Disney Magic

When Disneyland Paris opened its gates, French director memorably called the arrival of Mickey Mouse in Europe a "cultural Chernobyl." When Michael Eisner launched Euro Disney on the Paris Stock Exchange, he was pelted with eggs.

But now, out of Paris, comes a big new art exhibit making a European claim on, of all things, the roots of Disney magic. Not on Mickey exactly, or Steamboat Willy but in the early, classic Disney features — Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio and more.

The celebration of Gothic architecture, of painters Pre-Raphaelite, German romantic, Flemish, and of the notion of Walt Disney as artist opens today in Montreal.

This hour On Point: Hi Ho! Europe, art history... and Disney.

Guests:

Bruno Girveau, curator of The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibit "Once Upon a Time Walt Disney;"
Ron Barbagallo, Animation Art Historian;
Charles Solomon, critic, animation historian and author of numerous books including "The Disney That Never Was and the award-winning Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation."

Writes for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and is a commentator on NPR's Day to Day