Between Books - Claude Coats: Walt Disney’s Imagineer

 

Claude Coats: Walt Disney’s Imagineer-The Making of Disneyland From Toad Hall to the Haunted Mansion and Beyond by David Bossert is an excellent addition to the history of Disney Imagineering.  The text balances images with narratives and gives this legendary Imagineer the chronicle he deserves.

The text offers exactly as titled.  Bossert works through Coats’ career from birth to the completion of one of his most famous projects, The Haunted Mansion.  The book outlines his early career from art student to animation.  Bossert follows with discussions of his transitioning to work on Disneyland, moving beyond design to actually painting backgrounds to get the work done.  The discussion of the Grand Canyon Diorama is one of the most in-depth that I have seen.  Chapters provide details on his collaborations for the fan-beloved Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.  But along the journey, the book includes interludes on presentations to NASA and painting for the U.S. Air Force.  The text is well-balanced with Coats’ images and text providing historical context to Coats’ work.

The text is really well done overall.  Bossert helps us understand Coats as an artist as he was someone who unlike Marc Davis did not work alone in his office.  But instead would often work outside working on models and collaborating with other artists.  Bossert frames Coats, not as someone who would be adversarial with other artists.  But instead, someone who was a team player, mentor, and project management.  Additionally, the chapter on the Air Force paintings demonstrated Coats as an artist outside of his Disney work and makes it clear that he truly was a respected Califroonaia fine artist.  The biggest gap I see in the books is a lack of discussion after the Haunted Mansion.  It would be interesting to be able to compare the frustrated Marc Davis after the Mansion with Coats and how he navigated being creative as the next generation grew into their own.  

Claude Coats: Walt Disney’s Imagineer-The Making of Disneyland From Toad Hall to the Haunted Mansion and Beyond by David Bossert is a great inclusion to the Between Books bookshelf.  It is well written and illustrated.  And it clearly left me wanting more.  Maybe we needed a two-volume set here! 

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Walt's Windows - Magic Kingdom: Imagineering the Magic

Magic Kingdom: Imagineering the Magic provides a history of the development of the Magic Kingdom Resort at the Walt Disney World Resort from an Imagineering eye.  Host Diego Parras, Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) Media & Broadcast Production Manager, takes viewers on a historical tour of the park using the voices and recollections of the Imagineers that helped build the park.  Prominent Imagineers that contribute to the story of the park through interviews include John Hench, Marc Davis, Harriet Burns, Rolly Crump, and many more.  The story is told through a mixture of period pictures with narration, videos from the parks and interviews.  The story of the park is told through a land by land tour of the park.

I really did enjoy the windows this presentation provides on the history of the Magic Kingdom Park.  Highlights for me of course included stories about the work of Marc Davis.  There is a deep discussion about the Haunted Mansion and the roll taken by X Atencio to balance the multiple creative geniuses who contributed to the attraction.  Atencio had to combine the work of Davis (funny), Claude Coates (creepy), Crump (strange) while using the visual creations of Yale Gracey.  And I enjoyed hearing about Davis’ plans for the Western River Expedition, cancelled for the Florida version of Pirates of the Caribbean.  They show how despite the project was cancelled that it still influenced other attractions like Big Thunder Mountain.  Another enjoyable moment is Tony Baxter talking about working with painters at the Jungle Cruise, a story that I had never heard before.  But it is not just the superstars like Davis and Baxter that are discussed, as another legend Bill Evans and his work with landscaping is also highlighting. 

There is some oddity to the presentation.  Some of the video is black and white segments that are clearly Disneyland.  This is especially true with Tomorrowland video, and is typically included as quick flashes within montages.  I am pretty sure that Imagineers like Tony Baxter realize that the jetpack demonstration was in Disneyland during the 1960s.  And images of the Monsanto House of the Future are also clearly from the West Coast park.  We should assume that the segments probably relied heavily on stock footage from the Disney library, but it would have improved my experience if they had the images all match the park being discussed.         

The special features section is one that will catch the interest of most Disney history fans.  There is an excerpt of the Cherry Plaza Hotel news conference from November 1965 announcing Disney’s entry to Florida.  The excerpt shows Roy O. Disney’s enthusiasm for this new project.  Also viewers can see Walt Disney speak of what he dreamt for this new projects especially a city of tomorrow concept.  Somewhat disappointing is “Roy Disney’s Dedication Speech.”  The disappointment is the lack of video as the feature is primarily Disney’s speech over stills.  I would have really loved video, which perhaps does not exist.  Other special features include a segment on the Cinderella Dream Suite, “Project Florida” which discusses the building of Walt Disney World, “Mickey’s Trivia Tour” and an art gallery.  The Between Tween got 12 of the 14 trivia questions correct, though admittedly the Tween probably knows more Disney trivia then the typical Tween.    

 I have to admit a moment of pride while watching Magic Kingdom: Imagineering the Magic.  One Imagineer called the Walt Disney World Resort by the name Disneyworld.  The Between Tween yelled out, “That’s Walt Disney World.”  Yeah, I’m proud!  Yet for someone, like me, who has heard many of these stories before I still could feel the hair standing on the back of my neck in excitement as Imagineers told their stories.  For someone who is a WDI fan, Magic Kingdom: Imagineering the Magic is a must own.  But for someone who just wants an overview of the park, the free vacation planning video may be a better investment. 

  

Between Books - Windows on Main Street

Chuck Snyder in Windows on Main Street: Discover the Real Stories of the Talented People Featured n the Windows of Main Street U.S.A. provides his readers the significance behind the “businesses” highlighted on windows on Main Street U.S.A in the Disneyland Park and The Magic Kingdom.  Each display window not only helps give the setting a feeling of a working main street but also honors key contributors to the parks.  Each page generally displays three windows and a short biography for an individual honored in the window.  The text also provides a silhouette map of both Main Street U.S.A.s and an index to the location of every honorary window display. 

This is a useful but short book.  I have used it as a quick resource several times to determine if a Disney contributor has been included in the main street displays.  It is only 25 pages long with index and introduction.  This leaves around 15 pages of windows and biographies, so the text is not exhaustive on all windows.  It really only highlights several windows without digging into all of them.  And for a figure like Marc Davis who has a window in both parks the book only shows his Disneyland window while his Walt Disney World window is very different and shared with other contributors including Claude Coats.  This book is a quick and fun read, but I would love to have a more exhaustive examination of these honors.  However, it does still make a informative yet relatively cost effective memento from the parks. 

Between Books - Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion graphic novel is 17 short tales based on the Disney parks attraction the Haunted Mansion.  Each story is written and drawn by a separate team or individual, the Haunted Mansion and its characters are the connective material that binds this volume together since every have a different writing and visual style.   Overall, these stories do not attempt to retell the story of the mansion but provide insights into “life” within the mansion, most often labeled Gracey Manor in the novel.  Stories range from how specific citizens arrived in the mansion, the rules of mansion life, and the behind the scenes lives of our favorite grim grinning ghosts.

With over 17 separate contributes these stories have a wide range of impact on me.  Some of them I absolutely loved.  These included “Blueprint for Murder”  which depicts the architects Mr. Coats and Mr. Davis.  The story plays off on the real life personalities of these Imagineering legends who lead the final design of the Haunted Mansions we have today.  Their competition with each other, the fictional Coats and Davis, leads to additions both physical and spiritual to the mansion.  “A Dynamite Party” gives us a humorous look at the origins of one of the portraits from the stretching room.   Other favorite looks with the Mansion include an explanation of why the caretaker continues to work in a haunted house and Madame Leota’s view of her current bodily state. 

This is not the in-depth storytelling that some graphic novel fans may want.  This book is no Fables.  But it does provide great glimpses into the spooky life.  I found many of the tales really delightful while others missed their mark with me.  I passed my copy off to a young Haunted Mansion fan and she devoured this book as quickly as possible.  And like me there were giggles of enjoyment as she churned through the pages.  Overall, this text is far from Shakespeare, but it does provide a fun connection to the Mansion for us living Between Disney.