I know, I know. You’ve come by JimHillMedia on Thursday. Which means that you’re looking forward to reading a new book review as well as seeing what sort of new Disney-related crafts Patrick Hurd has put together for us.
Well, Pat won’t be showing up today … Now don’t worry. Mr. Hurd’s fine. In fact, he’s already hard at work on a new “At Home Imagineering” project which will be posted on this site next Thursday, January 23rd.
So why no new crafts project today? Well, Patrick and I have been talking. And — long story short — we don’t want to blow through “DoomBuggy Productions”‘s entire archives of Disney-related crafts projects in one fell swoop. Which is why (as of today) “At Home Imagineering” will go from being a section that’s featured every single Thursday at the site to one that’s featured every other week.
That way, we don’t run through all of “DoomBuggy Productions” projects in six months time. And we also give poor Mr. Hurd a bit of a break. After all, the guy’s a valuable member of the JHM family. And we wouldn’t Patrick to topple over from sniffing too much hot glue, now would we?
So it’s settled. “At Home Imagineering” goes from being an every single week feature here at JimHillMedia to an every-other-week kind of thing. You’re still going to get the same great Disney-related crafts projects (brought to you by the nice folks over at “DoomBuggy Productions”) … just not as often. So look for Patrick Hurd’s next project to be posted on this site next Thursday morning.
Now … about that book review …
Again, we’re going to make a slight deviation from the usual program here at JHM and talk about a magazine instead. Mind you, it’s a really great magazine. Perhaps the very best Disneyana history periodical that’s currently on the market today: Leon and Jack Janzen’s “The ‘E’ Ticket.”
Now I regularly get nice notes from all you people about how much you enjoy reading the stories that I write for JimHillMedia. But — when it comes to writing about the history of the Walt Disney Company — I’m really the new kid on the block, folks.
After all, I’ve only been pounding out articles about the Mouse House for 4 or 5 years now. Whereas Leon and Jack … well, since 1986, the Janzens have been putting together great feature stories about the history of the Disney theme parks (and Knotts Berry Farm and Pacific Ocean Park) and collecting them in their self-published magazine.
To date, there have been 39 issues of “The E Ticket.” And the Janzens’ home-grown publication certainly has come a long way in the past 17 years. Now printed on slick paper with tons of cool color photographs scattered over its 40-some-odd pages, the latest issue of “The ‘E’ Ticket” really is a beautiful thing to see.
But — just as it was back in the early days (when Leon and Jack used to use a Xerox machine to literally make copies of the latest issue) — it’s the stories that really make “The ‘E’ Ticket” worth reading (and collecting). Over the years, the Janzens have done some outstanding features on the hidden history of various attractions at Disneyland. Not to mention some absolutely killer interviews with late great Disney icons like Marc Davis and Ward Kimball.
If you’re a Disneyana history buff, but aren’t yet a subscriber to “The ‘E’ Ticket,” one peek at the Spring 2003 issue of this magazine is all it’s going to take to win you over. This issue is really one of Leon and Jack’s best. Its cover story is an in-depth 18 page long article on the history of Disneyland’s Adventureland (featuring pictures of Walt himself overseeing the installation of early audio animatronic figures that were placed in DL’s “Jungle Cruise” back in 1964).
This issue also contains a fond look back at Disneyland’s Flying Saucer attraction, Michael Broggie reminiscing about the construction of the Anaheim theme park as well as a loving tribute to the late Mr. Kimball. It’s a great read all the way through.
If you’re really a fan of Disney history, you owe to yourself to get a subscription of “The ‘E’ Ticket” as soon as possible. This is the publication that all the others are judged by. Don’t believe me? Just ask any Imagineer. They’ll tell you that Leon and Jack’s “The ‘E’ Ticket” is the real deal. And that WDI employees actually consult back issues of this publication whenever they’re doing research on the history of the Disney theme parks.
And — if it’s good enough for the Disneyana history buffs who haunt the halls of Walt Disney Imagineering — then you just know that Leon and Jack Janzen’s “The ‘E’ Ticket” has got to be something pretty special.
If you’d like more information about “The ‘E’ Ticket” (I.E. How you go about subscribing to this fine publication and/or how you can purchase back issues of the magazine and “The ‘E’ Ticket” in CD-ROM form), you can contact the Janzens by dropping Jack and Leon a line at:
The “E” Ticket P.O. Box 800880 Santa Clarita, CA 91380-0880
Or — if you just can’t wait on snail mail — go straight to “The ‘E’ Ticket” web site.
You can thank me later.
Okay. That’s it for today. Sorry that the site’s so light (content-wise) today. I promise that I’ll do better tomorrow.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a “Why For” column to crank out for Friday as well as a few new “Remembering Light Magic” installments to edit. (Yes, that long postponed series is finally on its way, kids. Look for the first installment of this revamped series to pop up at the site on Monday, January 27th.)
Talk to you tomorrow.
jrh