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At the end of last month, I started uploading daily videos to my long-dormant YouTube channel, Progress City Public TV. These are random clips and ephemera from decades of collecting – from long-ago TV specials to rare content from the early days of the Disney Channel. Maybe even the occasional really terrible home video […]

The Progress City Radio Hour – Episode 68 – The Sherman Brothers!

To honor the recent passing of Disney Legend Richard Sherman, this special episode of the Radio Hour is a tribute to the iconic and unforgettable Sherman Brothers. We’ll take a look at some of their lesser-known work, from their time before Disney to projects such as Tinpanorama and Summer Magic, to, yes, even SMASH […]

Caxanga!

Disney animators and staff play Caxanga in Brazil during the 1941 “El Grupo” goodwill trip. The four players are Norm Ferguson, Bill Cottrell, Mary Blair, and Jack Cutting.

For decades now, Disney has been releasing its archival titles to home media, and as the years have passed we’ve seen a number of formats come […]

Book Review: They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney’s Musical Years

I recently received a review copy of Didier Ghez‘s latest masterpiece, They Drew As they Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney’s Musical Years – The 1940s – Part One. I’m pleased to report that – unsurprisingly – it’s another fantastic effort by Didier with an incredible amount of previously unseen conceptual artwork from perhaps […]

For Your Christmas List…

We live in something of a renaissance for Disney history publishing, and I was beyond ecstatic to see a new title pop up on Twitter this morning. From the masterful art publisher Taschen comes The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921-1968, a sprawling (624 pages!!) collection of artwork and historical text from […]