Rolly Crump (1930–2023)

IT'S KIND OF A CUTE STORY is a very appropriate title for this book. It is rather a cute story. Several of them, in fact.

Rolly Crump is a Disney Legend and very talented artist who worked with Disney at various times in his career. In this book, he tells stories about what it was like to work with Walt, as well as his experiences with other Disney Legends, Marion Knott (of Knott's Berry Farm), the Cousteau Society, and even the sultan of Oman!

It is fascinating to read about Rolly's show more experiences in this book. (There's also an audio companion,More Cute Stories, Volume 1, where you can listen to Rolly tell even more stories. I haven't listened to this yet, but I own the CD and will be enjoying it soon.) My favorite part, though, is reading the story and seeing the artwork that he's talking about side by side. He is an amazing artist. His work spans a variety of styles (and not all of it will appeal to everyone, to be sure), but if you've been to Disneyland then I can assure you that you've seen Rolly's work. Heck, if you've even SEEN pictures of Disneyland there's a 90% chance that some of what you saw was Rolly's. (The Enchanted Tiki Room and it's a small world are some of his most well-known collaborations.)

Because of the artwork, I would recommend getting a physical book. In addition to the book version, I have also purchased the Kindle version. I was having trouble actually reading the book, because every time I picked it up I would get distracted by the art and not read the text. The pictures were less distracting on the eBook version. However -- they look so much better in print than on the screen. Having the two together makes a nice pairing. I can focus on the text with the one version, and get absorbed in the pictures with the other.

Of the stories themselves, it should be no surprise that my favorites are those featuring Walt Disney. It is a true pleasure to hear stories about Walt-the-man instead of Walt-the-myth. Walt Disney was a great man, but he was a man and I love hearing stories from one of the men who worked with him about what that was like. I hope Rolly tells even more cute stories. It has been a wonderful experience to read the stories he's told so far. show less

If you’re reading this because you’re a Disney fan, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that a lot of this book isn’t about Disney. On the plus side, the stories that are about Disney are worth the price of admission alone (especially the Walt stories) and the non Disney stories are pretty interesting in their own right.

A great book full of stories about one of the early Disney Imagineers and his work at Disney and beyond.

As a self-styled "Student of Imagineering" I had to add this book to my Imagineering library, and I'm glad I did. While the book doesn't delve into details around design process and principles that some Imagineering books do (the stuff I like most), it does provide a higher-level look at the Imagineering process, and for that alone it's valuable to anyone interested in understanding the show more art and craft of Imagineering.

This book is in essence a series of stories told by Rolly Crump, one of the first generation of Disney Imagineers. Rolly worked on many classic Disneyland attractions, including the Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World, and the Haunted Mansion. These stories trace the path of Rolly's professional life working for Disney (starting in Animation and later moving to WED/Imagineering), as well as his work outside of Disney, including projects for Circus World, Knott's Berry Farm, Steve Wynn, the Cousteau Society, and others.

This book really showcases the breadth of Rolly's portfolio, and it's clear that he's done an amazing amount of work in the themed entertainment world, including some of the better know Disney attractions.

Much of this book is based on some of the stories that originally appeared in "A Walk in the Park" an audio tour of Disneyland in which Rolly talks about the various projects he worked on at Disneyland, but this book elaborates on most of those stories. I also recognized several stories from an interview Rolly did with his co-author (Jeff Heimbuch), but again, the book expands on many of those stories.

I recommend this book to any serious Disney park fan and fans of Imagineering and themed entertainment. show less

I love the MORE CUTE STORIES series, because I love hearing about working with Walt and his imagineers from someone who was there. These audio books really help paint a picture of what that era might have been like. I enjoy having personality traits to put with the names of famous Disney employees and Disney Legends.