I have blind spots. I enjoy Disney history, but that doesn’t mean that my Disney knowledge is endless. Disney Legend Martha Blanding was one of the important figures in Disney history that I didn’t know a lot about. But now I feel like I have been welcomed into her life.
Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through the Happiest Place on Earth by Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day recounts in Blanding’s own voice her life story, focusing on her 50-year career with the Walt Disney Company, largely at Disneyland. Blanding shares her family history, with her parents moving out west to settle in South Central Los Angeles, or Watts. In 1971,the California State University Fullerton student looked for a nearby job and was encouraged to apply at Disneyland, an employer that at the time didn’t have a history of hiring employees of color. Initially rebuffed, she would later find herself being recruited and hired for an illustrious and very public position as tour guide and VIP Hostess. In this role, she was trained to represent the best of Disneyland as she interacted with the rich and famous. However, she looked for additional professional opportunities and transferred into a management program where she worked at the Emporium and also served as a candy buyer. This role in merchandising would evolve into a role with Special Event Merchandise, where she would again be charged with interacting with the famous and talented. Blanding discusses throughout the book the challenges of being a woman of color in the 70s and beyond in the park, which includes incidents of intentional and unintentional racism and the growth of multicultural representation at Disneyland.
I think the most important reaction that a reader will gather from reading the book is becoming familiar with Martha and her work. Martha, I’ve read your book. Are we friends now? It is a real achievement that Blanding and O’Day capture her voice and tone. She talks in depth about family members, ones that are not connected to Disneyland. But what one feels is love and appreciation for who they are and how they impacted her journey. Also, I know Martha’s work and found it very interesting. I’ve not been inside the merchandise buying team or Disney’s special merchandise program. But Blanding and O’Day make these fields interesting to me and help me better understand those roles. And these are not even the role that is front and center and brings readers to the page with tour guide and VIP hostess roles.
Martha appears to have a generally positive view of life. But that does not mean that she runs away from retelling painful stories from her life and those that she loves. One of those pains that she directly addresses is racism. Blanding had a career at Disney filled with joy and colleagues that she enjoyed working with. She was also treated unfairly at times due to her being a Black woman in a workplace that was largely filled with White employees. Martha retells several of these stories and how she negotiated through them. She doesn’t paint a story of a faultless workplace, but instead shows us one containing imperfect people.
I'm really glad that Martha Blanding and I are friends now. She is a caring and thoughtful Disney legend who has been a pathfinder for employees of color and experienced the bad and good of working at the Walt Disney Company. Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through the Happiest Place on Earth by Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day isn’t just a Disney history, but a memoir that pays tribute to moments that Martha has loved, including Disneyland cast members, celebrities, and family.
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