Hey, gang!
Jim Hill here. You know, one of the real pleasures of running a website like JHM is you just never know who is going to toss an e-mail your way.
Like late last month. I had just put a story up on the site, announcing the beta test of JimHillMedia.com’s Walt Disney World tours, when this note popped in my in-box:
I would be interested in participating in any tour you are planning at the WDW site. I am a long time reader and fan of your writing and regretted I wasn’t able to participate in your Disneyland/DCA tours. However, I will bet that you already have nearly a full roster! Just in case you don’t:
Jim Korkis
Orlando, Florida 32821
To which I replied:
Jim Korkis? THE Jim Korkis?! If you’re signing up for one of my WDW tours … Well, then the wrong guy is leading this tour …
I know, I know. A lot of you JHM readers are already well aware of Mr. Korkis’ impressive body of work. But — for the few of you who somehow have managed to miss out on reading those great columns that Jim used to write for “Animation” magazine and/or don’t already own copies of some of his snazzy animation history books (“Encyclopedia of Cartoon Superstars,” “Cartoon Confidential” and “The Animation Art Buyers’ Guide” et al) — Jim is the real deal. A guy who knows the entertainment industry — with a particular emphasis on animation history and the Walt Disney Company — inside and out.
Given all the great reading that Jim has given me over the years, there was just no way that I could ever accept payment from him if he still wanted to come along on my measly little WDW tour. Which Korkis did. Which is why — after cautioning Jim that the stories that I’d be telling on my WDW tour probably wouldn’t be nearly as cool as any of the stories he already knew about the theme parks — I asked him to be my personal guest that day at the Magic Kingdom.
So Mr. Korkis shows up for my WDW tour on Saturday, May 3rd. And I make a sincere effort to get a serious tour underway … but then the trouble (or was it the fun?) started.
I won’t lie to you, folks. The Magic Kingdom tour that I had so carefully scripted and researched pretty much went out the window 5 minutes into the tour. But that was because I would tell a story … then Jim would chime in with a story that built on and/or topped my story …. then I would try and tell a story that built on and/or topped Jim’s story … then Jim would chime in with another story that would build on and/or top anything that I had said up until that point … which is how the morning pretty much devolved into this incredible Disney schmoozefest. This great rambling talk that touched on all aspects of the history of the Walt Disney World resort. Not to mention a great number of other Disney related subjects.
It was a fine, fun time. At least for me. (Though — to be fair — I did feel rather bad that the formal Magic Kingdom tour that I’d planned to give had ended up crashing and burning. So much so that I actually offered to refund all of the money that the other folks had paid to come along on that Saturday morning’s tour. To a man, they refused. Saying that they’d so enjoyed listening to Jim and I lob stories back and forth at one another that it had been worth the price of a tour alone just to be able to tag along and listen to us yammer.)
Anyway … long story short here: Several days after that wonderful morning at the Magic Kingdom, Jim Korkis, Nancy and I got together for lunch. Jim was looking for some spot on the Web to serve as the cyber-showcase for all of his wonderful animation-and-Disney related stories. Me? I’m always looking for strong new writers that I can bring on board at JimHillMedia.com. And — since Korkis was already one of my favorite authors — I was absolutely thrilled at the idea that he’d even consider contributing to JHM.
So you lucky readers, you. After months of putting up with my Disney-related drivel, now you’re going to get a real writer. Someone who can really write rings around me when it comes to animation history and the Walt Disney Company. (And that’s not all that Mr. Korkis is going to contribute to JimHillMedia.com … but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? … You’ll learn more about that with the official announcement later this week … Anyway …)
So it is — with the greatest of pleasure — that I now introduce you to … the other Jim !
Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dumber, and Tweedle Dumberer …
you guess who’s who.
Welcome to the obligatory first column where a new columnist introduces himself and immodestly recounts his accomplishments in an attempt to establish some credibility. In addition, the obligatory first column usually indicates what topics the columnist will be exploring in future columns.
The sad thing is that no matter how impressive these credits are or how interesting the topics may appear, it may still all result in dull, pedantic, meandering columns that steal precious minutes of your life that will never be replaced.
So my advice is to not read this installment until after you have read a few columns and then you can find this column in the archives if you really want to know who I am and what I will be trying to do.
For those brave souls who have decided to venture onward because Jim Hill doesn’t have a new installment today, here’s the story of “the other Jim.”
My name is Jim Korkis and my official biography declares that I am “an award winning teacher, a professional actor and magician and a published author with several books and hundreds of magazine articles” to my credit. Just remember to keep that in perspective and that all of that and ten bucks will buy me a cup of coffee just about anywhere on Walt Disney World property.
I am also considered an internationally recognized Disney historian whose research has been used repeatedly by the Disney Company for a wide variety of projects. Among other credits, I wrote the text for the WDW Magic Kingdom 30th Anniversary trading cards that not enough of you purchased, was the host on the Disney Vacation Planning video for the 100 Years of Magic, created the Disney character personality test for the Disney internet website, was the off camera announcer on the syndicated television series SECRETS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, was an animation instructor at the Disney Institute, assisted in the portrayal of both Merlin and Prospector Pat at the Magic Kingdom, performed magic and balloon animals on Pleasure Island, created and facilitated dozens of backstage programs at the WDW parks and currently teach over seventy-five different Disney heritage programs at WDW where I am also a keynote speaker for a variety of groups from FELD Entertainment to Stag-Parkway to United Motorcoach Association to the National Association of Conservation Districts and many, many more. I have many more Disney related credits but we can discuss those in the future if they are of any interest.
I was a winner on THE GONG SHOW, a loser on THE DATING GAME and won a Cadillac on the game show, CAMOFLAGUE, before appearing with my brothers on FAMILY FEUD. I have performed in over a hundred different stage productions and have directed well over fifty stage plays. I have appeared on a variety of television shows and films as well as doing voice over work for a variety of clients including the Los Angeles Zoo and the American Medical Association.
I wrote and directed the longest continuously running stage show at Six Flags Magic Mountain, LUCKY LOUIE’S ROARING TWENTIES REVUE where I was also a street performer. I have written and directed specialty shows for Harvey’s Casino in Lake Tahoe, Broadway Department store, Western Cruise Lines, Jonathan Clubs, McDonalds and countless others.
I have written for dozens of magazines including DISNEY ADVENTURES, FILMFAX, OUTRE, ANIMATION (where I wrote a popular column entitled “Animation Anecdotes”), MINDROT, COMICS JOURNAL, AMAZING HEROES, COMIC BOOK ARTIST, PERSISTENCE OF VISION and many, many others. In addition, I was the co-editor of the first newsstand distributed animation magazine, CARTOON QUARTERLY (which only lasted one issue even though we had three issues prepared). Currently, I am a columnist for HOGAN’S ALLEY and the latest issue features an interview I did with Ward Kimball (which you can order it from www.budplant.com if you can’t find it at Borders) and the next issue will feature my articles on the secrets behind STEAMBOAT WILLIE and a discussion of an unmade DUCK DODGERS cartoon as well as a history of the character.
With the best, most insightful writing partner in the world, John Cawley, I co-authored several books including ENCYLOPEDIA OF CARTOON SUPERSTARS, HOW TO CREATE ANIMATION, CARTOON CONFIDENTAL and ANIMATION ART BUYER’S GUIDE. For Malibu, I wrote scholarly introductions to dozens of comic strip and comic book reprints from THE THREE STOOGES to I LOVE LUCY to POLLY AND HER PALS. For Warner Brothers International, I wrote scripts for TINY TOONS comic books.
Also my animation and Disney research is credited in a variety of books from THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DISNEY ANIMATED CHARACTERS to THE MOOSE THAT ROARED. And my research has gone uncredited in almost an equal number of books.
At this point, even I am in awe of all of these accomplishments and of course, you all must assume that I must be at least 150 years old in order to have done them all. (I did a lot of this stuff concurrently so I am barely a third of that century and a half.) In fact, there are several more pages of credits which have yet to impress single women into throwing themselves at me so we’ll just avoid all of those pages for the moment.
I hope you aren’t too impressed with those credentials. All of those accomplishments never seemed to help me when my tire went flat on the freeway and I didn’t have a spare or when I had to mow my lawn in the Florida heat and humidity and accidentally cut the cable to my air-conditioning or when I didn’t correctly set the timer on my vcr to record a favorite program. However, I do hope my experience provides you with some assurance that I have a broad range of expertise on topics from animation to theme parks to writing to performing to things that even surprise me and I will be discussing all of them and more in future columns.
Just like some of you, I grew up being a kid who woke up early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons, running to a variety of different stores to find new comic books, and dreaming of a career where I would be rich and famous and have naked cheerleaders throwing themselves at me. Unlike most of you, I had the good fortune to do that growing up in Glendale, California. Glendale is right next to Burbank where the Disney Studios are.
When I watched Disney cartoons, I would look at the names in the credits and then go to the Glendale-Burbank phone book and look up the names of the people and phone them up. I was about ten years old and some of the artists would invite me over and my mom or dad would drive me over. While they waited in the car reading, I would watch these guys draw and listen to these great stories. Eventually, as I grew older and could drive myself over for a visit, I started writing down those stories and sold the interviews and articles to magazines. That experience led to my writing books.
One of the first artists I met was Jack Hannah who directed many of the classic Donald Duck and Chip’n’Dale cartoons among countless other credits. (He was one of John Lasseter’s teachers at California Institute of the Arts.) In a future column, I’ll share with you some of Jack’s memories of working with Walt Disney and at the Disney Studio during that Golden Age.
Of course, the entire Korkis family were frequent visitors to Disneyland and the other popular locations like Knott’s Berry Farm and Pacific Ocean Park and we have boxes of out-of-focus, heads-cut-off, faded color photos and slides to prove it. Yes, I remember riding the flying saucers in Tomorrowland and using a ticket book to allow me to experience Walt’s kingdom of magic.
When I moved to Florida several years ago to take care of my parents who had developed some health challenges, I brought out with me (after eliminating two-thirds of my personal library) over 10,000 pounds of books, magazines, videos and clippings relating to Disney and animation. In the almost eight years I have worked for the Disney Company in Florida that weight has increased and like the ghost of Marley, I will probably be dragging behind me for all eternity chains entwined with hundreds of unread books and unwatched videos.
Just remember that when you read my columns that they are my own opinions and do not reflect the opinions and policies of the Disney Company, Jim Hill Media or anything or anybody else.