Between the fact that the cover is (to say the least) unremarkable and that the title is almost the same as that of Pat Williams's previous book (How to Be like Walt) I totally missed Lead Like Walt when it was released last year.

Pat Williams's first book is excellent and I am therefore grateful to my friend and fellow Disney historian Jim Korkis for bringing this latest volume to my attention. I just ordered a copy.

I am taking a deep dive into the history of Walt's trips to Ireland in 1946, 1949, and 1959, and in the process I stumbled upon this photo that I had never seen before. It was taken in Cork, on November 30, 1946.

Some wonderful footage of Walt visiting Ireland. (Thanks to Tim O'Day for the heads up.)

I have to admit that I am very much looking forward to receiving the new issue of the Disney Twenty-Three magazine!

An updated version of The Art of Pixar? Count me in. (Thanks to David Peake for the heads up).

John Musker just created this wonderful cover drawing for Walt's People - Volume 24, and I have finally integrated all the edits in the manuscript of this new volume. Which means that it should be released in just a few weeks. Some fascinating content in there! More soon.

David Peake just attracted my attention to the fact that Charles Solomon's upcoming book The Disney Princess: A Celebration of Art and Creativity is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

This great piece of news just in from Stuart Ng:

[Good news! Our distributor in France received the shipment last week and has added The Making of Walt Disney's Fun & Fancy Free to his website.

He can ship orders anywhere in Europe or the UK for a fraction of shipping from the US.]

If you are interested in getting this fascinating monograph, order now: this is a limited edition.

I WAS NOT IGNORING YOU

Dear all: I just realized that many of you had commented on previous posts but that I never saw your comments. It turns out that all of them were sent by Blogger to the spam folder. I figured that readers were not longer commenting on blogs, just on Facebook. I just realized that I was wrong.

I am starting to catch up on all your comments, but it will take me weeks to publish all of them, and of course many are now obsolete.

Sincere apologies to all of you.

ITALIAN CHALLENGE

This screenshot comes from an Italian newsreel about the February 1933 carnival of Viareggio in Italy.

Can anyone (especially one of our Italian readers) help me locate a good, high resolution photo of this float in an Italian photo archive or in an Italian magazine? (I am not even sure that one exists, of course.)

If so, please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com

Do any of you have access to a large amount of 1930s issues of the rare magazine Playthings? 

If so, could you send me a note at didier.ghez@gmail.com? I need your help with some research. Many thanks in advance.

This just in from Leonard Maltin:

[I’ve been sorting and filing movie stills and came upon this shot which I thought I’d send along in case you haven’t seen it: it’s Jack Benny and his wife Mary Livingstone with their friends George Burns and Gracie Allen on the red carpet at the Carthay Circle Theatre for the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was published in a fan magazine at the time.]

Do not miss today: A Tale of Two Gerties by John Canemaker.

Exciting news:

- Stay at Home!: Explore inside the Walt Disney archives virtually

Worth watching this morning. Thanks to Michael Goldberg for the heads up.

Not a book about Disney, of course, but one that animation historians are looking forward to.

I am looking forward to this new series coming up in May on Disney+.

The Broadway show As Thousands Cheer (music and lyrics by Irving Berlin) opened on September 30, 1933 and closed on September 8, 1934 after 400 performances. It included a scene called "The Funnies" which featured Mickey Mouse and the Three Little Pigs. Hence this drawing by Al Hirschfeld.

I have seen one photo of that scene in the past and am currently looking for a high resolution version of it.

And here is some good news for a change: the 6th and last volume of my They Drew as They Pleased - The Hidden Art of Disney book series is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

A friend of mine from New York just reminded me that Edith Piaf had worked for Disney, singing the song of Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet in the French version of Make Mine Music.

Would anyone of you know how to get a hold of a high resolution version of one of the French posters of Make Mine Music? If so, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

And here is a link to Edith Piaf singing Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet.