Monday, November 03, 2014

I will be discussing quite a few off-the-beaten-path books this week, starting with George Gallup in Hollywood. You can't study the history of Disney from the '50s onwards without encountering the concept of research about upcoming movies conducted for Disney by ARI (Audience Research Institute). A good friend made me discover recently George Gallup in Hollywood, which contains a 20-page chapter about the history of ARI and Disney based on documents that I had never heard of before. This is clearly a book for specialists, but if the subject interests you, this is a "must-have."

1 comment:

Todd J. Pierce said...

Thanks! Just ordered one. Looks interesting. In many ways, I think this type of audience testing leads Disney to some very safe projects in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For me the late 1950s/early 1950s are filled with "easily likeable projects"--also ones filled with interesting art--but also projects without a lot of depth, character complexities or some of that intriguing darkness that was layered into the early Disney films. But I guess I'll learn more next week, after the book arrives.