Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance by my friend and fellow Disney historian Michael Lyons has just been released.

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.

Two books that could be interesting are now available for pre-order on Amazon:

- Mary Lescher, The Disney Animation Renaissance: Behind the Glass at the Florida Studio

- Art of Disney published by Chronicle Books
 

Some great news to start the weekend. Walt's People - Volume 26 has just been released today thanks to Skyway Press!!!

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.

I have been waiting for the book "Women of Walt Disney Imagineering" to be released for almost two years and finally got a review copy last week.

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.

This weekend, while researching the origins of the Mickey Mouse clubs in Australia, I stumbled upon something totally unexpected.

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!!!

 

Four exciting books are now available for pre-order on Amazon (thanks to David Peake for the heads up):

- 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

From a historical standpoint, one of the most important items that was sold by Heritage Auctions over the past few days is this complete set of 81 storyboard drawings from the abandoned short The Little Wax Gaucho.

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.

Jim Cora's autobiography has just been released. 

If you are interested in the history of the Disney parks and Imagineering and have not picked it up yet, you really should. 

This is one of the most important Disney history books released over the past few years. A "must-have" if there is one.

Looking forward to the new auction at Heritage.
 

I just received the below email from my friend Jim Hollifield about the exhibition catalog "Where Art Might Happen: The Early Years of CalArts." Jim mentions:

[It's a thick publication, an exhibition catalog about the institution's history. There's a substantial chapter about the founding of Cal Arts and the Disney family's connection. See this image in the Amazon previews. Much of the publication focuses on artwork created by alumni and students; however, this particular chapter was worth the purchase.]

I just ordered a copy. 

 

A few years ago, I had had the pleasure of picking up Volume 1 of Edward Bergen's publication, The Pictorial Story of Walt Disney's First Superstar: Mickey Mouse and loved it. In it, Edward presents treasures of his collection of Mickey Mouse memorabilia from the 1930s with some good amount of context. And his collection is truly outstanding.

I was excited to discover this weekend that both Volume 2 and Volume 3 had just been released. I got them yesterday and can confirm that they are even better than the first volume.

 

This weekend, I had the pleasure of receiving three Disney-related books by author Mike Fox: "The Hidden Secrets & Stories of Disneyland," "The Hidden Secrets & Stories of Walt Disney World," and "Disneyland In-Depth." 

I was delighted by all three books, which are full of details about the Disney parks that I was not aware of. About half of the information contained in the books was new to me.

Mike shared that he had interviewed several Imagineers for "Disneyland In-Depth." He made very good use of the information he collected. Way to go Mike!

 

I am very sad to report that historian Dana Gabbard, editor and publisher of The Duckburg Times, just passed away. It is a dark day for Disney history.

I just ordered this new book.
 

 Looking forward to Heritage's next Disney auction!

I was interviewed recently on the Ink and Paint podcast about the making of the They Drew as They Pleased -- The Hidden Art of Disney book series. The interview has just been released.

A new edition of the Poster Art of the Disney Parks book is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It contains an additional 100 posters. (Thanks to David Peake for the heads up about this.)

The Art of Turning Red is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

A new Disney artbook has been announced on Amazon: "Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara: The Stories. The Influence. The Legacy." by Emily Zemler. Could be interesting.

(Note: The above illustration is linked to the lost Disney Aida project and is just here to catch your attention.)