Between Books - Walt Disney's Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks

Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks brings the skill of Walt Disney’s key animators to the reader’s hand. The title actually consists of 10 separate small books within a box. The smallest in size and the only soft cover, produced by animator Peter Doctor, provides background on each of these legends and provides a description of how films were animated during the era of the Nine Old Men. The essays describing each one of these legends are written by animation experts or friends of the animators such as John Canemaker, Don Hahn and Glen Keane. The remaining books are all hard covers and contain pencil drawings from the animators in a flipbook that the reader can animate by quickly turning the pages. The flipbooks cover the following:

• Ollie Johnston: Thumper from Bambi

• John Lounsbery: Elephants from Dumbo

• Les Clark: Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia

• Woolie Reitherman: Dinosaurs from Fantasia

• Marc Davis: Tinker Bell from Peter Pan

• Eric Larson: Figaro from Pinocchio

• Milt Kahl: Roger and Pongo from 101 Dalmatians

• Ward Kimball: Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Alice in Wonderland

• Frank Thomas: Lady and the Tramp share dinner from Lady and the Tramp

This offering is part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series.

The flipbooks are very handsome. And of course the art within the flipbooks are fantastic since they are portions of classic Disney animated scenes from the pencils of legends. And it is kind of fun to flip through the books, though I still do not have the fluid flipping I would prefer. But overall I would label Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks as fun.

But it is also somewhat pricey. The list price is $60, but Amazon has it for around $35. So as the Between Wife watched me flip the books she asked, how much did you pay for it? And I was somewhat bashful in stating the price, especially for just an hour of fun if I never pick it up again. So I would say this is probably a book not for everyone. Those who would want to purchase this are Between Books completionists and animation fans.

Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks is a fun interactive read. It will be most appreciated by animation fans and Disney book collectors. But for those with only a light interest, it is probably best to look elsewhere to build your Between Book library.