523 - Walt Disney Studios: Report on Making a Motion Picture to Combat Illiteracy in South America (1943)

Walt Disney Studios: Report on Making a Motion Picture to Combat Illiteracy in South America (1943) Confidential 1943 internal report documenting the 'Seminar on Visual Education' proceedings held at the Walt Disney Studio lot from May 25 to May 29, 1943, 97 pages, 8.5 x 11, focusing on the battle against illiteracy in South America. The cover sheet memorandum defines the objective: "To make a motion picture that will cause illiterates to have a genuine desire to read and write." The fascinating report captures the direct intersection of Hollywood animation, global wartime diplomacy, and the U.S. Government’s World War II counter-propaganda efforts in Latin America. The report is bound in worn wrappers, with the front cover detached, but otherwise in very good condition. From the collection of Gerda Robison, who worked as a story researcher and stenographer for Disney in the 1940s and 50s. She authored the book Dark Lady, and later served as Cecil Beaton's assistant on My Fair Lady.