EDITORIAL: Mural a great idea

Apr. 8—A planned mural dedicated to McAlester-born Mary Blair, who became one of the most famous Disney artists, could be a dream come true.

Blair was born in McAlester as Mary Browne Robinson on Oct. 21, 1911, later studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and became one of Walt Disney's personal favorite artists.

She is known as one of the original Imagineers after an illustrious career including early contributions to the 1940 movie "Fantasia," "Dumbo" in 1941, and "The Three Caballeros" in 1944.

Some her most famous work came with concept art and other contributions to the 1950 film "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland" in 1951, "Peter Pan" in 1953, and "Lady and the Tramp," in 1955.

Blair also worked on Disney attractions — especially the "It's a Small World" attraction originally created for the New York's World Fair of 1964-1965 — and was involved in the writing or illustrating of several children's books.

She died July 26, 1978 in Soquel, California, at 66.

Blair's accomplishments will live on forever — so when some McAlester officials recently obtained grant funds for a mural, she quickly became the top choice as the subject.

Courtney Beene, owner of the Honey Beene Boutique, told us she was already a fan and thought a mural on the side of her business at 319 E. Choctaw Ave. would be a good way to help beautify the city and honor someone with local ties.

We agree.

Blair is a figure of our community's history and ties to arts with such an illustrious career that the city of her birth should be honored to dedicate a mural in her memory.

Beene recently spoke with Keep McAlester Beautiful Executive Director Megan Waters and McAlester Tourism Director Billy Sumner — who also got on board with the idea.

Keep McAlester Beautiful got a $3,000 grant for the project. The artist selected will have to provide paint for the mural, but KMB can help with equipment.

Artists can email resumes to kmb@keepmcalesterbeautiful.com or mail to Keep McAlester Beautiful; P.O. Box 583; McAlester, OK; 74502. Submissions will be accepted until May 16.

The mural will add to the 15 already spanning across the town — and we hope it leads to more artistic ways to help beautify our community.

—McAlester News-Capital Editorial Board