Walt Disney's 100th B-Day Celebrated


                                                     Updated: Wed, Dec 05 10:18 AM EST


   BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - On what would have been Walt Disney's
   100th birthday, relatives want the world to know more about the man
   behind the corporate name. 

   Roy Disney, chairman of Walt Disney Animation, will mark his
   uncle's birthday at festivities Wednesday at Walt Disney World in
   Orlando. 

   A smaller celebration is planned at Disneyland in Anaheim, where a
   statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse will be rededicated.
   Disneyland also plans to sell souvenir buttons and mini anniversary
   cakes with Disney's image on them. 

   The animation pioneer died of lung cancer in 1966 at age 65. 

   "His own family was important to him at all levels, and I think people must have had a hint that he was
   that kind of guy just from his work," said his daughter, Diane Disney Miller, 67. "What dad wanted to do
   was entertain people and make them laugh. That was always his focus, to bring fun and to bring joy." 

   By the time Miller was born in 1933, her father had already made his mark in Hollywood with the release
   of the animated short "Steamboat Willie." 

   But it was 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that made Walt Disney a major force in the
   business. The movie was the first full-length animated feature in color and the first commercially
   successful film of its kind. 

   Miller was 5 when she got her first peek at "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The family - Walt's wife,
   Lillian, and daughters Diane and Sharon - were living in a house not far from Disney's Burbank studios. 

   "I remember being in a soundstage in the old studio seeing it, and when the queen turned into a witch, I
   remember screaming and crying, and someone took me out of the studio," Miller said. "Dad didn't change
   a thing." 

   Miller planned to spend Wednesday evening with relatives attending a tribute to Disney at the Academy
   of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

   Roy Disney began working for his uncle after graduating from college in 1951. He said he learned a lot
   from Walt Disney, an inspirational, hard-working man who had high standards. 

   "I got no points for being related," Disney said. "He was plenty tough on me and everybody. He was so
   quick at picking up mistakes or problems. It just comes down to genius and he clearly had that even at
   the beginning of his career."


Parades, Tributes Mark Walt Disney Centennial


                                                     Updated: Wed, Dec 05 12:35 AM EST

   LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A feast of parades, tributes and stars
   celebrate the 100th anniversary Wednesday of the birth of Walt
   Disney, that man whose magic touch with a white-gloved four-fingered
   mouse launched a multibillion-dollar worldwide entertainment industry.
   In Walt Disney World in Florida, a 25-foot-high 'portrait' of the
   avuncular animator made out of cakes, a parade and a fireworks show
   will cap the theme park's '100 Years of Magic' celebrations on
   December 5 with a special appearance by Julie Andrews of 'Mary
   Poppins' fame.