X-Message-Number: 9943 Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 03:10:19 -0700 From: Peter Merel <> Subject: Walt Disney On Scott Badger's survey question per Walt Disney; William Poundstone wrote in "Big Secrets": 'Disney had opportunity to hear about cryonics. Ettinger's theories received widespread attention in the two years before Disney's death. (Ettinger made a tour of talk shows, getting into a televised argument with Buddy Hackett when Hackett made jokes about cryonics. Ettinger didn't see what was so funny.) If Disney was frozen, he would have been the first, barring any other clandestine freezings. Disney died just a month before Dr. James Bedford [...] There was no news coverage of Disney's funeral. Likewise, even as Disney's health failed in late 1966, he kept tight rein on media coverage of his condition [...] the studio and Forest Lawn officials refused to reveal any further details of the service, including the disposition of the body. [... In 1933 Disney made a gruesome cartoon in which] a mad scientist tries to cut off Pluto's head and put it on a chicken. The film was withdrawn from the Rank film library in 1970. [... Disney's daughter is quoted:] At such times [Walt] says, "When I'm dead I don't want a funeral. I want people to remember me alive." [...] The Certificate says Disney's body was cremated at Forest Lawn, Glendale, on December 17, 1966. [...] The utter secrecy was unusual; it stuck in people's minds. A few weeks later and purely by coincidence, the first cryonics suspension took place. Somebody made the connection and wondered if Disney had been frozen too.' Btw, Scott, you might also add a slot for taoists under "Religion". Peter Merel. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9943