And, in exclusivity, here are a few interior pages from Pierre Lambert's upcoming book about Peter Pan!

 

Notably Disney just released an interview with me about the making of The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures. Enjoy!

And we have lift-off!!! 

The new monograph is now available via Stuart Ng Books at this link.

Please, please support of efforts by getting your copy. I have a feeling you will not regret it!

(No date yet for the distribution in Europe, but I will keep you updated).

 

Two great books that have just been released in Denmark (in Danish). Beyond the comics, there is enough bonus content in each (history, interviews, essays, sketches and photos) to make both of them a great read for Danish speakers.

 

I can't wait to receive my copy of Alberto Beccatini's new book (in Italian) about artist Tony Strobl (famous in the Disney world for his work on Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics).
 

LOOKING FOR OTTO ENGLANDER'S PAPERS

I just learned that, before she passed away in 2008, Erna Englander, widow of Disney's story artist Otto Englander, sold his Disney papers to a collector. Sadly the name of that collector is unknown.

If you are that collector or if you know who the collector is, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com? Many thanks in advance!

And we have a cover drawing for Walt's People - Volume 27, courtesy of John Musker.

I expect the book to be released in about 6 weeks. More soon.

Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Keith Scott's long awaited book Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 have just been released. Those are critically important reference books for animation historians. I just ordered my own copies. 

This is slightly off-topic, but this new book by my friend Adam Abraham (author of When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA) is a great read. Since it contains quite a bit of material about Howard Ashman, Alan Menken and The Muppet Show, I do not think it is inappropriate to mention it here. Some of you will really enjoy it.
 

J.B. Kaufman and I had a lot of fun this weekend at D23 Expo. All advanced copies of "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" sold out. So did the 40 copies we had of "The Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free." 

There are just a few copies left of the first printing of "The Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free" available via Stuart Ng Books. If you want to get it, I would advise you to get it today. We do not know if or when there will be a second printing.

We will receive the bulk of the copies of "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" in early October. I will let you know when that happens. Thanks to all of you for your support!

This just in from Jim Korkis about his new book:

[Second Star to the Right and Straight on ‘till Morning!

 

Soar through the skies of London and Never Land with Peter Pan and his friends! Read in Walt Disney’s own words his feelings and ideas about Never Land.  Discover why it took nearly twenty years to make the animated feature even though Walt wanted it released in 1940.  Learn how to make an official Tinker Bell cocktail that delighted Disney Legend Marc Davis. 

 

For everyone who never wants to grow up even as they grow older, this book shares seventy years of stories of Disney’s version of the Peter Pan story from Walt Disney’s first encounter as a child in 1909 with a memorable theatrical stage production to the upcoming live action movie.

 

This book thanks to years of intensive original research and interviews with people involved documents information that has never before been in print.  Every page features something new that will be unfamiliar to even the most dedicated fan.

 

Who was brought into the Disney Studio to create a bell “vocabulary” for Tinker Bell?  Why is Captain Hook’s deadly hook on the wrong hand?  On what other projects did Bobby Driscoll supply the voice of Peter Pan in the 1950s?  What is the complete list of Tinker Bell peanut butter commercials and who animated them?

 

Not only is the classic Disney animated feature covered in extensive detail but there are chapters about Peter Pan merchandise, the Peter Pan presence in the Disney theme parks including Disneyland’s first flying Tinker Bells and attractions, Peter Pan in ice skating shows, Disney comics and more.

 

Chapters are devoted to other projects that were inspired by the original film including Return to Never Land, Pixie Hollow & Tinker Bell Films and Jake and the Never Land Pirates among others.  Chapters also showcase James M. Barrie’s original work and the 1921 Paramount silent film version of Barrie’s play that Walt Disney purchased for ideas.   

 

Each chapter is self-contained so there is no necessity to read this book from beginning to end but readers can skip to those chapters that hold the most interest for them.  

 

With a little faith, trust and pixie dust, this book will transport you to a magical land where dreams are born and countless adventures await the young-in-heart.]

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction by Margaret Kerry

Sir James Barrie & Peter Pan

Maude Adams

Silent Movie Version (1924)

Walt’s Thoughts on Peter Pan

Making of Disney’s Peter Pan

Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)

Live Action Reference

Character Profile:  Peter Pan

Character Profile:  Captain Hook

Character Profile: Tinker Bell

Margaret Kerry Interview

Character Profile: The Darling Family & the Lost Boys

Character Profile:  Never Land Tribe & Mermaids

Selling Peter Pan

Peter Pan in Comics

Tinker Bell Peanut Butter Commercials (1954)

Peter Pan in the Parks

Back to Never Land (1989)

Peter Pan on Ice

Return to Never Land  (2002)

Pixie Hollow & Tinker Bell Films  (2008)

Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011)

The Rest of the Story

Afterword by June Foray

About the Author

It is with immense sadness that I learned yesterday that Ralph Eggleston had passed. Ralph was a wonderful individual, an incredibly talented artist and the director of my favorite Pixar short of all time, For The Birds.

This excellent article on CartoonBrew will tell you more about a person we will all miss dearly.

 I have just updated the Disney Books Network.

VOLUNTEER NEEDED AT USC

Are you a student or a member of faculty at USC? If so, could you please contact me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

I am trying to conduct research about Mickey Mouse in the 1930s in the archives of the Japan Times, and one of the few universities that seem to grant access to their online archives is USC. 

Many thanks in advance.

My upcoming monograph, "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" is a 166-pages-long, hard-cover publication, in color and fully illustrated with more than 100 photos and drawings, most of which have never-been-seen before in book form.

Before its official release at D23 Expo this year, I thought you would enjoy a preview. Here is how the first chapter starts: 

Let’s start with legend. This is how, in February 1955, "Reader’s Digest" explained the birth of the True-Life Adventures, through the voice of cinematographer Al Milotte:

"When I had a store in Alaska, Walt Disney walked in and said, 'How would you like to make some pictures for me up there?' I said, 'What kind of pictures?' He said vaguely, 'I don’t know—just pictures. Movies. You know—mining, fishing, building roads, the development of Alaska. I guess it will be a documentary or something—you know.'

I didn’t, but we went out and shot everything that moved and sent it to him. After a while he wired, 'Too many mines. Too many roads. More animals. More Eskimos.'

I wired, 'How about fur seals?'… Walt wired, 'Shoot fur seals,' and off we went."

This is a great story, and a wonderful tall tale. More compelling than this legend is the real account of the origins of Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures, a series, which, in the late 1940s, revolutionized the art of nature cinematography as Ken Burns would reinvent the art of historical documentaries half a century later. To understand how and why the first of the True-Life Adventures, "Seal Island," was shot, produced, and released, we have to travel not only to Alaska but also to Arizona and to Maine. We have to unearth some of the abandoned True-Life Adventures, from "The Story of the Nile" to "Wild Horse Story." And we have to go back in time, to the year 1943, when Walt was starting to plan for the creative rebirth of The Walt Disney Studios after WWII.

In fact, our story begins even earlier, in the woods of Maine, in the Summer of 1938. Ten years before the completion of "Seal Island," our tale already features a team of naturalists armed with a camera.

Another exceptional book to be released (in France) in a few months. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to it.

D23 EXPO ANNOUNCEMENT

A reminder to all of you that my new monograph, "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" will be released at D23 Expo this year. We will be selling it at the Hyperion Historical Alliance-Ryman Arts booth. Due to supply chain issues, only 75 copies will be available during the Expo (and I will probably buy the first one for myself). If you want to get your copy before November / December this will be the only place to do so.

We will also be selling the remaining 40 copies of the "Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free" monograph by JB Kaufman and also all three issues of the Hyperion Historical Alliance Annuals.

Both JB and I will be at the booth the whole time to autograph our monographs and the Annual.

I am very, very proud of the new monograph and consider its content to be quite revolutionary. It is the very first time this story is being told; most of the sources I used had never been accessed before (that includes the papers of artist Holling C. Holling, the lost autobiography of Al and Elma Milotte and much more); and most of the illustrations are seen in book form for the very first time.

The first chapter deals with the genesis of the True-Life Adventures: the research trip to Maine in 1938 during the making of "Bambi." (It includes never-seen-before photographs of the trip and a first-person account of it!)

The second chapter focuses on Disney's educational projects during WWII (in a lot more detail that what we knew until now).

The third chapter covers Al and Elma Milotte's one-year-long trip to Alaska and quotes from their correspondence and recently rediscovered autobiography.

The fourth chapter gives information about the roads not taken: the early shelved True-Life Adventures.

Finally, the fifth chapter tells the story of the making of the first of the True-Life Adventures: Seal Island.

We can't wait to see you at the Expo!

Two interesting books coming up in 2023 have just been announced on Amazon:

- The Story of Disney 100 Years of Wonder

- Walt Disney's Words: Over 300 Quotes with Newly Researched and Assembled Material by the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives

This just in from Jim Korkis about his latest book:

[In the five previous volumes of this Secret Stories series of books, hundreds of tales have been shared about the storytelling elements at the Walt Disney World theme parks, the WDW resort hotels, the water parks, the shopping areas and much more. 

 

This book is designed to help Disney guests understand what they are seeing and why it is there.  This volume concludes the first fifty years of the Florida vacation destination with a hundred more similar stories to enhance the understanding and appreciation of WDW.    

 

As WDW enters its next fifty years, extreme changes are happening so quickly that it is more than challenging to try to document them.  In the blink of an eye, the Confectionery on Main Street tossed out twenty years of theming and expanded into The Chapeau hat shop next door removing all of its theming as well.

 

Epcot has begun its massive transformation into four “neighborhoods”:  World Showcase, World Celebration, World Nature and World Discovery.  Not only has the Magic Band been upgraded and made no longer complimentary for resort guests, Fast Pass has been eliminated and replaced by Genie+ and Lightning Lane. 

 

So it seemed an appropriate time to conclude the Secret Stories series of books with this volume and let others document the next fifty years. As with previous volumes, this book shares the rarely told stories of WDW including:

 

Ariel the Little Mermaid at the Magic Kingdom, the music of Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the stories of the Yeti at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Norway pavilion trolls at Epcot and more are documented.

 

The detailing in the Art of Animation resort includes subtle references to the Disney-Pixar animated feature Cars, how pin trading began at WDW, the back stories of some of the locations at Disney Springs, Grand Floridian fun facts and much more fill the following pages.

 

Things that were advertised but never built like Dick Tracy’s Chicago Land, the Buena Vista Street PeopleMover, the Epcot International Airport and the things that disappeared like the Mickey Mouse Revue, Walk Around the World Bricks, Cranium Command, Fort Wilderness Resort Railroad are in these pages.

 

The exciting thing about Walt Disney World is that it is a living entity and constantly growing so there is always something new to discover and this book will help remember many of the things before they are changed yet again.]

Awesome news: The 2021/2022 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual has now been officially released. You can order it at this link. 

As an added bonus, to thank you all for the long wait, we have decided to offer a 76% discount for a limited time only. The HHA Annual is priced at $3.58 instead of $14.99 right now.

I have a feeling you will really love the essays it contains. The one I wrote about Walt Kelly at Disney includes an interesting surprise about the Disney roots of the comic strip Pogo!!!