[“All roads lead to Jim Korkis.”
I
have been conducting research about Disney history for over twenty five years
and that truth is unavoidable. Whatever the subject matter that you are
investigating, Jim Korkis has already written about it.
At
some point I became interested in understanding more about the highly stylized
commercials that the Disney Studio produced in the ‘50s and soon discovered
that Jim Korkis had already discussed this obscure subject in one of his essays.
Reading Jim’s article led me to interview artist Bob Carlson in order to learn
even more about those odd cartoons.
A
few months later I was trying to get a better sense of who Walt’s secretaries
had been. You guessed it: Jim had written about this too, which helped me understand
several internal Disney memos I was reading at the time.
And
then, there were instances in which Jim made me aware of a field of research
which I never even knew existed, as was the case with the Disney comics drawn
in the mid-‘30s by artist Fred Spencer for the DeMolay youth organization.
Thanks to Jim’s article, fellow Disney historian David Gerstein and I were able
to locate, for the first time, a complete run of those rare comic strips.
What
I find fascinating about Jim’s articles, aside from the tremendous scope of the
subjects he explores, is the fact that they contain elements of interest both
for the in-depth historians and for the casual fans. They are the best bridge
between those two worlds which confers them a very unique value. We desperately
need new generations of Disney historians and Jim’s highly readable essays are
the perfect tool to intrigue, excite and motivate enthusiasts who through hard
work, dedication, and focus could become historians. After all, I know this is
the case since I once was one of those Disney enthusiasts.
Jim’s
essays are critically important for another reason: they help preserve little
known nuggets of Disney history, rare interviews, obscure articles and other
gems that would be lost forever or extremely difficult to access without his
efforts.
To
top it all, Jim has been a friend for over ten years. He is the godfather of
the Walt’s People book series, which
saw the light of day thanks to a long exchange of emails between the two of us.
And we have teamed up often to interview Disney artists and other Disney
Legends.
So
there is joy when I hear that a new volume of The Vault of Walt is in the works, there is delight when I read
Jim’s latest online column and there is hope that The Vault of Walt series will one day fill a whole bookshelf.
For
the time being, however, I am simply glad to be able to read a few pieces from
this volume which I know will fascinate me: Letters
to Ruth, Walt Disney Early Feminist,
Saving Mr. Banks: Fact or Fiction, Voices of the Disney Theme Parks and Remembering Diane Disney Miller, among
others. I have a feeling they will motivate me to conduct still more research
on rarely explored aspects of Disney history and that, while doing so, I will
become aware once again that “all roads lead to Jim Korkis.”]
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