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How a Country Hick Found Success With Walt Disney
Glimpse Disney when it was Disney's
For a printable version of this release, please click here.
August 1999 - "What kind of a man was Walt Disney?" It's a question most asked of former Disney publicist and author Charles R. Grizzle. "What was it like working at Disney's studio?" That's the second.
In his unusual book, Grizzle provides an inside glimpse of life at Walt Disney Productions in the decade before Disney's death in 1966.
It is an amusing memoir that begins "with cow-pies," as he puts it, and leads to the exciting glitz of Hollywood.
As an Indiana kid, the author claims he fell under the "daze" of filmdom and it's king of animated fantasy almost "from day one". That led to an unbelievable prophecy that came true and a career that opened every department of Disney Studio to him.
In the 380 page paperback Hollywood Hoosier, Grizzle reveals unheard anecdotes about life in the various departments when both Davy Crockett and The Mickey Mouse Club were flying high. He tells of an audition with a buffalo, and eye-opening exchanges withtourists when he was tour guide at the Studio.
Although he was not involved with production, his dream of going on a location shoot came true, often. He was succeeding in the "big time" when the military draft interfered with all the fun. After and absence of six years, he surprised himself by waltzing right back into a plum job in Disney publicity.
According to Grizzkid, working on the Disney lot was always so sfascinating he had to pinch himself to believe he was part of it. His association with film makers and his opportunities to dine with "Uncle Walt" was a far cry from his youth in the tiny town of Argos, Indiana.
He tells of befriending celebrities like Edward G. Robinson, Fess Parker, Annette Funicello, Greer Garson, Dick VanDyke, Goldie Hawn, and the jazz greats of The Fire House Five Plus Two. One story reveals how his experience working one of the grandest Hollywood premiers of all time quickly turned bittersweet.
This trip is not only Hollywood nostalgia, it is a unique glimpse of American culture mid-century.
Hollywood Hoosier, An Indiana Kid and His Disney Daze, is published by Plateau Publications, P.O. Box 30158, Spokane, WA 99223. It is Grizzle's second book, and it may be purchased or ordered for retail $16.95 at any bookstore. TO ORDER DIRECT, ADD $2.00 POSTAGE & HANDLING CHARGES. (TWO OR MORE = POSTAGE IS INCLUDED IN PRICE.) SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER.
Charles R. Grizzle
PLATEAU PUBLICATIONS
509-448-9046
Grizzkid@aol.com
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