I just stumbled upon this very rare clip (see 0:27 onwards) which shows a float titled “The Court of Funnies,” which appeared in the Christmas parade sponsored by the Eaton Department store on November 17, 1934 in Toronto, Canada. The same parade also appeared in Montreal on November 24, 1934.

Happy 2022 to all of you! 

And here is one more book I am looking forward to.

 The Disney Books Network has finally been updated today. Apologies for the delay.

I realized a few days ago that, in the 1930s and the 1940s, the magazine Collier's contained a lot of special artwork created for it by the Disney Studios. I still have a lot to explore on this new trail, but here is a first example from an issue dated June 30, 1934. 

 

I had always wanted to watch Steel and America, the 1965 educational film produced by Disney for the American Iron and Steel Institute. I finally found a link to the whole documentary.
 

 The autobiography of Don Bluth is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Can't wait!!

One of the monographs I am working on at the moment (along with my friend and fellow Disney historian Libby Spatz) includes a chapter that deals with Mickey Mouse marionette shows from the 1930s. While tying some loose ends on the chapter, I stumbled upon this upcoming book, which is now available for pre-order on Amazon. 

Bob Baker started working on Disney-related shows when he was just a kid. Later in his life was the man behind some of Disneyland most elaborate display windows. Apparently the book includes quite a few pages (and photos) related to his Disney career. 

Did you enjoy Robin Allan's book, Walt Disney and Europe? Did you love the catalog of the 2007 Grand Palais exhibition, Once Upon a Time Walt Disney? If so, you will love the catalog of the new Met exhibition, Inspiring Walt Disney, written by Wolf Burchard.

Wolf really did his homework and this catalog is a "must-have." There is not much that we have not seen before when it comes to Disney artwork, but the choice of documents is excellent and the contextualization is what makes this book so valuable. The text is also well written and very well researched.

Last week I received a copy of the new book The Art of Aaron Blaise. Blaise directed Brother Bear and served as visual development artist on several Disney and non-Disney animated features, including the unproduced Disney project King of the Elves.

The book contains a large amount of Disney-related artwork (for produced and unproduced projects) which is, surprisingly, not identified as having been created for Disney. I was delighted to see that artwork appear in book form. 

 New Disneyland auction coming up at Van Eaton Galleries.

Women of Walt Disney Imagineering is finally available for pre-order on Amazon! I cannot wait to read it when it is released next year.
 

I just received a copy of Marcy Carriker Smothers' new book, Walt's Disneyland -- A Walk in the Park with Walt Disney.

I love the quality of the research that Marcy conducted for the book. The text is fascinating from start to finish and the amount of original quotes that Marcy gathered is astounding. Reading this book is a pure delight.

My only two disappointments are that this is a soft-cover book and the fact that very few of the illustrations are new. I suspect that most of this is due to the pandemic which made access to new visual documents almost impossible.

All in all this book is a "must have", though. Way to go Marcy.

I just received The Art of Disney Encanto and am very much looking forward to watching the movie when it is released on Disney+ (since Rita and I are yet to venture to a cinema).

As always I loved this book from publisher Chronicle Books. The talent of concept artists Lorelay Bove and Byron Howard never ceases to amaze me, and it is a delight to discover new artists like art director Camille Andre through this new publication.

Can't wait (but will have to) to see the movie!

Jim Korkis just emailed me to let me know that Dick Nunis had announced at Destination D the upcoming release of his autobiography via Disney Editions. Can't wait!

The Disney Revolt by my good friend and fellow Disney historian Jake Friedman is now available for pre-order on Amazon. 

I have had a chance to read an early version of the manuscript and I can confirm that this will be one of the best Disney history books of 2022 and probably of the decade.

This is the first time I understood clearly the day by day chronology of the 1941 Disney strike and who did what and why.

This is a balanced account, a meticulously researched story, and a beautifully written book, which should be at the very top of your wish list!  

 

John Musker just created those marvelous caricatures for the cover of Walt's People - Volume 26, which should be released in a few weeks.

In my book Disney's Grand Tour, I wrote:

"On his last full day in Paris, July 2, 1935, Walt took time to discover the office of the daily newspaper Paris-Soir. There he had lunch with actor Robert Montgomery; Paris-Soir’s General Manager; actress Nicole de Rouves; M. de Kermaingant; and MGM’s representative in Paris, Allan Byre; as well as Curtis Melnitz, Sam Cohen, and Marcel Teyssère from United Artists."

I just stumbled this morning upon a photo of this event and thought many of you would enjoy it as much as I did!

This new book just in from Jim Korkis:

[Are you smarter than a Disney Historian?

Of course you are because nobody can know everything about Walt Disney World.   In this book, author Jim Korkis who is an acknowledged and respected Disney Historian has provided 500 multiple choice questions about fifty years of WDW.

 

The 500 questions are divided into ten different sections. In keeping with the spirit of WDW’s 50th anniversary, they are gathered in groups of 50. Readers can pick and choose which sections they might want to try or skip or even what order to try and answer them.

 

Everything from the individual parks to the resorts to things outside the parks and resorts are included as well as WDW history.  Additional sections feature lists of fifty years of historical highlights, fun facts and more.

 

These are not the typical questions that can be found on the internet but questions and answers that were verified by the Walt Disney Company over the last thirty years.   Jim was responsible for writing many trivia quizzes and fun fact media sheets for WDW so all of that information had to go through scrutiny of several Disney departments including the Disney Archives for final approval.

 

The answer section does not just provide the correct answer but is usually several sentences to explain fully why it was the right answer or why the other choices were wrong.  In that way, even if someone got the question correct, they might still learn a little bit more.

 

Jim hopes this book will encourage readers to go back and re-look at something at Walt Disney World in a different perspective that they might have seen dozens of times or maybe discover a hidden treasure they never knew had always been there like how leaf imprints are created in Disney’s concrete walkways or which Port Orleans ferry boat has a misspelled name.

 

The book is formatted so that even after taking the quiz, it can still be used as a valuable reference and an opportunity to irritate other people by quizzing them.]

I had never seen this clip of Walt arriving in the Netherlands in 1951. 

Thanks to François Monferran for the heads up!

I am looking forward to reading this new issue of Disney Twenty-Three.