Despite her reputation for being hostile to children as campily depicted in the film Mommie Dearest, millions of children from around the world have her to thank for her role in bringing the classic attraction it’s a small world to life.
How did such a bizarre event come to be? Joan Crawford was married to the Chairman of Pepsi. After her husband passed away, the board of directors expected her to just sit back and collect her dividend checks. Joan had other plans, insisting on taking her husband’s seat on the board.
Pepsi’s board went into an all out war between those who supported and those who were against Joan Crawford. One casualty of this war was the company’s planned World’s Fair fundraiser for UNICEF. Neither side was willing to yield to the other until Pepsi’s marketing team stepped in to express their concern that if the already publicized deal with UNICEF fell through it would give the company a black eye. The board reluctantly came together to authorize Joan to approach the one person she was certain could put something together quickly- Walt Disney. it’s a small world was the result.
