Between Books - Voyageers: The Great Storyteller

There is power in storytelling.  It is storytelling that has allowed us to maintain our history, shape our values and craft our culture.  Kelly Ryan Johns paints a world, or a Disneyland, where storytelling shapes the physical world.  And when the world's greatest storyteller is absent there are dire consequences.  

In this second Voyageers book offered by Kelly Ryan Johns, Voyageers: The Great Storyteller, the readers see how one man's stories can impact the world.  Walt Disney receives a mysterious call and disappears.  His absence appears to have changed Disneyland, which is now dirty and superficial.   And United States' history is impacted as the the Cold War is still in full swing during present day.  And there are no Mickey Mouse's in Disneyland, instead Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has taken his place.  The Voyageers must travel through time including Disneyland's Opening Day to find Walt Disney and discover what has gone wrong with his greatest storytelling creation.

Storytelling is a constant theme throughout the book, with Walt Disney being the greatest storyteller of all.  We discover that Voyageers Christa and Thomas also have this gift, a super power one might say.  But they are not the only storytellers needed to fix Disneyland.  And I will admit I gave a fanboy laugh as two living legend storytellers entered the scene!  I do think that storytelling is a great theme for a book about Walt Disney and his parks since one really does feel like they have entered a story when passing through the gates.

This second book in the series kept my interest more than the first.  I believe this happened because to me Voyageers: The Great Storyteller often felt like Jack Duncan's book and as a more direct sequel to The Deadliest Cast Member than the first Voyageers book.  Stan Duncan is an important character to the story.  Duncan's children and support staff are mentioned.  Jack is very much in charge of the action as we get to see him rush into action again.  And we get to see character development in his best friend Kendall, an action hero I really like and look forward to seeing how he is used in the Deadliest future books.

Here we go again learning Disney history in a fictional book.  Johns uses Charles Mintz and George Winkler in the story as men who provided obstacles to young Walt.  And you have to applaud Johns' depiction of them as men not bigger than life monsters.  And I was hoping to catch Johns in some historical inaccuracy as he introduces Roger Broggie to the story.  As I read this tail of a son of the original Imagineer I thought surely he is discussing Michael.  I mean seriously I have his book right here.  No, in the end I was shamed with my lack of knowledge of Roger Broggie Jr. and all the things he did for Walt Disney.  And his use in the story filled the needs of the moment, since the problem involved his real world expertise.  

This is a book for kids.  And though Duncan has a greater role in the book it is usually through the eyes of the Voyageers we see the action.  The tale does give a youngster opportunity to consider what courage means, the power of second chances, and love.  And I never thought of the kids being in overly great physical danger with the Prince often accompanying the Voyageer teams on missions.  So despite the fact that all of Disneyland could have been removed from history, I worried less since the Prince was on the scene. 

Voyageers: The Great Storyteller is a science-fiction action story for youngsters, and the young at heart, that love Disney History.  As the kids jump through time however there are other lessons to be learned especially about forgiveness and the power behind a story.  Stories build, and hopefully your stories will build great and wonderful things.



Review Copy Provided By Author For Purposes of Review  

Walt's Windows - Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studio

When reading Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy’ s The Hand Behind the Mouse: An Intimate Biography of the Man Walt Disney Called “The Greatest Animator in the World” numerous animated short films are mentioned that many are not familiar with.  I found that it was helpful and enriched my reading experience to reference these short films, with many of them available for viewing online.

The following are shorts films that Ub Iwerks contributed to during his time as an animator at Disney. 

Trolley Trouble released in 1927 was the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon released and the second one produced.  Critics applauded this short, though Walt Disney and producer Charles Mintz were unhappy with the first offering’s jerkiness.  Being perfectionists Iwerks and Disney changes processes to improve future offerings. 

 

Steamboat Willie was the first released Mickey Mouse cartoon in 1928, though the third produced.  It is also the first cartoon with synchronized sound.  Though we generally think of Mickey Mouse as a nice guy, the animals in this short would likely not agree.  

Skeleton Dance released in 1929 was the first of the Silly Symphony series combined music and animation.  The animation by Iwerks showed off his skill and believed by some to be too scary.  And it lacked mice!  However, Disney believed in the short and released it to a press screening which showed the success of this new series.  Skeleton Dance is generally seen as the pinnacle of Iwerks’ career. 

These are just highlights from Iwerks’ first tour with Walt Disney Productions and many more can be found online.   

Between Books - The Hand Behind the Mouse

Pretty much everyone in the United States and many throughout the world has heard the name Walt Disney.  And many would associate him with his most iconic character Mickey Mouse.  And while Disney must be given much of the credit for the development of Mickey Mouse’s character and promotion, the Mouse was actually designed by another man, Ub Iwerks.  Iwerks was a key partner for the success of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse even though for most fans who have been delighted by Mickey Mouse on screen, Iwerks is largely invisible.

Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy in The Hand Behind the Mouse: An Intimate Biography of the Man Walt Disney Called “The Greatest Animator in the World” attempt to inform readers to the achievements of Disney’s master animator.  Iwerks met another young artist, Walt Disney, at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio in Kansas City.  The two men would then be linked together as they moved onto the Kansas City Film Ad Company and started their own production company in the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.  With the bankruptcy of their young endeavor the two men would separate with Walt Disney relocating to California and Iwerks obtaining salaried work as an artist.  With contracts for cartoons in hand, Disney requested his friend join him at the Disney Brothers Studio to animate the Alice Comedy series, originally a Laugh-O-Gram product.  Later, Iwerks would be the lead animator for the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series.  When Charles Mintz took control of the series from Disney, Iwerks who was one of the few animators to stay with Walt Disney.  It was Iwerks that Disney looked to for the creation of a new replacement animated star.  Iwerks drew a number of character designs including frogs, cows and horses.  But it was a mouse that Walt Disney was drawn to, a mouse that would become Disney’s most popular character Mickey Mouse.  In 1930, Iwerks would leave Disney and start his own cartoon studio, The Iwerks Studio.  While Iwerks continued to push innovation, the Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper cartoon characters never found a profitable audience.  The Iwerks Studio would eventually close and after completing contract work for Looney Tunes, Iwerks would return to Disney employment.  But Iwerks would never again primarily be an animator.  Instead Iwerks would place his formidable mind against the challenge of special effects in both animated and live action films.  His work would even be seen outside of Disney production in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.  Iwerks would also contribute to Disney’s theme park projects, developing the camera for the Circarama, later named Circle-Vision, films.  Iwerks would continue to work for Disney, challenged by interesting visual challenges, until his death in 1971. 

My first question when picking up The Hand Behind the Mouse was would this book be fair and balanced?  It is a Disney Editions book, but co-written by Ub Iwerks’ granddaughter.  So would the legacy of Walt be lessened in discussing Ub, and likewise would the publisher push for an overly positive depiction of Walt Disney.  The first potential conflict was Mickey Mouse.  We have all heard stories of Walt Disney creating Mickey Mouse on the train ride back from New York after losing Oswald.  Iwerks and Kenworthy’s version of this tale is that Disney asked Iwerks to work up several character models for him to choose from for his new animation star.  Walt Disney selected the mouse!  The book, and Disney company history, supports the view that the model of Mickey Mouse was fully Iwerks’ effort.  But the book also makes it clear that the financial and critical success of the mouse was due to the efforts of Walt Disney.  Iwerks drew the mouse, but Disney made him a star!  The second source of conflict was Iwerks and his departure from the studio.  The book discusses the tension that Iwerks felt in the studio as his efforts were downplayed but Disney’s were applauded.  But the authors do not paint Disney as the “bad guy.”  Instead they show him to be hurt by the desertion of a long-time friend and trusted partner.  The book presents the situation as something that happened but does not point fingers at the split.  Additionally, the book shows that despite Disney keeping his distance initially, he was excited for Ubwerks’ return and the ability to use his skills and intellect in his productions. 

One incident that this book helped illuminate for me is Disney losing the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  Iwerks and Kenworthy present this issue largely without commentary.  But they do discuss the creation of the rabbit, which makes it clear that Oswald was not 100 percent the intellectual property of Disney or Iwerks.  In fact it was representatives from Universal who suggested a rabbit and the name Oswald for a series they would distribute but Disney would produce.  These facts make it appear that Disney was very much a contractor, who was fulfilling a request not generating exclusively owned content.  In a time where intellectual property laws were in question, it is easy to see how Disney legally would not fight the transfer of Oswald to another studio.  Walt Disney just would not have had a leg to stand on.   

I really enjoyed The Hand Behind the Mouse!  And I would highly recommend it.  I got a glimpse into early animation, the early Disney studio, and the man who created our beloved Mousey leader.  The book was highly readable, with me having a hard time to put it down.  The only thing that slowed me down was the summaries of animated shorts I was not familiar with, much like a baseball book describing game action you did not actually witness.  But many of these shorts are easily available to the reader.  You may have missed this title and it is well worth your while pick it up this well researched and well written book.