Realityland's David Koenig

The first director of the Main Street Electrical Parade is turning up the lights on the creation of one of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions.

Ben Sherman’s new book, "Lights: Imagination, Egos, Mystery, Deceit and 523,814 Lights," comes out this week and promises to illuminate a never-before-seen side of Disney history.

To be sure, Sherman’s bawdy tale is decidedly un-Disneylike. In fact, the book features cast members—some of them formerly top-ranking executives—engaging in so much questionable behavior that Sherman felt obliged to use pseudonyms and present his memoir as “historical fiction, based on a true story.”

Nonetheless, in the early draft I read—light years ago—it wasn’t difficult to ID the bigger personalities from Disneyland history, like Card Walker, Tommy Walker, and Bob Jani. I particularly enjoyed sitting in on the meeting in Burbank at which Card, supremely confident except when trying something new, gave the go-ahead to proceed with the parade.

And while Sherman’s priority is spinning a thrilling, often spicy yarn, facts be darned, there are some nuggets of pure gold for history-minded Disney fans like me. My favorite: Everyone knows the Electrical Parade was inspired by the Electrical Water Pageant on the Seven Seas Lagoon outside of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kigndom. But, according to Sherman, Bob Jani got the idea for the water pageant from old drawings his predecessor, Tommy Walker, had done of an illuminated procession on Disneyland’s Rivers of America.

Sherman is initially distributing "Lights" solely through his own site (www.shermanauthor.com), but does offer a Kindle version and expects to sell through Amazon by spring. Or just send a check for $13.95 each plus $3 postage to: Ben Sherman, 7205 91st Pl. SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040.