Eric shares a special Christmas list with you this holiday season. It's a list of Disney Christmas History! Fun and exciting ways you can learn more about Christmas and Disney. He offers up some of his favorite Disney Christmas books to stuff in your stocking, films to cozy up and watch in the light of your Christmas tree, and podcasts to punctuate all of your Christmas season tasks. He also takes a look back at a full calendar year of podcasting! Join us on this look into Disney and Christmas through some great resources. You’ll wanna Add these to your own Christmas list!
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Books:
Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks: Celebrations Around the World from Fall to Winter (Disney Editions Deluxe) https://a.co/d/22MdY5W
From All of Us to All of You: Disney Christmas Card, The (Disney Editions Deluxe) https://a.co/d/41OuNWe
The Vault of Walt Volume 7: Christmas Edition: Yuletide Tales of Walt Disney, Disney Theme Parks, Cartoons & More https://a.co/d/2ll0S8h
Films:
"Disneyland Around the Seasons (Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: 1961-69)" on Disney+.
"Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic" on Disney+.
https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/decorating-disney-holiday-magic/4QLrT8IeJAt5
"Christmas with Walt Disney" on Disney+.
https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/christmas-with-walt-disney/PJgws2cvpP5F
Podcasts:
Disney History Institute - Disneyland’s first Christmas: https://youtu.be/OpNA9aMkDvk?si=dkyo0LYUmCoDg2jm
Thirty20eight - #115 Holidayology: https://thirty20eight.libsyn.com/thirty20eight-115-disney-holidayology
Book of the Mouse - #68: A Christmas Carol https://bookofthemouseclub.libsyn.com/68-a-christmas-carol-by-charles-dickens-ft-guest-reader-dr-paul-cote-celebrating-mickeys-christmas-carol-the-muppet-christmas-carol-disneys-a-christmas-carol
Bonus: Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas on Rare Cuts Media Society - http://rarecutsmediasociety.com/episode/a01f856d/tv-movie-emmet-otter-s-jugband-christmas
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00:10 --> 00:53 We have this coterie of rich franchises, the company now that people want to engage with. I came here to try and continue what Walt Disney and his associates set in motion 50 years ago, which is to experiment with every new and innovative kind of entertainment possible. It's what we hope to do here, to really develop something that just more than an entertainment enterprise. It's something that contributes many other ways.
00:59 --> 27:15 Hey, this is Synergy Loves Company, where we explore how Disney connects to everything. I'm Eric, and I want to thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to listen to this episode. I want to do something a little different today. I want to talk a little bit about the show, this show that you're listening to right now, Synergy Loves Company. If this is your first listen, welcome. But if you've heard the show before, welcome back. You probably have figured out that this podcast is all about Disney, well, Disney and how it connects to other things in the world. But it's also mostly about Disney history. It's not about planning your trip, and it's not even always about the parks. Don't get me wrong, I love the parks. I really love them. And I'm sure you do too. But I live pretty far away from the parks, and I usually only get to visit once every couple of years. And when the parks aren't always on the horizon for me, I love to explore other facets of the Disney fandom. I love the animation. I love the live action films, the TV shows, ABC, the Disney Channel, freeform. But I also love to learn about the people who make it all happen. I love learning more about Roy and Walt Disney, the brothers who made this whole thing happen. I love that Walt and Roy Disney were born in my city, Chicago. Check out that episode I did where I got to visit their birthplace home. I'm also excited to be visiting the Disney 100 exhibit in Chicago later this month. I just love it when I can find Disney experiences outside the parks. I enjoyed visiting Bethany Beamus's mirror mirror exhibit at the Smithsonian on my family's vacation to Washington, DC. Last summer. You can also check out that episode where I talked to Bethany all about her exhibit and my visit to Mirror, Mirror at the Smithsonian. But we don't have to travel to explore our Disney fandoms. There's so many other ways that we could explore Disney. This past year, I talked to Kevin Quigley from the 30 28 about his book New England Tiki and the Tiki culture that's embedded in Disney. I also talked to Tammy Tucky about some classic Disney pop tunes and her own Disney cover songs from her latest album, Glowing in Timeless Places. These conversations were examples of how Kevin and Tammy both explore their Disney fandoms in their own interests and creative endeavors, and how I continue to look for Disney in everything. When I make these podcast episodes at the end of each show, I close with the line, Keep discovering the magic in everything. The Disney magic, that is. There are a lot of ways that we can do that as Disney fans. The most common way I discover and explore the Disney magic in the world is through Disney history research. Research for this show. Research just for fun. I love to research Disney. I'm a librarian by trade, and of course, I love to research. I just love learning, and I especially love learning about Disney. And because you're listening to this show, I'm guessing that you love learning about Disney too. So today I've got a list for you, a list of some great Disney history resources. And in honor of the holiday season, I'm calling it my Disney History Christmas list. But there's probably too many Disney history resources out there, and I've got a whole lot of them on my bookshelf right now, right here behind me. And there are all these ones that I don't have yet, too, and I really want them. So there's too many different things I could do about Disney history and making a list of what also that list wouldn't have much to do with. Okay, okay, I got it. Let's make it the Disney Christmas History List. I think that's it. So not just Disney history resources, but resources on the history of Disney and Christmas. Okay, so what I have here is my list of some of my favorite Disney Christmas history resources. I've got three Disney books, three Disney films, three Disney podcast episodes, and a partridge and a pear tree. I was trying something there so you could add these items to your own Christmas list. Or maybe you'll just go ahead and check them out yourself to help you discover the Disney magic in your holiday season. Let's get to it. Let's take my first stop of some Disney Christmas history with some books. I am a librarian. What did you expect? Of course I'm going to start with the books. All right, my first book. Number one is holiday magic at the Disney Parks celebrations around the world from fall to winter by Becky Klein, Graham Allen and Charlie Price. Of course, I said Becky Klein first. She is in charge of the Disney archives, and whenever her name comes up on a book, it's definitely usually one that I want to read. This book is mostly pictures, but the pictures are abundant and extensive, and they make for a really great book, as the title tells fall to winter. It's mostly about Halloween and Christmas with a lot of Christmas, but it also includes some about Hanukah and New Year's Eve. And it tells some of the stories about how the holidays are celebrated in the parks and how they were celebrated in the parks at different times in history. And it shows that evolution of how they've changed over time. But right now I'm going to go back to those pictures because holiday magic at the Disney Parks is really great because of the pictures. In describing the process and decoration styles of all the different aspects of the parks, the book dives into these full two page spreads of photos of the decorations from all angles. A lot of the pictures were taken just to create this book. The Christmas trees on pages are featured in both, like full top to bottom views as well as zoomed in on individual details. And you can really get an appreciation for all the work that goes into the decor of Disney Christmas decorations. This book really makes me want to be in the parks for Christmas, and it's just a beautiful book to look at while giving you tiny little histories on the way holidays are celebrated at the Disney Parks. The next book on my list is also very visual. Number two from all of us to all of you, the Disney Christmas Card, edited by Jeff Kirty. It's no secret that the Disney studio was stocked with great artists. It still is. They specialized in animation. So of course, back in the day when it came time to send out company Christmas cards, walt would choose an artist to create the card. And these Christmas cards became the cards that everyone in Hollywood wanted to get in the mail. They were always so unique, kind of like these little collectors items. You'd want to get that Disney card year to year. This book, from all of us to all of you, not only does it share the name with the early Disney special, it shares the stories behind the cards and shows off the art in beautiful high resolution photographs. Some of the cards are more personal and heartfelt, and others are cards that are just promotional of upcoming Disney movies. But all of the cards in the book feature art of Disney characters done by fabulous Disney artists, disney legends like John Hench and Mary Blair. It's a great art book and a great way to look in on this company tradition that began all the way back in the 1930s. The number three book on my list is The Vault of Walt, volume Seven, Christmas Edition by Jim Corkus. Earlier this year in July, we lost Disney historian Jim Corkus. He is greatly missed as he was one of the most accomplished authors on Disney history. I have many of his books, and I especially love his series The Vault of Walt. In each of the vault books within each chapter, Jim shares a behind the scenes look at one aspect of Disney history or another. Chapters don't necessarily go in chronological order, and they could be about the parks, movies, animation, really anything having to do with Disney history. Each chapter reads like its own little short dive into Disney history. I kind of love that because you could pick up a Vault of Walt. You could read any chapter, enjoy it, jump out of it, jump back into the book some other time. But in volume seven, he made the entire book focus on Christmas and Disney history. He does things like discuss the making of Disney holiday movies, like The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he also looks at forgotten Disney parks, parades, and celebrations that happened over time. This book was also the first place that I learned that it was the Walt Disney Studio that designed the iconic train logo for Toys for Tots. All right, there were three books, but okay, okay, maybe you don't have time to read all those books before Christmas. It's only a few weeks away. Maybe you want your Disney Christmas history to come to you in a more short form, visual way. Yep, I got three Disney history films all streaming on Disney Plus that will get you in the holiday mood. All right. Disney History films. Number one, we've got Disneyland around the seasons, of course, streaming on Disney Plus. They're all streaming on Disney Plus. So Disneyland around the Seasons premiered on December 18, 1966 as part of the wonderful world of color. This is significant because Walt Disney passed away three days earlier on December 15. This was the first episode to air after his death. This had to be hard for fans, friends, and family to watch Walt on the screen talking about something as joyful as the holidays around the park and knowing that they had just lost him. The episode itself doesn't just show Christmas, since it does show celebrations around the whole calendar. But Christmas is one of the highlights. It features the Christmas Parade. It has many of the same characters back in 1966 as it still has today, and that are still special in the holiday parades today, like the reindeer and the marching toy soldiers from Babes and Toyland. That's where they came from, those toy soldier walk around characters. They came from Babes and Toyland. Another feature of Christmas in this holiday special is the candlelight processional. This is the original one, the one at Disneyland. The tradition of the candlelight processional started back in 1958, just three years after the opening of Disneyland. And it continues today in Disneyland, still with a celebrity. Narrator in the same spot down Main Street, coming to a culmination by the train station, the candlelight processional has grown and it continues today even bigger than before, expanding to Walt Disney World's Epcot's American Gardens Theater, where there are even more performances each season and even more celebrities each year. Definitely check this episode out. It'll give you a great look at what the holidays were like in Disneyland back in the late sixty s. And it's kind of a nice tribute to Walt. But maybe you're more interested in a more recent look at what goes on in the parks. Well, then go ahead and take a look at Decorating Disney Holiday Magic. Also on Disney Plus. Of course, it originally aired on free form back in 2017 as part of the 25 Days of Christmas. I love the 25 days of Christmas. I'm more of a 25 Days of Christmas than a 31 Days of Halloween or 13 Nights of Halloween or whatever the heck that one is. I like Christmas. But this special features hosts Whoopi Goldberg. You might know her as Sister Mary Clarence from Sister act jordan Fisher, the singer we all know and love from Happily Ever After. And Sophia Carson, who played Evie in The Descendants. Yeah, I had to do those little connections. It's just kind of what I do. During this hour long special, they showcase the magic that goes into decorating the parks and resorts and even getting ready for Holiday Haunted Mansion with Nightmare Before Christmas characters in the Haunted Mansion in California, and seeing what it takes to be part of Mickey's Once upon a Christmas parade. A few years back, my family and I had the opportunity to visit the parks at the end of October, spanning into November. It was the coolest thing ever. One day we went to the parks and it was totally fall, totally Halloween, big old Mickey jack o lantern. And the next day we went and the park was transformed into Christmas. It was the coolest thing ever to see that happen in the Magic Kingdom overnight. It happens fast. Like really fast. And this special gives you a behind the scenes glimpse into what goes all into that. I know it's not exactly history 2017, that's pretty recent, but I kind of consider it history. Whenever we get to get a glimpse into what goes on into the making of Disney magic, we often get more behind the scenes looks at what Imagineering's doing. We got to see that with series like behind the Attraction. But decorating Disney Holiday Magic is all about that special parks operations crew that makes Christmas happen each year. Next up, though, the next film is pure Walt Disney and Christmas. It's a new one streaming on Disney Plus called Christmas with Walt Disney, and I was super excited to see this one come to Disney Plus. It's new to the streaming service, but it's not exactly new because it actually dates back to 2009. Christmas with Walt Disney was produced by legendary Disney producer Don Hahn, who makes all the best Disney documentaries. And it's a really great look into Walt's relationship to Christmas and Winter, and it's through the eyes of his daughter Diane. Diane Disney Miller serves as the narrator of the film, and she talks about the Christmases she remembers with her dad. What's really cool about this one is that the visuals blend Disney family home movies with Disney films and animation, and it even includes some images of the famous company Christmas cards we talked about from the book earlier. For instance, when Diane tells the story of how her dad gave her mom a puppy for Christmas, but wrapped it up in a hat box. The film shows the scene from lady and the Tramp, where Jim Deere gives darling lady as a puppy in a hat box in much the same way. The footage from the movie is interspersed with pictures and video of the Disney's dog. You get that perfect blending of Disney family home video and Disney animation towards the beginning of the film. In the narration, Diane points out that a lot of the home movies were actually filmed by Walt Disney, her dad, which is just kind of cool to think about. So even though you don't always see him, he's a lot of times the one behind the camera. I recommend that you take a watch of this this holiday season. I thought it was pretty great. I guess that's why I made the list. But I really know how you like to get your Disney history. You listen to podcasts. Obviously, you are listening to this one right now, so I know that you like podcasts. I know you like them. So last but not least, here are my picks for some podcast episodes about the history of Christmas with Disney. All right, this first one is from the Disney History Institute. That sounds really fancy and it kind of is. DHI or the Disney History Institute is run totally by Todd James Pierce, author, Disney Historian Extraordinaire, and his episode is called The First Christmas at Disneyland. And if you haven't listened to the Disney History Institute podcast, it's one guy talking about Disney. Does that sound familiar? But no, I'm not trying to compare myself to what Todd does. Todd James Pierce has been at this for a long time. He is a Disney historian with tons of research and a few books about Disney history. And he really knows his stuff. You might have even seen him on behind the Attraction yet. He was one of the guys they interviewed. They interviewed him because he's got extensive Disney knowledge. Just a couple of weeks ago, he re released his episode about the first Christmas at Disneyland. This is a tradition that he does usually every year around this time. Here. In this episode, he gives us another snapshot of what it may have been like to visit Disneyland on Christmas in those early days, especially that first year. The story talks about how the park was decorated and what was available to experience that first Christmas. And a huge part of the episode is all about Walt's Christmas gift to the park, the Disneyland Christmas Circus featuring the Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers. Another podcast episode that's really great at the Christmas season is the 30 28, episode number 115, Holiday Ology. I know this one's getting a little older, but I still think it holds up. I still think it's pretty great. I love the 30 28. This show has been super influential on me and my podcast Journey and Matt and kevin have this great chemistry and put out an amazing podcast weekly. I mentioned him earlier and maybe you heard my Tiki episode with Kevin from this show. He came on my show earlier and I was super honored to have him on. Synergy loves company. Make sure you listen if you haven't listened to that episode. These days, Matt and Kevin are billing the show as pop culture history and theme park history. But when they started out, they were all Disney all the time. The show's still pretty much a lot Disney right now. They're rounding out season seven. But back in the space between season three and season four, they did an episode called Holidayology. In the episode, Matt and Kevin present all the places in the Disney parks where you can explore Christmas all year long. Like not just this season, but you can experience Christmas like in July or in April or October. Christmas is still there in the Disney parks. And they also take a look at the history of Christmas at the Disney parks. It's a great listen, my third and final podcast episode that I think that you should listen to to get into the Holiday spirit. It goes out of the parks. Those last two, they were in the parks. This one goes out of the parks. We're going to hit it out of the parks with this one. Anyways. The Book of the Mouse Club episode 68 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens courtney and Emily of the Book of the Mouse Club actually recorded an episode with me last year during the week before Christmas. It wasn't about Christmas, but they took the time out of that Christmas week to record with me, and I appreciate them for that. We talked all about banned books and Disney. We talked about the Disney movies that had been adapted from books that had been banned. And Courtney and Emily actually do this a lot. They take on the source material, the books that inspired or that Disney movies were adapted from, and they compare and contrast the two and give their own review and assessments of both the books and the movies. A couple of years ago in December, they actually did this in a big way. They were joined by guest Dr. Paul Cole, and they took on the challenge of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I call it a challenge because Dickens's classic basically helped to create modern Christmas. And Disney has made this into a movie three different times with Mickey's Christmas Carol, the Muppets Christmas Carol, and that Jim Carrey animated one, the motion capture one. This episode is a great dive into the story of A Christmas Carol and an assessment of the three Disney movie adaptations, two of which are always a usual part of my Christmas time viewing. And I'll let you guess which two they are. Maybe you like to watch some of them too. But anyways, Courtney and Emily of the Book of the Mouse Club always do a great job with these books and comparing them to the movies. But they also help me as a Disney book lover librarian myself, they always help me find great new Disney books to read. Maybe not just Christmas books, but all sorts of Disney books. So if you're looking for other great Disney books, definitely check out that podcast. There you have it. My list of some of the ways that you can discover the magic of Disney and the spirit of Christmas together in some of my favorite books, films, and podcast episodes. But wait, there's more. I got one more bonus for you, but it's not quite Disney. Should I do it? All right. As if I couldn't do any more. Shameless, shameful self promotion. You probably thought, he's talking all about other podcast episodes that he did this past year. Well, yeah, it's kind of like a little bit of a year in review, in a way. We're almost at the end of the year, and looking back at it, we did some great episodes this year. At least I thought they were great. There's the shameless self promotion. Anyways, I'm part of another podcast. It's called the Rare Cuts media society. It's a panel show where each episode, a different panelist gets to pick a movie music book, and then we all watch, listen, or read that and then discuss. Kind of like a book club. Last year. I got to pick our December pick. And I chose Emmett Otter's jug Band christmas. It's a charming little Jim Henson Christmas special based on a children's picture book about the power of music in the spirit of Christmas. If you're familiar with Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas, please go ahead and listen to that episode about Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas on Rare Cuts media Society. But if you haven't seen Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas, I highly recommend watching the Christmas special and definitely listening to its soundtrack. It's a great Christmas special, and it was the first time that Kermit ever rode a bike. So there you go. All right, that's all for now. To make it easy for you, I'm going to include links to all the books and films and podcast episodes in the show description so you don't have to look hard for them. You could just scroll down in that description and click the links. If something sounded interest to you, just go find that link. I did say this is kind of like me looking back at the past year of podcasting and all those great things that happened. But I'm not done. I got an episode coming up with Andrew from the Rare Cuts media Society. Very soon we're going to talk all about George Lucas and Disney, but not necessarily Star Wars. So make sure you're subscribed or following the show so you don't miss out. I truly appreciate your taking the time to listen to me talk about Disney in these podcast episodes. I would love to hear back from you. What are your Disney Holiday favorites? Maybe it's one of these, maybe it's something else. Let me know. Tell me about it on social media. I want to hear what you have to think. You can find links to me on Instagram and threads in the description, or you could find me at Synergyloves Company and I'm still on Twitter and Blue Sky at Eric H. Synergy. And if you feel like you get value from Synergy Loves Company and you want to give some value back to the show, you can do that on Ko Fi. If you look in the show's description or you go to Synergylovescompany.com, you'll find a link to my Ko Fi donation page where you can give back to the show and help us keep going because every little bit helps. Another way you can help is by sharing the show to help us grow. Share Synergy loves company with a friend who loves Disney and Christmas as much as you do. Just tell them to visit Synergylovescompany.com because sharing the show is still a great way that you can support the show, and your support means the world to me. Thanks for exploring Disney's connections with me, and until next time, keep discovering the magic in everything and have a great holiday season.