Of the many Disney shorts and featurettes released over the years, few hold a stronger claim on my affections than Lambert the Sheepish Lion,
the thoroughly endearing tale of a lion who, thanks to a scatterbrained
stork, is adopted by a sheep and grows up bashful and bullied by other
lambs until a threat to his flock releases his pent-up roar. That tale
was the brainchild of artist-storyteller Bill Peet, who put his
distinctive stamp on several Disney projects and independently created
numerous children’s books. While I have little familiarity with Peet’s
solo output, I was excited to happen upon Bill Peet: An Autobiography, in which he chronicles his life up through his break with Disney during preparations for The Jungle Book.
This book is unlike any autobiography I have read before. It’s large at
about 8 by 10 inches, and it’s 190 pages long. Nonetheless, it is not
broken up into chapters. Peet just writes straight through from
beginning to end. This means that it’s somewhat lacking in natural
stopping points, though the text on most pages concludes at the end of a
paragraph. Moreover, this is a much quicker read that one would
initially guess. You could easily finish it in one sitting on a quiet
afternoon. On most pages, the illustration takes up more room than the
words do even though the font is quite large. Many pages feature only a
paragraph or two, and every single page includes at least one picture.
Peet has a down-to-earth narrative style, and it is easy to identify
with him at every step along his journey. Even at his most successful,
we see him as a man who must struggle and sacrifice in order to achieve
his dreams. While this is by no means a salacious tell-all, he does
relate instances of some pretty poor treatment that he received at the
hands of higher-ups, including Walt Disney himself.
The tale
of the fateful meeting with an irate Walt that led to his decision to
leave the studio is made that much sadder by the fact that it happened
on Peet’s birthday and that Walt died just a year later, still estranged
from him. While Peet consistently portrays Walt Disney as more of a
boss than a friend, he spends as much time praising his genius as
recalling his towering tempers. It’s obvious his respect and
appreciation for Walt run deep, and Peet’s portraits of him reflect this
mixed impression.
Other familiar faces fill the latter part
of the book as well. Peet sprinkles in sketches of some of the most
iconic characters he helped to design. We see scenes from Fantasia, Dumbo, Song of the South, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book, along with several shorter projects, including Lambert.
While only the cover is in color, all of the drawings are exquisite.
Some are hysterical; others are wistful. Animals are favorite subjects
from the beginning of the book, which chronicles Peet’s happy early
years, particularly one blissful summer at his grandpa’s farm. Trains
also hold great fascination for him, and several two-page panoramas of
locomotives make a strong impression. He also includes recreations of
paintings that he did during art school – where he met his wife, to whom
the book is dedicated – and beyond. It’s no wonder that this was named
as a Caldecott Honor Book; each page is absolutely gorgeous.
While you could get a lot out of this book without actually reading any
of it, the narration really does live up to the drawings. Peet’s skill
as a storyteller is apparent as he shares some of the major milestones
and memorable incidents of his life, continually casting himself as a
plucky underdog. Notable anecdotes include recollections of his
cross-country trek to Los Angeles with a friend of a friend, his first
big break at Disney drawing monsters for a sequence of Pinocchio
that wound up being scrapped and his storyboard proposal for a war film
that, to his relief, Walt found too disturbing to run with.
Ultimately, Bill Peet: An Autobiography
is a story about stories and of life and art imitating each other. I
would recommend this to anyone interested in Disney history, children’s
literature or art – and to anybody who has a dream that seems out of
reach. Step into the world of Peet’s imagination and just look at what
this dreamer accomplished.
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