I won’t lie to you, folks. It’s been a pretty lousy week.
First I had to put my darling daughter, Alice, back on a plane on California. Which is usually enough to send me into a medium sized funk.
Then I arrive home from the airport, only to find my in-box overflowing with virus-laden e-mails. So I’d delete all of the suspect messages, then have Panda and McAfee run a scan on my computer to make sure everything was virus-free again. Once that was done, I’d re-open my e-mail … Only to get hit with yet another tidal wave of poisonous pif attachments.
It’s been like this since early Tuesday morning, people. Wave after wave of toxic e-mail clogging up my computer. Which is why JimHillMedia.com has pretty much been a Jim Hill-free zone for the last couple of days. (Many thanks to Jim Korkis for providing all those terrific new columns which — hopefully — kept you guys entertained while I was struggling to detoxify my computer.)
Anyway, given how awful this week has been so far, I really needed a pick-me-up yesterday. Which is why this note from Richard K. (one of the very few uninfected notes to actually get through lately) really caught my attention.
For those of you who don’t know, Richard K. is a longtime JHM reader. A bright, well-read man who works in publishing, Richard also has lots of friends who work in the entertainment industry. Translation: Mr. K is not someone who impresses easily.
Which is why I was really surprised to get an e-mail like this from Richard. A note which is practically a love letter to this new volume from Disney Editions:
Hi Jim,
The other day at Border’s, I bought this f**king incredible book, “The Disney Treasures.” This is one of the best books ever written, and stuffed (Yes, that’s right, folks. Stuffed with facsimile printed and die cut goodies) with Disney trivia.
Just buy it–you won’t be disappointed!
Richard
Given that I truly needed a lift, I got in the Escape right then and there and escaped. Drove down out of the hills to our local Barnes & Noble and bought a copy of “The Disney Treasures.” Tour the cellophane off of the thing as I was walking out of the store. Slipped the book out of its sleeve as I was climbing into the car. Then sat there in the parking lot for a half hour or so, reading through the thing.
And you know what? Richard K. was right! Robert Tieman’s “The Disney Treasures” (Disney Editions, July 2003) really is a “… f**cking incredible book.” Loaded with recreations of real rarities from the Disney corporate archives (Like what? Well, how about a copy of the very first ticket sold at Disneyland? Or how about a facsimile of an invitation of “Mary Poppins”‘s world premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater? A recreation of the program from NYC’s Old Colony Theater from the night “Steamboat Willie” debuted?) this is a volume that every Disneyana die-hard MUST HAVE in his or her library.
Mind you, “The Disney Treasures” doesn’t confine itself to just paper goods. Tieman’s book also includes a CD-ROM that’s got a lot of great audio on it. Wonderful and weird little tidbits like:
A recording of a 1950s era press conference when Walt visited Marceline, MO. Here, Disney’s playful and bawdy side comes out. Listen to the old Mousetro talk about how he used to use the outhouses her remembered from his Missouri boyhood to get an easy laugh in his early movies.
Radio commercials from the late 1950s / early 1960s from Disneyland. Listen as the marketing campaign for Walt’s family fun park gets slicker, more sophisticated.
A series of really rather funny audio ads for Donald Duck-related foods (I.E. Donald Duck Cola, Donald Duck Peanut Butter, Donald Duck Salad Dressing et al). Each of them featuring vocals by the late Disney legend, Clarence “Ducky” Nash.
Handsomely designed, filled with colorful eye-catching illustrations, “The Disney Treasures” truly is a treasure. If you know a Disneyana fan who’s currently down in the dumps, go pick them up a copy of Robert Tieman’s book right now. As Richard K. said:
Just buy it–you won’t be disappointed!
Buy a copy of “The Disney Treasures” today. It truly is the next best thing to being allowed deep inside the Disney Archives.
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If you’re planning on picking up a copy of “The Disney Treasures,” you can help support JimHillMedia.com by ordering your copy from Amazon.com by clicking the link to the right. Your cost will (unfortunately) remain the same (though it is currently 30% off!) But – if you go there through us – we get a tiny cut of what you spend. So help keep Jim Hill behind the computer where he belongs and and pick up your copy of “The Pirates and the Mouse” through the link to the right. |
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