WI: Walt Disney never takes up smoking?

What happens if Walt Disney never gets a smoking habit and thus lives far longer then OTL? Does this effect The Jungle Book? What about Disney's future productions? Your thoughts?

How common was smoking at the time?

Let assume he would get same age like his brother Rod O. Disney (78 years)
means we get 16 more years until his death in 1979.
i think we get similar Disney Productions in 1970s as in OTL, but with some difference

Animation:
Disney will produce more Animation films, but he decide what goes into Production and give his personal touch to it.
so it more likely that Robin Hood (1973) is under Disney Reynard the Fox fable instead.
while The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) remains true to the source material.
can be that The Rescuers (1977) remain a proposal and Disney goes for another idea.

Theme parks:
During 1966 he work on new Theme parks called Disney World and EPCOT
EPCOT stand for Experimental Prototype City (and Community) of Tomorrow


Here Walt Disney him self about this EPCOT project on Youtube

Original a small City with a sounding Community for the guest of Disney World, were living 10 years in the future.
the place had feature like Video phones, early computer system in apartment and homes, advance traffic system
in other words 2001: a Space Odyssey real on ground.
After Disney's death the experiment was Stop and in 1982 a new theme park got the name EPCOT

Had Disney realized this vision, he could have alterer the USA, because the Guest would have order some technology for there home.

Disney and FBI
yes Disney work close with FBI in order fight "Communist" forces inside Disney Productions.
and he will do also during 1968 and early 1970s even cooperate with FBI CONTELPRO program,
a highly illegal wiretapping, eavesdropping, menace and Career Limiting Move against everyone in Civil right Movement, artist, Authors, actors and leftist politician.

CONTElPRO was stopped after the death of FBI boss J.E. Hoover and program exposure in US media leading to huge scandal
Disney role could also be exposed in US Media in that case has Disney Productions a serious image problem

Yeah, EPCOT will be greatly effected.

woweed said:

Yeah, EPCOT will be greatly effected.

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Agreed. If Disney lives long enough, EPCOT will probably be built in something like its original guise and we get a genuine future city.

MattII said:

How common was smoking at the time?

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It was absolutely routine the US for the generations that went through WW1 and until the anti-smoking revelations of the 1960's & 70's

Cigarettes more than other forms.

The widespread smoking of cigarettes in the Western world is largely a 20th-century phenomenon – at the start of the 20th century the per capita annual consumption in the USA was 54 cigarettes (with less than 0.5% of the population smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year), and consumption there peaked at 4,259 per capita in 1965. At that time about 50% of men and 33% of women smoked (defined as smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year).[19] By 2000, consumption had fallen to 2,092 per capita, corresponding to about 30% of men and 22% of women smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year, and by 2006 per capita consumption had declined to 1,691;[20] implying that about 21% of the population smoked 100 cigarettes or more per year.

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My family's history is typical for that era: my dad & five of my uncles (all 2-pack a day guys) died in their 50's & 60's from Emphysema or Lung Cancer. The only members of that generation who lived longer were the non-smokers, who died from other causes

I'm sorry for the loss of your family members.

GeographyDude said:

I'm sorry for the loss of your family members.

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Thanks. That was a long time ago, but the thought is appreciated. I certainly didn't mean to side-track this thread

I was trying to connect how routine smoking was in that time (1920's to 1970's) and it's outcome on health. Smoking connected Lung Cancer or Emphysema/COPD was a very common end for 2-3 generations of Americans - and probably elsewhere too. That was the real point I was going for. For another comparison, think of the movies of the 40's & 50's - Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, pick-a-star, typically chain-smoked throughout their movies. People used to smoke everywhere in public, except in church or school (at least in the classrooms....)

EPCOT is really nothing more than a subdivision. I don't believe 20,000 people would ever have lived there. Certain factors such as the jetport, industrial park, large suburban area, and a GE nuclear power plant would never have been likely. This community was likely going to be the first environmentally sustainable in the world. Clean burning biofuel planet, all electric vehicles, using ambient light in construction, recycled irrigation water from its own wells in Florida, AVAC system doing waste collection for its residences, and more would have been revolutionary in the 1970s, especially as the green movement is given birth to in America.

All of the campgrounds, motels, RV parks, and more would have been located along the southern end of the property instead of along Seven Seas Lagoon if Walt had lived. The Magic Kingdom would have been build after he died too with no theme parks outside the US either until then also.

Disney may have eventually found a ski resort location in northern California away from Mineral King and have another property in the Golden State.

In regards to how common smoking was . . .

I can remember being a high school senior in 1980-'81, and the HOSA teacher and sponsor was smoking, not during class itself, but smoking in the classroom during lunch while students were using the classroom to meet and/or study.

I believe HOSA meant Health Occupation Student Association. And the unofficial rule seemed to be that it was for girls only, which was such a loss in a number of regards.


PS I guess I should say, this was somewhat unusual which is why it caught my attention. But then again, our scoutmaster smoked in the van on the way to Summer Camp.

I do like the idea of trying to do a city projected ten years into the future.

Which probably means you include and scale up technology before it's cost effective. Of course, you might mistarget where the future is going.

for an actual POD, keep him from being drafted into World War I; iirc, that's where he picked up smoking