Fancy Free

"There's a Naked Woman on Main Street!" Things have gotten interesting since Fancy O'Brien came to town. (She's the naked woman. But don't worry—she made strategic use of some bubbles.) Now the whole town's in an uproar…. Some of the residents don't approve of her taking a bath—literally—to publicize the opening of her bath boutique. But others are glad the sassy and sexy Fancy has arrived. Especially Jeremiah Quick. He's a "leading citizen" and drop-dead gorgeous to boot. And he thinks Fancy's the right woman for him. Too bad Fancy thinks he's the right man for her mother….

This graphic-format biography of Osamu Tezuka—Japan's "God of Manga"—looks at one of the twentieth century's great creative artists (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack). It is also an anecdotal study of the evolution of Japan's early manga and anime business and its heroes. A never-before-seen popular culture history of postwar Japan, it is sure to fascinate fans and anyone interested in manga, anime, and the potential of the graphic storytelling medium. Toshio Ban joined Tezuka Productions in 1974 as one of Tezuka's assistants. After working for a period as a free-lancer, he later re-joined Tezuka Productions in 1978 as the sub-chief of manga production for magazines, supporting Tezuka's creative work until the end. Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd., is the now-legendary company founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1968 to produce his own manga and anime. In the wake of Tezuka's death in 1989, it has continued as a family enterprise, responsible for the development, production, merchandising, licensing, and distribution of his many manga and anime creations, including books, films, and characters. Frederik L. Schodt is a translator, conference interpreter, and award-winning author of books on Japanese history and pop culture. He often served as Osamu Tezuka’s English interpreter and was a consultant on one of his animated features and a TV series.

The seventh volume in Knopf’s critically acclaimed Complete Lyrics series, published in Johnny Mercer’s centennial year, contains the texts to more than 1,200 of his lyrics, several hundred of them published here for the first time. Johnny Mercer’s early songs became staples of the big band era and were regularly featured in the musicals of early Hollywood. With his collaborators, who included Richard A. Whiting, Harry Warren, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen, he wrote the lyrics to some of the most famous standards, among them, “Too Marvelous for Words,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Skylark,” “I’m Old-Fashioned,” and “That Old Black Magic.” During a career of more than four decades, Mercer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song an astonishing eighteen times, and won four: for his lyrics to “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” (music by Warren), “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (music by Carmichael), and “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses” (music for both by Henry Mancini). You’ve probably fallen in love with more than a few of Mercer’s songs–his words have never gone out of fashion–and with this superb collection, it’s easy to see that his lyrics elevated popular song into art.

Another in John Gould’s Maine series, And One to Grow On: Recollections of a Maine Boyhood, originally published in 1948, is a wonderful collection of anecdotes from the author’s very own boyhood in his hometown—where the mailman was a spiritualist, the harbor master rated a Navy celebration, a circus went bankrupt, and practical jokers were well loved. The maybasketing, the church suppers, the picnics, fishing, are all vividly remembered... There is the story of Sophie whose death proved that rouge did not cover a birthmark... The town drunk who was a successful farmer as well as husband and father... The doctor who was a permanent guest at all school graduations since he had delivered all the children... And there is the tale of Gould’s own dairy chores that included a cow who would not let down and thereby caused a problem with his schooling. On and on these homely, funny stories of a childhood go, conveying in colorful detail just how much fun author John Gould had, growing up, living, and writing in Maine.

Walt Disney's animated feature film Fun and Fancy Free opened in September 1947. It was an unusual kind of "package feature," combining two featurette-length stories, Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk, in a single motion picture. The two stories were elaborately mounted within a third framing story featuring Jiminy Cricket, and the whole package was further enhanced by the talents of two popular performers: Edgar Bergen and Dinah Shore. Moviegoers who enjoyed this diverting feature were unaware that its various components had been in development for the better part of a decade. Now, for the first time, this Monograph chronicles the full, fascinating history of the making of Fun and Fancy Free. Richly illustrated with over 125 sketches, paintings, and photos, many never previously published, here is the hidden story behind a delightful and underappreciated Disney gem.