Claim: An artist commissioned to paint a mural for one of the Walt Disney World resorts furtively added a Nazi soldier to the background of the picture.
Origins: In 1994, Michael Moore's TV Nation featured a segment about a "Great Gatsby"-like mural in the ballroom of Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian resort, painted by an artist who claimed he drew one of the background figures as a Nazi.
Two years before the "TV Nation" segment, the book Sabotage in the American Workplace, in a section about "Art and Design," quoted a mural painter (identified only as "Harvey") who recounted his experience working for a company "that produces custom murals and decorative paintings":
Recently we did a job for the Walt Disney Corporation. They specifically requested the Great Gatsby as the theme, which basically is about rich people in the good old days. The idea was to make the people look happy and create the ideal that people off the streets should strive to get a white suit, Panama hat and a croquet mallet. One of my favorite scenes was a hotel scene where people were seated at tables. In the background there was this balcony where I painted this little
So, does the mural contain a Nazi figure? If the artist is telling the truth, and he intended to draw a Nazi in the mural, then the mural indeed contains a Nazi figure. It's hard to imagine that anyone not already aware of the artist's gag would notice anything unusual, however
Last updated: 17 September 2007
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