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Well-written and lavishly illustrated, this history of Tinker Bell goes all the way back to the childhood of J.M. Barrie, and it explains how his exposure to, and his love of, the verbal fairy tale tradition in Scotland inspired him to include a fairy character in his writings. We learn of his family, and of Scots hospitality, and of the roving bands of Tinkers who repaired pots and mended shoes wherever they travelled; and it tells of the adults who told fairy stories until well after midnight. In this book we find mention of Barrie's early writing career in Nottingham, and of his successful transition to London, where he met the young Llewelyn-Davies boys (George, Jack, Peter, and later Michael) while he was walking his St. Bernard in Kensington Gardens. Early images of Barrie and the boys from that time are provided from a book of photographs Barrie had made up and had printed (only two copies ever made) titled "The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island." Also shown are many other things from that period, including the original, ornate oil lamp from his sister's house, which inspired the eventual look of Tinker Bell (who was originally named "Tippytoe" in Barrie's early stage notes for Peter Pan), plus a couple of illustrations by Arthur Rackham from "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens," as well as further original stage notes -- and that's merely the first chapter. The rest of the book goes on from there chronologically, and contains photos from early stage productions of Peter Pan; then goes into the development process for the Disney animated movie, which spanned decades due to various factors such as the Great Depression and World War II. Because of the long development process, the Peter Pan animation was repeatedly set aside for other projects, and this allowed the other projects to influence the final look of the Pan movie, including Tinker Bell; it also allowed the Disney artists many repeated passes at concept art, basing their look of Tinker Bell on various actresses and models who were popular at the time. Much of the variation in concept art is shown, and this gives nearly the best view one could have (aside from possibly being a Disney animator oneself) of the latitude of concepts the artists enjoyed and expressed. The internally-glowing Blue Fairy from "Pinocchio" influenced Tinker Bell. The fairies from the "Nutcracker Suite" segment of "Fantasia" influenced Tinker Bell. Concept art from 1937-1939-1940-1946-1949-1953 show her alternating from a blonde to a redhead, then back to a blonde, then to a redhead again, and finally back to a blonde for her finished design. The material produced during those decades was voluminous, and we are shown many representative samples of it. There is even a chapter on Storyboards, which of course are far less detailed than the concept pieces from earlier, but which do contain considerably more dynamic poses and expressions. Later chapters describe and illustrate the finished movie of "Peter Pan": the introduction of Tinker Bell to television audiences; the aerialists who performed the part of Tinker Bell at night, descending on a wire from the top of the Matterhorn attraction in Disneyland to a parking lot while lit by searchlights from the ground, as part of the finale to the day's activities; plus further development of her role through the creation of the "Fairies" line of direct-to-DVD fantasy movies, which finally gave Tinker Bell speaking lines in contrast to her purely-musical voice of earlier decades.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
A must have for the Tinkerbell Fans! And with the included Autographs this is a lifelong collectable!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
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