The Disney Books Network has been updated.

I just love this drawing of Walt and Mickey by Italian artist Silvia Ziche, created for the documentary about Walt and Italy which I was discussing on the blog two weeks ago.

I would really have loved to attend the program "Disney Goes to the Opera" that composer and Disney historian Ross Care will be presenting at the Walt Disney Family Museum on February 8.

Jimmy Johnson's autobiography, Inside the Whimsy Works, which was written in 1975 and that Greg Ehrbar and yours truly had the pleasure of editing, has finally been released by University of Mississippi Press. If you are interested in the business side of Disney from the '30s to the '60s, this book is definitely for you. It is full of information which has never been released elsewhere about how "Roy's departments" operated while Walt was still around. Jimmy was a great writter, so it's an easy read and a fun read. I have a feeling many of you will thoroughly enjoy it.

In a post from January 17, on the Star Wars Blog, Imagineer and Disney historian Jason Surrell mentions: "I’m in the early stages of developing a coffee table book about all of Walt Disney Imagineering’s theme park collaborations with George Lucas."

It's finally official (through the website of his agent Victoria Sanders), Todd James Pierce's book Three Years in Wonderland will be released next year by University Press of Mississippi.

I can not hide my excitment. Todd is one of the co-editors of the Disney History Institute and a dear friend. I have read the manuscript and can tell you that this is by far one of the best Disney history books ever written. It is full of new information about the early days of Disneyland, reads like a novel (Todd is an extremely talented professional writer) and is a true revolution when it comes to the history of the first Disney park. Not to be missed in any way, shape or form.

The blog will be updated again next Friday.

I mentioned earlier this week this exciting documentary which will soon be released in Italy. Can't wait to see it in a few months when it gets released in DVD. In the meantime I had the pleasure of interviewing its director.

Didier Ghez: Please tell us about the genesis of this project. How did it start and why?

Marco Spagnoli: I was asked from Disney Theatrical CEO in Italy Stefano Bethlen to suggest a special project in order to launch 'Saving Mr.Banks' in Italy.
I'm a consultant with many Hollywood Studios in Rome where  I work. I told him: "I usually give disinterested advices. This time I will give an interested one. Why don't we do a documentary about Walt Disney special relationship with Italy and Italians? Why don't we put together all footage regarding Disney's travels to Italy and we blend it with witnesses from the past and testimonials from the present?"
Walt Disney in Italy is like Leonardo DaVinci. Everybody knows him, his work is like a fundament of our society. Every child sees his movies and we learn to read on Topolino that is Mickey Mouse Magazine.
Stefano, and I must underline the cleverness and courage of this executive, decided to bring to his bosses this crazy idea and they all liked it because I promised to bring intellectuals as well as fashion designer and Italian movie Star to talk about WD. And I did it.
We worked very closely with Disney in order to have them with us in every step and they have been wonderful and incredibly supportive and nice.
I was incredibly honored and flattered to have the responsibility of directing a documentary on Walt Disney and Italy.
Even tough I'm too involved, I must say I admire Disney's people who, instead of buying some P&A for supporting 'Saving Mr.Banks' they took the 'risk' of producing a documentary with the same money.
They were brave and smart, and they were 'visionaries' in a strict disneyan sense: starting from Italy Country Manager Daniel Frigo, the already mentioned Stefano Bethlen and all the others.
My documentary is also a homage to all the Disney people in Italy and all over the world who are trying to bring on this incredible legacy.

DG: What were the most exciting things you learned about Disney history while working on this project?

MS: His generosity: his pure curiosity and his love for art and Nature. That's why, I guess, he loved Italy so much. For its simplicity and its immediate connection with his vision.
Nobody could stop his art and the beauty of his work. Not even Mussolini could forbade Topolino Magazine and after almost 50 years from his death, Walt Disney is still alive and well in our culture. Like all great artists.
As somebody states in our documentary 'Walt Disney is considered an Italian: his work belong to this country like pizza and Vespa. Are you saying we are wrong? Think again..."
Walt Disney is an Icon. We bow to his greatness and we respect him as a family friend or member.
Giacomo Scarpelli who's been Academy Award nominated for Il Postino's screenplay told us an incredible anecdote about his personal meeting
with Disney in Hollywood when he was nine.

DG: What are the key surprises Disney History enthusiasts can expect?

MS: I hope that everybody will share the feeling of the love of Italian people for Walt Disney and viceversa. Plus I think they will see altogether some very interesting (and moving...) footage.  I do hope they will like Fellini remembering his meeting with Disney and other stuff like this...
For the first time we'll show Fellini's sketches of him and Disney at Disneyland in HD.
I don't know...maybe this is a pop documentary on the imaginary collective of Italy on Walt Disney...somebody might not discover anything he doesn't know, but my hope is everybody will cry in the end of the documentary, because we show something, maybe unexpected....we'll see.

DG: For people outside of Italy... Are there any plans yet to release the documentary on DVD?

MS: It depends on Disney, of course. Hopefully they might like and do it worldwide. It will probably play on iTunes and we are working on developing a special Italian Edition.

DG: Are you planning to tackle any other Disney-related project after this one?

MS: No. I'm working on developing other documentaries related to Movies or Entertainment, but I don't think that I could add more on Disney, altough I'm puzzled why nobody tackled his artistry and his special friendships with Eisenstein, Dalì and Hitchcock. That would be nice, but it should be done from somebody who would have direct access to documents and papers of all these artists.

And so, apparently, there is not just one, but two movies in the making about the early days of Walt! Here is a link to the website of the second one.

Paul Perrello, who sent me the heads up, wrote the following article about the project:

["I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."—Walt Disney

One thing that we are certainly not going to lose sight of in the weeks, months and year ahead is Walt Disney.  First up is Tom Hanks’ portrayal of the iconic showman in “Saving Mr. Banks” arriving in theaters this month.  Uncle Walt will continue to get the star treatment in 2014 with word that a major feature film is in the works.

Filming is scheduled to begin on “Walt Before Mickey,” a big screen flick about the life and times of a simple man with a big dream: Walt Disney.  Set in the 1900’s, the film is based on the 2011 book “Walt Before Mickey, Disney’s Early Years 1919-1928” by author and lawyer Tim Susanin.  The book by the suburban Philadelphia writer chronicled Walt’s early years and his rise to success. The foreword to Susanin’s book was written by the late Diane Disney Miller.

The movie version of Walt’s life before the Mouse is being produced by actor and Florida native Armando Gutierrez with filming commencing this month in the Sunshine State. Gutierrez says the movie will offer a “fresh take on a classic American ideal, exploring a part of Walt Disney’s life that little is known about.”

An avid baseball and movie fan Gutierrez, a Harvard graduate, just finished serving as executive producer of “Henry & Me,” a feature film with a star-studded cast of actors, singers and athletes including Richard Gere, Chazz Palminteri, Lucie Arnaz, Danny Aiello, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Reggie Jackson, Alex Rodriguez and Yogi Berra.

If the Disney movie holds true to Susanin’s book, audiences will get a chance to see a different side to the man who came into our living rooms each week on television to introduce “The Wonderful World of Disney.”  When promoting the release of his book in 2011 Susanin said “if you are looking to understand the creative mind, who was firing on so many cylinders in so many different ways through the 30’s and the 60’s, it is all right there in the first decade.”

For Susanin, a former federal prosecutor, Navy JAG and television legal commentator, his interest in Disney was the result of a family vacation to “the Happiest Place on Earth.”  The author says a 2003 trip to the Walt Disney World Resort with his wife and their three children was an eye-opening experience for him, one that he confesses he never saw coming.  He said at the conclusion of the trip he “couldn’t figure out what hit him,” but left Florida wanting to know more about Disney and as Susanin says “who was this guy who put this together?”

He picked up a biography of Walt and read it on the plane trip home, admitting that he just could not put the book down. He quickly realized that there was very little, detailed information about Walt’s return from World War One and what came next in Disney’s world. “There was no record so I wanted to learn more about that” he recounts.

“I guess it was a good break from the law. It turned out to be a great hobby,” Susanin concedes. “I really liked the guy a lot that I got to know in doing this.” Hopefully that experience will spill over to the movie version of the project.  Other producers signing onto the project include Jeff Rice, who was executive producer of “End Before Watch” and “Lone Survivor” and Christian Vogeler of “Silver Linings Playbook.” The movie will be directed by Ari Taub and could be released by the end of 2014.]

For all the French speakers reading this blog, Histoire du Dessin Anime Français Entre 1936 et 1940 une Politique Curlturelle d'Etat by Sebastien Roffat will most certainly be a must-have. This will be the best history of French cartoons and while the book is not directly related to Disney history, it looks as if it will still contain a few fascinating sections about Disney in France. Can't wait!

This just in from Garry Apgar:

[In light of the recent, often ill-informed negativity about Walt Disney, it might be well to recall what Walt Kelly had to say about his former boss:

    Disney’s demand for creativity in his workers has won him a reputation as one of Hollywood’s major tyrants. “He can’t stand people who don’t produce, people who are stupid,” says one of his old-time workers. According to one of Disney’s famous cartoonist graduates, Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo, Disney’s reputation as a “tyrant” comes from those who “didn’t measure up.”

    “I’d never say he was a tyrant,” says Kelly. “He’s an easy man to work for, if you’re putting out. He is very demanding, there’s no doubt about it. He can be fairly sharp-tempered and tough, if people are stupid or unproductive, and this causes griping among those who don’t live up to his standards. But if you are hard-working, he’s an amazing man to work for. You learn an enormous amount, artistically. He helped to groom me, and I appreciated the experience enormously. I thought of him as a genius.”

    Edith Efron, “Still Attacking His Ancient Enemy—Conformity,” TV Guide, July 17-23, 1965, pp. 12-13]

And now Michael Sporn!

The last three months have really been awful. First Diane in November, then Robin Allan earlier this month and yesterday Michael Sporn (1946 -2014). You can read Michael Barrier's and John Canemaker's homages here.

Rita and I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Sporn at his studio in New York during our last trip to New York a few years ago. I knew Michael as a dedicated animation historian, through his blog, which I read every day and through many exchanges of emails about Disney history. After that trip I also discovered all his animated masterpieces.

This is all happening too fast. I am, once again, shocked and on the verge of crying.

Rest in Peace Michael.

I would love to be able to go to Italy in February to catch this upcoming documentary about Walt Disney and Italy. You can see a trailer at this link. I guess I will have to wait until the DVD release. Oh well...

The Kindle version of Disney's Grand Tour is now available on Amazon. Hurray!

Jack Kinney's autobiography has always been one of my favorite books about life at the Disney Studio. Over the years I have heard rumors that the initial manuscript was much longer that what ended up in the published book. Would anyone have access to the uncut version of the manuscript?

[Update: I just received an email from Bill Cotter who saw the original manuscript and confirmed that all that was publishable was actually published. This is therefore a dead end. Please forget this post.]

As Dreamers Do is an independent film about the life of young Walt Disney to be released in Spring 2014. The project scares me. I hope that the people behind it have at least read Tim Susanin's book... I hope that my fears are unfounded.

Just released on Animated Views: Written interview with Jérémie Noyer about the making of Disney's Grand Tour. Enjoy!

I am really looking forward to the upcoming catalog of the Mary Blair Walt Disney Family Museum exhibition, Magic Color Flair: The World of Mary Blair by John Canemaker.

I asked John: "Is the text brand new or is it very similar to the text which was included in The Art and Flair of Mary Blair? Will we discover many illustrations that we had never seen before?"

To which he answered: "Thank you for asking re the Mary Blair exhibition catalog.
It is a beauty, well designed by the Weldon Owen publishing team, who created the Snow White and Tyrus Wong exhibit catalogs.
"The text, written by me especially for this exhibition and catalog, is new and focuses on the artwork.  There are familiar pieces, but within this comprehensive show of 200 artworks -- from private loaners as well as the WDFM's extensive collection  -- viewers will no doubt find art and photos new to them or rarely seen in person from all areas of Mary Blair's long and varied career."

Can't wait!

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Note from P.L. Travers after she finally signed the contract for Walt to make the film.]

Do not miss the second part of my interview with Tim Callaway about the making of Disney's Grand Tour and about my future Disney-related projects.