Books by QC Arnold

In 1959, Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stove, Joe Harris, and Treadwell D. Covington founded Total Television. Their goal was to create cartoon characters that encouraged kids to buy General Mills breakfast cereals and other products. Their animation series were produced from 1959-1969 using the "limited animation" technique, where minimal movements were synchronized with voice actor performances. Total Television produced:The King and Odie (1960-1963)The Hunter (1960-1963)Commander McBragg (1963-1966)Go Go Gophers (1966-1969)Klondike Kat (1963-1966)Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963-1966)The Beagles (1966-1969)The Sing A Long Family (1964-1967)Tooter Turtle (1960-1963)Twinkles the Elephant (1960-1963) Underdog (1964-1967)Gene Hattree (1964-1966)Cauliflower Cabby (1964)The Colossal Show (1964) Discover how Total Television evolved through rare production artwork and storyboards, as well as reminiscences from Total Television's founders."Mark Arnold is the guy who the other authorities on comic books and animated cartoons turn to when they're stumped for an obscure tidbit of pop cultural information; he always delivers the goods."- Scott Shaw, cartoonist

In 1958, a down-on-his-luck songwriter with the unlikely name of Ross Bagdasarian (1919-1972), plunged the last of his family's savings on a multi-speed tape recorder and created two beloved and memorable songs: "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song". Both were #1 hits and changed the fortunes for his family and for his record label, Liberty Records, which was also on the verge of bankruptcy.Bagdasarian previously had hits with Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House" and with his own "Armen's Theme", released under his pseudonym of David Seville.After "The Chipmunk Song" was a major hit, Bagdasarian parlayed this success into a series of record albums and singles and an animated series called The Alvin Show (1961-1962). This primetime animated series was made by Format Films, an animation studio founded by former UPA studio personnel. Format kept up with UPA's quality with The Alvin Show and other animated series like The Lone Ranger.The complete story is told in this book!

In 1958, a down-on-his-luck songwriter with the unlikely name of Ross Bagdasarian (1919-1972), plunged the last of his family's savings on a multi-speed tape recorder and created two beloved and memorable songs: "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song". Both were #1 hits and changed the fortunes for his family and for his record label, Liberty Records, which was also on the verge of bankruptcy.Bagdasarian previously had hits with Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House" and with his own "Armen's Theme", released under his pseudonym of David Seville.After "The Chipmunk Song" was a major hit, Bagdasarian parlayed this success into a series of record albums and singles and an animated series called The Alvin Show (1961-1962). This primetime animated series was made by Format Films, an animation studio founded by former UPA studio personnel. Format kept up with UPA's quality with The Alvin Show and other animated series like The Lone Ranger.The complete story is told in this book!

When Walt Disney died in 1966, many predicted that it mightbe the end of Walt Disney Productions, but Walt had a numberof ideas and concepts that lasted well into the next decade. Healso left behind a well-established group of workers that hopedto continually answer the question, "What would Walt do?"with more magical creations that would dazzle and delight.With this book, author and historian Mark Arnold explores themajor accomplishments of Walt Disney Productions during theyears 1966 - 1985, paying particular attention to their theatricalfilm output, but also discussing the various new theme parkattractions and the TV shows produced during that period.Things went well until the mid-1970s,when ideas started to run thin andrepetition set in, causing shrinking boxoffice success. By the 1980s, threats ofcorporate takeover were knocking attheir door, at which time change hadbecome unavoidable if Disney were tosurvive as an independent company.Disney had to change their alreadyoutdated methods of making moviesand running a movie studio gearedsolely towards family entertainment. As a result, MichaelEisner took over and retooled Disney into the mega-empirethat it is today. This is the story after Walt and before Michael...