Blowing the pixie dust off Disney's archives

GLENDALE, Calif. — For the last 50 years, inside an unmarked warehouse here, a historic movie prop has rested in a deep, deep sleep. Last month a Walt Disney Co. archivist awakened it.

Wearing white gloves, Becky Cline, manager of the sprawling repository, gently opened a crate containing the giant bejeweled storybook used for the opening scene of "Sleeping Beauty," the animated classic from 1959. "We have to be really, really careful with this," Cline said, almost in a whisper.

The prop, along with dozens of other specimens from Disney films that have long been kept under lock and key, will headline an unusual exhibition of memorabilia that opens on Thursday and runs through the weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California. Also included: the coonskin cap that Fess Parker wore as Davy Crockett (leading to a national craze), Annette Funicello's Mouseketeer shirt, a costume from the 1950s TV series "Zorro" and the four-wheeled star of "The Love Bug."

The exhibition, "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives," will also include modern grails (Miley Cyrus' blond "Hannah Montana" wig) and items from Walt Disney's own office (like the rotary-dial telephone, dingy cord and all). "We would never clean it — that's Walt's grime," Cline said.

The exhibition forms the centerpiece of Disney's attempt to stage its own version of Comic-Con International, the giant annual gathering for fans of comics and science-fiction entertainment that has become a major event on Hollywood's calendar. Called D23 Expo, Disney's show will include elaborate pavilions where the company's theme park, movie studio, television and consumer products branches will promote their wares — both existing and planned. Over 30,000 people are expected to attend.

It's an overt sales pitch for the Disney brand, already considered one of the strongest in the world. But the company is also keenly aware that the Internet has given consumers added muscle in determining public sentiment — over 1,000 blogs parse all things Disney — and is trying to "superserve" that constituency.

D23 is the brainchild of the company's public relations branch. (The 23 is short for 1923, the year Walt Disney opened his California studio.) Disney will auction a handful of items in conjunction with the exhibition, including animation cels from films like "The Jungle Book," a pirate galleon vehicle from the Peter Pan's Flight ride at Disneyland and props from "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."