More Imagineers At the Fair! June 1964

It's time for another great photo from the 1964 New York World's Fair, with a surprise or two!

Among the slides was this group shot, and at first I recognized some of the same faces that appeared in another photo. Which was very cool. But there were some additional people added to the mix! Here's the photo all by itself.

Check it out! It took me a minute to put a name to the mustachioed gentleman, until I realized that it is legendary animator Bill Tytla! And that blonde lady in the lavender dress is legendary and beloved artist Mary Blair?!! Wowee. I am not 100% certain of the identities of the women whose names are in orange, but... more on that in a bit.

(If anybody can ID the man in the white shirt, to the left, I would appreciate it very much!)

Here's a photo of Bill Tytla (standing), along with Art Babbit, circa 1967. Bill left the Disney Studio in 1943 after the divisive animator's strike, feeling that there was too much tension and unpleasantness. He moved to Connecticut, where he worked for a variety of animation studios, including Terrytoons, Famous Studios (Popeye, Casper, etc), and Tempo Productions (which made industrial films and advertisements).

I think it's interesting that he stayed in touch with his friends at Disney, and one can surmise that they invited him to meet them at the Fair.

Historian John Canemaker called Tytla "animation's Michelangelo". Here are just a few of the animated characters that he brought to life:

I don't think I need to tell you about Mary Blair and her accomplishments - her work has achieved a level of love and appreciation that she probably could have never imagined. Here's Mary, with her husband Lee.

In this photo we can see some of the usual suspects as they head toward the entrance to the Travelers Insurance pavilion... there's Mary Blair in her lilac outfit.

I found this photo online, and it was partly the reason why I think that the lady in the blue coat might be Harriet Burns.

Meanwhile, the woman to the left is Joyce Carlson, who (obviously) worked on "The Enchanted Tiki Room, and "It's a Small World" (for the Fair). Most photos of Joyce are from when she was a much older woman, and I am even less confident when it comes to identifying her. 

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the photos, Harriet on the left, and what I think might be her on the right. I'm just not certain though! The hair looks about right, but that might have been a common style from the time. What do you think?

Here's another photo of Harriet! She was one of the very first Imagineers, and certainly the first woman among that group. She worked in the model shop along with Fred Joerger and Wathel Rogers, and built scale models for Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Matterhorn (among her many other accomplishments). She is a Disney Legend and has a window on Main Street.

Here's the pavilion of the Mormon Church. If you are wondering what relevance this has...

... we can see Bill Tytla standing with Ken Anderson (animator, Imagineer), and shaking hands with Les Clark (one of the Nine Old Men). Perhaps this was where they decided to meet up that day.

I hope you have enjoyed today's World's Fair pix; there are still a few more fun surprises to come.