Smithsonian Libraries

Happy Birthday Walt Disney

The Libraries has many titles in its collections on Walt Disney. Books on his studio's feature films, the theme parks, biography, cartoons and animation, society and history, even African Art. A few titles below caught my eye, especially The Disneyization of society.

Mickey's creator Walter Elias (Walt) Disney was born today, in 1901.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The animated man: a life of Walt Disney, Michael Barrier. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2007.

Disney's villains: a pop-up book [illustrated by Vaccaro Associates/Eric Binder; paper engineering by Bruce Reifel]. Publisher: New York: Disney Press, c1995.

The Disneyization of society, Alan Bryman. Publisher: London: Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publishers, 2004.

The gremlins: the lost Walt Disney production: a Royal Air Force story, by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl; introduction by Leonard Maltin. Edition: 1st Dark Horse Books ed. Publisher: Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2006, c1943.

Be our guest: perfecting the art of customer service, by Disney Institute; foreword by Michael D. Eisner. Edition: 1st ed. Publisher: New York: Disney Editions, c2001.

How to read Donald Duck: imperialist ideology in the Disney comic, Ariel Dorfman, Armand Mattelart; translation & updated introduction by David Kunzle, with appendix by John Shelton Lawrence. Edition: Corr. & enl. ed. Publisher: New York: International General, 1991.

Married to the mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, Richard E. Foglesong. Publisher: New Haven : Yale University Press, c2001.

Bambi gets lost. Publisher: [S.l. : Walt Disney Productions], c1979.

Through visitors' Eyes: a study of visitor responses to African Vision: the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art collection. Publisher: Washington, DC National Museum of African Art 2007

—Elizabeth Periale

Related articles

• Walt Disney's 50 Animated Motion Pictures (slashfilm.com)

Elephant Appreciation Day

The National Zoological Park’s First Elephants

The first elephants acquired by the National Zoological Park were ‘Dunk’ and ‘Gold Dust’ in April of 1891.

James E. Cooper, owner of the Adam Forepaugh Shows, donated the two to the National Zoological Park. They were actually the first animals to take up residence on the Zoo grounds (the live animals that were to move there from the Mall and the U.S. National Museum didn’t start arriving until shortly after the two elephants).

There was no facility to house them when they arrived, so they had to be chained to trees until a shelter was built. Water had to be tediously hauled in barrels from the Rock Creek. Both elephants had a reputation of a mean disposition—probably why the circus was eager to unload them!

‘Gold Dust’ died in 1898 after falling while taking a walk with ‘Dunk.’ ‘Dunk’ lived until 1917 when he fell while sleeping, leaning against a wall, breaking his shoulder. He had to be put down.

—Polly Lasker

Source:

-Wild animals in and out of the Zoo, by William M. Mann

Further Elephant Reading:

Asian elephant: ecology and management, by R. Sukumar

Elephants and ethics: toward a morality of coexistence, edited by Christen Wemmer and Catherine A. Christen; foreword by John Seidensticker.

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"Golf is an easy game ... it's just hard to play"—Anonymous

Clare Briggs, Golf: the book of a thousand chuckles: the famous golf cartoons, c.1916, "Adventures of a Lost Ball."

September 21 is Miniature Golf Day. The illustration at left follows the adventures of a lost golf ball, probably on a turf course, but is still definitely in the spirit of the fun game, I mean sport, we call miniature golf or mini-golf.

Minigolf, or miniature golf, often called crazy golf in the United Kingdom, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf, midget golf, goofy golf, shorties, extreme golf, crazy golf, adventure golf, mini-putt and so on.—Wikipedia

The Libraries also has, across its collections, some interesting books on this world wide, not just American, pastime:

Planet Golf : putt to learn, June 5 - September 12, 1999. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pa. : Academy of Natural Sciences, c1999. Museum Studies Reference Library.

Putt-modernism: 18 hole miniature golf course & exhibition: August 1-September 27, 1992, Artists Space, sponsored by Philip Morris Companies Inc.; [essay by Ken Buhler]. Artists Space (Gallery). New York : Artists Space, 1992. Hirshhorn.

John Margolies's miniature golf, with color photographs by John Margolies and text by Nina Garfinkel and Maria Reidelbach. New York: Abbeville Press, c1987. Cooper-Hewitt Museum, National Museum of American History.

Golf-o-rama: the wacky nine hole pop-up mini-golf book, illustrated by Bill Mayer; [designed by Jim Deesing; paper engineering by Dennis K. Meyer and José Seminario]. New York : Hyperion Books for Children, c1994. CHM Bradley Room.

See you on the putt-putt course!

—Elizabeth Periale

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The Popcorn Gourmet

"You'll like it better, or my name isn't Orville Redenbacher," says the famous king of popcorn, whose July birthday is being celebrated by the Libraries. Orville, the smiling gentleman with a bow-tie and thick black glasses, was not a TV actor as some believe. He was a real person, born on July 16 in 1907 near Brazil, Indiana. His love of popcorn began in childhood, and he started growing his own popping corn hybrids at age 12, while in 4-H. Orville attended Purdue University, which awarded him a Bachelor's degree in agronomy in 1928. Eventually, Orville and a business partner developed an optimal popcorn hybrid that was light and fluffy and left a minimal amount of unpopped corn. Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn went on the market in 1971 and soon became a major success. According to Purdue University's page about Orville, his gourmet popping corn "is still the top-selling brand of popcorn in the United States." By the way, he is actually "Dr." Orville Redenbacher—Purdue awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1988.

Popcorn, which was discovered by Native Americans several thousand years ago, not only is a very popular snack but also can be a healthy one, depending on how it is prepared.

Check out this book about popcorn, published by the Smithsonian:

Popped culture : a social history of popcorn in America. Andrew F. Smith. Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001. 

A popcorn maker [Image is in the public domain - source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popcornmaker.jpg]

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