New book to be released in June. I am so looking forward to this!

There is just something about concept art from Disney and Pixar movies that I find utterly fascinating. The way characters and backgrounds evolve from sketches to reality never ceases to amaze me even after all these years studying the art of animation.

I love seeing new designs come to life and I really enjoyed what I saw in Chronicle Books new book, The Art of Hoppers.

There is something that reminds me of Walt Disney's Beaver Valley and something that is just brand new and exciting. 

I hope the movie will do extremely well at the box office. As to the art book, I already cherish it. 

 

My good friend and fellow Disney historian Nunziante Valoroso is trying to locate the first dubbed version of Cinderella in Italian and would appreciate any help that you could provide. (Email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com if you have any info about this.)

Here is what he told me:

[Here are the things we know on the first Italian dubbing of Cinderella

Written by Roberto de Leonardis and directed by Mario Almirante it was recorded in Rome at CDC (Compagnia doppiatori Cinematografici)

Among the voices were Tina Lattanzi (The Queen in 1938 dubbing of Snow White), Mario Besesti (Italian voice of Stromboli in Pinocchio) and Stefano Sibaldi (narrator in Peter and the Wolf and in many Disney documentaries and voice of Timothy Mouse in Dumbo)

Cinderella had the voice of Giuliana Maroni (famous character dubbing actress) and for the songs of Deddi Savagnone .

This dubbing was used only for first edition of 1950 and the reissue of 1958. The following reissue of 1967 would have a new dubbing, always made by Roberto de Leonardis that is still used, also on Disney+.

The funny thing is that Disneyland records issued a storyteller LP of Cinderella in 1965  with this first dubbing and never changed it, reprinting it also on CD in the 1990’s! So we, as children, went to cinemas and listened to the 1967 voices then, at home, listened to the old dubbing (Italian storyteller records were generally made recording music and dialogue directly from our local soundtrack)

We have always had in Italy the curiosity to listen to the COMPLETE first Italian dubbing… (The LP contained only 45 minutes, some clips were used in “Disneyland” episodes dubbed BEFORE 1967)

Do you think something could be done? ]

 My new book is now available via Stuart Ng Books. Hurrah!

I am very impressed by this new book released by The Old Mill Press. The author did his homework beautifully and I discovered around 20 photos of Walt which I had not seen before.

A must-have for Disney parks enthusiasts.

If you love the Donald Duck comic stories created by Carl Barks (who doesn't?) and want to read them in the format that they deserve (the massive Taschen format) then this new book is definitely for you.

And it comes with an introduction that my friend Jim Fanning, which, as always, is a real joy to read.

Be warned though... you will need a bigger bookshelf or even a bigger house to store this gigantic volume.

Once again Taschen outdid themselves.

I just received my copy of Tim Foster's new book, Spaceship Earth--The Definitive History. Once again Tim did a wonderful job with this project without access to the Disney Archives or the WDI Archives. I am really, really glad to own this book.

Is this "The Definitive History"? It is not. For this we will have to get access to the WDI archives and to read the memos and other documents related to the creation and construction of the attraction.

But is this book a marvelously detailed starting point through which I learned a lot? The answer is an unconditional "yes." Way to go Tim!