Still on Guy N. Smith and Disney

I was checking up some facts for the Guy N. Smith entry for the forth-coming reference book on horror authors and found out, much to my surprise, that he had written even more of those Disney novelizations I was speaking about earlier. He also wrote "Song of the South" (NEL 1975) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (NEL 1976). I can understand Sleepy Hollow (since it was based on a short story, after all), but "Song of the South" I don't get: the film hasn't been shown much, since Disney has been afraid of racism allegations. Now it must be out on DVD, but for decades it was unavailable and certainly not shown in cinemas. But someone at New English Library must've thought it's a great film. Hands up: who has seen it?

(Isn't "Song of the South" also based on written word? On those rabbit stories by, em, Joel Harris Chandler? Do I get the name right?)

I had also made a mistake about the year of William Beckford's "Vathek". It was published in English as early as 1786 (and not in the 1820's, as I wrote earlier). Beckford had written it four years earlier, when he was still 22, and I think he had it published in French. The English translation was published anonymously by Beckford's cousin's tutor, Samuel Henley, and came out under its writer's name only in 1816.

I read Brian Stableford's piece on Beckford earlier today and he made the book sound more interesting than I remembered, spotting out influence from Marquis de Sade. I read the early Finnish translation of "Vathek" some 15 years back and don't remember much from it. I now have the unabridged English edition.

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I haven't been writing much about clothes lately. I checked today into a new boutique that sells Hugo Boss and Dolce & Gabbana. (I can hear you mutter: What a capitalist pig! Who does he think he is?) I certainly don't think I'm very rich, but I thought that the T-shirt in the window with the cool Batman picture on it looked great and I could afford it. Um, well, no: it costs 174 euros! That's goddam one thousand Finnish marks! I mean, I like a good T-shirt and can appreciate the design and the quality, but - geez!

The suits and shoes looked great, though. There must be a capitalist pig somewhere inside me.