I just received a copy of Don Iwerks' book about his father Ub Iwerks, which will soon be released by Disney Editions.

This book meets and exceeds expectations. from cover to cover it is full of new information and of never-seen-before illustrations. Its in-depth exploration of Ub's technological inventions, an almost virgin field of research until now, is a breath of historical fresh air.

This book is clearly at the very top of my list of "must haves" for 2019.

By the way: between Leslie Iwerks and her outstanding 6-part documentary about Imagineering on Disney+ and now Don Iwerks and his book about Ub, what an impressively talented family! 

Spectacular auction coming up at Heritage Auctions this week.

Looking forward to this upcoming book (and to the movie itself).

As some of you know, I am in the process of researching and writing a monograph titled The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1938 - 1948). 

While doing this, I am exploring a lot of hidden Disney history nooks and crannies, including the research trip to Maine that Disney artist Maurice "Jake" Day and his friend Lester Hall organized in August 1938.

And while researching that trip I discovered the official Jake Day website which sells some of his non-Disney artwork. I have a feeling that some of you may like to know that it exists. 

We are nearing the end of the year and the "must-have" Disney history books of 2019 are becoming obvious. I will update this list in 6 weeks, but here is my initial selection. It is a highly subjective selection and I am focusing only on Disney history books (art books about Disney which are not strictly history-focused are not included for example, nor are books that pretend to be non-fiction and are really historical fiction). I hope you will enjoy this list.

Merritt, Chris; Docter, Pete: Marc Davis In His Own Words: Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks published by Disney Editions; 2019.

Kaufman, J.B.: The Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free published by Hyperion Historical Alliance Press; 2019.

Ghez, Didier: They Drew As They Pleased book series - The Hidden Art of Disney's Early Renaissance published by Chronicle Books; 2019.

Ghez, Didier: Walt's People - Volume 22 published by Theme Park Press; 2019.

Kaufman, JB; Hollifield, Jim (editors): 2019 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual published by Hyperion Historical Alliance Press; 2019.

Pierce, Todd James: The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation published by University Press of Mississippi; 2019.

Johnson, Mindy: Pencils, Pens & Brushes: A Great Girls' Guide to Disney Animation published by Disney Press; 2019.

Iger, Robert: The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company published by Random House; 2019.

Rafferty, Kevin: Magic Journey: My Fantastical Walt Disney Imagineering Career published by Disney Editions; 2019.

Sklar, Marty: Travels with Figment: On the Road in Search of Disney Dreams published by Disney Editions; 2019.

Koenig, David: The 55ers - The Pioneers Who Settled Disneyland published by Bonaventure Press; 2019.

Gurr, Bob: Legendary Imagineer: Life and Times - Disney and Beyond published by Bob Gurr; 2019.

Korkis, Jim: Disney Never Lands: Things Disney Never Made published by Theme Park Press; 2019. (And all of the other books released by Jim this year).

Great photos of Walt and Lillian visiting Colonial Williamsburg on October 14, 1944. If I am not mistaken the second person from the right is Studio executive Carl Nater. Can someone confirm this?

Thanks to François Monferran‎ for his heads up about this great video of Walt visiting the Swiss national exposition of 1964.

Walt's People - Volume 23 - An Update

You may have noticed that the release of Walt's People - Volume 23 is a little bit late. Some good news, though: I will deliver the final manuscript to the publisher on Monday and I am hoping that the book will be released by mid-December at the latest. Here is what it will contain:

Foreword: Tom Sito
The Letters of Peter Adby
Joe Collura: Sterling Holloway - A Way with Words
Edward Summer: Sterling Holloway
EMC West: Tyrus Wong
Family Circle magazine: Ken Anderson and Woolie Reitherman
Edward Summer: Woolie Reitherman
Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz: Woolie Reitherman
Michael Barrier: Les Novros, Bill Hurtz, and Paul Julian
Didier Ghez: Rudy Cataldi
Michael Broggie: Bob Harpur
Jack Hannah
Jay Horan: Joe Potter
Didier Ghez: Jeff Burke