• How Reader’s Digest TV expected me to create a version of THE PIED PIPER without rats.
• How I was used as a decoy in developing a feature-length animation adaption of E.B.White’s CHARLOTTE’S WEB, working directly with the sainted author, but how the rug was pulled out from under both of us, and Charlotte was sweetened by Hanna-Barbera. (I will print my never before published personal correspondence to and from E.B.White)
• How I wrote the very first screenplay version of J.R.R.Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT, but was forced to sacrifice it and create a "dummy" 10-minute version within one month, in order to hand the producer a windfall by exploiting a contract loophole.
• The true TOM & JERRY story — and how many know that TOM & JERRY, POPEYE, and KRAZY KAT cartoons were produced in Prague during the communist era?
• How my son Kim created a comix legend from my Terrytoons experience.
• Why teachers, librarians, and traditional jazz fans love me; the very people who have the least money and smallest film budgets.
• Learn my "Golden Time" theory of animation production.
• How and why I reverted to advance-mix soundtrack production.
• What Woody Allen taught me.
• My interaction with some of the great people in our craft; personal stories, influences and goals in my work.
• Realistic goals versus the limitations and compromises that are the reality of movie work. How to achieve the maximum.
• How to survive creatively and economically in the acknowledged jungle that is the movie business.
• How to make luck happen.
• How to make a personal services contract to protect and maximize your creative rights and income.

These are some of the topics of this compendium. It is my goal here to lay down some useful insights for you. If you are just entering, already employed in this work, or just interested in what makes animators tick, do read on.