Very sad news :-(

- Disney Great Dale Baer, An Animator For Five Decades, Has Died At 70

 My interview with Dale Baer was released in Walt's People - Volume 8.

This just in from my friend, historian Christian Renaut:

[SECOND POLL!  Hi everyone ! First, thanks for the many nice comments after the publication of volume 1 of The Best of Disney’s animated features. Volume 2 is well under way with the analysis of 10 more unforgettable sequences from 1941 to 1951. But now is the time to launch my second poll to already prepare volumes 4 and 5 at least. So, whether you are a Disney historian, a current/former Disney artist, working in animation, a Disney artist’s relative, or a Disney fan, it is time for you to select your unforgettable moments/sequences from the films of the list below (1970 to 1999). Try to stick to a maximum of 12 highlights. The best thing to do is to also justify your choice and come up with anecdotes (in particular if you worked on those films-you might be quoted). Then, like for the films under Walt, I’ll draw my list of the sequences to write about from the results of that poll. To do so, write a mail to this address chpoll.wd@gmail.com    Thanks a lot!

The Aristocats (1970)
Robin Hood (1973)
The Rescuers (1977)
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Who framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Oliver and Company (1988)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Rescuers down Under (1990)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Aladdin (1992)
The Lion King (1994)
Pocahontas (1995)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Hercules (1997)
Mulan (1998)
Tarzan (1999)
Fantasia 2000 (1999)
Sorry, I have not included some films like Pete’s Dragon or a Goofy movie and a few others.]

This just in from Imagineer Chris Runco whom I interviewed recently for a future volume of Walt's People:

[Just wanted to let you know I did a podcast interview recently about the development of Star Tours, and particularly the design of the pilot, RX-24. It was for cartoonstocastles.com.]

Not to be missed.

 I missed the release of this book last year. I discovered it yesterday and ordered a copy today.

Some very interesting books will be released this year by Chronicle Books:

- The Art of Raya and the Last Dragon on March 16, 2021

- The Art of Luca in May 2021

- The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen in July 2021 (not about their Disney work but still clearly Disney-related)

The second book I discovered over the past few weeks over the past few days is the upcoming The Art of Aaron Blaise. It looks as if the book will feature some of Aaron's Disney concept pieces, which is exciting. I have no more details than what is included in the pre-order page.

Happy New Year to all of you!

2021 started with the discovery of two new books: One released at the end of last year, the second one upcoming.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out a few days ago that Lou Mongello has released some of his interviews with Disney legends in book form and I immediately picked up a copy. 

I was not disappointed. If you like Walt's People, this new book is for you. It contains interviews with Ralph Kent, George McGinnis, Alice Davis, Dave Smith, Julie Andrews, Richard Sherman, Charles Ridgway, Marty Sklar, Bill "Sully" Sullivan, Tom Nabbe, Al Konetzni, and Lonnie Burr.

I can't wait for Volume 2!

You will have to wait till tomorrow to read about the second book I just discovered.