This just in from Amidi Amidi:
- New Biography Of Iconoclast Disney Director And Animator Ward Kimball To Be Published In 2026
Interesting discoveries about Disney history, vintage Disneyana, Disney artwork, the Walt's People book series, and new books about Disney.
- New Biography Of Iconoclast Disney Director And Animator Ward Kimball To Be Published In 2026
Two excellent books to highlight today. One released last week and one which will be released tomorrow:
Animating the Victorians: Disney's Literary History: The author conducted some research at the Disney Archives about Disney's early plans for Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and it shows. There is very good new material in this volume.
After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America's Favorite Media Company: A must-read. This will probably be one of the best Disney history books of the year.
- Welcome Aboard: A Celebration of Walt Disney's Trains from The Walt Disney Family Museum
Written by Gerald Scarfe himself, this is a massive volume that is filled from cover to cover with never-seen-before pieces of artwork and marvelous tales about their creation.
It is one of the very best Disney art books I have seen in years and a clear must-have from my standpoint.
Way to go Insight Editions!
Walt’s People: Volume 30 features appearances by SHARON BAIRD remembering ANNETTE FUNICELLO, CARL BARKS, BILL BERG, EDIE CARHART, CLAUDE COATS, WILL EYERSON, HAROLD HELVENSTON, RAY JACOBS, PHYLLIS LAMBERTSON-JACOBSEN, BILL SHEPARD, RUTHIE TOMPSON and PETER WOODS.
Among the hundreds of stories in this volume: Storyman RALPH WRIGHT remembers how he pitched a sequence for Bambi that featured an anthill and which developed into a large series of highly creative storyboards.
Director DAVID SWIFT recalls how Walt Disney called him at home and admitted he cried after reading his script for Pollyanna.
Imagineer, CHRIS BROWN gives a fascinating account of life and work in the Show/Ride Mechanical Engineering Department at WED (now Walt Disney Imagineering).
TREVOR BRYANT explains how he helped set up Walt Disney Imagineering's Research and Development Department.