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Today's NY Times reviews the James B. Stewart tell-all DisneyWars, a collection of sordid, family-unfriendly tales from the underbelly of the Magic Kingdom during Michael Eisner's dysfunctional reign. Luckily for Stewart, Eisner's "exiles... have a tendency to wind up testifying in public about their former boss":

One memorable question (from testimony in the lawsuit Mr. Katzenberg filed against Mr. Eisner), apparently echoing Mr. Eisner's weirdest boasting: "Did you consider yourself the cheerleader and Mr. Katzenberg merely the tip of your pompom?"

The book describes Disney's Darwinian corporate culture. ("What Michael likes to do is put six pit bulls together and see which five die.")

What the hell was going on there? We can barely handle the jumble of disturbing Rome-on-the-verge-of-collapse imagery that these two passages have forced into our brain: Eisner presiding over a board meeting in a cheerleader outfit, Jeffrey Katzenberg on the tip of his "pompom," and the other executives taking bets on whether Eisner or the six pit bulls fighting to the death in the corner finish first.