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The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis and the Secrets of Walt Disney's Movie Magic
Discover the secrets behind Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi—all through the lens of early animation's most enigmatic and fascinating character, Herman Schultheis.
A technician at the Disney Studio in the late 1930s, Schultheis kept a covert scrapbook of special effects wizardry, capturing in photographs and text the dazzling, behind-the-scenes ingenuity of early Disney films. Later, when he mysteriously disappeared into a Guatemalan jungle, his notebook was forgotten ... and with it, the stories of how these beloved animated classics were made.
Miraculously unearthed in a chest of drawers in 1990, Schultheis's notebook is now available for all to see at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco—and in this compelling and beautiful book. Part annotated facsimile of the scrapbook itself, part biography of the complicated, overly ambitious man who made it, The Lost Notebook is a goldmine for Disney and animation enthusiasts and a vivid, riveting account of one man's plight to make it big in early Hollywood.
A technician at the Disney Studio in the late 1930s, Schultheis kept a covert scrapbook of special effects wizardry, capturing in photographs and text the dazzling, behind-the-scenes ingenuity of early Disney films. Later, when he mysteriously disappeared into a Guatemalan jungle, his notebook was forgotten ... and with it, the stories of how these beloved animated classics were made.
Miraculously unearthed in a chest of drawers in 1990, Schultheis's notebook is now available for all to see at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco—and in this compelling and beautiful book. Part annotated facsimile of the scrapbook itself, part biography of the complicated, overly ambitious man who made it, The Lost Notebook is a goldmine for Disney and animation enthusiasts and a vivid, riveting account of one man's plight to make it big in early Hollywood.
- GenresNonfiction
292 pages, Hardcover
First published May 27, 2014
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101 people want to read
About the author
John Canemaker
36 books29 followersJohn Canemaker (born 1943) is an Academy Award-winning independent animator, animation historian, teacher, lecturer, and author perhaps best known for his many books about the Disney studio, including Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation.In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts', Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Department. Since 1988 he has directed the program and is currently a tenured full professor. From 2001-2002 he was Acting Chair of the NYU Undergraduate Film and Television Department. In 2006, his film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, a 28-minute animated piece about Canemaker's relationship with his father, won the Academy Award for best animated short. In 2007 the same piece picked up an Emmy award for its graphic and artistic design.
His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, detailing the making of an animated feature based on Johnny Gruelle’s storybook characters, was published in 1977. Eight more books followed: Treasures of Disney Animation Art (1982),Winsor McCay: His Life and Art (1987), Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (1991), Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1996), Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1996), Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999), Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001), The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003), and a revised and updated edition of Winsor McCay (2005).
His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, detailing the making of an animated feature based on Johnny Gruelle’s storybook characters, was published in 1977. Eight more books followed: Treasures of Disney Animation Art (1982),Winsor McCay: His Life and Art (1987), Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (1991), Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1996), Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1996), Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999), Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001), The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003), and a revised and updated edition of Winsor McCay (2005).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 14, 2019
Incidentally, the first section of this book, which delves into Schultheis’ life / career at Disney up to his untimely death, is more fascinating that the notebook itself. That being said, the notebook gives some great behind-the-scenes photos and insight into processes (many very technical) during the making of multiple Disney films (Bambi, Fantasia, Dumbo, etc) and answers some of the “how did they do that?” questions viewers inevitably have (especially when watching animation films before the computer era). The most off-putting thing about this book is that the author clearly takes issue with Schultheis’ self promotion throughout the notebook (ex: many times Schultheis placed photos of himself amidst the information); however, in a system where everything was blatantly placed under the heading “Disney” with no real recognition for the unsung heroes of the company, one must ask if you really blame him. Although not the best of the Disney books I have read it is still worth a read if you are interested in the earlier days of Disney production.
January 14, 2025
John really investigated and revealed Herman' life in detail. His narrative really exposes the strengths and weaknesses of this "eccentric" person (as well as his wife). The first half of the book makes for interesting and fascinating reading. The later half of the book really gets into detail with how Walt Disney and his studio created their magic. It is wonderful for a student of Disney.
March 5, 2017
A fascinating and melancholic bit of Disney history compiled by a man who worked there for just a couple of years around 1940. Great photos.
January 13, 2016
As usual, I'm using my review to nitpick minor qualms. This book is quite interesting and definitely gets high marks.
The (facsimile) notebook (more of a scrapbook, I'd say) is as great as expected. It showcases all the ways that the camera department wasn't just the last step animation had to go through to get the main event onscreen. It highlights the kinds of effects you can get with photography, and how it works into the animation. And Fantasia being one of the features on which he spent much of his time, there are a lot of different effects. I don't know much about photography in general, so the diagrams in the scrapbook and Canemaker's side notes were pretty helpful.
The man himself also has an interesting life. Both his personality and the circumstances of his life have intrigue and mystery to them. He's worth reading about. And insight into his personality is important to put the scrapbook into a proper context. This had to be a book about the man, and his work at Disney, and the scrapbook; all three.
(I don't know if you'd consider what follows to be spoilers.)
Ultimately, though, I felt the biography should have been much shorter. Firstly, his tenure at Disney wasn't nearly as long as I expected from a book this large. That's not exactly a liability, but changed my expectation on what the scrapbook covered.
Than, it seems Schultheis wasn't so well-known that you can very objectively suss out who he was. He seems like an unsolved mystery that here we have to create a cohesive narrative from. A little too much of the story involves speculation. I've read enough Canemaker that it didn't come off as exactly sensationalistic. But not every detail of the biography seemed relevant.
If only there was some way to mirror the format of Canemaker's Nine Old Men with this person's story. (Not a fair comparison, but illustrative.) If his story was one of a few chapters that added up to a cohesive bigger picture, I think it'd be better. Or if you could just give a short preface about his life and just present the scrapbook.
But the scrapbook is too great as reference, and Shcultheis' story is too unusual, and the two are too connected. So ultimately, the benefit outweighs the shortcomings I perceived by a wide margin.
The (facsimile) notebook (more of a scrapbook, I'd say) is as great as expected. It showcases all the ways that the camera department wasn't just the last step animation had to go through to get the main event onscreen. It highlights the kinds of effects you can get with photography, and how it works into the animation. And Fantasia being one of the features on which he spent much of his time, there are a lot of different effects. I don't know much about photography in general, so the diagrams in the scrapbook and Canemaker's side notes were pretty helpful.
The man himself also has an interesting life. Both his personality and the circumstances of his life have intrigue and mystery to them. He's worth reading about. And insight into his personality is important to put the scrapbook into a proper context. This had to be a book about the man, and his work at Disney, and the scrapbook; all three.
(I don't know if you'd consider what follows to be spoilers.)
Ultimately, though, I felt the biography should have been much shorter. Firstly, his tenure at Disney wasn't nearly as long as I expected from a book this large. That's not exactly a liability, but changed my expectation on what the scrapbook covered.
Than, it seems Schultheis wasn't so well-known that you can very objectively suss out who he was. He seems like an unsolved mystery that here we have to create a cohesive narrative from. A little too much of the story involves speculation. I've read enough Canemaker that it didn't come off as exactly sensationalistic. But not every detail of the biography seemed relevant.
If only there was some way to mirror the format of Canemaker's Nine Old Men with this person's story. (Not a fair comparison, but illustrative.) If his story was one of a few chapters that added up to a cohesive bigger picture, I think it'd be better. Or if you could just give a short preface about his life and just present the scrapbook.
But the scrapbook is too great as reference, and Shcultheis' story is too unusual, and the two are too connected. So ultimately, the benefit outweighs the shortcomings I perceived by a wide margin.
May 7, 2016
Not what I was expecting at all and actually made me a little uncomfortable at parts. But endlessly interesting and the photographs give a great glimpse of the time period (though I was less interested in the animations cels).
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews