the project, so in the early 1970’s it was completely abandoned.

Today Marceline has a wonderful museum dedicated to Walt’s boyhood and his connection to the small town. They also still hold the annual “Toonfest” event with guest cartoonists/animators/Imagineers. This year it’s happening on Sept 18th. You can read about Walt’s history with Marceline in detail here.

This has been another thrilling tale about