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Martha Blanding / Tim O'Day ~ Disney Author and Historian.
Martha Blanding is a Disney Legend with more than 50 years of dedicated service to The Walt Disney Company and is also an accomplished author. Tim O’Day is a highly respected Disney historian, recognized for his deep knowledge and preservation of Disney history.
Martha Blanding, an initial frontline cast member and later a member of Disneyland Park management, helped put the “happy” in “The Happiest Place on Earth”—and she did it for half a century.
If you took a tour of Disneyland in the early 1970s, you might have had Martha as your Tour Guide. In addition to embodying the park’s admired principle of hospitality and creating the particular brand of happiness that Walt Disney sought to establish for guests and cast members alike, Martha was the groundbreaking first-ever full-time Black Tour Guide at Disneyland. However, her impressive Disney career occurred by happenstance, and, as they say, the rest is history.
By 1975, Martha’s professionalism and work ethic led her to become the first-ever Black woman in management at Disneyland. She started as an associate buyer and oversaw various merchandise categories for nearly a decade. Soon after that, a promotion made Martha the first Black female merchandise buyer at Disneyland Resort and across all Disney Parks at the time. Through the years, her category lines included books, gifts, perfumes, film, cameras, and candy.
Tim O’Day, is acting Director of Marketing & Communications for the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. He is also the principal of O’Day & Associates, a boutique pubic relations firm specializing in developing noteworthy creative content, special events and impressive media outreach campaigns for retainer clients specializing in the entertainment, travel/tourism, experiential retail, dining, consumer products and celebrity branding fields. His agency client roster includes various business segments of The Walt Disney Company, Knott’s Berry Farm, Orange County Visitors Association, CHOC Children’s Hospital and many others.
For more exclusive interviews join us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@PeteMcDevittShow/featured
Original YouTube air date September 16, 2025.
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By Pete McDevitt and Monorail Mollie~JenMartha Blanding is a Disney Legend with more than 50 years of dedicated service to The Walt Disney Company and is also an accomplished author. Tim O’Day is a highly respected Disney historian, recognized for his deep knowledge and preservation of Disney history.
Martha Blanding, an initial frontline cast member and later a member of Disneyland Park management, helped put the “happy” in “The Happiest Place on Earth”—and she did it for half a century.
If you took a tour of Disneyland in the early 1970s, you might have had Martha as your Tour Guide. In addition to embodying the park’s admired principle of hospitality and creating the particular brand of happiness that Walt Disney sought to establish for guests and cast members alike, Martha was the groundbreaking first-ever full-time Black Tour Guide at Disneyland. However, her impressive Disney career occurred by happenstance, and, as they say, the rest is history.
By 1975, Martha’s professionalism and work ethic led her to become the first-ever Black woman in management at Disneyland. She started as an associate buyer and oversaw various merchandise categories for nearly a decade. Soon after that, a promotion made Martha the first Black female merchandise buyer at Disneyland Resort and across all Disney Parks at the time. Through the years, her category lines included books, gifts, perfumes, film, cameras, and candy.
Tim O’Day, is acting Director of Marketing & Communications for the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. He is also the principal of O’Day & Associates, a boutique pubic relations firm specializing in developing noteworthy creative content, special events and impressive media outreach campaigns for retainer clients specializing in the entertainment, travel/tourism, experiential retail, dining, consumer products and celebrity branding fields. His agency client roster includes various business segments of The Walt Disney Company, Knott’s Berry Farm, Orange County Visitors Association, CHOC Children’s Hospital and many others.
For more exclusive interviews join us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@PeteMcDevittShow/featured
Original YouTube air date September 16, 2025.