And we have lift-off!!!
The new monograph is now available via Stuart Ng Books at this link.
Please, please support of efforts by getting your copy. I have a feeling you will not regret it!
(No date yet for the distribution in Europe, but I will keep you updated).
I just learned that, before she passed away in 2008, Erna Englander, widow of Disney's story artist Otto Englander, sold his Disney papers to a collector. Sadly the name of that collector is unknown.
If you are that collector or if you know who the collector is, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com? Many thanks in advance!
J.B. Kaufman and I had a lot of fun this weekend at D23 Expo. All advanced copies of "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" sold out. So did the 40 copies we had of "The Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free."
There are just a few copies left of the first printing of "The Making of Walt Disney's Fun and Fancy Free" available via Stuart Ng Books. If you want to get it, I would advise you to get it today. We do not know if or when there will be a second printing.
We will receive the bulk of the copies of "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" in early October. I will let you know when that happens. Thanks to all of you for your support!
[Second Star to the Right and Straight on ‘till Morning!
Soar through
the skies of
For everyone
who never wants to grow up even as they grow older, this book shares seventy years
of stories of Disney’s version of the Peter Pan story from Walt Disney’s
first encounter as a child in 1909 with a memorable theatrical stage production
to the upcoming live action movie.
This book
thanks to years of intensive original research and interviews with people
involved documents information that has never before been in print. Every page features something new that will
be unfamiliar to even the most dedicated fan.
Who was brought
into the Disney Studio to create a bell “vocabulary” for Tinker Bell? Why is Captain Hook’s deadly hook on the
wrong hand? On what other projects did
Bobby Driscoll supply the voice of Peter Pan in the 1950s? What is the complete list of Tinker Bell
peanut butter commercials and who animated them?
Not only is the
classic Disney animated feature covered in extensive detail but there are
chapters about Peter Pan merchandise, the Peter Pan presence in the Disney
theme parks including Disneyland’s first flying Tinker Bells and attractions,
Peter Pan in ice skating shows, Disney comics and more.
Chapters are
devoted to other projects that were inspired by the original film including Return
to Never Land, Pixie Hollow & Tinker Bell Films and Jake
and the Never Land Pirates among others.
Chapters also showcase James M. Barrie’s original work and the 1921
Each chapter is
self-contained so there is no necessity to read this book from beginning to end
but readers can skip to those chapters that hold the most interest for
them.
With a little
faith, trust and pixie dust, this book will transport you to a magical land
where dreams are born and countless adventures await the young-in-heart.]
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction by Margaret Kerry
Sir James Barrie & Peter Pan
Maude Adams
Silent Movie Version (1924)
Walt’s Thoughts on Peter Pan
Making of Disney’s Peter Pan
Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)
Live Action Reference
Character Profile: Peter Pan
Character Profile: Captain Hook
Character Profile: Tinker Bell
Margaret Kerry Interview
Character Profile: The Darling Family & the Lost Boys
Character Profile: Never Land Tribe & Mermaids
Selling Peter Pan
Peter Pan in Comics
Tinker Bell Peanut Butter Commercials (1954)
Peter Pan in the Parks
Back to Never Land (1989)
Peter Pan on Ice
Return to Never Land (2002)
Pixie Hollow & Tinker Bell Films (2008)
Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011)
The Rest of the Story
Afterword by June Foray
About the Author
This excellent article on CartoonBrew will tell you more about a person we will all miss dearly.
Are you a student or a member of faculty at USC? If so, could you please contact me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?
I am trying to conduct research about Mickey Mouse in the 1930s in the archives of the Japan Times, and one of the few universities that seem to grant access to their online archives is USC.
Many thanks in advance.
Before its official release at D23 Expo this year, I thought you would enjoy a preview. Here is how the first chapter starts:
Let’s start with legend. This is how, in February 1955, "Reader’s Digest" explained the birth of the True-Life Adventures, through the voice of cinematographer Al Milotte:
"When I had a store in Alaska, Walt Disney walked in and said, 'How would you like to make some pictures for me up there?' I said, 'What kind of pictures?' He said vaguely, 'I don’t know—just pictures. Movies. You know—mining, fishing, building roads, the development of Alaska. I guess it will be a documentary or something—you know.'
I didn’t, but we went out and shot everything that moved and sent it to him. After a while he wired, 'Too many mines. Too many roads. More animals. More Eskimos.'
I wired, 'How about fur seals?'… Walt wired, 'Shoot fur seals,' and off we went."
This is a great story, and a wonderful tall tale. More compelling than this legend is the real account of the origins of Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures, a series, which, in the late 1940s, revolutionized the art of nature cinematography as Ken Burns would reinvent the art of historical documentaries half a century later. To understand how and why the first of the True-Life Adventures, "Seal Island," was shot, produced, and released, we have to travel not only to Alaska but also to Arizona and to Maine. We have to unearth some of the abandoned True-Life Adventures, from "The Story of the Nile" to "Wild Horse Story." And we have to go back in time, to the year 1943, when Walt was starting to plan for the creative rebirth of The Walt Disney Studios after WWII.
In fact, our story begins even earlier, in the woods of Maine, in the Summer of 1938. Ten years before the completion of "Seal Island," our tale already features a team of naturalists armed with a camera.
[In the five previous volumes of this Secret Stories series of books, hundreds of tales have been shared about the storytelling elements at the Walt Disney World theme parks, the WDW resort hotels, the water parks, the shopping areas and much more.
This book is
designed to help Disney guests understand what they are seeing and why it is
there. This volume concludes the first
fifty years of the
As WDW enters
its next fifty years, extreme changes are happening so quickly that it is more
than challenging to try to document them. In the blink of an eye, the Confectionery on
Epcot has begun
its massive transformation into four “neighborhoods”: World Showcase,
World Celebration, World Nature and World Discovery. Not only has the
Magic Band been upgraded and made no longer complimentary for resort guests,
So
it seemed an appropriate time to conclude the Secret Stories series of
books with this volume and let others document the next fifty years. As with
previous volumes, this book shares the rarely told stories of WDW including:
Ariel
the Little Mermaid at the
The
detailing in the Art of Animation resort includes subtle references to the
Disney-Pixar animated feature Cars, how pin trading began at WDW, the
back stories of some of the locations at Disney Springs, Grand Floridian fun
facts and much more fill the following pages.
Things
that were advertised but never built like Dick Tracy’s
The exciting thing about Walt Disney World is that it is a living entity and constantly growing so there is always something new to discover and this book will help remember many of the things before they are changed yet again.]
As an added bonus, to thank you all for the long wait, we have decided to offer a 76% discount for a limited time only. The HHA Annual is priced at $3.58 instead of $14.99 right now.
I have a feeling you will really love the essays it contains. The one I wrote about Walt Kelly at Disney includes an interesting surprise about the Disney roots of the comic strip Pogo!!!
I read the book in manuscript form and here is what I thought at the time:
"The Disney Revolt--the first in-depth day-by-day history of the seminal 1941 Disney strike--is a meticulously researched book, and a page-turner. Jake Friedman provides enlightening context, offers a balanced account of the traumatic events, and brings all the actors of this colorful drama to life. It feels like taking a time machine and actually being there in person."
Run to get your copy!
So, now that "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures" is at the printer, some of you may wonder what other Disney history-related projects I am working on at the moment aside from future volumes of "Walt's People."
The list is a long one.
1. I am preparing three essays for future volumes of the Hyperion Historical Annual: One about Walt Disney and Hans Christian Andersen, the second about Disney and Edgar Bergen (including two shelved projects) and the third about Disney's French projects from the mid-1940s.
2. J.B. Kaufman, Ted Thomas and I have just finished writing a new monograph titled "Walt Disney and El Grupo in Latin America," the first day-by-day account of the famous 1941 trip, complete with close to 240 photographs. The monograph is in layout phase.
3. Libby Spatz and I are currently researching and writing a two-part monograph about "Mickey Mouse on Stage and on Radio in the 1930s." This groundbreaking project will cover the origins of the Mickey Mouse clubs in the US and around the world, the Mickey Mouse stage shows (in the US and abroad), the Mickey Mouse marionette shows, the Mickey Mouse parades costumes and floats (in the US and abroad), Mickey Mouse Christmas window displays, and Mickey Mouse on radio in the US and abroad. As always, 90% of the material we unearthed has never been seen before.
4. Jim Hollifield and I are working on a monograph about "The Making of Darby O'Gill and the Little People." I have written the first half, which focuses on the research trip and the various versions of the story, and will now start help Jim gather material for him to write the second half, which deals with the actual making of the movie.
5. And next week I will have the opportunity to start conducting research for the sequel to the monograph about "The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures." That new monograph, "Walt Disney's Adventures in Music, History and Nature," will deal with some overlooked projects from the 1940s and 1950s.
In other words, there is lots on my plate, which is a good thing.
One of the most exciting projects I have been working on over the past three years is the new, hard-cover, fully-illustrated monograph The Origins of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures.
This second instalment in the Hyperion Historical Alliance's monograph series will be released in September this year, at the time of the D23 Expo.
I am very, very proud of this new publication and consider its content to be quite revolutionary. It is the very first time this story is being told; most of the sources I used had never been accessed before (that includes the papers of artist Holling C. Holling, the lost autobiography of Al and Elma Milotte and much more); and most of the illustrations are seen in book form for the very first time.
The first chapter deals with the genesis of the True-Life Adventures: the research trip to Maine in 1938 during the making of "Bambi." (It includes never-seen-before photographs of the trip and a first-person account of it!)
The second chapter focuses on Disney's educational projects during WWII (in a lot more detail that what we knew until now).
The third chapter covers Al and Elma Milotte's one-year-long trip to Alaska and quotes from their correspondence and recently rediscovered autobiography.
The fourth chapter gives information about the roads not taken: the early shelved True-Life Adventures.
Finally, the fifth chapter tells the story of the making of the first of the True-Life Adventures: Seal Island.
Much more to come about this new monograph, very soon. I can't tell you how glad I am to know that it has finally been sent to the printer!
Over the past three years, jazz historian Hal Smith, myself and Lucas Seastrom (who is a Disney historian, a specialist of the Firehouse Five Plus Two and a jazz historian) have been working on getting the book into print. Lucas served as the principal editor on this project and, thanks to BearManor Media, we are getting very, very close to publication.
More about this very soon.
With companies and other institutions finally reopening, several projects that had been on hold are finally seeing the light of day. I will be sharing a lot of good news over the next few days...
Starting with the fact that the new Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual has just been approved for release and should be available on Amazon by early July.
I have to admit that I am very, very proud of its content. We are covering a lot of new ground in this issue and the level of scholarly research is astounding. All the essays are also very fun to read, of course.
I have a feeling you will really enjoy this new issue of the HHA Annual.
[The Disneyland Stories You Were Never Told
Take an anecdotal time-travel trip back to the memorable years when Walt Disney and his brother Roy were operating Disneyland. Those magical years were a time when Walt’s park was not an overpriced reservation vacation but truly the Happiest Place on Earth.
Each chapter in this book is devoted to a specific year in that early history of Disneyland from 1954 to 1972 and are filled with stories that have been forgotten or never told.
Besides information each year on such things as ticket prices, attendance, the Candlelight Processional narrator, employment numbers, each chapter has several short essays about the events, attraction openings and much more that occurred during that particular year.
While most histories of Disneyland will focus on the fact that 1959 saw the introduction of the first three “E Ticket” attractions (Submarine Voyage, Monorail and Matterhorn bobsleds), this book also details the “Western Weekend” when television cowboy stars appeared for a three day weekend, the infamous Car Club Day that inspired Ed “Big Daddy” Roth to create his Rat Fink character, Nikita Khruschev’s failed attempt to visit Disneyland, the complete schedule of events for the June 14 dedication ceremonies and more.
So much was going on at Disneyland every year that all the information was never properly documented and interesting little historical tidbits have slipped through the cracks but are finally recounted in this book.
Every page contains something that might surprise even the most avid Disneyland afficionado drawn from decades of research, personal experience as well as exclusive interviews with the Imagineers and executives who were there during those years.
Everything from a Yippie Invasion that shut down the park to when Annette dressed as an Indian princess signing autographs in the Indian Village to why the Enchanted Tiki Room did not become a restaurant as originally planned are revealed in this book.
For those who were there, the book will bring back fond memories and for those who weren’t, it will give some insight into how those early years were so magical and so memorable for so many Disneyland guests.]
[I hope you are well. I just wanted to let you know that I've started digitizing my collection of documents and ephemera and uploading them to a centralized location at the Internet Archive. My hope is to provide an accessible archive of these things for everyone, especially as they have become harder to find and much more expensive to acquire through eBay and other places.
Everything has been scanned at high resolution and converted to OCR PDFs, so people can search for keywords. Hopefully it'll prove useful or at least interesting to some folks.
It all can be found here]
The book The Art of Lightyear for its part is excellent, like everything that Chronicle Books releases. (Needless to say I am biased ;-)
On June 24, 1935, during his visit to Europe, Walt attended a fundraiser at the Westminster Hospital.
When I wrote "Disney's Grand Tour," I knew of only one photo of the event which I did include in the book.
I just found another photo that I had never seen before. It is being sold on eBay at the moment but is way too expensive for me.
[From the theme parks to the Disney Hotels and shows, the designers of all these experiences are not only architects and engineers, but also artists – painters, illustrators, storyboarders, graphic designers, decorators, and model makers.
With The Art of Disneyland Paris, dive into the heart of the creation and evolution of Europe’s leading tourist destination through more than 300 photos, concepts and preparatory drawings made by Imagineers and artists of the Entertainment Department, over its 30-year history. From the first sketches to the projects to come, discover an art book like no other, both a souvenir album and a portfolio of passionate artists.]
So, this is what we know at this stage when it comes to the book's chapters:
1. Through the Picture Frame: Bianca Majolie
2. Brer Rabbit En His Satchel Uv Gold: Unknown
3. The Emperor's New Clothes: James Bodrero
4. The Little Fir Tree: Unknown
5. Lady: Almost certainly Joe Grant and Jack Miller
6. Chicken Little: Unknown
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: David Hall
8. The Wind in the Willows: Mel Shaw
9. Peter Pan and the Pirates: Jack Miller
10. Peter and the Wolf: Probably Dick Rickard
11. The Square World: Joe Grant
12. Happy Valley: Unknown
The book is based on interviews conducted by Michael with many of the producers, directors, animators, art directors, story artists, and executives who contributed to Disney animation's Renaissance.
An excellent read.
- Mary Lescher, The Disney Animation Renaissance: Behind the Glass at the Florida Studio
- Art of Disney published by Chronicle Books
This new volume features interviews with Bill Cottrell, Armand Bigle, Pierre Nicolas, Antonio Bertini, Andy Thewlis, Gunnar Mansson, Horst Koblischek, Dan Gonzales, Herb Hughes, Royal “Mickey” Clark, Marvin Davis and Marjorie Davis, Marty Sklar, Jack Lindquist, Craig McNair Wilson, Kym Murphy, and Chris Runco.
It was worth the wait. I absolutely love this volume. It is not an art book, although it does contain a section with color illustrations (including photos and pieces of concept art). It is first and foremost a book that allows 12 friends, who also happen to be some of the most talented of Disney's female Imagineers, to tell the story of their lives and careers.
I learned a lot and consider this book a page-turner. We are only in February, but I already know it will become part of my "best books of 2022" list.
I just received a copy of the book The Art of Turning Red (a movie that I am looking forward to watching when it released on Disney+ on March 11).
As always, Chronicle Books did a great job with that one. More than the character designs, what I really loved in this volume are the concept pieces.
I have to admit that I am really looking forward to discovering, some day, more artwork by some of the artists featured in the book, like Bill Cone, Rona Liu, Simon Baek, Rebecca Shieh, Tatsuro Kiuchi, and Tadahiro Uesugi, among others.
Between April 12, 1930 and December 27, 1930, some Australian newspapers ran a locally-produced Mickey Mouse comic strip, two examples of which are shown here.
While the strip was non-authorized, it was nevertheless syndicated throughout Australia. 39 stories were released in total.
Two months after the demise of the Australian strip, in March 1931 another newspaper started running the official / authorized Mickey Mouse strip.
There are always new things to discover when it comes to Disney history!!!
- Walt Disney's The Jungle Book: Making a Masterpiece by Andreas Deja
- The Imagineering Story: A History of Disney's Theme Parks as Told by the Designers by Leslie Iwerks
- Walt's Apprentice: Keeping the Disney Dream Alive by Dick Nunis
- 100 Disney Adventures of a Lifetime: Magical Experiences From Around the World by Marcy Smothers
If you are reading this and are the person who bought those drawings, could you please, please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com? Ideally those drawings need to be scanned and preserved for future generations of Disney historians. Many thanks in advance.
