Inside the Whimsy Works: My Life with Walt Disney Productions

by Jimmy Johnson, Greg Ehrbar (Editor), Didier Ghez (Editor)

In this never-before-published memoir from the files of The Walt Disney Archives, Disney Legend Jimmy Johnson (1917-1976) takes you from his beginnings as a studio gofer during the days of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the opening of Walt Disney World Resort. Johnson relates dozens of personal anecdotes with famous celebrities, beloved artists, and, of course, Walt and Roy Disney. This book, also the story of how an empire-within-an-empire is born and nurtured, traces Johnson’s innovations in merchandising, publishing, and direct marketing, to the formation of what is now Walt Disney Records. This fascinating autobiography explains how the records helped determine the course of Disney Theme Parks, television, and film through best-selling recordings by icons such as Annette Funicello, Fess Parker, Julie Andrews, Louis Armstrong, and Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Through Jimmy Johnson’s remarkable journey, the film, TV, and recording industries grow up together as changes in tastes and technologies shape the world, while the legacy of Disney is developed as well as carefully sustained for the generations who cherish its stories, characters, and music.

Genres: Nonfiction

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Sarah Uthoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a memoir of Jimmy Johnson who worked at many jobs within the Walt Disney company. He founded and ran the Walt Disney music company. He set up the music store in Disneyland. He worked on promotion and anything else Ray Disney put him on. Sadly although Roy was his mentor he doesn't give nearly as much information on Roy as you'd like. There is tons of stuff out there about Walt, but hardly anything about Roy so this could have been a real treasure for Disney research. Unfortunately we don't get much information about Roy here either.

Although these are memories you couldn't get anywhere else, it's sadly constructed for someone who was a professional writer. It was edited, but if it was with anything other than a light hand you couldn't tell it. I finished it and immediately re-read it. It wasn't because I enjoyed it so much, it was because it had been structured so randomly I felt I had to in order to make sure I understood it.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Inside the Whimsy Works is a very personal but also a very interesting account of a man who started out at the lowest rung of Disney Pictures in the 1930s and worked his way up to President of Walt Disney Records. This story of his time at Disney was written by Johnson alone as a memoir in the 1970s, right before he died, and has been intelligently left nearly intact by the editors.

Jimmy Johnson was one of Roy's men - the employees who ran the business side of the operations. Though he wanted to be on the creative side (story), he started out on Roy's side and remained there for his career. A lot of his positions at Disney were by pure chance - avoiding being fired during changes by sheer luck and handed promotions through happenstance. It really tells a story of how family run businesses work.

What is most interesting, beyond the Disney lore and history, is that Johnson wasn't one of the creatives - and although he respected Walt, he doesn't treat either Walt or Roy as demigods nor does he fall into the Disney mythos. He's a down-to-Earth Los Angeles boy, who graduated from UCLA and needed a job in the middle of the Great Depression. That perspective allows him to see the positives and negatives in the Disney organization and appreciate what both Walt and Roy brought to the table.

The book is nearly completely about Disney - there's no padding here of the author's life and looks to be taken straight from the memoirs, hand written by Johnson himself. From the buzz around Snow White's ground breaking release, the failure of Fantasia, World War II and training/education videos, the birth of Disneyland, TV shows, to his own role of helming the records side of Disney and watching Disney World being construction. We're given unique perspectives on life at those times - how records were dealt with, royalties for merchandise meted out, travel and global consumerism in the 1950s, and how Walt and Roy worked together behind the scenes.

I have read a lot of Disney books - from "Storming the Magic Kingdom" to "Find the Hidden Mickeys". This book is very different - it reads very much like sitting with Johnson and having him reminisce about what it was like working for Disney Studios - but from the business side and not from the 'magic' creative side.

Perhaps most interesting is that the book was written in the mid 1970s - well before the pit that Disney Studios would fall into during the 1980s. It's before Eisner and not long after the death of Walt. It is of a time when the studio was still family run and very fascinating for that perspective. There's so much hope as written but I don't think Johnson could ever have envisioned where Disney would go from 1990s and on.

Really a great book, whether you love Disney or not. I really got a feel for life in the 1930s and 1950s especially - and a great perspective on a young Los Angeles from a native.

Received as an arc from the publisher.

[Dani Shuping · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by NetGalley

Jimmy Johnson (1917-1976), no not the football coach, started off with the Walt Disney Company as a studio gofer and rose to legend as the executive in charge of success at Walt Disney Records. He worked with Walt and Roy Disney, and other legends such as Annette Funicello, Julie Andrews, Louis Armstrong, and more. In this compelling never before published memoir from the vaults of the Disney Archives, Johnson gives readers an unfettered and unique look at Disney from behind the scenes.

Unlike other books about the Disney Company, Johnson shares everything with us. He doesn’t gloss over the fact that there were bad things that happened and that Roy and Walt and everyone else he interacted with were human, instead of living legends. When Jimmy is telling us his story it’s as if we’re sitting down with our favorite uncle, both relaxed, and just talking and carrying on back and forth. Jimmy tells us stories about what it was like to be there, how he started off as a studio gofer and how he, yes he, helped determine the course of some of Disney’s future in TV and film, by selling and having recordings of Julie Andrews, Louis Armstrong, and others.

Although Jimmy’s memoir has been edited, it’s in good hands with Greg Ehrbar and Didier Ghez, who have both written extensively about music and Disney. These two take a light touch on editing, and only do it for clarity’s sake and nothing more. We get to see Jimmy as he intended us to see him. I would recommend this book for any fan of Disney or any fan of music from the 1940’s-70’s. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Denise Morse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice, sweet look at the inner workings of the Disney Studios and especially the growth of the music division and Disney records. The book was written in the 70's and released recently with a prologue and epilogue added. Jimmy Johnson is an official Disney legend and very obviously was one of the biggest Disney fans there was (especially of Roy Disney). Not much is written about Roy, so it was nice to read a little more about him. The book was a lighthearted read by a man who quite obviously loved his job, his company and his life.