Between Books - The Official Walt Disney Quote Book

 

 

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all the troubles and obstacles have strengthened me.” Walt Disney

That just has to inspire you as a Disney fan, even when you have a bad day!

We know the story. We know how it started and ended. And we know there was a lot of adversity.

The Official Walt Disney Quote Book by the Walt Disney Archives provides us not a story but quotes such as the one above to inspire our spirit, jumpstart our imagination, and provide us insights directly from Walt Disney. The book is divided into 21 chapters around themes such as films and animation, the Disney theme parks, television, animals and nature, family, life, wonder, and more. The quotes are a page or less in eye-catching fonts on pages embellished with pictures from Walt Disney’s life. While there is no index, as topics are easy to look for in their chapters, the Walt Disney Archives staff does provide an original source for all quotes and images.

This book is honest. It is a quote book, and there is no story provided. Though the themes of the chapters do provide some thematic cohesion that keeps readers from feeling like they are jumping from topic to topic to topic and I quite like it. The title is part of the Disney 100 campaign, with Disney Editions making it very visually attractive with its hardcover adorned by Walt Disney along with good use of fonts and images on the page. The text can easily serve as a thought jogger as one considers Disney and non-Disney topics.

I do have another Walt Disney quote book printed in the 1990s for the parks, which I have not reviewed. That edition is smaller and softcover. And honestly, it does not look as good on the shelf. It also has 100 plus chapters, which are really headers with multiple topics on the page and not thematic but in alphabetic order. That version may make it easier to find a topic, but it lacks the idea of moving together a story.


Is The Official Walt Disney Quote Book by the Walt Disney Archives for everyone? Probably not. It is however attractive visually and I like having it where I can quickly grab it when I need a Walt Disney quote. Yes, I could get those in an internet search too, but it doesn’t feel as satisfying as flipping the pages myself. Often times inspiration for me is easier to find on a page in my hand than a screen in front of my face.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that Between Disney receives a percentage of sales purchased through links on this site.

 

Between Books - The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder

No hologram Walts here my friend!

The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder by John Baxter, Bruce C. Steele, and the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives is a companion book to the Disney100: The Exhibition which began traveling the world in 2023 to coincide with the Walt Disney Company’s 100th year. The book is broken into topics that include the foundation of the company, adventure, innovation, the parks, sound, and others. Since the book is topical, each chapter generally covers large spans of the company’s century of history and multiple subtopics. Each chapter comes across as an essay with a variety of supporting color images and interstitials that highlights historic people or moments.

This text is trying to capture in a visually pleasing way 100 years of history. This is a drinking from the firehouse situation. As a reader, you will get deep on nothing. But you will glance off a lot of Disney creations as they get namechecked for their historical contributions. It does at times feel like films and tv get more space than parks, but the parks-specific essay is in the last half of the book. If one was to teach a course on Disney history, The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder could serve as the textbook. But other texts would be required to ensure that students could learn deeply on specifics. The images are visually wonderful, as one would expect from the Disney Archives.

I do find it interesting how Bob Chapek is managed in this book. The book was being completed during the time that Bob Chapek’s tenure began to sour and eventually Bob Iger returned as CEO. Chapek is thanked for his interviews…but he’s never mentioned in the text of the book. But Bob Iger is really prominent as he adds color to the company’s history. I speculate that much of the real estate given to Iger speaking as the company’s leader may originally have been reserved for Chapek. And with him leaving the company, he was replaced and removed from the history. Disney can be very controlling of their history’s image. And I wonder if, like Michael Eisner, who is mentioned once, we will see Chapek have a historical return in a few decades, especially for his work in home video.

The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder by John Baxter, Bruce C. Steele, and the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives is a celebration of 100 years. It is visually appealing with text that varies between historical examination and marketing speak, as one would find in D23 Magazine. And that is not shocking with contributors that are often asked to fill this assignment of informing fans about and marketing Disney products.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that Between Disney receives a percentage of sales purchased through links on this site.

Between Books - Disney Trivia from the Vault

Disney history fans owe much to Dave Smith, the Chief Archivist Emeritus and founder of the Walt Disney Archives.  Thanks to Smith’s efforts much of Disney corporate history has been preserved.  He has over the years also interacted with fans, using the resources of the Archives to answer fan questions in magazines and newsletters.  Smith takes this a step further in the book Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered, providing 260 pages of questions and answers. 

The format will be familiar to anyone who has read any of Smith’s “Ask Dave” columns.  Fans submit questions and Smith uses his knowledge and resources to respond.  The book is organized into chapters based on theme; Animated Features, Animated Shorts, Disneyland, Live-Action Films, Publications, Television, Walt Disney World and Walt Disney. Each chapter includes numerous questions with a typical page having at least 3 to 5 questions and responses.

The content will be very familiar to anyone who has read the “Ask Dave” columns.  Smith’s responses are factual, straight to the point and typically have no commentary.  Though I sometimes feel I sense a dry humor being injected, but that could be strictly due to my own internal monologue as I read the book.  Some topics do repeat themselves, typically separated by a few pages.  When this occurs the answer is something new, not just copied and pasted from the earlier response.  I am not sure if this is due to editing or was intentional.  If I have to criticize, it really is me getting nitpicky, wondering if a editor understood that It’s a Small World should really be it’s a small world and other similar small errors. 

I found myself trying to answer the questions before reading the responses.  Typically I could not, though there are a few I did know.  There is a great amount of good information in this volume.  I found myself seriously contemplating the Disneyland Park golden marker and how Disney represents it elsewhere.  And the book really serves as a great reminder how big the live action catalog for Disney really is, with Smith being asked questions of many a film that I have never heard of.  I think the best use of this would be as a bathroom book, because it would be easy to pick it up and put it down a few minutes later.  The content within it makes me wish it could be a useful research resource, but the lack of an index makes it difficult to use as a reliable tool.

Honestly Disney Trivia from the Vault surprised me.  It was about twice the size of what I expected for the price.  And the content is good, though some editing would improve its usability as a research tool.  The volume would probably serve as a nice gift for a Disney fan, who could use it as an enjoyable distraction read.