I was extremely pleased today to receive a copy of the latest edition of Didier Ghez‘s truly wonderful book series, Walt’s People: Talking Disney with the Artists who Knew Him. Volume Nine, available now in paperback or digital download, weights in at an impressive 541 pages. It’s great stuff, too!
The series, which began as an effort to reprint long-forgotten interviews of Disney artists and employees, has grown in scope. Aside from the great interviews, it now features other essays by well-known Disney historians. Here’s the list of contents for Volume Nine:
Foreword by John Culhane
Dave Smith: Thurston Harper
Ray Pointer: Berny Wolf
John Canemaker: Fanny Rabin about Art Babbitt
John Culhane: Art Babbitt
Tom Sito: Bill Melendez
Mark Langer: Ken O’Connor
John Canemaker: Thor Putman
John Culhane: Art Scott
Dave Smith: Ken Anderson
Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz: Ken Anderson
Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz: Les Clark
Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz: Jack Cutting
Robin Allan: Jack Cutting
Robin Allan: Bob Jones
Robin Allan: Joe and Jennie Grant
Floyd Norman: Three Disney Story Guys (Pete Young, Fred Lucky and Vance Gerry)
Jim Korkis: Margaret Kerry
Paul F. Anderson: Jack Ferges
Paul F. Anderson: Fred Joerger
Jim Korkis: The Secret Walt Disney Commercials
Michael Mallory: Paul Carlson
Didier Ghez: Paul Carlson
Floyd Norman: Just Finish that Darned Thing!
Didier Ghez: Victor Haboush
Julie Svendsen: Walt Peregoy
Floyd Norman: Disney’s “B” Movie
Alberto Becattini: Frank McSavage
Klaus Strzyz: Jack Bradbury + Mary Jim Carp
Klaus Strzyz: Bob Foster
Alberto Becattini: Bob Foster
Didier Ghez: Julie Svendsen
Göran Broling: Correspondence with Ollie Johnston
Clay Kaytis: Burny Mattinson
Didier Ghez: Tom Sito
It’s a treasure trove of Disney history and scholarship and, while it’ll be a while before I have time to do a full review, I guarantee that it’s worth your time. Besides, it has my name in the acknowledgments so that has to be worth your time and money!
Order now: Paperback / Digital Download
And it’s available on Kindle! Nice!
Hey, it’s Progress City! Would you expect anything else? 🙂
If this is anything like I’m seeing posted here during “The Ryman Centennial” then I’m sold.
There books are full of great little stories like that… all these interviews have bits that you’ve never heard before that aren’t really earth-shaking in and of themselves but they really flesh out the people at Disney and make them more than just historical figures. And a lot of the time they’re really, really funny!
Then just what the doctor ordered indeed.
Checking online it looks like $ 20 x 8, carry the one, add # 9, and hello Mr. Claus at speed by December 25th 😉