Some of you may have attended one of my many presentations at D23 or Disneyana Fan Club events over the past twenty years. My brother, David, has joined me as we walked the attendees through the wonderful life we had growing up in a celebrity family and Disneyland. Dad owned his own restaurant in Frontierland from 1957 to 1962 – a most unusual part of the Park’s history. Well, now I’ve got a new book by the same title with far more fun stuff than we could squeeze into a 45 minute presentation.

As in our presentations, I start the book with “Who was Don DeFore?” Good question if you’re not over the age of 55 and don’t watch old movies or TV re-runs. But once you learn who this Broadway, movie, and TV star was you realize that he was a much larger part of American entertainment history than you may have thought. As the late, great, Dave Smith, Chief Archivist Emeritus of the Walt Disney Archives wrote for the back of my book, “Don DeFore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue restaurant in Frontierland was very unusual as it was the only food facility in the Park to have the name of a living person. Walt obviously was good friends with Don and trusted him to sell a quality product in his park.”

Dad was in nearly thirty feature films, co-starring in more than a dozen with many Hollywood legends but is perhaps best known for his roles in his two TV sitcoms. From 1952 to 1957 Dad played the role of Mr. Thornberry or “Thorny” the next-door-neighbor to the Nelson family on the “Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” In the early ‘60s he co-starred with Shirley Booth playing her boss, “Mr. B” in the “Hazel” TV series. But once again, Don DeFore’s contribution as one of America’s great character actors is perhaps eclipsed with his accomplishments as president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for two consecutive years, 1954 through 1956. Drumroll please: Don DeFore was the first Academy president to pull off what Walt Disney told him none before was able to do: he sold the first live national broadcast of the Emmy Awards Show to NBC in 1954. For his service as President he received a full-size Emmy Award golden statuette that now sits on my fireplace mantel.

"Growing up in Disneyland" is part biography about Dad and my own autobiography. It includes much of Dad's unpublished autobiography, "Hollywood-DeFore 'n After." As well as literally growing up in the Park, the book’s title is a metaphor for my life in a celebrity family filled with Fantasyland adventures I equate to a Forest Gump type life, from meeting the Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, and many other celebrities as Associate Director of the Steve Allen Show. I’ve got a great story about meeting Steve Martin in the Green Room and realizing he was the one teaching me magic tricks in the Fantasyland magic shop! My nearly 20 careers include a mid-life crisis as the Flying DJ at an L.A. discotheque to political positions within the Reagan Presidential Administration to establishing my own company in Washington, D.C. After years of telling my life stories to friends, clients, and giving presentations to various Disneyland interest groups so many have said, “You should write a book.” And so I have.

A story not in the book and exclusive to Mickey Mouse Park members, is my dealings with the Disney legal department. As many know, you must submit any photos that include Disney intellectual property of which I was planning to include about ten. What I didn’t realize is they also wanted to see any text that refers to those photos. And that’s the rub. Anyone that has seen our presentation knows there are a few stories that are frowned upon by Disney officials. So, after waiting almost ten weeks I received a letter that seemed to say we couldn’t use many photos, nor the title, nor the Disney font nor the photo I had on the cover of me and my sister Dawn riding with Walt Disney in a Christmas parade (Walt’s grandchildren had not shown up!).

I don’t even play a lawyer on TV so the letter was confusing. Even my a copyright attorney reviewed the letter for me and told me what I feared most: “you shouldn’t even publish the book!” I wasn’t about to take that goofy advice so I was finally able to get the lead lawyer on the phone who kindly interpreted the legal gibberish for me. Final word, in writing form Disney legal: I didn’t have to change the title and there were only a few photos for which they hold copyrights and so didn’t grant permission. Why? They don’t like some of the stories we tell about what kids do when they get bored with all the attractions. Hey, one of the chapters is titled, “Gee Do We Have to Go to Disneyland Again?”

"Growing up in Disneyland" will be enjoyed by Disneyland history buffs, and any age group from baby-boomers that remember Don DeFore's many beloved acting roles to those that don't but are curious how life was in the good-old-days, especially growing up in a Hollywood celebrity family. I’ve had so many careers and adventures along the way that readers will have much to keep them from putting the book down. My book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and if interested in getting a copy signed by me, I will be at the October 6,2019 Disneyana Fan Club Show and Sale or you can send your request to info@GrowingUpinDisneyland.com.