The documentary film "Tyrus Wong:Brushstrokes in Hollywood" has just been nominated for Indiewire's PROJECT OF THE MONTH. Please VOTE and help the filmmaker win a consultation with the Tribeca Film Institute and help give the film some valuable exposure.

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This just in from Sam Gennaway through Facebook:

[Bobby Burgess has been working on an autobiography and I found one of "his" earliest writing examples and wanted to share. This is from the Mickey Mouse Club Magazine 1956.]

Let's admit it, I am a little puzzled when it comes to reviewing a products like the newly released Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Walt Disney's Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks. As I mentioned a few times in the past there is more and more a tendency today to see two completely different types of Disney books being released: purely visual ones with little text (The Archives Series being a prime example) or in-depth ones with zero or close to zero illustratons (Walt's People or Michael Barrier's and Jim Korkis' books for example). This is, of course, linked to Disney's approval process when it comes to "art books" and books containing Disney illustrations. 

So when Disney Editions releases a new product, I always hope that if it is a purely visual book it will contain some never-seen-before documents and that otherwise it will be one of those rare exceptions (like Canemaker's or JB Kaufman's books) which will contain both in-depth research and great illustrations.

Unfortunately I am often disappointed.

But in the case of Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Walt Disney's Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks I have to forget my disappointment, since from day one the title said it all. This is a series of flipbooks, with all the limitations that this entails: one scene per flipbook, no text in the books themselves, artwork that, in some ways, we are already very familiar with.

If one accepts this concept for what it is worth, then one has to admit that the idea is beautifully executed: the scenes selected are emblematic, the packaging is beautiful, the books, while small (like sketchbooks should be) respect the quality standards of The Archives Series.

And I adored the small booklet which comes with the sketchbooks and which contains profiles of the Nine Old Men by John Canemaker, Don Hahn, Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg, John Musker, Ron Clements, Bob Kurtz and Dale Baer.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[Have you during you moving days to the USA had time to view the last offers at Van Eation Galleries ?

 

Dozens and dozens of model sheets from the 1930s - a lot of which I hadn't seen earlier:

 

http://www.vegalleries.com/newart.html]

 

I had not seen those. I have selected those three highlights. Two from Ken Anderson and one from Ferdinand Horvath.

 

 

More from Gunnar Andreassen: [In connection with the Joe Grant drawings I send you these, see enclosures.  Also found on Heritage - today.

From the description:

 Extremely Rare 1935 R90 "Mickey Mouse With The Movie Stars" Complete Set (24) - #1 on PSA Set Registry! Rank: #1 on the PSA Set Registry with a 5.08 GPA. From within every theme and era of collecting a precious few sets capture the imagination like no other. When one thinks of 1930's non-sport, the name "Mickey Mouse and the Movie Stars" is the stuff dreams are made of. Produced by Gum Inc. in 1935. Although this series has been given its very own entry in the American Card Catalog, it actually serves as the closing run of high numbers to the very popular, and very common, R89 "Mickey Mouse" edition. There is no debate about calling them the rarest of the rare, especially when the opportunity to purchase just one card generates bidding that proves to be emotionally devastating to all but the top bidder. The cards are numbered from #97 through #120 and feature a cartoon scene of Mickey Mouse mingling with an unnamed star of the silver screen. We can only guess that the change in format and rarity account for the additional ACC entry. This is the first time Heritage has had the pleasure of offering these treasured collectibles in complete set form. The fact that this presentation is the #1 place holder on the PSA Registry is the sweetest "icing on the cake" as they say. It happens in so few instances where we can offer the most enticing combination of rarity and quality. We simply can't convey in words the tremendous chance this is for the advanced hobbyist to add this 24-card complete set to their prized collection. Includes: PSA NM 7: 1 cards, #117; PSA EX-MT 6: 13 cards, #'s 98, 99 Groucho Marx, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109 Durante, 110, 113 Garbo, 114, Fairbanks, 115, 118 and 119;PSA EX 5: 4 cards, #'s 97, 101, 102 and 111; PSA VG-EX 4: 1 card, #112; PSA Good 2: 3 cards, #'s 100, 105 and 120; PSA PR 1: 1 card, #116.

Sold for $ 17.925]

Gunnar adds: [I have tried to identify the 24 filmstars on the MM cards:

 

William Powell  -  Ed Wynn  -  Joan Blondell  -  George Arliss

Mae West  -  Will Rogers  -  Jimmy Durante  -  Wallace Beery

Adolphe Menjou  -  John Barrymore (?)  -  Maurice Chevalier  -  Groucho Marx

Leslie Howard  -  Constance Bennett  -  Greta Garbo  -  Eddie Cantor

Richard Dix  -  Joe E. Brown  -  Douglas Fairbanks  -  Edward G. Robinson

Stan Laurel/Oliver Hardy  -  Lionel Barrymore  -  Harpo Marx  -  Charlie Chaplin]

Do not miss today:

- The Big Parade of '59 by Dave de Caro
- A Brief Talk with Joe Ranft by Jim Korkis

More Joe Grant drawings from The New Movie Magazine (September 1933) sent by Gunnar. I found those utterly fascinating. Do we know if other issues of the magazine contained similar drawings?

Hal Horne, of course, was the editor of the Mickey Mouse Magazine and the person who sold Walt the famous "gag file".

 Stunning material received through Gunnar Andreassen this weekend:

[Here are some early Disney drawings/caricatures by Joe Grant.  The drawings are certainly more interesting than the text.

From The New Movie Magazine (October and November 1933).]

 

 

I picked up last week on ebay this great movie catalog from the '30s and believe that some of you will enjoy seeing it. Aside from its cover, its chief interest are the original translations of quite a few early shorts. 

This story was released in Look magazine dated May 18, 1943 and I thought you might enjoy it. The size of Look means that some sections are slightly cut off due to the size of my scanner.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[A cover with Pinocchio (and Jiminy Cricket) that I can't remember having seen earlier. Screen Romance, Jan. 1940.]

Do not miss today:

- Gallery: The Amazing Character Designs of Ferdinand Horvath by Amid Amidi
- Tales From the Mouseketeers by Jim Korkis
- Souvenir Friday- Heath Biography of Walt Disney on Stuff from the Park

Moving is not always easy, especially when you have to carry so many books, magazines and DVDs. But it has its rewards, like finding forgotten gems, like this great article by Dave Smith released in the February 1985 issue of Starlog.

Enjoy!

The situation at home is looking a lot more stable.

Happy New Year to all of you! Come back tomorrow for the first gift of the year, which will come on a yellow brick road.

Xmas 1933 in Spain. A bit scary...

This DVD has just been released and I will definitely pick it up right away, if only because it contains a never-released-before Disney WWII short, but more importantly because of the 20-minute long short about the making of films at the First Motion Picture Unit, including the animation unit.

This book is clearly not a "must-have" but if you have enjoyed the others in the series you will want to pick it up when it is released in a few weeks.

Do not miss today:

- D23′s From the Archives: Snow White Oddities—Part 1 by Jim Fanning
- D23′s From the Archives: Walt Disney’s In Search of the Castaways by Jim Fanning
- Secrets of the Santa Cartoons by Jim Korkis
- The First Disneyland Christmas Parade by Jim Korkis
- Everybody loves a parade . . . by David Lesjak
- Yoo Hoo! Merry Christmas Mouse Club members! by David Lesjak
- Merry Christmas everyone! by David Lesjak
- Designing Fantasyland – Dragon Lair by Maxime Bogaert
- Creating Disney Magic – California Grill Restaurant by Maxime Bogaert

I love this homage to Tintin by Italian artist Corrado Mastantuono and thought you would too.

Courtesy of Garry Apgar and King Features Syndicate (1939).

Has anyone picked up this new book? Is it any good?

What are the best Disney history books of 2012? This year's list is a long one (which is good news) and includes for the first time a book in Italian (although, had I been aware of it at the time, the book Eccetto Topolino by Fabio Gadducci, Leonardo Gori and Sergio Lama would have been part of my 2011 list).

1. JB Kaufman, The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs published by Weldon Owen; 2012.

2. Rolly Crump and Jeff Heimbuch, It's Kind of a Cute Story published by Bamboo Forest Publishing; 2012.

3. Bob Gurr, Design: Just for Fun published by Ape Pen Publishing; 2012.

4. Jim Korkis, Who's Afraid of the Song of the South? and Other Forbidden Disney Stories published by Theme Park Press; 2012.

5. David Gerstein (editor): Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "House Of The Seven Haunts!" and Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "High Noon at Inferno Gulch" published by Fantagraphics Books; 2012.

6. Daniel Handke and Vanessa Hunt, Poster Art of the Disney Parks published by Disney Editions; 2012.

7. Ron Schneider, From Dreamer to Dreamfinder: A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behind a Name Tag published by Bamboo Forest Publishing; 2012.

8. Luca Boshi, Leonardo Gori, Andrea Sani, and Alberto Becattini, I Disney Italiani published by NPE; 2012.

I need your help once again: Would anyone have access to the article Fairyland Goes to Hollywood: An Interview with Leigh Harline released in the Pacific Coast Musician magazine from 20 November 1937? If so, could you email me a copy at didier.ghez@gmail.com? Thanks in advance for your help.

Just announced on Amazon...

It's Diane Disney Miller's birthday today and I thought a good way to celebrate would be by releasing the text of this March 1934 article from Motion Picture magazine. Enjoy!

[Walt Presents Cigars

WALT DISNEY, the papa of Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the Three Little Pigs, has just become the papa of a little Disney, his first child. With toy shops featuring his creations, and nursery wallpaper and furniture and cushions and blankets and rugs showing the amazing adventures of his little cartoon folk, it seems only fair that Walt, himself, should have a little girl to share in all the joy he has created for the children of the world.

He was attending a dinner at which he was being awarded a medal for distinguished service to childhood when he suddenly grabbed his coat and dashed out—to the hospital where his wife (the former Lillian Bounds of Lewiston, Idaho) had just given birth to Dianne [sic] Marie Disney. The dinner party was aghast. But when they heard the reason for all the hurry, all was forgiven.]

I was excited to find out this week that my good friend and fellow Disney historian JB Kaufman had just launched his web site.

Unfortunately Roger Broggie Jr. passed away.

If you enjoyed all of Jim Korkis' previous books and articles, you will LOVE Who's Afraid of Song of the South? This is because not only does Jim give us what makes the Korkis brand famous: excellent stories, great research, fun read, unconventional subject matters (and this book is full of those since it deals with various "controversial" Disney projects, aside from the making of Song of the South) but also because Jim benefited this time around from the profesional editing work of publisher Bob McLain who helps make the book even more readable.

I adore Song of the South and had always wanted to read a good in-depth "making of". Jim's very long essay on the subject does the trick beautifully and this is definitely a must-have.

My only regret: I wish Jim would start including a section listing his sources in a more academic way. The bibliography and the notes are usually the sections I check first when reading a Disney history book and I miss those in Jim's books. But this is just me and for most readers this will only be a very small drawback.

My advice: run to get yourself this great Xmas gift.