Sunday Nights with Walt: Everything I Know I Learned from "The Wonderful World of Disney"

by Richard Rothrock, Bob McLain (Editor)

What were you doing on Sunday night? For many Americans, starting in the 1950s, the answer watching Walt Disney's TV show. Richard Rothrock's comprehensive history of that show, in its many forms, will take you back to long-ago Sunday nights spent together with family...and Walt Disney. Rothrock combines meticulous backstories and episode synopses with insight into how Walt's TV show shaped American culture and how it shaped his own childhood and adolescence, gently exposing him to the wide, wonderful world outside his rural town—a world not just of Disney, but of nature, technology, history, foreign cultures, and even romance. Organized thematically, Sunday Nights with Walt covers both well-known and lesser-known characters and episodes, from Zorro, "Man in Space", and "Disneyland After Dark", to Bullwhip Griffin, "A Country Coyote Goes Hollywood", and the Whiz Kid. If you recall your own Sunday nights with Walt, Rothrock's book packs the ultimate nostalgia buzz; and if you're too young to imagine a family sitting together in front of a TV, with no iPhones or Facebook or email to distract them, this is your window into a bygone era, and a new way to appreciate the importance of Disney in our lives. It's almost time. Dad's got the RCA Victor warmed up. Mom's bringing down the popcorn. And now your host, Walt Disney...

Genres: Nonfiction

226 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2017

About the author

Richard Rothrock is an award-winning writer, teacher and public speaker. A native Hoosier who grew up in West Virginia, he has an undying love for film, television, literature, history, the Indianapolis 500, amusement parks, the supernatural and all things Disney. In 2021, he appeared in the Big Red Chair for the New Year's Eve episode of The Graham Norton Show.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Film from Oakland University, a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from Bowling Green State University and a Certificate in Editing from the University of Chicago. His work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, and book anthologies including I Never Believed In Ghosts Until…100 Real-Life Encounters (1992).

Richard taught creative writing and film history at colleges and universities and continues to serve as a consultant for up and coming authors. He is the author of Sunday Nights With Walt: Everything I Know I Learned From “The Wonderful World of Disney” (2017).

Reviews

[Leila Kern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for the memories! I grew up with The Wonderful World of Disney and the author brought up so many wonderful times with my family. I miss those nights! Although I did not remember all the shows it was fun to read about them. I loved how the author correlated the shows to life experiences growing up! Yes, Walt Disney raised me also! I miss Walt Disney today!

[Alex Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am much too young to have experienced the Wonderful World of Disney during its heyday of the 1950s and ‘60s I am still familiar with its legacy. The author does s great job showing the reader what made this show special and a cultural touchstone.

What is truly neat is that there was such variety to the content and yet it was always something that anyone could enjoy. It always came back to the child in each of us.

This book will take you back in time and show what made Disney television content from that era truly special.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Rothrock writes about a lot of the shows from Wonderful World of Disney and his reactions to them, including the lessons he feels he learned from them. It comes across as much a cultural history as a personal history. As someone who also grew up watching Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights (following the Muppet Show and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom), it was also a pretty nostalgic journey for me.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for the memories.

Sometimes you're fortunate to run across a book that really turns out to be a time machine in disguise. I too grew up with Walt Disney at the helm of Sunday nights and this book brought back memories I thought disappeared when I grew up. A great ride into the Wonderful World of Disney. Thanks!

[KatieO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that brings you right back to Sunday nights if you are of that age to remember Sunday nights with Disney. Very enjoyable look back to a more innocent time.