A few updates

To say that I am extremely busy these days, would be the understatement of the century. We have just moved, over the weekend, to a new (and hopefully permanent) house in Coral Gables, Florida. Remember all these boxes of books from a year ago? This is happening again.

I am in the process of reviewing the galleys of Disney's Grand Tour, which should be released early December at the latest. I will soon be reviewing (along with Greg Ehrbar) the final galleys of Inside the Whimsy Works, which will be released in February 2014. And I have just sent the manuscript of Walt's People - Volume 14 to the contributors for review, with the goal of releasing this new installment in March 2014.

This is hopefully only the beggining. I am working (along with some of you) on helping edit three "lost" autobiographies of key Disney artists from the Golden Age and I have a few more exciting projects in various stages of development. This has been a very productive year indeed.

Not yet sure what this book is worth, but it can be bought here.

I just love those vintage Belgium cards. I can't thank Hans Crezee enough for sharing this image with us. There is something about the look of Mickey in the '30s which is simply unbeatable.

I just picked up this postcard last week. I had never seen it before and I was wondering if anyone of you has any information about it.

This ad was released on June 1, 1938. Not sure how much this silver and gold bracelet cost, but I have a feeling it was not cheap.

Very interesting exhibition if you are in Chicago these days. No catalog, unfortunately.

Bob McLain, owner of Theme Park Press, has launched a website for his great new publishing company. As you know, Theme Park Press, now publishes Walt's People, and is handling the upcoming Disney's Grand Tour. I love working with Bob and I have a feeling that Theme Park Press will play an important role in upcoming years when it comes to revitalizing Disney History.

Is it any wonder that I am impatiently awaiting the release Charles Solomon's book Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent? It's almost a year away, though...

This just in from Hans Crezee:

[Continuing on the Chinese theme, what do you think of this interesting artwork used for the cover of this Snow White sheet music from Shanghai?]

The Disney Books Network was updated this weekend.

Help Needed - From Mickey Mouse to Curious George?

When the creators of Curious George, Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey, were living in Paris, France, in the mid-'30s, they created a series of cutout figures for the publisher Hachette which included a set based on Mickey Mouse and one on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, both released in 1938.

I believe we could probably learn how they got involved in this project by checking H.A. Rey's journals from those years, which are preserved in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in the Grummond Children's Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi. [H.A. & MARGRET REY PAPERS (DG0812) (V. Personal / C. Journal and Diaries / 1. Personal Journals & Diaries / 166/1-20 H.A. Rey's annual journals, 1936-1955)]

Any volunteer to go there and check?

From Stan Laurel's estate - Stan, Ollie and the 3 Little Pigs by "Disney." Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the heads up.

I have finally received my review copy of The Noble Approach by Tod Polson.

The section about Maurice's work for Disney is a short one (only 3 pages) but it comtains some marvelous artwork which I had never seen before.

That being said there is no doubt that if you love animation art, especially Warner Bros. pre-production and background art, this is an absolute "must have". I can hardly convey how excited I was to see this book released. It is a beauty, and while there have been several books written about Maurice Noble, from my standpoint this one is the most stunning. Run to get it.

My good friend Sebastien Roffat is about to release this year no less than four outstanding books in French linked in one way or another to Disney. The one above does not really have a direct relationship with Disney, but if you read French and are interested in the early history of animation, this is a must have.

This upcoming book seems to contain an excellent section about Virgil Patch's days at Disney. I will definitely pick it up.

One of the key Disney book events of the upcoming weeks will be the release of Sam Gennawey's long awaited book, The Disneyland Story. I had a chance to interview Sam recently. Here are his answers:

Didier Ghez: Why, when and how did you decide to write this book?

Sam Gennawey: I guess like may writers, especially historians, you want to write the book you’ve been wanting to read. You hope that there are enough people out there curious about the same questions to make the thing a commercial success.

Walt and the Promise of Progress City was a way to talk about basic urban planning concepts using Walt Disney’s life experiences and projects to illustrate those concepts. The moment the light bulb went off for The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide was when I had just finished giving a talk at the Walt Disney Family Museum about the proposed Mineral King ski resort and standing with Werner Weiss of Yesterland in front of the wonderful scale model. As you know, the model expresses the aspirations of one man and I find it intriguing that the park survived after Walt passed away.

DG: What was your research methodology?

SG: Going back to the basics. I did not start out with a narrative just a structure. The promise was to let the facts take me where they wanted to go. In February 2012, I had the privilege of interviewing Jack Lindquist, Disneyland’s first president. In a room filled with hard-core Disneyana enthusiasts, he recalled a time when Walt Disney said that he was not as interested in all of the promotional stuff, the parades, and the shows. Walt figured that he hired good people who would do a great job and meet his standards. He was concerned about creating a great place with great rides, and creating a place that was beautiful. The book is not a survey of the wonderful entertainment programs at Disneyland, such as the parades and fireworks, nor a warts-and-all backstage peek at what it was like to work as a Cast Member, nor a testimonial to the amazing things people do at theme parks. This is a biography of a place called Disneyland. Like all biographies, the story starts with the birth of the park, winds its way through the trails of its adolescence, and ends as Disneyland works its way to middle age. 

DG: Did you conduct some new interviews for this book?

SG: I had spoken to Harrison “Buzz” Price before his passing, Marty Sklar, Rolly Crump, Bob Gurr, Alice Davis, and some others. Getting tough. Sadly, not very many of the original Imagineers left. However, during my day job I am always referring to documents and in this case, there is a wealth of information out there. The book has something like 840 footnotes.

DG: Did you discover documents that few historians had seen before?

SG: I spent about a month going through every single folder at the Anaheim archives. Also spent time at the Huntington Library, the Orlando Public Library, and the Buzz Price files at the University of Central Florida. I also have a collection of documents. The Buzz Price stuff was fun. Much of it has been restricted.

DG: What are the main surprises that Disney historians can expect when reading this book?

SG: I don’t think it would come as a complete surprise but the push and pull of projects. Some came together very quickly while others took forever. Documenting the resort expansion plans and Disney’s relationship with the City of Anaheim is something that generally not explored in Disney history books. Some of the details abou unbuilt projects like WESTcot, Port Disney, and California Living might surprise others.

DG: Any discoveries that particularly excited you?

SG: How a political conservative could turn around and want to dictate what others did with their properties and succeed.
I will never look at the ficus trees in New Orleans Square or the Banyan tree at the Hippo Pool in the Jungle Cruise the same way again.
New Orleans Square was really built to hide the Disneyland Hotel tower.
The battle between Anaheim and Long Beach.
The Columbia is actually full size. Did you ever look at the size of the bunks down below?

Here is an upcoming book by Christopher Finch which I am very much looking forward to reading!

This new book from Finland (in Finnish) is an absolute treasure trove for those of us who are fascinated by early Disneyana history. I was glad to get it on time to include it in the bibliography of my upcoming book Disney's Grand Tour!

Do not miss today:

- Walt Disney Makes The Rounds on Daveland
- The Story of Lady and the Tramp, Part One by Jim Korkis
- The LiMOUSEine Story by Jim Korkis
- Trying too Hard by Andreas Deja
- Disney in 1946 by Andreas Deja

This just in from Hans Crezee:

[I see you just posted the poster for a compilation program entitled "La Grande Parade de Walt Disney" that premiered in March 1940 in France. Would you believe it that I have a one sheet poster for a very similar compilation program entitled 'Walt Disney's sprookjes-parade' that premiered in the Netherlands in April 1940? As you can see that program also included 'Ferdinand the bull', 'the Practical pig' and 'the brave little tailor'. You can also see that the local RKO office apparently hired some less competent artist to do the artwork.]

If you have not already done so, do not forget to order Jim Korkis' new book this week!

Did anyone one of you happen to buy this photo of Walt when it was sold on ebay a few years ago? If so, could you please email me ASAP at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

The blog will be updated again on October 14th.

Help needed!

Are you based in London? If so, I need your help with some Disney-related research. I need someone to go to the British Film Institute and dig into the Denis Gifford Collection. I have a feeling we might be able to find a few treasures related to the early history of Disney in the UK (pure speculation at this stage, but some clues tell me that we might have some good luck).

If you are ready to volunteer, could you email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

Thanks in advance.

This great photo of the Disney TV unit just in thanks to John Emerson:

Back row: Julius Svendsen, Art Stevens, Jack Boyd, Elmer Plummer, Jim Swain

Front row: Ham Luske, Jimmy Trout, Joe Hale, Mac Stewart, John Emerson

Secretary: Mary Satterwhite

Do not miss today:

- Fateful Encounters: Mary Costa Talks Disney and Stravinsky by Jim Hollifield
- Panchito, Little Gauchito, and Burrito by Jim Korkis
- Former Disney Animator Discovers Image of Lincoln at Gettysburg (Thanks to Michael Goldberg for the link)

This just in from Hans Crezee:

[I see you noticed the unusual Chinese Pinocchio program on eBay. The main reason why I bought it is that I already had a Snow White program from 1938 from the same cinema in Nanking. Imagine, this is one year after the rape of Nanking in 1937! The Pinocchio program has 24 pages with the storyline and also serves as a collector's album as the idea was to paste in (colored?) Pinocchio pictures from some Chinese brand. The color ad on the back is also interesting: this American company of Henningsen apparently had a factory in Shanghai, and I have an ad for their Snow White Eskimo Toffee, but unfortunately very small and in black and white.]

My upcoming book, Disney's Grand Tour, discusses among many, many other things the origins of the compilation of Disney shorts released in France in 1934 and titled L'Heure Joyeuse de Mickey. Another compilation of Disney shorts was released in France on March 13, 1940. I thought you might enjoy the poster, which I saw last week for the first time.

This just in from Lars Emanuelsson:

[Last week I spent some days with the Tenggren holdings at the Kerlan Collection in the University of Minnesota, MN. I was there to do research for my Tenggren biography, which is planned to be released autumn 2014. I had the opportunity to browse through a number of interesting items of Tenggren’s, among these this little folder from the Saturday Evening Post from September 1956, presumably an in-house staff publication. Later that year, in November 1956, the famous Tenggren cover with Walt Disney on the train was published, illustrating Diane Disney Miller’s article “My dad Walt Disney”. The folder describes the process of the cover from idea to finished painting.

It’s great to see Ken Stuart’s sketches for the various cover ideas, compared with Tenggren’s final well-known artwork. Especially the little addition of Jiminy Cricket is fun to learn about.]

Not exactly Disney-related, but I am certain that most of you will want to know that this book will be released tomorrow.

You may remember the fascinating chapter about the Ink and Paint Department from David Johnson's manuscript The Life and Times of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which I posted on the Disney History blog a few weeks ago.

David now has a blog and he has been posting more extracts from the book. I have a feeling you will enjoy it.

This great picture was taken in Australia at the John Sands packing exhibition at the Sydney Town Hall between August and November 1936.

Among other things, my upcoming book, Disney's Grand Tour, pieces together the early history of the Disney offices throughout Europe, adding a tremendous amount of details to what was known until now.

However, when you look at early Robert Hartman stationary and Kay Kamen catalogs, you realize that, apart from Europe, Disney also had an "official" presence abroad in Australia since at least August 1934.

From what I was able to gather, Disney was first represented in Australasia, through the Australian company John Sands Ltd. Walter Rogan Granger was working for John Sands at the time and seems to have been the Key Account Manager for Disney as early as 1935 (and maybe even earlier).

By the end of October 1939, Walter R. Granger resigned from John Sands and became the General Manager of the newly created Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse A'sia Pty Ltd. He passed away in January 1947 and was followed as GM by his son, Walter Arthur Granger, who remained with the company at least until the 1970s.

Do we have any readers in Australia? Have you researched the early history of Disney in that country? Do you know if the John Sands company, which still exists, preserved its archives? Do you know when Walter Arthur Granger retired? (He passed away in 2008.) Any idea of what were the first products licensed by John Sands and when?

Any additional information which can be added to what I am mentioning above would be tremendously welcome.  

Pinocchio in China

I would have loved to pick up this very unusual item on ebay if the price had not gone through the roof.

If rare vintage Disneyana fascinates you, then you do not want to miss this new site!

Do not miss this outstanding article by Todd James Pierce on the Disney History Insitute. Pure gold:

- Walt's Field Day - 1938 by Todd James Pierce

I have received a copy of Water to Paper, Paint to Sky - The Art of Tyrus Wong, the catalog of the exhibition about the art of Ty Wong which is currently taking place at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco until February next year. This is a gorgeous book which you should not miss. It contains about 20 pages about Wong's work on Bambi, and not a lot of text, but the text is very interesting and Tyrus Wong's art by its quality, subtelty and sheer variety is a true feast for the eyes. I wish I were in San Francisco right now.

- More Chanticleer by Andreas Deja
- Edward Prizer: Inside EPCOT Center 1981 by Jim Korkis
- A Brief History of Disney Character Costumes by Jim Korkis
- Portrait of the 'perfect American family': Walt Disney's secret apartment is frozen in time above Disneyland's fire station by Jennifer Madison (Thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)
- Walt Disney Is Still Not Frozen by Chris Nichols (Thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)

This just in from Julie Thomas:

[We had such a good response to Floyd's appearance at Walt's Barn last month that we sold out of his books.  Floyd has graciously agreed to return this Sunday, September 15.  Please mention this appearance on your blog.

BTW, our upcoming appearances will be on October 6 - Marty Sklar, October 20 - Dave Bossert and November 17 - Sam Gennawey returns.]

Since I mentioned this series of English recordings a few weeks ago, I thought you would like to see what Meet Mickey Mouse looks like (I just picked it up on ebay). I am still trying to find out the title of Number 3 in this series.

I don't think I had ever seen this photo of Walt with the King of Morocco.

Simply put: I loved this book. It does contain a few typos and the format should have been way bigger, but the simple fact that it exists is a small miracle. It is well written, honest, and full of great stories about Roy. A "must-have" without a doubt and a truly delightful surprise. Way to go to the author David Bossert!

The cover of Charles Solomon's upcoming book has just been released. Can't wait!

I had no idea that a 156-page long catalog had been released to commemorate the opening of the Tyrus Wong exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum. I will review it as soon as I get a copy, but this definitely sounds like a "must have".

Would anyone of you happen to live in Germany? I would like to get a copy of this book, but the store apparently only ships to German addresses. Could you email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com if you can help?

 

The manuscript is now virtually complete. This small coffee table book should be released at the end of this year or early next year thanks to Theme Park Press. More about this project soon... (Please note that the cover shown here is still a draft.)