The Mouse Castle Lounge 05-01-2018 - The Return of The Mouse Castle Lounge with Disney Historian Jim Korkis

Jim Korkis and Friend

The Mouse Castle Lounge is back! We’ve pulled the dust covers off the furniture and restocked the bar. And Tim is happy to welcome back a good friend of The Mouse Castle Lounge. Tim's guest is a prolific author, especially when it comes to Disney history. His books include The Vault of Walt series, The Secret Stories of Walt Disney World series, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South and The Book of Mouse. His latest book is Call Me Walt: Everything You Never Knew About Walt Disney. Ladies and gentlemen of Team Mouse Castle, we’re back! So please welcome our guest, Jim Korkis, to The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

Books by Jim Korkis are available from Amazon and Theme Park Press.

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The Mouse Castle Lounge Returns May 1!!!

We're back, baby!

Almost.

One week from today, The Mouse Castle Lounge reopens! We're taking the dust covers off the furniture, restocking the bar and kicking the doors open as we welcome back our good friend, Disney historian and author Jim Korkis. He's the first of our terrific lineup of guests dropping by the Lounge in May. We hope you can join us!

May 1 - Jim Korkis, Disney historian and author; Call Me Walt, The Vault of Walt series.
May 8 - Tammy Tuckey, singer, actress and podcaster; You'll Find Me on Main Street.
May 15 - David Marley, historian, author and former Jungle Cruise skipper; Skipper Stories.
May 22 - Denise Chamberlain, artist, great-niece of Disney Legend Mary Blair.

Watch for more MCL news coming soon!

The Mouse Castle Lounge 04-17-2016 - How to Be a Disney Historian with Jim Korkis

So you want to be a Disney historian? A lot of peple aspire to the title, even though it doesn't pay well--if at all--and pretty much no one is going to hire you to fill the job vacancy of "Disney Historian."

Still, it's a noble field with many esteemed names, a number of whom it's been my pleasure to welcome to The Mouse Castle Lounge: Jim Fanning, Sam Gennawey, Didier Ghez, J.B. Kaufman, Jeff Kurtti, Todd Pierce and Paula Sigman Lowery. And those are just the people who have contributed to Jim Korkis' new book, How to Be a Disney Historian. It's a collection of tips, tricks and anecdotes about the world of Disney history research. It's an incredibly useful and informative book even if Disney history isn't your thing, because there's plenty of advice about writing and research in general, regardless of your particular topic of interest.

Jim Korkis is a great friend of The Mouse Castle Lounge and it's always a pleasure to have him as my guest. The lengthy list of Disney history books Jim has written includes The Book of Mouse, Secret Stories of Walt Disney World, and four volumes of his Vault of Walt series.

Today, Jim shares with us his best advice on how to become a Disney historian and what separates the contenders from the pretenders. Together, he and I tell our own real life stories about how to make an interview go horribly wrong. Please welcome Jim Korkis, my guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

How to Be a Disney Historian is published by Theme Park Press.

Enjoy!

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A Special Request

Do you love hearing conversations with Disney historians like Jim Korkis, J.B. Kaufman and Jim Fanning; filmmakers like Pamela Tom, Sarah Colt and Don Hahn; and artists like Dave Avanzino? Then please nominate The Mouse Castle Lounge for the 11th Annual People's Choice Podcast Awards.

Nominations are open through April 30, 2016. Please go to www.podcastwards.com and nominate The Mouse Castle Lounge in two categories: SOCIETY-CULTURE and PEOPLE'S CHOICE. The more nominations and support we get from our fans, the greater the odds of us making the final nomination ballot.

Please share this with your friends and fellow Disney enthusiasts. Thank you so much for being a part of Team Mouse Castle.

By Tim Callaway

         

The Mouse Castle Lounge 12-20-2015 - Jim Korkis's 'Vault of Walt' and the Spirit of Christmas at the Winchester Mystery House

By Tim Callaway

When you know as much stuff about Disney history as Jim Korkis does, you get asked a lot of questions. Sometimes it’s pretty basic like “When did Disneyland open?” Other times it’s more obscure like “When did Mickey Mouse start wearing gloves?” Then there’s the question that’s totally off the wall like “How much does Walt Disney World weigh?”

No really, someone asked him that once.

By the way, the answers are July 17, 1955, in the 1929 cartoon The Opry House, and haven’t got a clue. But, I digress.

Jim is back in the Lounge once again, finishing up a conversation we started last week. We heard all about his latest book, Secret Stories of Walt Disney World. Today, we take a look at his other recent publication, The Vault of Walt: Volume 4. Jim always has terrific stories to tell about Disney. Today is no different.

***

The Spirit of Christmas at the Winchester Mystery House.

Earlier this month, I took a trip up to the San Francisco Bay Area and paid a visit to my friends at the Walt Disney Family Museum. I finally got to see their special exhibition Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination. By all means, go see it. It runs through January 3. While I was there, I was also invited to drive an hour down the road to San Jose to visit the Winchester Mystery House. Now, unless you’ve lived in the Bay Area, like I once did, you may not be familiar with the Winchester Mystery House. It’s a sprawling Victorian mansion in San Jose once owned by the widow Sarah Winchester. Sarah’s late husband, William Winchester was heir to the Winchester firearms fortune. Sarah was quite well off financially.

In 1884, Sarah purchased an unfinished farmhouse in the Santa Clara Valley and commenced adding onto it--for the next 38 years. At the time of Sarah’s death in 1922 the house spread over six acres and contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. Why Sarah kept building all those years remains a mystery. Was she distraught over the deaths of her husband and infant daughter? Did she believe that continually building would somehow appease evil spirits? Was she just a kindly woman who chose to spend her money supporting local builders, carpenters, landscapers and artisans? Whatever the reason, the continuous construction resulted in a labyrinth of rooms and hallways, staircases running into ceilings, doorways leading to nowhere and all manner of building oddities.

You can still tour the house today and marvel at its mind-boggling construction and design. Visit during the holidays and you can see the house decorated in Christmas finery with over 20 custom designed Christmas trees. On select nights you can enjoy like I did the Spirit of Christmas with carolers, festive beverages and holiday treats. Don’t be surprised if you see some snow fall too.

Here to tell us more about the Winchester Mystery House is tour director Janan Boehme, my second guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

Secret Stories of Walt Disney World and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4 are published by Theme Park Press.

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The Mouse Castle Lounge 12-11-2015 - Disney Historian Jim Korkis and Restoring Walt's Office

By Tim Callaway

Walt Disney's granddaughters (l. to r.) Michelle Lund,
Jennifer Goff and Joanna Miller cut the ribbon with Bob Iger
to reopen Walt's office. 

This week, the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank unveiled and rededicated the restored office suite of Walt Disney. It was a painstaking labor of love by Disney studio employees and archivists to recreate Walt’s office exactly as it appeared at the time of his death. It was authentic down to the actual furniture and personal items that were there in 1966. On hand for the dedication were Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, Walt’s granddaughter Joanna Miller, and Disney Legends Richard Sherman and Dave Smith. We’ll be hearing from all of them in today's show.

Before that, though, we welcome the return of Disney historian Jim Korkis to the Lounge. Jim is a meticulous researcher and a marvelous storyteller and his two most recent books from Theme Park Press, Secret Stories of Walt Disney World and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, belong in your collection, as do Jim’s many other books.

Secret Stories of Walt Disney World
by Jim Korkis

Please welcome Jim Korkis, My guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

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MCL 01-26-2014 - More 'Saving Mr. Banks' and Disney History Made Difficult with Jim Korkis

Jim Korkis

Author and historian Jim Korkis is back in The Mouse Castle Lounge this week because sometimes an interview really clicks. In last week's show, Jim and I talked about his latest book, The Book of Mouse, a detailed and entertaining memoir of Disney's iconic rodent, Mickey. After that ground was covered and the episode was put to rest, Jim and I just kept talking--over an hour and a half--and it was great fun. So this week's show is a big chunk of our conversation after the conversation. We spent a lot of time talking about the true stories behind Saving Mr. Banks, what P.L. Travers was really like, what made Mary Poppins such a special film, and why it's not always easy being a Disney historian.

Jim is as knowledgeable a guy there is when it comes to Disney history. He's a tireless researcher and you're certain to learn something new at the turn of every page of his books. His Vault of Walt series is required reading for any Disney enthusiast and I also recommend Who's Afraid of the Song of the South? for Jim's balanced insight into what has become Walt Disney's most (unjustly) infamous film.

So, join me if you will as we delve into a little Disney history with Jim Korkis. Enjoy!

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'The Book of Mouse' and the Tinker Bell Half-Marathon in the MCL

Tinker Bell Half-Marathon

Only Tinker Bell could inspire me to get up before dawn to run 6.2 miles.

I'm back from a busy and fun weekend at Disneyland where I ran my first ever 10K race. What better time to do it than during the Tinker Bell Half-Marathon weekend? Over 30,000 runners took part in three days of races featuring a 5K, 10K and half-marathon. I had run a few 5Ks before, including the Disneyland 5K last August, but I wanted to take on a new challenge. So naturally, doubling the distance seemed like the thing to do. Weird, I know.

But, you know something, it wasn't that bad. I was up to the challenge and finished the race in 1:11:48, hardly a blistering pace, but respectable nonetheless. And even better when you consider that half of the race takes place in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Goodness knows there were plenty of distractions, costumed characters and sites to see along the way. Yes, I stopped every now and then to take pictures.

Pre-dawn It's a Small World

The Cove Bar. Can I get a Bloody Mary to go?

In The Mouse Castle Lounge this week, I talk with Darrell Fry from RunDisney, the organizers of the Tinker Bell Half-Marathon weekend and numerous other running events happening year-round at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Darrell talks about what it takes to pull off a massive running event and the many hard-working people that make it happen.

The Book of Mouse

Also guesting in the Lounge is a man who's just mad about the Mouse, and I mean that in a good way. Jim Korkis is a Disney historian and a long-time columnist for MousePlanet who has written a number of books, notably the Vault of Walt series. His latest tome is a detailed memoir of the life and times of Mickey Mouse, The Book of Mouse. Jim and I chat at length about the evolution of Mickey from Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie to this year's Oscar-nominated Get a Horse! We also explore the many mysteries of the mouse such as how tall Mickey really is and when exactly did he first put on the white gloves. We get to the heart of what actually happened on that fateful 1928 train trip Walt Disney took from New York to Los Angeles after he lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and was desperate to create a new starring character.

It's all in today's edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge. Oh boy!

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When Mickey Mouse Was Middle Aged

Last Friday, Mickey Mouse officially celebrated his 83rd birthday (Happy Birthday, big guy!). To mark the event, Storyboad, the Walt Disney Family Museum's blog, posted a terrific story about the evolution of Mickey's birthday through the years--it wasn't always celebrated on November 18. The article was written by historian Jim Korkis, who's excellent book The Vault of Walt is a must-read for any Disney enthusiast.

The article inspired me to rummage through my own Walt Vault (not as extensive as most, but I have a few odds and ends) and pull out memorabilia from Mickey's 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays. I was pleased to discover that an article I have about Mickey's 40th from the Summer 1968 issue of Disney News actually disagrees with Mr. Korkis's story. He indicates that Mickey's 40th birthday was observed on October 28, 1968. According to Disney News, it was celebrated on September 27.