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The Ryman Centennial: An Intermission With Herb

As we take a brief intermission before we start looking at Disney artist Herbert Ryman’s contributions to Imagineering – contributions that would occupy the last thirty-some years of his life – perhaps it would be nice to hear, for the first time, from the man himself. Author John Donaldson has uploaded this video, which originally […]

August At The Walt Disney Family Museum

It’s another month of exciting events at the Walt Disney Family Museum in August. For animation fans, award-winning animator and film historian John Canemaker will present his greatly anticipated new book, Two Guys Named Joe. Meanwhile, Disney film stalwart and Swiss Family Robinson actor Tommy Kirk swings in to visit the museum, which will be […]

The Ryman Centennial: Herbie Ryman, Or Two Years With A Circus

Herb Ryman with one of his paintings of the circus, 1953

It seems so strange today how great a hold the circus held on the psyche of young Americans in the last century. For Herb Ryman, it was no different; he, too, was drawn to the romance of sawdust and greasepaint and the open road. […]

Making Magic: How Computers Influenced Roller Coaster Design

When one thinks about Imagineering, it’s most likely that the mind first runs to the artists. With fifty-five years of renderings, sketches, models, sculptures and amazing artwork, it’s perhaps no surprise that the fine artists have often become the public face of Disney’s creative workshop. Unfortunately this can do a disservice to the engineering side […]

The Ryman Centennial: Herb Ryman And The Myth Of Walt Disney

If you’re reading this site, then Jeff Kurtti will probably need little introduction. Disney fans like myself will most likely have an entire shelf filled with books that Jeff has authored, magazines with articles he has written, and DVDs that he has produced.

Jeff worked with Walt Disney Imagineering from 1987-1995, after which he became […]