I had no idea that artist John Fawcett had released many years ago a collection of his Disney-related art and was therefore delighted when I located the above publication from 1970.

This just in from the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, via Jennifer Hendrickson:

[We are excited to announce that -- for the first time ever -- the Disneyland Railroad's Lilly Belle Presidential Coach will be coupled to the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad Combine! This historic event will take place at the Fullerton Railroad Days fair on May 5 and 6, 2012.

The Lilly Belle coach was originally known as the Grand Canyon when it was part of the "Retlaw 1" passenger train from 1955 to 1974. After Retlaw 1 was retired, the Grand Canyon was transformed (under Mrs. Disney's personal supervision) into a beautiful Victorian-style private car, Lilly Belle. Premiering in time for America's bicentennial, the first guests aboard the Lilly Belle were the Emperor and Empress of Japan! Usually only open to invited guests, the Lilly Belle is one of the most elegant attractions at Disneyland.

We've seen no evidence that the Combine and Grand Canyon were ever directly coupled together and certainly this did not happen once it was transformed into the Lilly Belle. This weekend presents a rare opportunity for the public to tour both the Combine and the Lilly Belle. Best of all, admission to the fair is free!

Cast members from the Disneyland Railroad will join volunteers from the Carolwood Foundation to guide visitors through both cars. To support the Combine Preservation Project, the Foundation is creating some custom collectibles to celebrate this historic event and these will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Foundation's booth near the Combine.

For more details about the fair, please visit http://www.scrpa.net/ We hope to see you at the Fullerton Railroad Days in May!]

This extremely obscure book by Kent Durden includes two Disney-related chapters focusing on the eagle Lady and her role in several Disney productions. A great complement to Jack Couffer's autobiography The Lion and the Giraffe.

This just in from Ross Anderson:

[In additon to the attactions that Jim Korkis mentioned - Pete's voice is in many other places in the Disney Parks... he was the voice of Mr. Lincoln at the Hall of Presidents and Mark Twain on the riverboat and Henry at the Country Bear Jamboree.  Of even greater interest to me is that Pete had a 'day job' - beyond his voice work.  Pete started at Disney Studio in the mid-50s, working in the Art Props Department.  He was involved in making props for 'Mary Poppins'.  Pete had a skill at dialects and an interest in acting.  He participated in the studio's 'Disney Players', doing benefits for charity.  He also did some dialect coaching for actors at the studio; eventually also doing stand-in readings for screen tests and getting small parts in the live-action comedies of the 60s and early 70s.  It was his presence at the studio and these skills that conspired to have him called to play Eddie Valiant in the early 80s test-of-concept for the combination of animation and live-action.

 

I had always understood that Mickey Mouse had been voiced first by Walt, and then passed on to Jimmy MacDonald and Wayne Allwine and, now, to Bret Iwan.  Disneyland Records issued a lot of vinyl records with stories about Mickey and the gang over the years.  Whether it was due to a transition between Walt and Jimmy or between Jimmy and Wayne, or whether one of them just wasn't available on a recording day, but other voice artists have given voice to Mickey on official Disney recordings... including Pete Renoudet.]

Help needed!

I need new transcribers. Too many interesting interviews, too few transcribers. If you are able to help, please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com

If, like me, you are fascinated by cartoons from the '50s since you read Amid Amidi's masterpiece, Cartoon Modern, there are two products you need to buy right away: the DVD Mid-Century Animation, which contains a very large selection of Disney-produced stylized animated ads among other treasures, and the book When Magoo Flew, which tells for the first time the full story of the UPA studio and is a treasure of research and writing (one of the very best books about animation history ever).

Do not miss today:

- Disneyland '59 - The Rarest Parade of Them All by Todd James Pierce
- Walt Disney World History Books, a Bibliography

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[On that Roger Rabbit clip you posted today, the actor playing Eddie Valiant is Pete Renoudet, a Disney voice artist who among other things is the voice of Henry the Bear in the Country Bear Jamboree and Captain Nemo in Walt Disney World's now closed 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction.]

A good friend and reader of the blog, Ross Anderson is writing the definite history of the making of Roger Rabbit. Ross just sent me the following note about his in-depth research:

[One weakness is the information related to the Amblin aspect of the story, especially the development phase in the transition from the prior Disney development to the full-on Zemeckis treatment.  Any call-out for people who might have a contribution to that, or any other aspect of the evolution of the Roger Rabbit story, would be very appreciated.]

Ross can be contacted at therabbitguy2013@gmail.com

While looking for a photo to illustrate this post, I stumbled upon the following test for the early version of Roger Rabbit directed by Darrell Van Citters. Enjoy!

Jake Friedman, who is currently writing a biography of Art Babbitt has launched a blog, complete with rare photos of the Lake Norconian party (the infamous Snow White party) and pages from a diary wrote by Babbitt in 1942 (after the strike, unfortunately). Fascinating stuff!

Do not miss today:

- Happy Birthday, Snow White by Jim Korkis
- Disney Plots A ‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride’ Movie by Mike Fleming
- Disney menus by Matt Crandall
- D23 Presents Treasures of The Walt Disney Archives, Opening July 6, 2012 at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum

Disney Historian Jim Korkis has just finished interviewing Susan (Musfelt) Hoose who is seventy-one years old. However, when she was seventeen years old and still in High School, she auditioned and was hired as the youngest Disneyland mermaid for the opening dedication ceremony on June 14, 1959 of the the Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland. Susan worked there the entire summer and has shared some never-before-told stories with Jim that will be appearing in a future volume of Walt's People. She also sent Jim these three pictures with a promise that she might be able to find more.

The table of contents of the Summer 2012 issue of the magazine Twenty-Three has just been announced. I was glad to be asked to write an in-depth article about the 20 years of Disneyland Paris, which include quite a few details which I had not been able to reveal in the book From Sketch to Reality. I am really looking forward to reading the articles about Annette Funicello, Brave, and Robert Sherman.

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[That version of Walt looks exactly the way Roy Williams drew Walt in "A Day With Walt" in the Dispatch from Disney's (1943) that was sent to Disney employees in the military.]

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[Up for auction at Heritage, this sketch, see enclosure. From description:

An original sketch is included, in ink and pastels on teal-colored construction paper measuring approximately 10" x 6", showing Walt in "conference" with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The art is unsigned, but is drawn in the loose style of long-time Disney staffer Roy Williams.]

Russia´s 1968 Little Mermaid



This just in from Sébastien Durand:

[Astonishing how part of this short recalls Kay Nielsen's concept sketches...]

One thing leads to another. A good friend recently sent me some documents related to Disney artist Holling C. Holling, which contained some references to background artist and illustrator Nino Carbe. I decided to research his career and found out that the magazine Ilustration number 34 includes an in-depth article about him and that writer Bhob Stewart had conducted an interview with him. Enjoy!

I will also interview his daughter at some point within the upcoming weeks.

This upcoming book has the potential of being fascinating. Let´s hope it actually is.

Do not miss today:

- HANNIBAL CROSSING THE ALPS ... AT EPCOT CENTER by Paul F. Anderson
- Walt Disney Family Museum preserves icon's legacy by Edward Guthmann (Thanks to Michael Goldberg for the link)
- Prod. UM39 - Orphan's Picnic by Hans Perk
- Hardly A Hoop, Not Yet A Holler by Michael Crawford
- Sub For One… by Michael Crawford
- Dick Tracy Live! by Jim Korkis
- Today’s Video Link by Mark Evanier (Thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)

This great letter just in from Jim Korkis.

Here is a rare Spanish interview with Walt released in the August 5, 1965 issue of La Actualidad Española.

Two highlights:

"Walt: Of course, I am not Spanish. I was born in Chicago. But I love Spain and the Spanish people." [And yet the canard about Walt being born in Mojacar, Spain lives on to this day!]

"And Walt tells us about his latest trip to our country: 'I was on the Costa Brava, in Barcelona, in Madrid, and in Algeciras. From there I took the boat to New York. I arrived in Port Lligat without warning to make a surprise to my great friend Salvador Dalí. You know how it is: if someone is warned about your visit they have to worry about all the things to prepare, so I did not warn him.
"Gala, Dalí's wife, was fishing in a rowing boat. The house was empty and I finally found Dalí among the rocks, spread out under the sun, with his huge whiskers all wet, points down."

A few Spanish "cromos" from the '30s which I bought not too long ago.

Do not miss today:

- Holidayland Pt. 2 by Todd James Pierce
- Today’s Video Link by Mark Evanier (Thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)
- Additional Info by Mark Evanier (Thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)
- The Continuing Saga of the Bob-A-Round and Bob-A-Long Boats

Here are a few early drawings by Ham Luske.

Jim Korkis interviewed recently two of the daughters of Ham Luske (Carol and Peggy) as well as Luske´s son, Jim. Carol and Peggy were kind enough to send me several elements related to their father, which I will post on the blog over the next few weeks.

Michael Barrier sent me the following information about the above photo, which comes from the Luske family:

[Ed Benedict had a print of that photo with full IDs and the date it was taken (July 12, 1943). The occasion was a going-away party for a naval officer who had been working at the studio. These are Ed’s identifications, left to right: Ken Peterson, Captain True, Harry Tytle, Riley Thompson, Lieutenant (?) Newton, Walt, Commander Barry, Mac Stewart, Ken O’Connor.]

Do not miss today:

- Holidayland: The Least Photographed Land in the Park by Todd James Pierce
- Birth of Disney Fandom Part One: The Mouse Club by Jim Korkis
- Birth of Disney Fandom Part Two: The NFFC by Jim Korkis
- Jim Korkis Part 1 & The Mickey Mouse Club
- Jim Korkis Part 2 & The Mickey Mouse Club
- Jim Korkis Part 3 & The Mickey Mouse Club
- Disney’s animation guide by J.J. Sedelmaier (Thanks to Michael Goldberg for the link)

Tomorrow is a holiday in Spain. The blog will be updated again on Monday. Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all of you.

Thanks to the help of Wayne Campbell, I was glad to discover where the Danish Disney office was located before WWII.

Hans Perk also sent me the following note: [The Shell House is famous for it having been the headquarters of the Gestapo in Denmark, and for the bombing raid that destroyed it, while saving most of the Danish prisoners who were held on the upper floors. Sadly a RAF plane fell on a French girls' school during the raid and many girls were killed.]

This just in from Garry Apgar:

[Yesterday I finally had a chance to see "The Artist."

One thing that struck me about the film was how much its star, Jean Dujardin, resembled Walt at about the same age. Dujardin, 39, is a virtual dead ringer for Walt, circa 1940. He doesn't quite have the angular, aquiline nose of Walt, ... but the dark, slicked-down hair, the mustache, the smile, the buoyant personality, the intensity, .... the constant smoking! ... of the character he plays are all almost a perfect match.

A few days ago one of your readers, Jeffery Butler, nominated Dujardin for the starring role in "Walt," the imaginary film depicted on that faux movie poster by Pascal Witaszek, set around 1928, with Ryan Gosling as Disney. Prompted in part by Witaszek's fragmentary vision, and now, especially, by "The Artist," one can readily imagine a compelling but factually faithful bio-pic of Walt's early years along the lines of "The Artist," ... in black and white, perhaps, with the same careful attention to detail, casting, locations and settings. Think of the stylish way Walt dressed, of him staying at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, as he tried to get "Steamboat Willie" off the ground (sharing a room there with Carl Stalling, rinsing their socks out in the same sink), of Walt conferring with Pat Powers in his office in midtown Manhattan, with Jack Alicoate, the editor at "Film Daily," etc. Even the tomfoolery of Walt and his young pals in the Kansas City days, with Laugh-O-gram, and, later on, playing polo with Spencer Tracy and Will Rogers, would be very cinematic, particularly if the jazz-era music on the sound track were as artfully selected and paired with the action as it is in "The Artist" (and in so many of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons).

There ought to be enough drama in the characters Walt came in contact with, the locales he operated in, and the very real challenges he met and surmounted, to allow for a commercially viable cinematic vehicle. Far flimsier stuff has been spun into motion picture hagiography by Hollywood -- telling the story of far less consequential figures in show business or American culture.

Among the many realistic little touches in "The Artist," incidentally, were those old-fashioned two-button light switches like the one seen on the wall in that familiar photo of Walt, circa 1930 (above).]

Once again, here is a book, which is only indirectly related to Disney but which I will pick up when released:

[In 1951, Disney Legend Dick Huemer, on hiatus from the Studio, teamed with acclaimed comic book illustrator Paul Murry to create this sendup of all things Western - The Adventures of Buck O'Rue!

These are the adventures of square-jawed, square-shootin’, hopelessly naïve cowboy Buck O’Rue and his beloved horse Reddish, his nearly equally beloved sweetheart Dorable, and all of the bad men of Mesa Trubil--”The Town without a Country”.

Compiled from multiple sources including original Production Proofs, The Adventures of Buck O'Rue reprints the strip's original run from January 15, 1951 to December 7, 1952. Enriched with biographies for both Dick Huemer and Paul Murry, archival photos, promotional materials, creators’ notebooks and sketches, scripts, The Adventurres of Buck O'Rue includes a foreword by Don Peri, author of Working with Walt.

Dick Huemer's list of credits includes animation for the Max Fleischer Studio (Out of the Inkwell, KoKo the Clown), during the 1920s, and story creation/direction for several of the most famous Disney films, notably Fantasia and Dumbo.

Paul Murry was the most productive American Mickey Mouse comic book artist from the 1950s to the 1970s. His illustrations, with their distinctive style and unforced humor, have been reprinted by the millions throughout the years, and continue to delight readers all over the world.

Restored and edited over several years by Germund von Wowern, professional comics editor, and Richard Huemer, Dick Huemer’s son, The Adventures of Buck O'Rue is a joint venture between U.S. Nutrigenetics and Classic Comics Press.

The Adventures of Buck O'Rue is scheduled for a June 15, 2012 release date.]

Here are several books I will definitely pick up when they are released: Full Steam Ahead!: The Life and Art of Ward Kimball by Amid Amidi and The Art of Wreck-It Ralph by Maggie Malone and Jennifer Lee Monn are directly Disney-related...
While A Mary Blair Treasury of Golden Books by John Canemaker and The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation by Charles Solomon focus on the non-Disney career of former Disney artists (Mary Blair and Bill Melendez).

Do not miss today:

- Walt Disney, a Couple of Cocktails, and the Mark Twain by Todd James Pierce
- Visiting the Walt Disney Family Museum by Michael Barrier
- Birth of Disney Fandom Part One: The Mouse Club by Jim Korkis
- My First Scene on "Roger Rabbit" by Andreas Deja
- Hal Ambro by Andreas Deja
- 10 Lessons Learned from Classic Disney Movies

I will be traveling to Brazil for business reasons until the end of the month. (Celbi, Fernando: no time to meet you this time around, unfortunately) The blog will be updated again on April 2.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[ A cool Donald Duck (in-house) drawing by Fred Spencer. This was sold by Van Eaton Galleries recently.]

Among various Kamen-related papers uncovered recently was this fascinating letterhead from the English Mickey Mouse Ltd. (May 1937). What makes this document particularly interesting for me is that along with George Kamen (Kay's nephew) who is listed as Managing Director, we also learn the name of another officer, Thomas Swan, and confirm that William B. Levy was still an acting director of the company at the time. The address of the UK office is also confirmed on this document. Many elements which help connect some of the dots. More on this at a later date.

This just in from Are Myklebust:

[I did set up a list over some of the famous people Walt Disney met through his lifetime lately.
Thought it might have some interest for you.
Please be free to publish it on your "Disney History" blog.

Walt Disney met a lot of world famous people through his lifetime.
Here’s a list of some of the names (in alphabetical order):

Louis Armstrong (1900 – 1971), American jazz musician.
George Balanchine (1904 – 1983), Russian/ American choreographer.
Robert Benchley (1889 – 1945), American author and humorist.
Ingmar Bergman (1918 – 2007), Swedish film director.
Ray Bradbury (1920 - ), American science fiction author.
Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977), British actor and film director (active in U.S.).
Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990), British RAF pilot and later author.
Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989), Spanish artist (surrealist painter).
Dwight Eisenhower (1890 – 1969), U.S. president.
Sergei Eisenstein (1890 – 1948), Russian film director.
Kirsten Flagstad (1895 – 1962), Norwegian singer.
Henry Ford (1863 – 1947), American industrialist (founder Ford Motor Company).
Amadeo Pietro Giannini (1870 – 1949), American banker (founder Bank of America).
Billy Graham (1918 - ), American evangelist.
Edwin Hubble (1889 – 1953), American astronomer.
Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963), British author.
Julian Huxley (1887 – 1975), British biologist, author and humanist (and brother of Aldous).
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 – 1973), U.S. president.
Ray Kroc (1902 – 1984), American businessman (McDonalds).
Louis Lumiere (1864 – 1948), French film pioneer.
Thomas Mann (1875 – 1955). German author (Nobel Prize winner).
Richard Nixon (1913 – 1994), U.S. vice president and later U.S. president.
Ronald Reagan (1911 – 2004), American actor, later U.S. President.
Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978), American painter and illustrator.
Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971), Russian composer (active in France and U.S.).
Leopold Stokowski (1882 – 1977), British-American conductor.
Deems Taylor (1885 – 1966), American music critic.
Shirley Temple (Black) (1928 - ), American child actor (and later diplomat).
Wernher von Braun (1912 – 1977), German aerospace engineer (in U.S.).
Sir Herbert Wilkins (1888 – 1958), Australian aviator and Arctic explorer.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959), American architect.

+ many famous entertainment personalities, Hollywood celebrities
and film makers in Britain and U.S.]

The above photo shows Walt with Robert Moses and Henry Ford Jr.

Can you believe that I am still uncovering more obscure autobiographies of cinematographers from Disney's nature movies? Here is the latest one to date!

Are you all looking forward to the long awaited book by JB Kaufman about Snow White? Then I have not one but two good news. The book is ready and will be released in October. But there is not just one book, but two. The in-depth study of the making of Snow White and a catalog of a major exhibition which will take place at the Disney Family Museum. Both volumes are written by JB. They are now available for pre-order on Amazon (thanks to David Peake for the heads up):

- The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney's Classic Animated Movie

This just in from a reader of the blog:

[I am mainly writing about Charles Tranberg's book on the Disney Studio. While it is very interesting and informative (I am halfway through reading it) it is full of errors - factual and editorial.

For example, he calls Oswald, the lucky Rabbit - Osgood - using the name several times - this leaves me rather suspect.

He cites Walt as being the last of Flora and Elias's children, when in fact Ruth was the fifth and last child.

The book is poorly edited, quoting large passages that are not inset into the text, and repeating lines in the text several times.]

Very disturbing! Note that I (Didier Ghez) have not read the book yet.

Do not miss today:

- Renie Bardeau: The Man Who Shot Walt Disney by Jim Korkis
- Action Analysis - May 10, 1937 by Michael Sporn
- Interview of the Sherman Brothers by Bill DeMain
- DLP Twenty on Designing Disney

In my review of the book African Cats: The Story Behind the Film a few months ago, I wrote:

[As you probably noticed, I have become fascinated by the True-Life Adventures over the past few months and African Cats seems to be a worthy successor to that classic series (I have not yet seen the movie but I am now looking forward to it thanks to this beautiful book).

Which is probably why I started reading this book the moment I got it and loved every bit of it. The text is well-written. It is beautifully illustrated. It feels like a very long issue of National Geographic. My only reservation is the fact that it does not feature any image about the making of the movie. In other words no photos of men and women actually shooting it. And no words about pre-production work.]

All of this holds true for the beautiful Chimpanzee: The Making of the Film. But the editors had the good idea of solving the only mistake of the previous volume by including several images of the making of the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it is obviously not a "must have" for Disney historians.

I have just received a review copy of Dave Smith's upcoming new book, Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered.

I had always wanted to see all of Dave's columns from the Disney Channel Magazine, Disney Magazine and Disney Insider. Thanks to this book it is now the case, the best news being that the few typos typos and mistakes which had cropped up from time to time (rarely) in those columns have been corrected in the book. Despite its slightly haphazard nature, this is clearly an excellent reference book and a "must have".

I stumbled last week upon three "books" which are only available in Kindle form. Did anyone read them? What are they worth?

- Little Shop on Main Street by Dave Mason
- The Merchants of Main Street by Dave Mason
- In the Shadow of the Matterhorn by David Smith

The manuscript of Walt's People - Volume 12 is now complete and has been sent to the contributors for a final review. I am hoping to get it released at some point in June this year.

Here is the table of contents:

Foreword: Paul F. Anderson
Dave Smith: Alice Disney Allen
Dave Smith: Jack Kloepper
Jim Korkis: Betsy Goodspeed about her father Gordon "Felix" Mills' work on the radio show Mickey Mouse Theater Of The Air
John Culhane: Les Clark
John Culhane: Al Eugster
Didier Ghez: Piercing the Perce Pearce Mystery
Alan Coats: Evelyn Coats
Alan Coats: Marge Hudson and Evelyn Coats
Paul F. Anderson: Mel Shaw
EMC West: Mel Shaw
Didier Ghez: Theo Halladay
David Tietyen: Sammy Fain
Edle Bakke: My Family Disney Dynasty
Didier Ghez: Olive Bosché
Dave Smith: Bill Bosché
Steve Hulett: Charlie Downs
Amid Amidi: John Dunn
Alberto Becattini: Del Connell
Wayne DeWald: Paul Murry
Donald Ault: Paul Murry
George Sherman: Paul Murry
Walt Disney: The Lurking Camera
James Algar: Film Music and Its Use in Beaver Valley
Tom McHugh: Animals Are Like Other People
Didier Ghez: Warren Garst
Didier Ghez: Jack Couffer
Didier Ghez and Jim Korkis: Lloyd Beebe
Brian Shoemaker: Lloyd Beebe
Didier Ghez: Milt Albright
Michael Mallory: Milt Albright
Lou Mongello: Ralph Kent
John Culhane: Larry Clemmons
Michael Barrier: Milt Kahl
Charles Solomon: John Pomeroy
NFFC: Leota Toombs Thomas
Didier Ghez: Kim Irvine
Didier Ghez: Burny Mattinson

I will contact Doreen Tracey this week. She apparently wrote her autobiography in the '90s, called Confessions of a Mouseketeer (an excerpt of which was released in the book I Though My Father Was God. I would love to find out what happened to the complete memoir! More soon, hopefully.

Joseph Cowles' long-awaited book about Barks has just been released.

Do not miss today:

- Hal Horne's Gag File And the Birth of the Disney Comic Book By Michael Barrier
- TPE: Let's Go To The Circus! on Daveland
- Zorro Days at Disneyland (video) by Todd James Pierce
- Don Markstein (1947-2012) by Jerry Beck
- “Walt” by Pascal Witaszek by Jerry Beck
- Everybody Wanted to Sue Disney in 1940 by Amid Amidi
- More Secrets of Rocketeer by Jim Korkis
- Moebius Art an Inspiration for “TRON”
- Jerome Courtland, 85, was “Pete’s Dragon” producer

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[If you are not aware of it already: An item for sale at Heritage now, that might interest you: A Roy Disney Signed Contract Regarding Merchandising, 1932 with Kay Kamen, three of totally 12 pages are found in the description.]

This is an incredibly important piece of Disneyana / Disney history: The first contract signed between Disney and Kamen. This also means that the date of the signature of the contract mentioned in my article in the magazine Twenty-Three (July 1, 1932) is off by two days, since the contract is actually dated June 29, 1932.

D23 Presents Armchair Archivist: Weird Disney

D23 Presents: Armchair Archivist - A Look at Walt's Planes!

I just heard that Ron Schneider, who was Walt Disney World’s original stroll-around Dreamfinder and Figment character, as well as the voice of Dreamfinder for parts of the Journey Into Imagination attraction, just completed his memoir. I have the feeling that it will be released either this year or next.

I just picked up this 2008 book in Italian which I had never heard about and loved it. I thought some of you might to know that it exists. It is a collection of drawings paying homage to Italian Disney comics script writer Carlo Chendi.

I have acquired this postcard on ebay recently. In the English newspaper The Western Times from May 28, 1948 we find the following story.

This very sad news just in from Samantha Henriksen:

[According to his son, Robert Sherman has just died at him home in London. Walt truly knew what he was doing when he signed Richard and Robert and their songs will continue to delight generations to come. Let's all go feed the birds.]

Do any one of you know when his autobiography, Moose, will be released?