The Golden Touch (1935): Re-examining the satirical merits of Walt Disney's alleged directorial misfire / Brennan Thomas -- The plausible impossible in Walt Disney's Thru the Mirror (1936) / Jan Susina -- Mickey & Co. Enlist: Disney's World War II animated shorts / Paula T. Connolly -- Victory Through Air Power (1943): How Walt Disney planned to win the war / Emily Sullivan -- Roald Dahl, Walt Disney, and the Gremlins: The story of an unfinished film / Mark I. West -- A simple love story in the labyrinth of time: The impossible quest of Destino / Francesca Arnavas -- Make Mine Music (1946): The music program feature and its relevance to Pixar/Disney shorts / Jacki Fitzpatrick -- Anti-urbanism, environmental degradation, and solastalgia in the little house (1952) / Hadas marcus -- A whale of a tale: Disney theme part iterations of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) / Carissa Baker -- Walt Disney's Tonka (1958): Another casualty of little bighorn? / James Plath -- Latinos, morality, and Walt Disney: The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (ABC, 1958-1960) / Sue Matheson -- Walt Disney beyond the barnyard: From Mickey's Kangaroo (1935) to Nature's strangest creatures (1959) / Derham Groves -- Disney's Abandoned Rainbow Road to Oz / Dina Schiff Massachi -- Walt Disney's Babes in Toyland (1961): Flawed forerunner to better things -- Careful conservation: The Gnome-Mobile (1967) as Eco-Fiction / Martin Woodside -- The Small One (1976) and its not-so-small legacy / Christian Renaut -- The unlikely casting of Bette Davis in Return from Witch Mountain (1978) and The Watcher in the Woods (1980) / Carl H. Sederholm and Kathy Merlock Jackson -- Horizons: The future that never was and Disney's extinct attractions / Andrew j. Friedenthal -- From the bathhouse to the house of mouse: Bette Midler's tenure with Disney / Peter Cullen Bryan -- Teacher's Pet (2004): Looking askew in the warped world of Disney / Jonathan Winchell -- Recalling the details of forgotten Disney theme park attractions / Bobby Schweizer.
Summary:
"This work demonstrates that not everything that Disney touched turned to gold. In its first 100 years, the company had major successes that transformed filmmaking and culture, but it also had its share of unfinished projects, unmet expectations, and box-office misses. Some works failed but nevertheless led to other more stunning and lucrative ones; others shed light on periods when the Disney Company was struggling to establish or re-establish its brand. In addition, many Disney properties, popular in their time but lost to modern audiences, emerge as forgotten gems. By exploring the studio's missteps, this book provides a more complex portrayal of the history of the company than one would gain from a simple recounting of its many hits. With essays by writers from across the globe, it also asserts that what endures or is forgotten varies from person to person, place to place, or generation to generation. What one dismisses, someone else recalls with deep fondness as a magical Disney memory"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.