Disney Books

This is a great book, very entertaining, and even in my own pile of over 60 books on Disney, it stands out as being the only book that focuses strictly on their live action subject. The author breaks down each film he covers, listing title, cast and crew, synopsis, and a review (he does a great job at this). He includes behind the scenes information and comments from original participants I have never seen published anywhere else. The only thing is is lacking is it has very few pictures, and and it needs some more interviews with the principle screenwriters, actors, directors, and such. While it does not cover all the live films, overall it is very comprehensive considering the library of live action films from Disney is much bigger than most people realize. It is also currently the BEST and most COMPLETE book on this specific subject. I am grateful at having found this book, and look forward to any future releases from the author or an expanded version of this book.

If you want more books to consider on the subject of live Disney films, I reccommend the following books for sale at Amazon: "The Wonderful World of Disney Television" by Bill Cotter; "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin; "The Disney Studio Story" by Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley; "The Wonderful World of Disney Animals" by Disney's chief movie animal trainer William Koehler; "Walt, Backstage Adventures with Walt Disney" by Charles Shows; "One of Walt's Boys" by Harry Tytle.

People have delighted in Disney's "live-action" films for decades. This book describes their production. You'll greatly enjoy learning about your many, many old favorites.

I was terribly disappointed with this book, which promised so much and delivered so little. While well-written, the prose is lackluster and frequently misses its focus. Although film reviews are often insightful, plot descriptions are sometimes limited to a single sentence. But the biggest disappointment of all is the lack of photographs. What fan of Disney live-action films wouldn't delight in a book featuring pictures of these films in production. Instead, the few pictures I found were grainy, out-of-focus snapshots, mostly of buildings used as backdrops. Few, if any of the people involved in any of the films are featured. Further, although many of Disney l ive-action TV films are discussed, not one of the serials featured on the Original Mickey Mouse Club rates so much as a passing mention. Pass this one by.

John West's book offers an inside view of the film studio that chose to be different and became one of the nation's largest entertainment empires. The Disney difference was not just in content, but in how the studio was run. In the days when Walt was alive, the emphasis was on the script and on creativity, resulting in an esprit de corps among writers that no other studio could match.

West brings objective balance to previous critics of Walt Disney's operational style as well as critics of Disney films. West reveals a man more complex, and therefore more real, than his critics have portrayed. Stories by members of the Disney corps describe a man both tough and fair, tempestuous, but also willing to let the battle drop, frugal, but almost always willing to put the creative vision ahead of cost concerns. West adroitly uses the right word for the right job in a manner that subtly shades his arguments and helps the reader see the finer distinctions he is making with regard to Disney's character.

Disney was a man of the people, not given to the usual pretentious behavior of Hollywood executives. As a result, his heroes-like those in earlier Frank Capra films-were the little people, given a rare moment in life to show their courage, which always derived from their principles rather than from rising to meet someone else's expectations of what a hero should be. Disney the man cherished those beliefs in his own dealings with people, having, as West shows, an elastic view of his employee's talents, willing to let them move in directions where they had not had a chance to prove themselves because he saw the desire within.

When Walt died, the studio floundered for almost two decades. One of the big changes that led to the decline at Disney Studios came because the new executives were strictly businessmen, not men of creativity. Not understanding the creative process as Walt had, they no longer placed the primary emphasis on the writer and the story, but tried in simplistic ways to mimic the family-values content of previous Disney material without recognizing that good stories are never written by committee. Although Walt shaped scripts in consort with his writers in a highly patriarchal fashion, he was a consumate creator himself-something the later suits at Disney were not-and he always left the final incorporation of his vision or revision with the original writer of the screenplay.

Though Disney Studios has recovered from its perilous decline, it's executives might fine-tune their newly recovered success by reading this book and by realizing that the Disney difference was not just content, but an operational style that let writers see their own vision through from origination to the final shooting copy of their script.

A good book for wannabe filmmakers, but an even better book for established film executives.

This book does have some pictures, but it isn't a "coffee table" picture book. It is full of interviews with the people involved in the production of these films, that you can't find anywhere else. It contains lots of information and insight that you won't find in other sources. My favorite parts are the sections on Zorro, Davy Crockett, and the films of Hayley Mills. If you really want to learn about the best of early Disney live action, This is the book!

another 'worth the money' disney product. loved it! bought this as a christmas present for my 3yr old g'dghtr. watching her 'read along' outloud was too funny. i actually got this as a help-mate for bedtime because neither she or her 7yr old sister ever want to go to bed let alone fall asleep w/in minutes. this worked out great..first read the story to them (books are adorable) and then pop in the cd and they can 'listen' to it again. worked like a charm and no more "please..just one more story??!!" i highly reco this product and getting her the little mermaid next for her february bday :)

It has all my daughters favorite princess songs. She loves it.

My daughter (4) loves these read it yourself books. The box (packaging) it comes with isn't very sturdy though, and we have had to find alternate holders to store the CD in. Would have preferred the cd to come with a case, rather than a clip in to the box cover.

A perfect gift and sound experience for young children with original voices from the movies!

Simple stories told in simple ways to initiate children about sharing and caring, with Christmas as a reference for "holiday season" only.

The voice characterizations are fantastic and very appealing (Russi Taylor is top-notch as the recreation of Cinderella's God-Mother); the music (traditional Xmas music) is really "background", subdued and nice enough to set the mood.

Three colourful books with exquisite Disney illustrations tell the stories with the printed text of the narration!

AND... there's even a NEW character named after ME, François, I must humbly say!

So, who could ask for anything more?

This bargain-priced boxed set of three full color Disney books with one Read-Along CD contain a brand-new Cinderella story called SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS.
The new story takes place before Cinderella meets the Prince. The stepmother orders her to prepare a grand party for the mysterious Countess LaRue, who turns out to be ... well, I don't want to give it away!
Two classic Princess stories round out the set, Beauty and the Beast in ONE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS by Karen Krieder and The Little Mermaid in CHRISTMAS UNDER THE SEA by Paula Sigman.
All the stories are performed by the great Disney voice actors including Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, Jennifer Hale, Robbie Benson, Joanne Worley, Russi Taylor, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Sam Wright, Roy Dotrice, Brian Cummings, Linda Gary and many others,
A great Disney set at a great price!

Disney is often considered to be the premiere house for animation. Yet in the course of creation, there will always be ideas that were rejected, or didn't gel, or just fell apart. Luckily, Disney kept everything - good, bad or unused, and created a bounty for the animation historian. This book allows a peek behind the creative process. We are familiar with what made it to the screen, but Solomon shows us what didn't make it. A combination of a history of Disney successess and failures, and a portfolio of hidden artwork, this book is a trove of Disney information that is usually overlooked. It is interesting, following the release of Fantasia 2000, to look back at actual work prepared for Walt's original idea of re-releasing Fantasia annually with different pieces, creating more than just a film, but an experience. Economics and logistics kept this from happening, and only 60 years later did a new attempt at this vision appear. There is so much more that did not make it, beause of money, lack of story, politics or more, and most of the parts rightfully finally get their day in the sun (some of the work should stay buried, but that's few and far between). A fascinating look at "the rest of the story."

Over the years, Disney has given us 40 major animated features, but along the way, there are those that we never have seen. The art that always seems to instill ideas, the creations that are considered not creative enough, or those that were cut for various reasons. Here, Charles Solomon has pretty much ventured into the greatest journey of his life: The Disney Archives!!(Imy career in animation hoped to one day lead me to these hallowed halls). Here, he poured over hundreds or thousnads of drawings and much more, finding out everything from animated short ideas, to feature length movies. Solomon unearthed such concepts as "The Emperor's nightingale (showing wonderful pastel and watercolor prints), to shorts from Hans Christian Andersen (some art that was mentioned but not shown was the inspiration for the "Fantasia 2000" segment of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"). There are even countless Mickey, Goofy and Donald shorts that were not made (such as one with Goofy called "How to Be a Cowboy"). In the realm of feature films, there are two incredible stories. The first centers around an idea Walt Disney had to join with another studio to make a telling of Hans Christien Andersen's life story, with interstitials from animation to live-action and back again. An unknown artist did FANTASTIC(it deserves caps) watercolor conceptuals, bu the project fell apart soon afterwards. The second story focuses ona joint venture between Walt and oil painter Salvador Dali. The numerous concepts were made and a short 8 second film reel was developed before it was shelved. There was even the story of the rooster "Chanticleer," which was probably in pre-production on and off since after World War II up til the time of "The Jungle Book." Tons and tons of artwork were made, but a story consensus could never be reached, and the project was never again to see the light of day. The greatest chapter to me is one that deals with the numerous planned segments that were to follow on the possible success of "Fantasia." However, "Fantasia" never came about (not until 60 years later), and over the years, countless ideas were tried, from baby ballets, to even bringing back the pegasus characters from the "Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony" segment. There's even soem information on the "Clair De Lune" segment that was cut before the final release (it was 100% completed too!). I would hope that Disney woudl rerelease this book. It has shown me a lot in what went in to many ideas for the animators, and it is also an infallable reference to me.

If you're like me, everytime you see the newest Disney picture, you can't help but wonder, "What are they working on now?" Well, this book might answer some of that longing (at least you'll know what they're -not- working on). Although it only spans the years when Walt himself was alive, we are shown enough of the Disney might-have-beens to fill our dreams for a while. To be honest, I didn't read most of the text (so many books; so little time), but that didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying the book, since more than 2/3 is pictures anyway. The captions are well-written and informative--probably for people like me who don't read the text so that we can get the main points anyway. It's really fascinating to see how ideas are developed and why they get scrapped even though the artwork is so terrific. A chapter on wartime Disney was very entertaining--seeing what Disney did to balance the desire to make a political statement with their particular brand of family entertainment. I recommend this book to anyone interested in art styles and the development of animation or films of any kind.

This gloriously illustrated book is a must for anyone who loves animation, especially Disney animation. The wealth of projects that were never produced is almost as rich as those that were. I especially love the illustrations from the "Ride of the Valkyries" segment that was not included in "Fantasia," and the characters from an unproduced "Chanticleer." The text is also full of interesting information. Get it and enjoy.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of this out-of-print book and I am really glad that I did. This book is packed with drawings created by Disney artists that were working on projects that were never put into production. Along with the drawings are the stories of the projects and in most cases, the reason why they were never completed.

I was especially interested in the material that was considered for the original Fantasia. I recently saw Fantasia 2000 and during this feature they talked about some ideas that were considered and discarded for Fantasia 2000. I found it particularly interesting to see that some material originally considered for Fantasia was actually used for Fantasia 2000 and other material considered for Fantasia was also considered for Fantasia 2000, but still not used.

I recommend this book to anyone (who is lucky enough to find a copy) who is interested in Disney animation and some of the material that might have come from the studio that never made the grade.

The only improvement that could be made is the coupons in the back of the book could have expiration dates a little later in the following year. I purchased this book in January of 2000 for a trip in Febuary and the coupons touted as saving up to $1000 expired in December of 1999. Other than that the book is very eazy to understand and will be very useful in our upcoming trip.

We used this book on our trip and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the coupons inside.

This is the best guide I have come across for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area. I had purchased several different books in 1999 when we took our first trip. I am purchasing this book again for our upcoming trip. Each park and it's attractions are covered in detail with helpful Power Trip info that helps make the most of your time. In addtion there are several other Orlando attractions that are covered in this book with detail covering Universal's parks and Sea World.

The book also reviews many hotels including Disney's, critiquing each in detail. Includes pricing and some of the ameneties, tips on the best times to travel to Orlando in relation to crowds, weather, and how to negotiate the best packages and pricing.

The candidness of the author and reviewers of the parks contained within this book are remarkable and really helped us plan our trip using our limited time to the best of our advantage.

I highly recommend this book as one to use to plan your Orlando vacation.

I think this book is great for fun family vacations. I have used it myself. My family had the best time. We knew where everything was and how to find it. This guide is easy to read and gives great directions. It shows maps great detailed maps of anywhere you want to go. Buy this book. Your family and you will have the best time!

We used this book on our vacation and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the great coupons inside.

I love this book. It has ideas for REAL families. Sometimes you flip through books and magazines that have decorating and organizing projects for some fictional family that must have way too much money, way too much time, and kids who don't behave like real kids. This is a very down-to-earth, realistic book of projects that are doable, affordable, and work for real people.

That being said, I really wish this book was in regular paperback or hardcover, not spiralbound. I hate that I have to worry about the pages tearing out. I expect to have this book a long time and I don't look forward to when the pages will inevitably start to come off the spirals. Please, FamilyFun, make the bindings of your books more practical!

I received this book for Christmas and I've already used it three times. My two year old son loves that he can be a "big boy" and do things all on his own (get his own snack, put his toys back in the right boxes, etc.). We're heading out today to get some more supplies today!

I wanted to see the projects in this book before I bought it. Unfortunately, no book stores had it in stock. So I decided to buy it anyways. I'm so glad I did. It has lots of projects, how-to's and just loads of information. I think to myself, why didn't I think of that idea. It's really going to help me and my family get organized and ideas for redecorating!

I purchased this book when we bought our first home. I have made many of the projects to fit our home and decorating style. The projects are easy, fun, and EXTREMELY useful!! Some of the ideas I have used with my 7 and 5 year old relatives as crafts that serve a decorative and practical purpose - they love to use what they made. Even my husband likes this book!

This is a great compilation of the projects that are in the Family Fun magazines. From outdoor fun to creative decorating for kid's rooms. I bought this for my wife as a present and she loves it and my 2 year old son packs it around with him constantly.

How to Draw Disney's Mulan was a fun look into the art of animation. Foster gives a detailed lokk at both the story and drawing techniques. Very enjoyable

Just like one girl could make the difference to China's future, some little details made this book excellent. Since I used paints to re-create the characters, the color palattes were great to help me mix the right colors. But the single distinguishing feature that made this "how to draw" book better than the others I've used were the little notations scattered on everypage that highlighted the keys to each characters. My Mushu was ready to jump off the page and fight the Huns!

This book was truly amazing...but instead of giving directions on how to draw the character...it gives you pictures on each step on the character...it also gives you advice when you draw a certian part of the character...so instead of a classic 1 2 3 step book...you actully learn how to draw the characters...this nothing like I've seen before...It may seem hard, but it really isn't...when I was done...my drawing really looked like Mulan. I reccomeng this book if you love Mulan and want to have fun drawing.

This book is a wonderful how-to book for drawers. It shows how they made the characters from simple shapes and goes into detail about costumes and more. I aspire to become a Disney animator someday and this book helped improve my drawing techniques. It is surely worth your buying, be you a kid or an adult. -S.K.S.

Wow!!! I was amazed by the quality of the drawings I made from this book. I'm 13, and Mulan is my favorite movie. I tried drawing the characters from memory, but I'm not much of an artist, and they turned out badly. Then I ordered this book (from Amazon.com, I might add) and suddenly the cast started leaping out of my pencil! A great how-to with two pages devoted to each of the main characters, this book has pencil sketches and full-color illustrations to help you along. It is even crammed with hints from the animators!How to Draw Disney's Mulan can guide even the most amateurish artist from choosing the right materials to painting the background, with wonderful results. GET THIS BOOK TODAY!

What is there to say? Well first off, the animation was fantastic. The perfect combo of anime-manga styling, humorous and yet serious when necessary. The dialogue was to die for. The scenarios fit well and it filled in all the missing pages of the series for me. (no pun intended)

I didn't feel like digging up my lost KH:CoM game and get used to the battle system all over again so I opt to just buy the manga. Didn't regret it one bit! I recommend purchasing the manga whether you're a lazy gamer like me or not. XD

I bought it as a gift for a friend, she seemed to like it so Im guessing its a good item. It beats having to go through the stupid GBA game anyway.

This was an excellent starter pack of Volume 1 and 2 Kingdom Hearts novels. My daughter about knocked me over with excitement on Christmas when she opened these up. The shipment came on time and was in perfect shape.

Love it. I played the game, and although it doesn't follow exactly, a must have for fans of the game/manga. Beautiful art, and flows nicely. A good way to be introuduced to the series.

My 2 1/2 yr old son loves the Car movie, the characters and LOVES this book set. He has just as much fun taking the books in & out of the box as he does reading them. He practically has the books memorized to read to himself. The box is holding up surprisingly well considering that he carries it a lot of places & often to the grocery store!

Keeps my 4 month old entertained with all the wonderful colors and I don't have to worry about him grabbing a page and ripping it while we are reading. Being from Georgia the whole family loves the book about Mater :)

My two year old who's favorite show is Cars loves these books. They are very simple books that each tell a watered down portion of the story. Each book is from a different character's POV from the movie; Lightning, Mater, Sally, and Doc.

The books are very sturdy which is great for when one of my children decides to get rough with them. The little case they come in is cute and while my boy likes carrying it around, it's made of a much thinner cardboard and I can tell it won't last very long.

All in all, I'm very happy with this product.

My son loves them. He carries them around in the little case they come in. Great gift idea.

My two year old loves the books and we read them every night before bed. They definitely are for the younger readers.

As a collector of Good Housekeeping magazine for many years I can not
think of a more fitting tribute to the classic Disney pages that ran in
Good Housekeeping from 1934-1944. Good Housekeeping editors wisely hired
the Disney Studio to create these pages and here they are in all of their
glory. Anyone interested in Disney or who loves the classic magazines of
the past will love this book. This book is truly a look not only the pages
themselves but at the creation of the pages and the relationship between
the pages and the shorts and features films they were intended to promote.
I love this book!

In 1934, Good Housekeeping Magazine and Disney began a partnership that would last ten years and prove very beneficial to both parties. Good Housekeeping would publish a Disney page in each issue of their magazine, taking advantage of the ever-growing popularity of the animated characters that Disney was creating. On Disney's side, it gave them an opportunity to publicize their upcoming animated short features in a magazine that had a readership of over two million. Thus with the April 1934 issue, Disney's Silly Symphonies would make their first appearance with "The Grasshopper and the Ants". The Disney page would tell the story of each cartoon in verse with all new illustrations provided by Disney staff artist Tom Wood.

This lavish book by David Gerstein reprints all ten years worth of the Disney pages from Good Housekeeping in an over-sized, breathtaking format, printed on heavy glossy stock. But the book is much more than just the Disney page reprints. The book also features a synopsis of each of the animated shorts featured on the Disney Page, as well as excerpts from interviews with Disney talent, pictures of rare presskit material, storyboard sketches, reprints from newspaper and foreign adaptations of the shorts, and even vintage merchandise made to coincide with the release of the films. For "The Tortoise and the Hare", the book reprints 8 pages of the newspaper strip that adapted the story.

Mickey Mouse makes his first of many appearances in January 1935 with "The Band Concert". Other Mickey shorts featured in the book include "Alpine Mickey", "Mickey's Magic Hat", "Clock Cleaners", "The Brave Little Tailor" and "Mickey's Magic Lamp". Not to be outdone, Donald Duck is featured in numerous Good Housekeeping pages for his shorts like "Donald's Ostrich", "Good Scouts", "Donald's Gold Game", "The Hockey Champ", and many more. Throughout the book the reader will be treated to rare illustrations from such great Disney artists as Al Taliaferro and Carl Barks. The book provides readers the unique opportunity to peer into the past at Disney's creative and marketing process for these shorts.

When Disney was planning the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", Good Housekeeping realized that a mere one page with verse and a few illustrations would not do justice to this full-length feature and thus in November and December of 1937, the page count was increased for the Disney page and instead of verse, a complete text novelization was published. The story was written by Dorothy Ann Blank, one of the screenwriters for the film and featured illustrations by renowned Swedish illustrator Gustaf Tenggren. Tenggren was already a well known artist and had done previous illustrations for Good Housekeeping prior to the Snow White novelization. Good Housekeeping would again expand their page count for the Disney section in October and November 1939, this time for the upcoming release of Pinocchio.

The wonderful aspect of "Mickey and the Gang" is its broad appeal. It will be a book that fans of Disney animation, comics, memorabilia, and history will all be able to appreciate. David Gerstein has helped shed the spotlight on a forgotten and yet very important period in Disney animation history. Gemstone has truly produced a fascinating and beautiful book for Disney fans everywhere. My highest recommendation!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This sumptuously handsome volume reprints - in full, and then some - the famous Disney pages that ran in Good Housekeeping magazine from 1934 to 1944. Many of these pages, which married rhyming text to gorgeously drawn and colored illustrations, were "adaptations" of Disney short cartoons that were either in production at the time or had just been released. As editor David Gerstein reveals in intricate detail, the word "adaptation" could literally mean anything from a fairly accurate précis of the cartoon's plot to an extremely early version of the project -- later to be changed extensively, but preserved for the young readers of the GH feature like a prehistoric creature encased in amber. On occasion, the feature even presented summaries of cartoons that never saw ultimate release. The GH pages have been discussed on occasion by various authors, but Gerstein's work is likely to remain the definitive discussion into the foreseeable future - not least because he "eggs the pudding" with reprints of press releases, trade reviews, original storyboard art, related comic-strip and comic-book material, and text adaptations that spun off from the GH pages and appeared in children's books and such contemporary periodicals as Mickey Mouse Magazine, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, and the British Mickey Mouse Weekly. This mass of additional material places each page firmly in its historical perspective and lends strong credence to the thesis, presented by Gerstein in the book's foreword, that the GH pages served the important historical function of "standardizing" the appearance of characters for promotional purposes. (Reprints of several frankly hideous visual interpretations of the Disney characters from British and Italian sources serve as silent testaments to just how significant an accomplishment this was.)

The rather rigid nature of the book's organization - cartoon plot summary, critique of the GH page, additional material - does get a bit tiresome after a while, especially after we reach the war years, which saw a gradual decline in the feature's overall quality. When the feature becomes "New Tales from Old Mother Goose" in its final incarnation, Gerstein metaphorically throws in the towel and lets the individual pages pretty much speak for themselves. But even if you "bleep" over the cartoons and other features that don't interest you (for my part, I chose to skip GH's lengthy and overly familiar tellings of the plots of Snow White and Pinocchio), you're likely to find something of interest on virtually every page. Gerstein writes well and flavors his commentary with a dash of humor that will be familiar to anyone who has read his scripts for American Disney comics. As to his accuracy, I've found only one (date-related) error in the book on the first reading, a fairly remarkable feat given the amount of material presented herein. Any Disney fan will simply have to have this book. Hopefully, if Gemstone can get the book distributed to the big chain bookstores and Disney stores, it will reach the wider pop-culture audience it manifestly deserves.

This book is outstanding! The covers are of thick, slick paper and the inside pages are slick paper with quality thickness. There is color throughout the book and the color is sharp and bright. The printing is very clear and readable.

Although this art and story from the 1930s/1940s Good Housekeeping Magazine is unknown to casual Disney fans, it is an important part of early marketing efforts of the small Disney company of that time. I've known about these art and story treasures for decades and I'm thrilled to now own them in this book!!

The information in the book appears to be thoroughly researched and is presented in an entertaining manner.

I have bought previous books from Gemstone Publishing, so I knew their quality work - but the quality of this book surpasses even my expectations.

I feel that any Disney fan, especially those interested in the early cartoons and the early animated films, will love this book. This book is a bargain at its full suggested retail price, but it is a bargain deluxe at Amazon's reduced price!!!

I have spent hours pouring over this book and expect to get weeks of pleasure reading it. It is the type of book that I will return to read in the future again and again and again.

One note of warning ... Gemstone Publishing's books usually don't have large print runs. If you decide you want this book, I would suggest ordering it as soon as possible while it is still available for sale.

From 1934 to 1944, Good Housekeeping magazine included a legendary series of Disney one-page features. Disney cartoons were adapted into beautifully illustrated rhymed verses. Almost all of these pages are great. In addition to that, the book includes a lot of other material. The plots of the actual cartoons are synopsised, with differences between the cartoon and the GH page being noted. And other merchandise based on the cartoons is featured; including toys, presskits, comic strips and much more. This is truly a treasure trove for Disney fans.

This is a very informative book about the history of Disney's story department staff and the storyboards they created. I learned a lot. I would have liked to have seen more information about their art techniques, but the information about their careers and the vast amount of images made up for it. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Carl Barks, which shed more light on the man behind the works I've read since I was a kid.

I have most of the 'Art of' books and, though this is a little more pricey than the others, it is worth every cent. It is refreshingly reassuring to finally have a Disney art book NOT written by a Disney staffer, but by a film academic. It was great to read about the men who worked alongside Walt and knew him for all his faults as well rather than the godhead he has become to the company. This book, while showing page after page of behind-the-scenes miniature masterpieces that went into making the classic early features, also describes the not-so-happy endings that such chemistry produced among Disney and his storymen sometimes. It also covers the latter-day storyboard masters like Chris Sanders and the Brizzi twins. I have ambitions of being a Disney storyboard artist someday and this book is perfect inspiration. More than worth it.

Too often in animation titles, the storyboard element is relegated to a minor footnote. This book presents a wonderful insight to the creative process of animation film making. Many animators and students collect resource material from feature films, and storyboard examples are rare and treasured items. As a storyboarder myself, I was in awe of the beauty and clarity of these works, many I was seeing for the first time. However, anybody with an interest in art or animation will enjoy this book. It is an amazing and definitive collection.

This book shows off the (oddly enough) unsung heros of the Disney Animation Department, the Story Artists. Like his previous book on Disney Inspirational artists, John Canemaker piles on the rarely seen outside of Disney pre-production sketches that form the basis of all to follow. GREAT reproductions--and great to see the subject and the studio treated not only with great respect, but a healthy amount of constructive criticism, too. Beautiful job. I'm waiting for a companion volume featuring unedited complete storyboards for ALL the features(!).

If the Disney American Animated Film has one stigma, is the belief that it is made for childern. Mr.Canemaker's book disproves that notion by recounting stories by those lucky few that got to meet Walt,work with him and put his "Dreams" on "Paper" before they were made a reality on film. We are privy in the world of Walt Disney and the people who put his ideas on paper only to have Walt think that they could be better than that.The book is filled with instances of Walt cursing-four letter words and all,when his Soryman ideas did not cut the mustard. Why should they since Walt "was his own best storyman." We get to meet the men that were up to par with Walt-T.Hee and Bill Peet. But these man could be considered Lucifer to Walt's Christian God-those who wish to be better than him or take his place would end in Hell, which in a sense they did. Finally, lets not forget the geniuses Walt himself dealt with-Salvador Dali and Orson Welles. If there was anyone that could top Disney himself ,it was Orson,as described by Walt Himself.