UDATE: [I'm Bob McLain, the publisher of the book. Jim and I had planned to have it available on Amazon today - but a last-minute snafu (on Amazon's part) has caused a short delay. Please feel free to email me for details and to ensure that you get a link to the book as soon as it's available: bob@themeparkpress.com]


Needless to say this new book by Jim Korkis which will is being released today is a must have. While it does not contain any illustrations, the stories Jim tells are priceless. Here is the complete table of contents:

Part 1:
WHO’S AFRAID OF THE
SONG OF THE SOUTH?

Song of the South: The Beginning

Song of the South: The Screenplay

Song of the South: The Cast

Song of the South: The Live Action

Song of the South: The Animation

Song of the South: The Music

Song of the South: The World Premiere

Song of the South: The Controversy

Song of the South: The Reviews

Song of the South: The Conclusion

Part 2:
MORE SECRETS OF THE
SONG OF THE SOUTH

Song of the South Credit List

Story Summary of the Film

Short Biography of Joel Chandler Harris

Song of the South Dummies

The Brer Characters

Song of the South Actors That Never Were

Disney Uncle Remus Comic Strip

The Disney Uncle Remus Comic Strip That Never Was

The Song of the South Song

The Power of Words

Song of the South Book

That’s What Uncle Remus Said

Splash Mountain

Saturday Night Live Parody

Part 3:
THE OTHER FORBIDDEN STORIES:  SEX, WALT, AND FLUBBED FILMS

Whatever Happened to Little Black Sunflower?

Disney’s Story of Menstruation

Disney Attacks Venereal Disease

Disneyland Memorial Orgy Poster Story

Jessica Rabbit: Drawn to Be Bad

Mickey Mouse Attempts Suicide

Walt’s Owl Nightmare

The Mickey Rooney Myth

J. Edgar Hoover Watches Walt

The Myth of Walt’s Last Words

Walt Liked Ike

Disney’s Secret Commercial Studio

The Sweatbox: The Documentary Disney Doesn’t Want Seen

Tim Burton’s Real Nightmare at Disney

Disney John Carters That Never Were

Ward Kimball and UFOs

Walt’s Fantasy Failure:  Baum’s Oz

This is off-topic.

I had the pleasure to meet a few days ago fellow Miami resident and Disney history enthusiast Andrew Toffoli. Andrew also happens to be the author (and artist) behind a great series of books for kids whose aim is to teach history in an entertaining way using "funny animals". I fell in love with his work and if you have kids those books are definitely worth checking out.

A book we have all been awaiting for years is Todd James Pierce's work on the early days of Disneyland and Disneyland's "copycats" like Freedomland.

While we wait for this massive seminal book to be released, Disney's Dream Weavers is an excellent, short read, based on interviews conducted by Chuck Schmidt with various Disney Legends including Van France, Marty Sklar and a few others. Worth picking up.

This just in from Michael Goldberg:

[The link below is to the Los Angeles county Library data base of Menus (they have thousands)

I happend on this one honoring Prince Philip in March 1966, and noticed Walt Disney as one of the sponsors.

Thought this might be of interest to you!

 

http://dbase1.lapl.org/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll

 

RestaurantBANQUET HONORING HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE OF EDINBURGH, K.G. Address
Los Angeles, CA,
Date
March 14, 1966 Cuisine
French.
Noteslocation of event not given
Velveteen-covered booklet includes a letter from the Prince, a photo, Programme, Menu, Command Performance entertainers, Sponsors, and Banquet Committee Meal
Dinner]

I am completing at the moment a monograph about Walt's trip to Europe in 1935 and working on the final details (much more on this in the next few months, hopefully). A paragraph I just added last week includes the following information:

"One day during his stay in Paris, Walt strolled down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, the most famous street in Paris, at least as far as the Lord Byron cinema, which every Thursday to Sunday, from 11.00 am to a quarter past noon showed a selection of Mickey Mouse shorts and of Silly Symphonies.  This compilation of Disney cartoons was probably the program L’Heure Joyeuse de Mickey, which United Artists had released in 1934 and which would be featured in various cinemas in France and Belgium until 1936. It included the cartoons Giantland, The Pied Piper, Lullaby Land, The Grasshopper and the Ants, Mickey’s Gala Premier, Three Little Pigs, and Funny Little Bunnies. Between the last two cartoons, a non-Disney comic routine was inserted, titled La Morale de cette Histoire (The Moral of this Story) and featuring French singer André Perchicot.  The significance of Walt discovering a cinema screening solely Disney shorts cannot be understated, since this feature-length program convinced him more than ever that audiences would be willing to accept a feature-length cartoon."

According to Mike Peraza, one of Disney's greatest concept artists, Mel Shaw, just passed away.

The news saddened me terribly. I have admired Mel's art for years and he was among my top three or four Disney concept artists along with Ken Anderson, Ferdinand Horvath and Albert Hurter. I also had the pleasure of having lunch with him a few years ago thanks to John Lounsbery's daughter Andrea and to Diane Disney Miller. He was a wonderful human being with incredible stories to tell, even in his mid-'90s.

I am still working with Andrea to get his autobiography (Animator on Horseback) released at some point. Let's hope this happens soon since Mel's life is almost as fascinating as his art.

In the meantime, you can read an in-depth interview with him in Walt's People - Volume 12, thanks to Paul F. Anderson.

This letter from November 2, 1965 and this photo of Walt and Lilly were sold online recently. Thanks to Gunnar Andreassen for the heads up.

Do not miss today:

- The First Mickey Mouse Convention by Jim Korkis
- Secrets of Steamboat Willie by Jim Korkis
- The Amazing Rolly Crump by Todd James Pierce
- Greatest Tragedy Update by Todd James Pierce
- The most popular character in screendom . . . by David Lesjak
- Schools closed in honor of Mickey Mouse's birthday by David Lesjak

An incredibly rare French poster from the '30s seen on ebay last week.

I thought some of you might enjoy these photos of the 1937 window display from the New Mission Theater in San Francisco which was sold last week on ebay and the 1948 one from Australia being sold by Howard Lowery.

Here is a WWII document spotted on ebay last week and which I had never seen before.

I picked up last week this incredibly rare, self-published autobiography of former Disney background artist Don Douglass, which contain a whole chapter about his short (5 years) stay at Disney in the '40s. I will let you know as soon as I get it how interesting it is.

Speaking of interesting Disney items which were sold recently, Gunnar Andreassen gave me a heads up about ths Oswald "poster" which was sold on All Star Auctions.

According to David Gerstein:

[Researchers colleagues of mine, authenticated it in Los Angeles: it unimpeachably came "down to us" directly from Norm Blackburn's relatives, who wouldn't have faked it. It was glued into a family scrapbook with other verified 1920s items, though nothing more from Disney.
I suspect it's a kind of color guide; a poster sketch does exist to go with it, though unlike the other Oswald poster sketches, it's never been reproduced.]

Very interesting early Mickey Mouse poster being sold by Heritage Auctions at the moment (thanks to Matt Crandall for the link). Not necessarily the first Mickey poster, but a great item nonetheless.

Here are a few photos from The Daily Mirror from Walt and Lilly's trip to the UK in 1957, which I thought you might enjoy.

The official release date of Rolly Crump's autobiography has been announced. Can't wait!

While I had the great pleasure of picking-up an extremely rare Disney artist autobiography on ebay this weekend (more on this in a few days), I missed this 4-page document which was sold of Howard Lowery and titled "Summary of Comments on [the abandoned Disney project] The Little Broomstick (1980)".

If the buyer is a reader of this blog: I would really, really love to get a scan of it.

I am really looking forward to this book, which will be released very soon. I will post a review as soon as I get it.

Do not forget that the new issue of Disney Twenty-Three will be released tomorrow.

Do not miss today:

- Remembering Lucille Martin
- Disneyland and the 1953 Halloween Festival by Todd James Pierce
- Letters to Ruth Disney by Jim Korkis (outstanding article)
- What? No Mickey Mouse Birthday? What Kind of A Party Is This? by Jim Korkis
- Milt Kahl talks Robin Hood by Andreas Deja