I have to admit that am "tickled to death" (as my good friend Joe Campana would say) by the four new Disney-related Italian books I just received today: One about the late Disney scholar Luca Boschi (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person about 25 years ago in Lucca, Italy), two about Disney comic artist Giorgio Cavazzano and one about Harvey Eisenberg by my friend Alberto Becattini. 

 

VOLUNTEER NEEDED NEAR SYRACUSE

I am still looking for a volunteer near Syracuse University to conduct some Disney-related research there.

If you are willing to help, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com? (I thought I had found a volunteer but for some reason that person is now ghosting me.)

Sad news:

Disney Legend Bill ‘Sully’ Sullivan Passes Away

I just received an advance copy of Directing at Disney, the long-awaited book by Pete Docter and Don Peri about Disney directors. I had high hopes for the book and I was not disappointed.

In fact, I was blown away. This is a game-changer and a book that every single one of us Disney history enthusiasts must have on our shelves.

It is full from cover to cover of new information, and a very large amount of the illustrations have never been seen before.

Pete and Don are both outstanding Disney historians -- Yes, believe it or not, Pete is not just an amazing director and Pixar's Chief Creative Officer, he is also an accomplished Disney historian!!! And both of them did their homework and then some.

This is a book you will want to pre-order right now if you have not already done so. 

RELEASED!!! -- Walt Disney and El Grupo in Latin America

It is with utter delight that we can finally announce that our new monograph, "Walt Disney and El Grupo in Latin America" has finally been released and can be ordered via Stuart Ng Books.

Walt Disney and El Grupo in Latin America is a 230-page long, full-color, hard-cover volume that contains more than 240 never-seen-before photographs and documents related to the seminal 1941 two-and-a-half-months trip to Latin America. It is the definite day-by-day account of the trip, complete with maps and other eye-candy.

If you love Disney history, I am convinced that you will love this new publication.

It is the third installment in the Hyperion Historical Alliance Press monograph series. The print run is very limited so I would encourage you to get your copy ASAP.

We will also have a booth at D23 where you will be able to buy all our publications and get them autographed.

This is really, really exciting!

For those of you who would like to find out about the publications of the Hyperion Historical Alliance Press (including mine), I would recommend that you start following ASAP the new Hyperion Historical Alliance Press Facebook group that we have just created. There is already some fun material in there and a lot more to come next week.

For various reasons I have not been to a cinema since Oppenheimer, but I am definitely planning to catch "Inside Out 2" on the silver screen. I am very much looking forward to this, in fact.

The new book The Art of Inside Out 2 released by Chronicle Books reinforces my eagerness to watch the upcoming movie. I love the design of the new characters and the concept artwork is gorgeous.

Definitely worth adding to your library.

Shaun Jex was kind enough to send me a copy of his book Main Street Gossip, which collects fun facts about many Disney characters and I wanted to mention its existence here.

If you enjoy Jim Korkis' books you will probably like this one. It is a light read for casual Disney fans. I am not sure how Jex decided which characters to include and which ones to leave out. The result does not move the needle in terms of Disney history (that was never the goal) but is a fun read nonetheless. 
 

Coming up soon!

Very sad news:

- Remembering Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman

 Coming up soon.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by Dave Lee and really enjoyed that program / podcast. You can listen to it and watch it at this link.

And we have liftoff! After months of hard work, Walt’s People: Volume 29 has just been released.

This volume features the interviews conducted by historian Ross Care with Ken Anderson, Art Babbitt, Lee and Mary Blair, Claude Coats, Ken Darby, Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle, Gerry Geronimi, Jack Hannah, Duck Huemer, Wilfred Jackson, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, Bill Peet, Frank Thomas, and Judge Whitaker.

Please buy it as soon as you can. I really hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. 

From October 10 to November 14, 1931 Walt and Lillian Disney embarked on a vacation that took them to the Grand Canyon, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, Washington D.C., Miami and Cuba. They sailed back home on the liner California by way of the Panama Canal. While in Kansas City, Walt received the Legion of Honor from the Order of De Molay. 

In both St. Louis and Washington D.C. he visited the local zoo. This photo and this article are related to his visit to Washington. Enjoy!

 

I don't yet know how to order this new book / catalog, but I definitely will pick up a copy!

I was very much looking forward to the biography of the voice of Cruella De Vil, Betty Lou Gerson. Unfortunately, while the author means well and while her book is clearly a labor of love, I learned absolutely nothing new about Lou Gerson's work for Disney, which is very disappointing and which means that I cannot in good conscience recommend this book. 

G. Michael Dobbs' new book has just been released. Not Disney-related but I know that all of you will want to know about it, hence this post.

 Do not miss this great article about Lucas Nine about Cesar Civita on CartoonResearch.

 Looking forward to reading this new book by my friend Michael Lyons.

 Spectacular Disney auctions coming up soon on Heritage.

 Michael Crawford has started uploading his collection of Disney-related documents on the Internet Archive. Some wonderful stuff in there at this link.

Author Joe Gallagher was kind enough to send me a copy of his new book A Walking Tour of the Magic Kingdom. Like Tim Foster's books it is an excellent entry point to Disney history for casual Disney enthusiasts. Beautifully illustrated, it is divided into three sections:

"Tours" (of the various lands), "Facts by Year" (my favorite section) and "Slightly Impossible Quiz" (to test your knowledge of course).

Again, not a book for historians but a fantastic gift for casual fans who want to know a lot more. I am glad to own a copy.

 

For those of you who have friends and family who love Disney history and want to learn more without becoming Disney historians... for the casual Disney fans who want to discover a little more about the history of the parks while enjoying beautiful Disney-related illustrations... I have something for you:

I just discovered the magazine "Celebrations" as well as the books written by Tim Foster and really liked them. Like books by my good friend Jim Fanning they provide the perfect introduction to Disney magic. I wish these books had been available when I was a kid or a teenager starting to learn about the wonderful world of Disney!

 

At long last! This is the book about Disney history I have been waiting for more than 30 years. Stephen Anderson's year-by-year account of the period between Walt Disney's death and the Renaissance of Disney animation is researched with care, visually striking, thoroughly entertaining, and a page-turner to boot. Thanks to this masterful volume, light is finally shining bright on those years full of drama and promise known to some as Disney's "dark ages.”

The Indigogo campaign is worth supporting if you can do so.
 

I can't wait to put my hands on the upcoming book Walt Disney Treasures: Personal Art and Artifacts from The Walt Disney Family Museum which is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

(The above is Walt's hat cast in bronze and gifted to Lilly.)

Do not miss this post today:

- Firehouse Five and the Cinderella Surprise

Reposting this

I suspect that one of you picked up those exceptional documents pertaining to Bill Tytla in the the auction by Heritage back in December. 

If that is the case, could you please, please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com? I would love to get access to some of the info they contain and have some incentives that you may like to motivate you. Thanks in advance.

 

Most of you may already be aware of this but I just realized that the new Disney documentary, "Nai Nai & Wai Po," which has been nominated for the Academy Awards has been officially released by Disney under the "People and Places" header.

I find this to be absolutely fascinating.

 Do not miss Kamden Spies's wonderful article om CartoonResearch, "Mort Walker’s Bambi!"

I am scanning the Larry Lansburgh collection as part of the preservation efforts of the Hyperion Historical Alliance. At the top of the best discoveries of the month: some new never-seen-before photographs of the 1946 trip to Ireland for the making of "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," and the diary of Larry Lansburgh from that trip (the pages were hidden in a totally unrelated folder!). 

All this trip-related material will be included in the monograph about "The Making of Darby O'Gill and the Little People" that Jim Hollifield and I are writing at the moment for release by the Hyperion Historical Alliance Press in 2025.

As a reminder, if you want to support financially the efforts of the HHA, you can do it at this link. 

The other book I am very much looking forward to this year is the autobiography of Bob Weis, Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering.

Coming up in September and finally available for pre-order on Amazon! I am so looking forward to this book by my friends and fellow Disney historians Don Peri and Pete Docter!

The new Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual has just been released and I believe you will want to pick up your copy right away!

The 2023 HHA Annual is the fourth in a series of publications featuring in-depth articles on Disney history-related subjects authored by members of this professional association. This edition's articles include:

• "Woolie Reitherman Needs to Fly: A Disney Artist Goes to Work," the definitive account of the aeronautical accomplishments and World War II heroism of Disney animator and director Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman;
• "Oswald the Laemmle Rabbit," a look at the development and business-related management of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character in his early years;
• "Walt Disney and The Life of Hans Christian Anderson," a history of the unrealized Disney projects related to the life and creations of the beloved author;
• "1945-46: Edgar Bergen and Disney's Story Department," an exploration of unmade projects that would have featured ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his beloved characters prior to the release of Fun and Fancy Free (1947);
• "Direct from the Islands: The Polynesian Magic of Pete Seanoa," a celebration of the life and career of a live entertainment pioneer whose work at Disneyland coincided with a post-war interest in Polynesian culture.

Are you missing back issues of the best Disney history magazine ever, Persistence of Vision? Would you like to pick up signed Disney history books? 

Paul F. Anderson has decided to sell part of his collection via the trustworthy store Saturday's Toys. 

You can find a list of what is being sold at this link.