Museum to honor life of Disney

SAN FRANCISCO - He’s the reason adults of a certain age can’t stop themselves from finishing the song line beginning “M-I-C-K-E-Y,’’ the force causing untold legions to see marching mops when they hear the rousing strains of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’’

But the story of Walt Disney the man sometimes gets forgotten in the telling of his legend. Descendants of the 20th-century innovator hope to fix that disconnect with the Walt Disney Family Museum, opening this fall in San Francisco.

“My dad’s story is an inspirational story,’’ Diane Disney Miller said. “I want people to understand his character and how he pursued his career.’’

Since Disney’s death at 65 in 1966, some of the coverage of the man behind the mouse hasn’t been the happiest thing on earth, starting with the oddly persistent falsehood that his body was cryogenically frozen. He was cremated and buried.

Meanwhile, the icon has become so distinct from the person that some younger people think “Walt Disney’’ is a made-up corporate character, said Richard Benefield, founding executive director of the new museum. Before taking the post, Benefield was a senior administrator at the Harvard Art Museum.

Even for those who know it, the story can get confused.

“People remember very specific things about Walt and it’s bits and pieces and you don’t necessarily remember them in a collective way,’’ Benefield said.

Seeing Disney’s work in one place - the cutting-edge animation, the theme parks, the technological advancements - “the order of magnitude is pretty outstanding,’’ Benefield said.

Still under construction, with an opening date of Oct. 1, the museum will feature 10 galleries, starting with Disney’s beginnings on a Missouri farm. Among the artifacts is the form on which a 16-year-old Disney lied about his age to train as a Red Cross ambulance driver in World War I in France; he arrived as the war ended.

The museum consists of three historic buildings that have been redesigned and upgraded. It is set in the Presidio, a former Army base with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. That puts it, said Benefield, “in the center of the animation universe right now’’ with Lucasfilm Ltd. to the north and Pixar to the east.

Across the San Francisco Bay, Pixar cofounder John Lasseter is delighted about the new venture.

“Not only will it be a great illustration of Walt’s life and career, but also his impact on entertainment and the medium of animation,’’ said Lasseter, who studied under former Disney artists at the California Institute for the Arts, where he earned a film degree, and worked as a Disney animator early in his career.

Exhibits highlight Disney innovations from synchronizing sound to a cartoon to fully capitalizing on the marvels of Technicolor.

Although it’s not finished yet, what looks to be a visually arresting feature of the museum deals with Disney’s fascination with trains, a hobby that eventually led him to create Disneyland. Visitors walking down a spiral ramp will pass a track suspended from the roof holding the “Lilly Belle,’’ the 1/8-scale-model train Disney ran on a half-mile track around his home.