Between Books – Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual 2023

New year, same review?


I feel like I restate the same thoughts whenever I read the latest Hyperion Historical Alliance annual.

Maybe it’s because I feel “excluded” and I don’t like that. I’d like to think I’m pretty serious when it comes to history.

The “2023 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual” consists of five articles that span decades of Disney history from the early days of animation to the 1900’s in Disney parks. The five articles are:

• “Oswald the Laemmle Rabbit” by Tom Klein

• “Walt Disney and The Life of Hans Christian Anderson” by Didier Ghez

• “Woolie Reitherman Needs to Fly” A Disney Artist Goes to War” by Lucas O. Seastrom

• “1945-1946: Edgar Bergan and Disney’s Story Department” by Didier Ghez

• “Direct from the Islands: The Polynesian Magic of Pete Seanoa” by Nathan Eick

The articles are all written with an academic slant. And they have extensive footnotes with bibliographies showing source material. They definitely as a group are attempting to show the seriousness of Disney history.

For me, the most engaging topics were Oswald and Woolie Reitherman. Klein’s article demonstrated that the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was not fully in the mind of Walt Disney. In many ways, Oswald was a corporate creation, which reminded me of the modern studio and network system where executives, producers, and writers all have claim to pieces of the character. Disney’s additions were critical, providing Oswald with much of his character development and growth. But Klein makes it clearer that the Lucky Rabbit was a corporate rabbit not a Disney one. We might even call Oswald work-for-hire. The Reitherman article dives deep into the artist’s non-animation career as a military and civilian pilot. The article helps remind us of how the Greatest Generation was often more than one thing and career, which should inspire us! But it is also a history that includes World War II, transportation over The Hump into China, and the growth of commercial air travel.

The “2023 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual” to me has an audience, Disney fans who want serious historical research. They want their passion to be validated as a serious academic pursuit. I also think these fans, like me, would love to support the Hyperion Historical Alliance in their mission. In fact, my proof is the purchase, reading, and review of now four Annuals. I just think that they need to grow the mission. I am someone who has a master’s degree in history. I’d like to think I am taking my history seriously. I am also not currently mining archives for serious historical additions to the knowledge base. But I would like to support those that are doing so. As someone who’s been a member of the Society of Baseball Research, who has a model I think can be used here, I don’t get why this isn’t being democratized. I’ve also been a member of the Society for Military History and American Historical Association, founded in 1884 and very serious, which both have options for non-working historians.

The “2023 Hyperion Historical Alliance Annual” is a collection of five historical articles that span the varying topics in Disney history. Most Disney fans, like I did, will likely find a topic of interest and comparisons to trends today in media. Again, I wish they would open membership up to a more scalable and likely-lasting membership model.

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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. 

Goofy Gadgets - Epic Mickey 2 Announced

Earlier this week Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was announced for an October release date.  Here is the game trailer:

What are your thoughts?

I got the original as a gift two Christmas' ago complete with the paintbrush nunchuk.  I enjoy the original and my kids love watching the gameplay, but I seem to lack the time to commit to finishing it.  I would rather play multiplayer games that the Between Kids can enjoy too.   Epic Mickey is the platform that introduced the Between Kids to Oswald.  But the game play itself is above the youngest abilities.  So Kinect Disneyland Adventures has become our default game. 

But I am excited to see that unlike Epic Mickey the sequel will be released on multiple platforms, and not just the Wii.  And the first question that I got from the kids was, can we play Oswald?  And the answer is yes, yes you can.  And the sequel has allows for two players, the brothers of Mickey and Oswald together for the first time.

Are you excited for this next adventure in the Wasteland?

Between Books - Walt Disney: An American Original

Bob Thomas in Walt Disney: An American Original chronicles the life and legacy of Walt Disney.  Thomas discusses briefly the Disney ancestors and then details Walt Disney’s birth in 1901 and childhood.   The book charts the moves of Walt Disney’s formative years from his birthplace in Chicago, to Disney’s idealized Marceline, Missouri, to Kansas City, back to Chicago, France and finally his return to Kansas City.  In this final relocation to Kansas City, Disney took his first steps into animation forming his own animation studio.  After setbacks and failures in the Midwest, Disney moves to California in 1923 asking his older brother Roy O. Disney to partner with him in a new animation studio.  Thomas covers the successes and failures of the Disney brothers including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the birth of Mickey Mouse and the production of a full length feature in Snow White released in 1937.  Thomas details Walt Disney’s steps into new endeavors including live action movies, television productions, and theme parks with the opening and growth of Disneyland.  Finally, Thomas discusses Disney’s final days and death in 1966 followed by the Walt Disney legacy with his unfinished dreams including the Walt Disney World Resort and EPCOT.  Along with chronicling the business and intellectual career of the historical figure, Thomas also discusses extensively Walt Disney the son, brother, husband and father. 

Walt Disney: An American Original is a Disney library must have.  It balances a comprehensive biography on Walt Disney with a readable narrative.  It is small enough to fit into a backpack for a Disney vacation, hint hint, while still being comprehensive enough to give the reader a good overview of Walt Disney’s life.  Thomas interviewed many individuals who knew Walt Disney personally and had the support of the Walt Disney Archives in providing content and sources.  However, I do wish as a historian that there were footnotes, as they would help guide further reading.  The text itself is highly readable and enjoyable, in fact it is more readable than most historical narratives that I have run across. 

This was one of the first Walt Disney biographies I ever read.  I found it not too short, not too long but just right!  It was a story, a true life one at that, which grabbed me and made me even more interested in Disney history.  When you read of the setbacks Walt Disney experienced one cannot help but be inspired.  You find a Walt Disney that really does embody the “Keep Moving Forward” spirit of Meet the Robinsons.  Additionally, I found myself becoming interested in expanding into other topics.  One topic that I was left wanting to know more about was Walt Disney’s vision for EPCOT, the Experimental City of Tomorrow and not the Epcot Park.  And I instantly wanted to find more information about Roy O. Disney, the older brother who stood beside Walt Disney and gave him the support needed to be the creator and innovator that he was.  Walt Disney: An American Original is a story that makes you want to know more!