Between Books - The Vault of Walt: Volume 3 Even More Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told

The Vault of Walt: Volume 3 Even More Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told by Jim Korkis provides another installment of this popular series.  This volume, like the others, consists of essays of five to 10 pages in length.  There are four main sections; one on Walt Disney stories, one of Disney film stories, one of Disney parks stories and finally one collecting stories from other parts of Disney history.  Part One on Walt Disney addresses firsthand somewhat recent attempts to characterize Walt Disney as a bigot and anti-women.  Also Korkis examines Walt Disney's World War I service and his smoking habits.  The second section on Disney films also contains a chapter with a more recent hook, the truth behind the movie Saving Mr. Banks.  The Disney Parks section includes an look at the creation of Star Wars 2.0 and the first Disneyland Christmas Parade.  And the final section captures the sad biography of Jiminy Cricket's original voice Cliff Edwards and a remembrance of the late Diane Disney Miller, who Korkis knew personally.  

I think it is fair to say that Walt Disney has received some bad press, and bad biographies, over the last few decades.  But in this volume Korkis appears to go on the offensive against those who would like to put labels on the late Disney.  Korkis provides his readers with the facts to challenge those who would like to label Disney with racist or bigoted titles.  And Korkis does make some strong points, especially about the people that Disney worked closely with.  It is hard to imagine Walt Disney without the Sherman Brothers at his side, two Jewish gentlemen.  This image makes it difficult to call Walt Disney anti-Semitic knowing how much support he provided these two legendary songwriters.  And the Sherman example is just one of many.  Korkis makes it clear that Walt Disney raised up creative people, regardless of race or creed.  Now that is not to say that Disney was a perfect man, he was flawed like all of us.  He did follow the same hiring practices of other studios, leading once to Marc Davis not being hired as an animator since it was believed by a screener that he was a woman.  But Korkis' work helps to breakdown uneducated generalizations. 

I will admit that I really like Saving Mr. Banks.  And having a historical background I understand that movies take liberties with historical facts to make a story that an audience can enjoy.  So I very much enjoyed Korkis' laying out what was false, P.L. Travers did not pull her mother out of a river though the senior Travers did attempt suicide in this fashion, and what was true, Travers did once go to Disneyland it just was not with Walt Disney.  This is the sort of chapter that anyone who enjoyed the movie would likely want to dive into just so they can find out if Aunt Ellie really had the parrot-headed umbrella.  

The Vault of Walt: Volume 3 Even More Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told is typical of Korkis' writing style and easy to read.  For Disney fans there are likely plenty of nuggets to keep one entertained.  I for example knew nothing about the short Off His Rockers and though I had heard the name Cliff Edwards I found myself very saddened by reading his life story.  For more casual Disney fans, it would make a nice vacation read...especially if heading off to a theme park and preparing for touring by reading about Disney Parks' attractions.   For either audience it is easy to pick-up, read an interesting tale and then return to later in the day with a completely fresh chapter and topic.  I myself read it in this style.  

The Vault of Walt: Volume 3 Even More Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told by Jim Korkis continues to touch a variety of topics from those you thought you knew to those you have never heard about.  And one expects that volume 3 will be far from the last time Korkis opens his Disney vault. 

Review Copy Provided by Theme Park Press

Between Books - Mouse Under Glass

David Koenig in Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney Animation & Theme Parks tells the story of Disney animated films from Snow White to The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  The book is divided into periods of Disney animation history, with Koenig providing an overview of developments within Disney animation during each period.  Koenig outlines the original source material of each animated feature and describes how each story was transformed during production to the films we know today.  He also includes sections in each chapter on topics that include plot holes, bloopers, audience reaction and how the movie was translated into the parks as rides, shows or landmarks.  Interspersed throughout the book are text boxes that provide additional facts that readers are likely to be interested in such as identifying hidden Mickeys, the comparison between The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion, and a statistical orphan rating (The Orphan-O-Meter) for animated characters. 

I found this book highly informative.  What I really enjoyed was a better understanding of the original stories and how they were updated to make the Disney feature.  Pinocchio, you are a jerk!  Koenig helped me understand how the original Pinocchio stories were a morality play where our favorite puppet misbehaved in ways we would not imagine in a family Disney film.  For example, Pinocchio killed the Talking Cricket with a mallet in one of the original stories. This is just one example of how Koenig’s summary of the original stories gives additional depth to the movies.  And the comparisons between the original tales followed by an analysis of Disney production that helps one understand what is required to take print stories and transform them to the silver screen.  And who doesn’t want to know plot holes and bloopers to amaze (or bore) their friends? 

The biggest negative to this book is that Disney animation moves on while books are a snapshot in time.  This review is based on the 1997 hardcover edition.  Since then Koenig did update the text with a 2001 paperback which is also available as an eBook.  However, that edition also is just a snapshot and concludes with Tarzan in 1999.  Just like one updates apps to get additional content and levels, this is the kind of book that readers may wish could be updated with every new Disney animated feature. 

Dreaming Disney – Once Upon a Time

Have you been watching ABC’s Once Upon a Time?  The Between Family has been since it premiered this fall.  What got our attention was familiar Disney characters in a new light.  And the concept of these fairy tale characters in our world has been an interest to me since I first picked up the comic book series Fables.  In fact, what I really wanted was a live action adaption of Fables and I still secretly (okay very openly) want it.

In Once Upon a Time the Evil Queen curses the kingdom on the day of Snow White’s and Prince Charming’s wedding.  She tells them they will be sent “someplace horrible.”  It is discovered that only their unborn child Emma will be able to break the curse the Queen has placed on them.  The curse strikes on the day of Emma’s birth and she is safely placed within a wardrobe built by Geppetto as the Queen’s curse strikes.  28 years later in our world, a young lady named Emma meets her son Henry who she gave up for adoption 10 years ago.  Henry insists that she is the key to breaking the curse on his hometown of Storybrooke, Maine.  Storybrooke is a town that Henry insists is filled with people who are unknowingly fairy tale characters.  And Henry believes his adopted mother is in fact the Evil Queen.  Henry convinces Emma to stay, to Henry’s mother’s disdain.  Viewers are told the story through action in Storybrooke and flashback to the fairy tale world.  We follow along with Emma as she wonders if Henry is telling the truth or is trying to escape reality.

Anyone familiar with Disney princesses will feel comfortable with this ABC, making it Disney, weekly live action tale.  Snow White and Prince Charming are major characters, with the curse being directed at them and their daughter being the key to destroying the curse.  Additionally, the Evil Queen is the major, though maybe not only, bad guy.  To be honest, we all know that Snow White and Prince Charming should live happily ever after.  The fact that in Storybrooke they are separated creates a tension in their story that does not exist in the classic film.  The Evil Queen is as bad as any Disney fan could hope her to be.  The Huntsman also makes an appearance, telling his back story in one of my favorite episodes to date.  And I have not even mentioned the Magic Mirror.  The producers and writers are clearly relying on Disney tradition in their story from dwarfs named Grumpy to keepsake boxes that take us back to the Walt Disney’s first animated feature.  

Snow White’s tale is not the only tale making up the foundation of the series.  Pinocchio is heavily represented.  Jiminy Cricket is Henry’s therapist Archie Hopper.  Hopper’s best friend is Gepetto.  And I have to say that the Jiminy Cricket flashbacks are highly satisfying and enjoyable.  Archie has a pet Dalmatian named Pongo for fans of The Hundred and One Dalmatians.  The Pongo reference is clearly a tribute to Disney animated features as he is not a traditional fairy tale character.  The Blue Fairy is also seen in fairy tale flashbacks.      

Other Disney characters weave themselves throughout the show.  Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty appears in a flashback and is key to the curse.   Cinderella’s story has been explored in an episode.  Episodes in 2012 promise Belle and the Beast and Aladdin focused stories.  Yes, this is a series that will make Disney fans very happy.

Not all of the foundational tales of this series comes from Disney.  There are non-Disneyfied fairy tales characters like Rumplestiltskin who have major roles.  And it is fun, like with Fables, to see them on our world also.    

Between Disney you find what you can to connect to your Disney experiences.  For the Between Family, Once Upon a Time is a tool that we have added to our arsenal.  Everyone in this family enjoys spending time together as we watch familiar stories emerge in new and interesting ways.  For me the Huntsman centered episode sealed the deal, we are hooked.  And I look forward to seeing if the curse will be lifted and if so how the story will be continued.