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TaleSpin Books: Drumming Up Business Rant

Reviewed: 02/14/2015
Additional Commentary: 10/11/2025

Welcome To The Wacky World Of TaleSpin Books!

Original Release: ??1990-1991??

Main Voice Talents
Shere Khan - Tony Jay
Rebecca Cunningham - Sally Struthers
Baloo Von Bruinwald XIII - Edmund Gilbert
Kit Cloudkicker - R.J. Williams

Guest Voice Talents
Narrator - William Woodson
Mr. McWhirtley - Jim Cummings
Khan Industries Panther Squadron Leader - Corey Burton
Nancy - Kimmy Robertson
Sea Of Kangaroon Local Musician - Corey Burton
Band Leader - Chuck McCann

Crew Credits
Producer: Randy Thornton
Writer: Jymn Magon
Editorial: Ted Kryczko
Audio Engineering: AudioVisions
Engineer: Jeff Sheridan
Art Provided By: Playhouse Pictures
Art Director: Paul Wenzel

(C) The Walt Disney Company. Printed In The USA.

Special thanks to Brendalala for the pictures and video.

Welcome to my first official article of the "25 Years Of Spin" and for this chapter; I've decided to dig into the TaleSpin toy archives to bring out a story that didn't happen on television nor in the comics. While no one can accuse Disney for being above wanting money fromthe toys for the children of the world for this series. As I have noted and read from sources, the toy sales were so poor that TaleSpin couldn't get another season out of it despite having the highest ratings ever. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: Honestly, I don't think it would have mattered in hindsight since the show was to buy time for Darkwing Duck, which was a higher show on the totem pole due to it being more of a comedy. If only that show didn't overdo it so much that it created a lot of negative star and misfires, it would have the best of all times before Gargoyles showed up.) One of the biggest reasons why -- besides the fact that the show was so good that kids love the show and thought it was good enough; and didn't care about buying toys -- is that Disney markets to 6-12 year olds at the time instead of everyone. (Never underestimate children, you'll live to regret it.) You know; demographics. That means, every toy and product for the show had to conform to the 6-12 year old standards with the exception of the comics of course. This meant that problematic content from the television series and comics had to be excised or toned down in order to be apporos for the demographic. You'll notice this in the hardcover books which featured Captains Outrageous, Mommy For A Day and Her Chance To Dream among others. Those books were toned down to the point where Oscar is hating adventures because he thinks they are not safe; which he never said in the television series. (Also, it was his mother who thought car racing was too dangerous if I recall from my review of the television episode.) It also means that any tweeners must be either babyface or heel; which means Shere Khan had to be changed into a business heel; which is lazy, but moral guardians love moral absolution, so of course. (To be fair, CEO's are heels in real life, so nuance sometimes can be a problem.)

The concept of the audio book is very different today than it was in 1990. In 1990; it was treated as an aid to immerse children into that world, rather than be for people who hate reading and think someone else reading is immerse so to speak. (Wow, that was more accurate than former self thought. It sounds like a church sermon where a preacher spits in your ear and doesn't allow you to read and think. This world was doomed from the moment someone thought being a dumb animal was an offensive to them and blamed reality for it and wanted to kill it.) This was a time when the cassette tape was nearing the beginning of the end of it's usefulness. Okay; I have a confession to make: I am from a logical standpoint, a 1980's kid (born in 1977; but whatever) and I have a good enough knowledge of how audio books work since I have read them and listen to the audio via a cassette tape; which we all know was the most popular medium in Ancient Egypt. (That was another Video On Trial reference and I don't know who said it. If anyone knows, please email me and I'll make sure that person gets proper credit. The Ron Sparks joke is easy since the Sean Desmond thing is a running gag from the same show.) Yeah; the world has passed me by. Sadly; I never listen to the TaleSpin ones; because in 1990, I hated TaleSpin and by the time I had the money to buy TaleSpin stuff; it was gone. I am a sad sack of man. (Well, not anymore former self as the product is on the net and you already reviewed both audio and pictures of this book, so you are not as sad as you might believe.) Anyhow; Drumming Up Business is the first book in the series and there were only two audio books made and really only three stories on children's books were ever published. (Actually, there were four original story books you reviewed and in the order I transferred, this is the final one. There is at least two, maybe three more children's books in other language that I cannot find in full yet, although there were a few images of those stories on the net.) Drumming Up Business is simple to the core: Shere Khan creates a rigged up contest to win free PR as Baloo wants to travel all around the world while Rebecca just wants him to win the contest to drum up customers for her business. This sounds like one of those fluffy, zany plots you see in other shows in the 1980's; but it's in book form and I'm not the target audience. And the moral guardians are cowards as usual. (Yeah, it's all about them. Are they sure they aren't the monsters that they accuse other of being?) By the way; I'll be writing up the story review first and then listen to the audio provided by Brandala on her Youtube page and review that later on.

Druming Up Business is written by Jymn Magon. Art director for this is Paul Wenzel and edited by Ted Kryczko. Ted is currently the president of Get Bizzy Entertainment Inc. and was working with Walt Disney Records at about this time. He also currently is co-owner of Niagara Records. Here's his credits at allMusic.com and you can sort it out from there. Paul Wenzel has worked for 42 years at Disney including poster artwork for Mary Poppins and also did artwork for the 1968 US stamp featuring Walt Disney himself.

Opening Moment #1: The front of the book shows the logos, the name of the title as Baloo is dancing with drumsticks and Kit is dancing holding the bongo drum which does play into the story as you will see. They used a red/purple like candy cane stripe border and the characters are encased in banana yellow. The artwork (provided by Playhouse Pictures) is actually really good outside of some off-model quirks like their feet for instance; but even the television animator make that same mistake too; so there you go. There is also a message on the bottom of the cover that reads: Includes the "TaleSpin Theme!" Why it is in scare quotes is a question that I don't have an answer for. The inside cover contains the credits on the bottom and I notice that there are two new voice talents to add to the tributes; albeit, it will require a brand new tribute since they don't cover television. One of them is the narrator who is voiced by William Woodson and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): Before becoming a professional actor, he acted in stock theatre for nearly a decade with his first appearance in a 1928 play. In 1943, Bill Woodson made his stage debut as Lowell Denton in Harriet, starring Helen Hayes. He showed versatility as a performer, proving himself equally capable in classical roles such as that of Montano in Shubert Theatre's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello with Paul Robeson in the lead role. From 1946-47, the actor played, what is probably his best-known stage role, Le Bret opposite Jose Ferrer as the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac. He also appeared as Tom Mackenzie in The Seven Year Itch, Stephen Douglas in The Rivalry and T. Stedman Harder in A Moon for the Misbegotten. In 1947, he was among the first actors to be accepted to the first class of the newly formed Actors Studio. Woodson served as the narrator for the crime drama series This is Your FBI from 1948-53 on ABC radio. He also voiced multiple characters on episodes of several other radio programs such as Suspense, Inheritance and Family Theater. He had a small live-action appearance in the 1950s sci-fi film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms as a newscaster. Another on-screen role was as Sergeant Ed Blankey on the drama television series This Man Dawson. He can be heard in the opening narrative of the 1970s television series The Odd Couple, explaining how it is that Felix and Oscar end up rooming together. He did the narration for the pilot of "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams".

He also did some of the voice-over work on the 1960s series The Invaders. He was a featured (but uncredited) voice-over announcer for WKRP In Cincinnati. It was his voice, inviting the audience to stay tuned for the epilogue for each episode. He also did various voice roles in several episodes, including the pre-recorded announcer of the intro to Les Nessman's newscasts. In 1983, the actor served as the narrator for the miniseries adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel, The Winds of War, and its sequel miniseries, War and Remembrance. In this capacity, he would explain to the television audience the large-scale historical events that provide the context for the storylines of the two miniseries. William Woodson's legacy will be his long association with the Super Friends series, where he served as narrator and sometimes voiced additional characters. He took over the role from Ted Knight. It wasn't the first time Woodson replaced Knight. In 1971, he had a bit part in Series 2, Episode 9 of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as "Big Voice Man", who auditions to be Ted's character's replacement while he takes his first vacation in 4 years. Woodson narrated each subsequent Super Friends episode, narrating over 100 episodes, including the 7-minute short subject episodes produced from 1980 to 1983. Perhaps his most memorable line from the series was the often-used phrase that accompanied a transition to scenes at the Super Friends' headquarters: "Later, at the Hall of Justice..." In a 2011 interview, he explained the reason for his pronunciation of Super Friends as "See-Yoo-per Friends" was that in high school people were criticizing his speech, so he decided to make it sound more sophisticated by channeling Ronald Colman and, among other things, stopped saying "Super" and started saying "See-Yoo-per".

In addition, he also supplied the opening narration and voice for several characters on Battle of the Planets, as well as playing the sinister tanner in Walt Disney's The Small One. In 1981, he did the voice of J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man and that same year, he reprised the character on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, where he also played Namor the Submariner in the episode "7 Little Superheroes". Woodson later guest-starred on Garfield and Friends, The Jetsons, Tiny Toon Adventures and Duckman and other shows. In 1966, he played the Secretary of War in 3 episodes of F-Troop. He played the reporter in Stan Freberg's parody advertisement of Jacobsen Mowers, which were in actuality sheep grazing. In the satirical ad, he announced: "Jacobsen Mowers. Faster...than sheep!". Bill Woodson is also the narrator of NFL Films' official films of Super Bowl II and he also narrated the 1967 NFL Championship Game, better known as the "Ice Bowl". The longtime voice of NFL Films, John Facenda, had been unavailable. From 2004-2010, Woodson, a California resident, lent his austere deep voice to a series of humorous commercials promoting the Minnesota Twins. The ads had titles such as "The Minnesota Twins - Get to Know 'Em", "Every Fan Counts", and "This is Twins Territory". His voice can also be heard narrating in many Disney read-alongs.

He began his career in television as a narrator for Lights Out in 1946 in a cameo role. While he never did a voice on television in any DTVA shows; I'll assume that if there is an audiobook based on The Wuzzles, I mark it as it's DTVA debut. Otherwise; I'll refrain from officially saying that TaleSpin in audio book form was his DTVA debut. His most recent credit is Family Guy as the Super Friends narrator in 2009. He has 98 Acting Credits, 1 Self Credit and 2 Archive Footage credits. Bill is still alive at this point; and might be the only person older than Alan Young. (Nope, he died in 2017 at the age of 99.) Anyhow; there is a second voice talent, but that's a little later on. I also notice that Corey Burton voices at least two characters in this audiobook! Baloo has the drumsticks and he's uncolored againest a white/green background. The inside cover gives us the following information and I quote...

Narrator: This is the story of DRUMMING UP BUSINESS! You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this...{chime ringing}... Let's begin now...

The story opens proper as we head to Mr. Khan's office and apparently Mr. Khan has more than one "Yes-Man" on his staff since this one is a bengal tiger whom the art guys colored in way too much since his face is all orange. He is also wearing glasses and a suit with a clipboard/pencil which I don't think is standard in office work. (Well, you know Mr. Khan, he wants to make money and gain power; and presentable employees give him both. His standards are high you see. Also, having multiple "Yes-Man" is standard practice in the corporate world.) The artwork is great here otherwise and it looks like something out of a Disney feature production from the classic era, only in still pictures. Mr. Khan is sitting at his desk while we find out that the "yes-man"'s name is McWhirtley (voiced by Jim Cummings). Why is it that the "yes-man" in the television show never had a name; but this one does?! (Maybe the television series has a name in the storyboard like some characters in various episodes like "Colt" and "Winchester" in Paradise Lost for instance, but I don't have any evidence that the "Yes-Man" has one yet.) The story is that Mr. Khan is planning the details for the annual Air Hunt contest; which is basically a redo of the Feminine Air air hunt race only with most of the sexism angle thrown out. As you will see, not all of it was thrown out. Khan drummed his claws on the desk and informs McWhirtley to up the ante on this Air Hunt by increasing the award money to $10,000. (Apparently, scratched is forbidden in the pre-school children's book world despite Peppa Pig getting vaccinated legit in pictures.) McWhirtley is nervous and tapping his pencil on the clipboard because that's twice the award has been increased compared to last year, and could hurt their profits. I think that is what McWhirtley was going to say; until Khan grabs him by the throat and Khan proclaims in a sly manner that he never leaves anything to chance suggesting that he is going to cheat to win. (Also, grabbing throats would be a no-no in children's television later on, much like books and somehow this made the cut.) Khan is playing heel here, which doesn't surprise me at all. While the television series was designed for anyone, the toys were marketed to 6-12 year olds and thus to keep the moral guardians happy, Khan has to play heel instead of tweener like he normally does in the television series.

Although, to be fair; in Jungle Book, Khan was the main heel of the movie. (Baloo was more of a bit player in the same movie despite the screen time.) McWhirtley weakly agrees with him before Khan can murder him and that was that. The good news is that the voices are really good and Shere Khan's delivery was excellent here. Which it should since Tony Jay is voicing Khan in the audio books; which means that the books have an similar vibe as the television show does. The sound effects were good; although it's awkward when they are timed to what the narrator is saying. The bad news is that there is no Christopher L. Stone music anywhere in this scene. It sounds like stock music from the public domain, which is odd because I would think Disney would OWN Stone's soundtrack. (I'll have to ask Christopher L. Stone one day on who owns the soundtrack. Is it Disney, or does Christopher L. Stone own it and Disney has a license in exchange for royalites?!) Yeah, not exactly like TaleSpin. We head to the docks of Higher...For...Hire (Higher as in "Up" and For Hire as in "For Money" as per "Whistlestop Jackson, Legend") as we see Baloo in his fishing net hammock -- because god forbid; you want Kit to clip Baloo in the ass faster than it already was -- tied to the Seaduck. Rebecca Cunningham runs in with what looks to be a contract of some sort. Hilariously Awkward Dialogue #1: "Meanwhile at Higher For Hire, Rebecca Cunningham raced down the dock with a flyer in her fist." Ummm; Magon, you mean "her hand". (Yeah, Jymn Magon needs an editor for this one. I guess Mark Zaslove or Karl Geurs wasn't available. Jymn Magon wrote the same amount of scripts Don Rosa did and only one made television. This is one of two that didn't make television and it shows due to the different mediums.) That line would be something Baloo would say. (I would consider "fist" to be problematic here for obvious reasons, mostly violence.) Anyhow; Rebecca tells Baloo that she has entered him in the Khan Industries' Air Hunt contest. Baloo no sells it by rolling over and saying that he refuses to go with this Krackpotkin Plan because it's rigged worse than a professional wrestling match. (Probably more dangerous than an actual professional wrestling match.)

See; Khan sponsers this shindig -- yes; that is what he said -- and his pilots always win. (Rebecca also said the word in "My Fair Baloo", so it's not just a Baloo-ism former self.) He also proclaims that there is nothing Rebecca can do to make him change his mind, which would be grounds for termination, amirite? But no; Rebecca tells him that if he wins, they gain a lot of customers and it's a worldwide hunt. (Rebecca should have said "And the money is good" like Kit Cloudkicker did in "It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck", just so I can safely say where Kit got it from.) This is enough for Baloo to get out of the hammock, race into the side door of the SeaDuck and throw out various international objects like a Wuzzle. Baloo is looking for his camera because, you see; he wants to take photos for all the places that he has never been to. He proclaims that he always wanted to fly around the world. (Even though he did that multiple times before he met Rebecca and before Baloo's Air Service was no more as demonstrated in several episodes of TaleSpin on television. I guess the money's good now to change his mind.) Rebecca ducks a boot for fun as she tells him that this is the spirit and don't forget to win the damn contest. (Even though the winner is "pre-determined" ahead of time. Please remember that for later.) Ed and Sally sound slightly higher pitched than normal; and it sounds like they are bored about half of the time. This story was clearly never going to make TV no matter what was written. (Ed Gilbert sounding like he's reading lines half of the time is par for the course, but it's not a good sign when Sally Struthers, one of the best voices of the show, is phoning it in. Now R.J. Williams literally needs to carry the voice side of this audio book to salavage anything decent.) Anyhow; the next day comes and we head to the airport with lots of planes and two panther pilots who have been colored in cheese fur instead of the usual black/grey fur color they usually get. (Probably due to racism according to BS&P.) Otherwise dressed as Khan's pilots, they are fine. The squadron leader of the group -- the one without the shades and wearing a goofy tie -- points at the SeaDuck and Baloo and laughs. The squadron leader (Corey Burton) tells Baloo that he doesn't stand a chance and should quit right now. Baloo blows him off with this line:

Baloo: Not On Your Tin-Type, Pal!

Okay; that made me laugh for no reason whatsoever. (Okay, our first major old school reference in this audio book. This is actually a double-entrande: The first three letters (TIN) are in fact Tax Indentification Numbers, which are important in business and not just the corporate type. Now, as for the entire statement: Tin-Type is also known as a melanotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal, colloquially called 'tin' (though not actually tin-coated), coated with a dark lacquer or enamel and used as the support for the photographic emulsion. It was introduced in 1853 by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in Paris.[1] It competed with both the ambrotype process and the older and established daguerreotype, finding particular adoption in North America.[2]: 51–55  Tintypes enjoyed their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s, but lesser use of the medium persisted into 1930s[1] and it has been revived as a novelty and fine art form in the 21st century. It has been described as the first "truly democratic" medium for mass portraiture. This is really old-school stuff from Baloo here.) Baloo also proclaims that he is going to win the race and drum up some business for Rebecca. Yeah; "drum-up"; and without saying "Becky" for no reason. I guess pet names are on the ban list for audio books too. (Nah, he will say "Rebecca" in moments of seriousness when Rebecca doesn't know what she is doing. Of course, "drum-up" is part of the story title, so there is that.) Cut to Mr. Khan, McWhirtley and a gaggle of the PRESS OF FRAUD, who look like a bunch of drugged out dogs in pilot suits. Lovely! (It was probably Khan's PR department, so press of fraud is a lot more accurate than former self intended it to be.) Khan steps up to the microphone and calls the Air Hunt "a test of skill, speed, endurance and ingenuity." Not integrity, intensity nor intelligence, so this air hunt is not approved by Kurt Angle. The crowd cheers anyway because they are clueless of the vampire CEO. As they are cheering, Khan is whisper yelling to McWhirtley that he is going to cheat to win and get all the money back, plus free PR. (Nothing changes, nothing changes...) Then someone dressed in a green dress with a white jacket wearing a green pilot's cap walks in and tugs Khan on the suit like a little kid.

Only; it's a woman who is the smallest heyna in the area proclaims that she is new to this flying stuff and she is going to win anyway. (That is either one overconfident pilot, or it's rigged in her favor.) Geez; I wonder who is actually going to win this race now?! The crowd of course was howling with laughter -- including Baloo; whom you would think would know better -- as I demonstrate here that indeed; the sexism wasn't completely thrown out of this audio book. Khan chuckles and states that "of course she will" which is carny talk for "you are not, dear." Khan waves the out of nowhere green flag and the pilots are off to lose to a newbie. Yeah. (You know it's not impressive writing when I can figure out the booking before the race even starts. Everyone except Nancy is baked, broiled and might as well be BBQ'ed.) By the way; her name is Nancy and Nancy is voiced by Kimmy Robertson and according to IMDB: Kimmy Robertson began her career as a ballet dancer but her distinctive sense of humor and quirky style brought her to the attention of an agent who happened to worked in the same office as her ballet company. After at first being unsure about becoming an actor, Kimmy was then hired for the first role she auditioned for in the teen comedy The Last American Virgin (1982). She then returned to ballet but appeared in the occasional film such as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and My Mom's a Werewolf (1989) before being cast as the Sheriff's ditsy secretary, Lucy, in the groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks (1990). Creators Mark Frost and David Lynch recognized Kimmy's comedic talent and exploited it by encouraging her to ad-lib her lines, some of which turned into the funniest moments of the series. Since then, she has appeared in such films as Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and Stuart Little (1999). She began her career as Rose in The Last American Vrigin in 1982. The Little Mermaid The Series is her DTVA television debut as Alana and was also Feather Duster in The House Of Mouse and Gwen Mezzrow in Pepper Ann. The 420 Movie: Mary & Jane as Boogie's Mom is her most recent credit. She has 54 acting credits, 1 writing credit (And You Know Who You Are), 1 soundtrack credit (The Little Mermaid), and 7 self credits to her resume.

The Khan piloted planes fly into the sky first and then they cheat to win by creating air drafts so dirty and tricky that the air drafts cause the planes to be forced to slow down, less they crash into each other and result in deaths, which I'm sure BS&P has warned them not to do so. Baloo blows off the dirty, cheating panthers for treating decent pilots with this bullshit. We cut to inside the SeaDuck as Kit Cloudkicker has finally made his appearance in this story at four minutes and 15 seconds in the audiobook by the way! Baloo is steering the SeaDuck and asks Kit to read the list of goodies they have to get. Kit is reading the list and is amazed because they have to go to ten different countries to find the things on the list, which means a lot of traveling. Baloo chuckles and calls him "Kit-boy". (Like in the series. At least with Kit around; Baloo is acting like Baloo and Kit is acting like Kit would in the series.) He states that he is looking forward to this. Kit then tells Baloo to head west by north-west because Kit is the best navigator in this fantasy world they live in. (If only his pilot skills were as top notch as his navigating and cloud kicking...) Now; it's time to fly all around the world as the first stop is in East Gafia which apparently is TaleSpin's version of Tibet judging by the temple on the far right of the page. there is a mountain top, mountain peaks in the background, a rope bridge and a hill containing cheese colored yaks. The Seaduck enters and then, two of Khan's pilots fly in on their planes and attempt to buzz the SeaDuck into crashing into the mountain side, which is basically cause the SeaDuck to fly on it's side. Baloo and Kit protest this outrage, but the pilots don't give a damn. They should give a damn because this audiobook is only for small children. (Yeah, something about the marketing differences in television and audio books.) Baloo manages to fly the SeaDuck in-between the mountain peaks to safety; but Kit points out that they are off-course now. Baloo chuckles and proclaims that they are safe, and them being off-course isn't really a bad thing.Because you see; as the SeaDuck lands, Kit notices the cheese colored yaks and gets all excited. The still picture has Kit riding on one of the yaks holding a white belt with a metal buckle which Kit calls a genuine yak flea collar, which happens to be the first thing on their list.

Baloo has the poor yak muzzled as he proclaims that Khan's flyboys helped them a lot more than hurt them. Baloo thinks they are winning. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't why I laughed there, I just thought it was apporos. (You are laughing because you know this air hunt is rigged and Khan is what Donald Trump wishes every day he was that character, but isn't because he's an abyss.) Baloo asks Kit the next destination and Kit proclaims that it is time to go to the Yoocan Jungle. Youcan Jungle is more like it. You know what bothers me the most about TaleSpin: They had this rich world all ready to go on television with all the detail that would make execs of the modern time want the creators make stick figure characters as cartoons because detail equals lost money, you see. They had all this places in the television series, comic books and even some of the children's books that if given the #1 spot of DTVA instead of #4 like Disney actually did despite giving them the main event time slot in 1990 to flesh out those places, TaleSpin would have an alternative universe that would make a lot of AU's look really, really shallow. (Wow, this is both a great promo and also a sign that former self is extremely bitter. Welcome to the money grubbing world, I still don't completely get it.) We head to the Yo(u)ocan Jungle which looks like the jungle Kit was in Plunder and Lightning Part One, so I'm guessing that this jungle is a flashback of sorts for Kit. So, despite not seeing them at all; the Khan pilots are buzzing Baloo again, forcing him to stay in the air this time. If you cannot guess how they solve this problem, then you are not a Kit Cloudkicker fan. Kit Cloudkicker brings out the tow rope and airfoil -- which the artwork gets perfectly I might add -- and cloudsurfs on the tree tops. He manages to grab a Yoocan Toucan (FRUIT LOOPS BABEE~!!) out of the air and glides away. That in itself is awesome as the bird is the second thing on the list; but as we turn the page we see that the SeaDuck has landed on the shore of a beach somewhere in the Sea Of Kangaroon (A Winnie The Pooh-ism), which is halfway around the world. Sounds like nothing; but they show Kit looking annoyed and telling Baloo to stop dancing with one of the locals who looks like a red-nosed brown panther with a purple flower on his head; lepoard skinned tunic, teeth necklace and using bones as drumstick to beat on a Kabongah (a drum).

Even more amazing; Kit is holding his airfoil in his right arm, implying that he might have been cloudsurfing literally halfway around the world before landing. That is awesome! Kit Cloudkicker doing godly things will never be anything less than great. (That's Kit's middle finger to BS&P by the way.) Lost in the shuffle of awesomeness from Kit: Baloo picks up item #3 which is a rare seashell (Note from The Future: Which is exactly what Kit is holding because it is more rounded and pearlish than the airfoil. Although one can easily be confused. Still makes sense; and Kit is still godly, but grabbing the toucan is very routine for Kit nowadays.). Baloo buys the Kabongah as Kit is motioning Baloo to get back to the SeaDuck while Baloo tells him to relax and wants to give the drum to Becky as a souvenir. You see; Kit wants to win the race for Rebecca, Baloo is doing this just to see the world. Okay. We fly some more and we head to the Great Wall Of China; only in TaleSpin, it's called the Great Wall Of Mynah and they are in front of the wall as Baloo grabs a brick and the gimmick of the Mynah bricks is that they echo your voice. Like in Ducktales in "The Golden Fleecing" I do believe. Kit is snapping a photo of Baloo with the brick and the brick echoes his words. I wonder who did the voice of the echoing brick. Was it Ed Gilbert in a different pitched voice like they do in Rescue Rangers; or is it a different voice altogether?! (Still do not know. Logic break: The photo noises do not echo when Kit snaps pictures.) By the way; the local musician is voiced by Corey Burton in his second role. I should also note that R.J. Williams is treating this like he's on television. He's still acting like a live action movie star. I like it; but that is not going to help his voice later on. (Well, he wanted to be a director growning up, so he was learning the business as an actor.) We head back to an airfied in Mynah which has no security because the two panther pilots from earlier have grabbed everything from the SeaDuck; and managed to dump all his fuel which apparently, the tanks are in the props. Seriously! (Someone didn't get the memo on that one.) Baloo and Kit notice this and run; and Baloo foolishly yells while throwing the Mynah "brick of echoes" at them.

This should have nailed one of them in the back of the head. It doesn't of course and the Yoocan Toucan looked bored out of it's skull. (Of course it didn't. Concussions are not funny and BS&P understands that aspect at least.) That made me laugh. (The toucan being bored was funny, the brick missing was funny in it's own way because it was not realistic.) The pilot get into their planes as the shades' wearing pilot has a red/white Canadian scheme plane. He throws the Kabongah straight at Baloo saying that they will never win this race now and the boss lady will never get the new customers she wanted. However; they can use the drum to "drum up" business though. (Har, har!) Baloo gets dejected and sits on the empty runaway on two tires with the Kabongah used to prop him up. Kit is not happy either as Baloo proclaims that it's over because they'll never catch up now, the prize money is lost and Becky is let down. However; Baloo felt hurt inside because he could only go to four places around the world in this contest instead of the ten that he thought he would get. This would have been booked differently if this was on television as they would get nine or even all the items and then the panther sabotage them in the end. Here I'm like; you have six more places to go; just go to them. Of course; the Seaduck was also sabotaged so there you go. (This was all time constraint to fit the audio into what is basically an 11 minute episode on television which TaleSpin is not built for.) We see Baloo mope back to the SeaDuck as there is an air traffic controller tower in the airfield. How anyone missed this is beyond me; unless they were bought off by Mr. Khan. Figures; knowing him. Anyhow; there are two lions wearing the same blue tuxedo and red bowtie with different hairstyles. The one near the Seaduck is playing the saxophone. The other lion (Chuck McCann) rushes up to Baloo and asks if the Kabongah is a snare drum. Baloo says no; but the lion asks if he can borrow because he is supposed to be playing for a band in Mynah in an half an hour and the airline lost his drum. So, they were previously playing in Thembria? If this made television; it would be Thembria's fault, as usual. Baloo offers the Kabongah without a second thought basically saying that he has lost everything else and might as well make someone happy and give them good luck by giving up the gift he wanted to give to Rebecca.

We cut to the Higher For Hire offices at the desk with Rebecca, Baloo and Kit. Now you would think that Rebecca would be angry that they lost the contest? Nope, she is not angry at Baloo. She's not happy at all that Baloo lost; but she basically proclaims that Baloo was right all along and apologizes for not listening to him about the contest being rigged. This is perfectly acceptable; because Rebecca admitted that she was wrong and she didn't act like a jerk doing it, which would be the major worry of this show. Rebecca thinks that they might be able to recover business in another way; and then proclaims that the Khan pilots lost the Air Hunt. Wait; what?! Guess who won the contest? I'll give you a five second pose...Okay Mr. Weagle; who won this Air Hunt? The winner of this Air Hunt contest was...Nancy. Yes; the woman who is new to flying slipped by the competition and won the race, making Shere Khan mad. Nancy beat the best legit pilot in the world, the lesser competition and even beat the cheating pilots of Khan Industries. AWESOME! Then, the phone rings and Baloo answers it as we get a charming split screen spot with the phone cord. It's the young snare drummer from the last scene and he informs Baloo that the Kabongah was a big hit with the audiences; and is so successful that they have booked themselves into twenty different locations. Even better; the lion wants the services of Higher For Hire to fly them to those locations. Baloo throws up the phone in glee as Rebecca is smiling and Kit is dancing with Baloo because now they have enough business to last them the year. Plus, they can now globe hop to double the locations while making a profit. Sadly; the still picture should have shown Kit hugging Rebecca because he does that in the story. Kit ends the story by saying that Baloo got the last laugh on the Khan pilots and did drum up business after all. This felt like a glorified clip show spread over 13:05. (The length of the audio book, plus the opening.) Which is where they showed the spots; but almost nothing connected to the spot. This would be rewritten if it was ever put on television. I realize that this was designed for 6-12 year olds and I'm sure Nathan Jr. would be perfectly fine with this; but it still felt routine compared to most of the television and comic book stories.

Kit Cloudkicker was great as usual and R.J. Williams is still treating his works like they might be his last work, thus making his shots count. The public domain music was all right; but it wasn't TaleSpin like; except for the Mynah music of course. Nancy winning the race was a great idea that had no impact otherwise. (Especially since the booking almost assured Nancy would win because why else would you have her even appear in the first place?) So, I'll give it ** 1/2 (50%). It was fine for what it was; but it would require a massive re-write to be on television and look good to great like a lot of TaleSpin stories are. The rest of the book contains ads for other audio books including another TaleSpin audio book which I hope Brendala scans and releases because I want to rant on that one too since it seems to be more problematic than Drumming Up Business. It's The Seeds Of Victory which features Kit in a goofy native outfit on the cassette tape. Did they release this on CD format; which is at least still being used in this modern era; albeit not so much anymore. (Nope, it was audio cassette tapes only, and The Seeds Of Victory review is actually the next rant.) Also of note is that every book contains trading cards featuring the characters, using the noir style which a lot of people felt that this would be a great style for the show to contrast with the Art Deco. Maybe if a remake is considered, they would use that style. Then again; I have no faith in Disney and I don't really care anymore. Don Karnage lost his pants again in these trading cards as shown in the promo page. Anyway; the back of the cards contain "facts" about the characters. (Ah, the highlight of the entire audio books right here.) Shere Khan's favorite color is New-dollar Green. HAHA! His favorite food is someone elses, which is a funny nod to the Jungle Book now that I think about it. Baloo's favorite food is "Lots". I have got to see this "Lots" stuff, wonder how many calories it has? Kit does have an autograph which is similar to Baloo's; but he forgot to dot the i in his name. The facts on Kit are about 95% accurate, which I'm grateful for. Favorite subject being "Recess"? What about lunchtime? Shouldn't his favorite subject be navigating? Sadly; his former Air Pirate life is not in evidence and probably for the best. Baloo's favorite color is Sky-High Blue. I'll also give Disney props for making sure that the trading cards for the audio books matched the characters on screen including the SeaDuck.

THE REVIEW LINE

Well, I finally completed yet another audio book and my review line is basically the same as it was when I first wrote this: It is fine for an audio book which compressed sometimes that would be 22 minutes long into an 11 minute episode with no build up to the spots that was very good otherwise. The voice acting is for the most part all right outside of Rebecca sounding bored. Nancy's win was completely telegraphed well in advance due to her being the only TaleSpin character to have an actual voice actor who didn't appear in the actual television series, but did voice a character in the audio books in this brand. The trading cards were the highlight and Kit Cloudkicker continues to be awesome no matter what he is in. R.J. Williams helped that aspect a lot. The story was fine and the artwork was almost as good as the television series, although this would have to be re-written and expanded to all ten items instead of four to fill out the remaining airtime. Plus, the episode would be a lot more leinient even in modern times. Overall, it was a middling episode. So...

Thumbs in the middle for this audio story and I'll see you all next time.

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