Rolly Crump
FROM: Castle Chat A Disney Dispatch Feature
A Chat with Disney Author Angela Lovell
Angela Lovell wrote a short book about her brief experience as a Disney Cast Member and called it Mousechawitz. Automatic invitation to a Castle Chat! If you like your Disney humor dark, it's the book for you. What about Angela? Well...
A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Angela Lovell's short Kindle book, Mousechawitz: My Summer Job of Concentrated Fun. It chronicles, in a darkly humorous way, her brief career as a Cast Member at Disney World.
The book was such fun that I had to know more about Angela herself. Who would write such a thing? Who would give it such a title? My prayers were answered. Angela's press secretary arranged an interview.
(Okay, so the press secretary was Angela herself, speaking in a deep voice.)
But connection was made, and chat commenced.
Before your summer of love at Disney World, were you a Disney fan?
ANGELA: I was a huge fan!
Every year for Christmas my grandparents bought all of us annual passes and we'd go to the parks about twice a month.
As I got older my best friend and I visited the parks just as frequently. We bought one of those commemorative stones outside of the Magic Kingdom (it features our full names along with "The Shmees", and I believe it's #1907.) I also saw The Lion King in the theater five times - cried through every one of them!
So yeah, I'm a fool for Disney.
What's the elevator version of how you wound up working at the World?
ANGELA: It was total peer pressure. Usually such a statement leads to something regrettable, but this was probably the most fun I've ever had at work.
Been back since?
ANGELA: Oh yeah! We went to Disneyland three times during my last seven months living in California. I've always wanted to ride the Matterhorn. Mission accomplished! We're planning another trip this November to Disney World.
What's your dream getaway: the mountainous region of western Pakistan, Camp Crystal Lake, or Disney World?
ANGELA: Disney World, even though I think I could take Jason down at Crystal Lake, so long as I don't do any nudity.
How long did it take to write the book?
ANGELA: My husband kept urging me to write these stories after hearing me tell them so many times. I'd already used two of them for DailySonic - a really great podcast site that's sadly now defunct. It took me a little less than a week to put the collection together.
Any e-mails of outrage over the title?
ANGELA: Not yet, but I'm planning to play the ol' "my-great-grandmother-was-a-Jew" card if necessary.
Any stories you couldn't tell?
ANGELA: Unfortunately, I have many stories that aren't fit to print until I can afford a really good lawyer. But mostly this book was a bit of an experiment. I'd been hearing so much about self-publishing that I just wanted to see what it'd be like. I'm thinking about writing a full-length book about my entire Disney experience, including growing up in Florida and just how freaky that can be.
Any cheerful notes from Disney since you wrote the book?
ANGELA: Not a peep. Yet!
What story in the book best sums up your Disney World experience?
ANGELA: I'd say that last one in the collection really brings it all home with the souvenir cup slurping and all. It's not Disney as much as the human race making such a high-stakes theme park so interesting.
Enough about Disney. Tell me more about Angela Lovell. You describe yourself as a playwright, director, film critic, sex columnist, etc. Yowza! Who are you, really?
ANGELA: I'm mostly a loud-mouth storyteller. Ask anyone who's ever had a meal with me (or at a nearby table). I love to entertain. It's exhausting.
Upcoming projects?
ANGELA: I just finished writing the first book in a young adult vampire series set in New York City's original subway tunnels. I know vampires are hot with kids, but they've always been pretty big with me. I've had this idea burning a hole in my head since I first moved to New York City twelve years ago.
Another big project I just finished was playing the voice of Susie Clemens on an album coming out showcasing songs about Mark Twain. Clint Eastwood plays Twain and Jimmy Buffet does the voice of Huck Finn like you wouldn't believe! But I get most giddy over Garrison Keillor as the narrator.
Don't hate me for this, but who's your favorite Disney princess, and why?
ANGELA: Belle, because she's more literary-minded than she is boy crazy. She's already a whole person and isn't looking for anyone to complete or fix her. If only her nose had been sharp and her eyes had been closer together...
Bob's Three Cents: Disney told Angela she wasn't princess material because her nose is too sharp and her eyes not far enough apart. Full story in the book!
And with that, midnight strikes, and Princess Angela returns to her laptop, perhaps to pixel a sequel called ... Duckau?
Epilogue
Over the weekend, I checked the sales rank of Mousechawitz on Amazon.
Angela has it listed in two categories: Essays and Literary Criticism & Theory. In the latter category, it was ranked #3, just ahead of the Autobiography of Mark Twain, who I'm sure would find humor in the situation.
In Essays, Angela outsells Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, Albert Camus, and Henry David Thoreau. Don't you just love it when that happens?
Mouseschawitz is available only for the Kindle, and it's priced to sell at $2.99.
Stuff Not to Skip
- Mouseschawitz [Amazon]
- Angela Lovell