Fun and very unusual postcard just found on ebay. Unfortunately the price went too high for me to pick it up.

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[From Ain't It Cool News: I have never seen this color SOTS behind the scenes shot before....you might want to post it on your site.]

This upcoming book intrigued me and I decided to send its author a few questions.

Didier Ghez: When and why did you decide to write this book?

Mark Arnold: I had the idea for quite awhile because of my frustrations with Leonard Maltin's "The Disney Films" and where it concluded. He kept updating his book, but gave little coverage to anything post-Walt, only going into late 1967. I discovered that there were many other projects that Walt was involved with that were released in 1968 and many even later than that. Also, many projects that Walt had nothing to do with were and are still worthy of the name Disney.
I was born in 1966 on the exact same day and year that Walt Disney died. The Disney of the 1970s and 1980s are what I grew up with. Walt Disney was just a founder, and I didn't identify with what he was doing, except when they reissued older films. I identified with what was currently going on, and I enjoyed most of it, but today this period is dismissed as being bad and unwatchable. Not true.
It was after my two-volume book "If You're Cracked, You're Happy: The History of Cracked Mazagine" that I was searching for another book to write and started writing "Frozen in Ice" even before I had a publishing agreement figuring I would get one in time, and I did.

DG: Could you describe the kind of research you conducted in order to write it?

MA: Of course, the Maltin book, plus many other books released over the years as well as viewing all 75+ films that were released during the period covered in the book. I also read my back issues of "Disney News" and read other books and saw videos containing interviews with the stars of the films as well as obtaining facts from various online sources such as IMDB. I also visited the Walt Disney Family Museum to see if they had any more information.

DG: Did you spend time interviewing some of the people who worked at the Studio and at WED at the time?

MA: I was initially going to do formal interviews like I did with my other books, but found that there were so many interviews and commentaries in existence, most of that work was already done for me. I have met many Disney stars over the years and many times they repeated the same stories I read or heard in other interviews. I didn't think that the living stars would shed any new light on what they've already said elsewhere by me interviewing them again. To most Disney stars, it was a job and as such they have limited memories about working there. Also, many of the stars of the period have now passed away as Disney tended to hire aging actors who couldn't get work elsewhere. It wasn't considered glamorous to be working on a Disney movie to many stars at that time.
The stars that I have met and talked about Disney with include Dick Van Patten, Tim Conway, Don Pedro Colley, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, Ernest Borgnine and Jon Provost.
The only interview I really wanted to get was with Ron Miller. I did contact him through the Museum and through his winery, but my requests fell on deaf ears. I get the impression that he didn't want to relive the years that he was in charge very much, since the general opinion is that he helped ruin the studio, which isn't true.

DG: What are the main chapters of the book?

MA: Mainly it is set up like the Maltin book, but with one difference. I have a chapter covering each year. For instance, I'll cover 1968 and talk about everything that happened to Disney in that year including TV, comic books, records, theme parks, etc. and even include what didn't get released. Then I cover in detail as Maltin did, each film that came out that year. So, still using 1968 as an example, that includes "Blackbeard's Ghost", "The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band", "Never a Dull Moment", "The Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit" and "The Love Bug". For each film I write a detailed synopsis and then write a short review and include comments by the stars or interesting details about the production. Then, I start over again with 1969, going all the way up to 1985.
The reason I stopped at 1985 is that Disney as a company really changed from what it was once Michael Eisner took over in 1984. It was already in flux, but Eisner really dramatically changed it to the direction it is today and laid off the majority of any connections to the past. At this point, there's no going back. Disney is just too big. It is hard to believe there was a time where Disney wasn't doing too well and almost got bought out. I discuss all of this in detail.

DG: What are the key discoveries Disney historians and scholars can expect if they pick up this book?

MA: That the years 1966-1985 weren't as bad as people remember for Disney. They did some memorable stuff like "The Love Bug", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and "Freaky Friday" and even "Tron".  Sure, they had some doggy films, but they did also when Walt was alive and certainly after Eisner took over. In fact, there's probably more of them since Disney releases so much more stuff nowadays.
The book is 550 pages and has photo images of movie posters, and is designed to be a thorough description of the history of the period from 1966-1985.
After I'm done, I will resume work on my book about DePatie-Freleng (Pink Panther).

This just in from Ed Ovalle from the Walt Disney Archives:

[The picture you recently purchased of Walt and the man who was a member of the Mickey Mouse all-cartoonist band does not appear to be Errol Gray as Mark Sonntag thought.
I believe that it could be James (Jamie) Escalante. We have a picture of the band and Errol Gray is wearing an entirely different uniform and the person sitting next to him wearing the grenadier hat and looks like James (Jamie) Escalante.
I have even seen a website that is maintained by Errol Gray's son who has the same picture and identifies the person as his father, Errol Gray.

The only problem is our personnel card lists James Escalante start date as 1/1939. In any case, I feel confident that the person next to Walt is not Errol Gray.]

Help Needed - Walt's People - Volume 13

Could any of you who already received his or her copy of Walt's People - Volume 13 write a review on Amazon? This would help tremendously.

An individual named "A. Gass" who has clearly never read any of the volumes of the series, let alone Volume 13 (and whom I do not know), is on a personal vendetta against me and has posted a terrible review (based on thin air) for two of my books.

Not much I can do about the review of the French edition of Disneyland Paris - From Sketch to Reality, but it would be great to counterbalance things when it comes to Walt's People.

Overall the two reviews made me smile. The one about the Disneyland Paris book especially. I love the part about "misquotes." Since I only quote from interviews I conducted myself at the time, and since no one but me had access to these interviews until now, that element of the "review" was particularly hilarious.

Anyway, I would love to get your help on this, if at all possible.

 

The Art of the Disney Golden Books by Charles Solomon is now available on pre-order on Amazon. I can't wait to read that upcoming book!

This just in:

[DISNEY LEGEND FLOYD NORMAN WILL BE SIGNING HIS NEW BOOK, “ANIMATED LIFE”
AT WALT’S BARN ON AUGUST 18, 2013

A self-proclaimed cartoonist, Floyd Norman has worked in motion pictures, television, comic books and strips. He’s been doing this longer than most people have been alive.

He wrote the syndicated Mickey Mouse strip and worked as an animator and story artist on at least a dozen feature animated films for both Walt Disney Studio and Pixar Animation Studios. Though retired, Floyd continues to work as a consultant for the Walt Disney Company and is currently producing a series of videos helping promote the Disney legacy. He has also developed video games and toys for Disney Consumer Products simply because he wants to play with them.

Floyd’s latest project takes him outside the Disney Company. He’s writing Cartoon Network’s popular new show, “The Annoying Orange.”

Walt’s Barn is located at 5202 Zoo Dr. in Griffith Park. 
On August 18, 2013 Walt’s Barn will be open 11:00am - 3:00pm.]

This just in from Are Myklebust:

[On this website you will find what supposing is Walt Disney’s Ex Libris (or bookplate):

http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com/2006/09/cartoonists-wanted.html

Is it genuine?
And if so, when did he start to use it?

See also the Ex Libris belonging to Frieda and Remus Harris - the grandson of Joel Chandler Harris!]

Weird photo found on the web last week. No idea who the artist is.

The Disney Books Network was updated yesterday. Apologies for this huge delay between updates. I had serious issues with internet at home over the last 6 months (those issues will be solved when we move to a new home in Coral Gables around October).

As you probably know by now I am finalizing a book titled Disney's Grand Tour about Walt's trip to Europe in 1935.

There is still one possible treasure trove which I am trying to access (a document in German on microfilm stored in Tennessee!) but aside from this I am just researching a few small details which will be mentioned in the endnotes.

This post focuses on one of those small details.

Around the time when Walt was in the UK, music producer John Watt organized a series of programs for the BBC featuring music inspired by the Disney shorts.

What I just found out this weekend is that a series of recordings were released at the time by Decca Records. I believe there were 6 discs in the series, titled Songs Fom the Films - Walt Disney Impressions:

Number 1: Three Little Pigs - F5312
Number 2: Grasshopper and the Ants - F5462
Number 3 or Number 4: Meet Mickey Mouse - F5647
Number 5: Lullaby Land - F5703
Number 6: Old King Cole - F5655

As you can see I am still missing one title. Could anyone help?

By the way, this page contains some great information about Disney & The Vinyl Record.

Gunnar Andreassen notes that the "mysterious" woman on the photo of Walt in London which I posted last week is most certainly Majorie Sewell Bowers, Walt's niece.

[The caption of this Getty Image from the same trip reads: "1952: American cartoonist and filmmaker, Walt Disney (1901 - 1966) with his wife and two daughters, Sharon and Diane and Karin Bergstrom, on board a ship." (It looks like Diane Disney and Karin Bergstrom were "classmates":  University of Southern California - see El Rodeo Yearbook 1952, link here http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/usc/1952/Page_200.html) And in The Cute Walt Story That Never Was by Jim Korkis, we read: "In 1952, Walt took five women to Europe—Mrs. Disney, the daughters, a niece and a friend of Diane’s. On this trip he taught them to reach for what they wanted."]

If you own the book It's Kind of a Cute Story (and I am convinced that most of you do, by now), you will probably want to pick up the CD titled More Cute Stories, with even more memorries by Rolly Crump. I just did.

 This just in from Gunnar Andreassen.

 

Pure gold on Cartoon Brew this morning with never-released-before photos of the Three Caballeros wrap party!

Todd Pierce and I just picked up this great photo on ebay. I have to admit that it threw me off. Walt is wearing a French grenadier's "shako" and the young man on his right seems to be wearing either the uniform of Napoleon's French grenadiers or, more likely, the uniform of the Italian Granateri di Sardegna (basically some Italian grenadiers). So I thought Walt might have been in a fun fair or in Europe.

In reality, both Becky Cline and David Lesjak confirmed that this photo was taken during an RKO convention which took place at the Studio in 1936.

Do not miss today:

- Disney Las Vegas – The Euro Disney Hotel That Never Was on Designing Disney
- Walt's Wife Talks About EPCOT Center on Imagineerding
- Pedro and Planes by Jim Korkis
- Amazing LIFE Magazine Pictures of Disneyland on Opening Day ! - Part Two : Tomorrowland by Alain Littaye
- Amazing LIFE Magazine Pictures of Disneyland on Opening Day ! - Part One : Main Street U.S.A & Fantasyland by Alain Littaye

Walt's People - Volume 13 released!

I have the pleasure to announce that Walt's People - Volume 13 has been released!

Once again this is a huge volume (594 pages). It looks as if I am still suffering from the "JK Rowling syndrom" :-)

Quite a few elements are new this time around: I have a new, extremely professional publisher, Theme Park Press, run by Bob McLain. Working with Bob is such a pleasure that I am hoping to release a lot of my upcoming books (not just the Walt's People book series) through Theme Park Press. (The Theme Park Press website will launch a bit later this month). 

Walt's People - Volume 13 also features a newly formatted interior, an improved cover design, stringent editing thanks to Bob.

And better still, the cover price is lower ($19.95, before Amazon's discount).

The Kindle and other digital versions will be available by next week.

[Note: If you are one of the contributors of this new volume, you should receive your copy of the book at some point in September.]

I just love those Japanese matchbox covers from the '30s! They are so ugly that they appear to be beautiful :-)

Interesting photo of Walt, found on the site of the English Science & Society Picture Library. According to the caption it was shot on July 7, 1952 at a hotel in London by photographer A. Tanner. The woman on the left is supposed to be Walt's secretary. Is this Dolores Voght? Of course the other women on the photo (from left to right) are Diane, Sharon and Lillian.

Seen on ebay recently. Not sure what the story is when it comes to this student magazine cover, but I love it.

Do not miss today:

- HEARTS OR TARTS~The Alice in Wonderland Story Conundrum... by Paul F. Anderson
- Storybook Land Restoration by Dave de Caro
- Walt Disney, P.L. Travers and the Battle Over Mary Poppins: Part Two by Jim Korkis
- Animation Anecdotes #121 by Jim Korkis

This photo just in from Julie Svendsen:

[My mom is the woman shown wearing the scarf and the faux fur coat on the right.  I don't know who the other women are but I'm guessing that one of them is Hyacinth (Hycie as she was known to those familiar to her), the longtime flight attendant on the Gulfstream.  Maybe you know the pilot's name and the name of the other lady?]

I don't know who the other lady is, but I should know the name of the pilot. I forgot though, but I am sure one of you will remind us.

The more I hear about The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream the more exciting it sounds. Let's hope it does not disappoint.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by Tim Callaway from The Mouse Castle. In the podcast which Tim just released I discuss the Walt's People project, the upcoming book Disney's Grand Tour and several other Disney History related matters. Enjoy!

I learned with great sadness a few minutes ago of the passing of Disney artist Ron Dias, this morning at 7.30.

I just can't resist stories about early Mickey Mouse costumes and events. Those two articles are simply great and put a huge smile on my face (Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the heads up):

- A Rat Patrol Was Upon Us!
- Follow-Up To Yesterday ...

The latest issues of Tomart's Disneyana Update and Disney Twenty-Three have just been released. I love the article about vintage Norwegian tobacco cards in the Tomart's and am looking forward to the articles about Marty Sklar and about Roger Rabbit in Disney Twenty-Three.

Do not miss today:

- Herb Ryman and Family Memories one Daveland
- Home Movies of the Disney Studio (1962) by Todd James Pierce 
- UPDATE: The Disneyland Monorail That Almost Was by Todd James Pierce
- Walt Disney, P.L. Travers, and the Battle Over Mary Poppins - Part One by Jim Korkis

Lots and lots of new projects by Jim Korkis to come in the next few weeks, starting with this new initiative from Theme Park Press for Kindle addicts. The Vault of Walt Sampler is a cheap way to get a taste of some of Jim's best stories.

Interesting photo found on ebay last week. The caption just says "March 1964."

One of then most important Disney History books to be released in 2014, Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit by Garry Apgar, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

I have just spent a large part of this weekend reading an advance copy of Marty Sklar's autobiography, Dream It! Do It!

This is a must-have, of course, especially if you are intested in the history of the Disney parks from the New York 1964 World's Fair to Hong Kong Disneyland.

This is also a very problematic book, unfortunately, for many reasons. The main one is that the content is way too sketchy. Granted, it would have taken a minimum of ten volumes of the same size for Marty to recount more than 50 years working for Disney, and one is bound to be disappointed by how short the book is. But what makes things much worse are two huge issues in the book:

- Marty spends a lot of time re-explaining many facts that are obvious to anyone who has read even the most basic books about the history of the Disney parks and reminding us of well-known stories told often already.

- What is even worse, Marty quotes at length (and I really mean at length), in several chapters, from autobiographies of various of his colleagues, including Jack Lindquist, Michael Eisner, John Hench, etc. To say that this is puzzling would be an understatement. (On a side note, in the Disneyland Paris section of the book, Marty quotes from an interview which I conducted more than 10 years ago with Tom Morris and introduces that quote as "Tom Morris speaking to D23" - since the quote was used in my recent article about DLP in Disney Twenty-Three this is technically correct but nonetheless frustrating.)

Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few new stories in the book, especially in the World's Fair and EPCOT sections, and I was pleasantly surprised by how candid Marty was when it comes to discussing some of the politics between Dick Nunis and him, or Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris.  And the three photo sections are pure delight.

I hope that Marty will not consider this book as his final contribution to Disney History but will soon grant an interview to one or to several historians equipped to conduct lengthy oral histories with him (even if those interviews were to be released only "after Marty.")

If the book serves as a starting point, then it will serve its purpose well.

Jerry Beck's website, Cartoon Research, is definitely worth checking every day. I have now added it to the permanent links on the right.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[Here's another caricature, by Henry Major - probably not one of his best - published in a book "Hollywood", 1938.]

Do not miss today:

- JOURNAL OF A DISNEY HISTORIAN~The Disneyland Construction Edition by Paul F. Anderson
- DHI Podcast Goes Live! by Todd James Pierce
- Beyond Lincoln - Walt’s Vision for Animatronics in 1965 by Todd James Pierce
- Splash Mountain Double Anniversary by Jim Korkis

Snow White - Book Chapter

As you know, last year I rated JB Kaufman's book about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the best Disney History book of 2012. At the time, I mentioned that we can almost never exhaust a subject matter when it comes to Disney History. I have just become aware of the fascinating research conducted by music composer David Johnson about Snow White. David conducted over the years interviews with dozens of the artists who worked on the movie, some of whom he was the only one to locate. I had a chance to read the manuscript which came out of that research and would love to see it in print at some point. One can always dream.

In the meantime, David has allowed me to offer the chapter about Ink and Paint for download on the Disney History Blog. Enjoy!