Rest in peace Brian Keith, born this day in 1921 in Bayonne, New Jersey. Keith is perhaps best known as “Uncle Bill” in The Family Affair, but to us Disney geeks he provided the father figure for two Hayley Millses in The Parent Trap. Other Disney credits include Moon Pilot, A Tiger Walks, and Those Calloways.
I enjoyed Keith as a drunken angry sheriff in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and his gruff adventurous ways as Hardcastle in the 80’s TV show Hardcastle and McCormack. But most, I enjoyed his sense of style – a cosmopolitan John Wayne of sorts with a take no prisoner attitude, and a Diner’s Club finesse.
First and foremost, I’m happy to know that Lost will not initially be affected by the writer’s strike. There are several articles all around the net from different perspectives, and all point to the fact that the first 8 episodes will air as scheduled, in opposition to the plans of 24 to hold off on airing episodes. Hopefully, this will be a nonissue if there’s a swift resolution to the writer’s strike, but good to know.
Should the writer’s strike go on through the new year, there should be little competition for Lost and ABC should reap the benefits. TheSpoof has another article from the writer’s perspective, trying to work as hard as they can to tie up loose ends in a complicated show pre-strike.
2719 Hyperion has a thorough article up about one of my favorite shorts, Donald and the Wheel. It includes Buddy Baker’s “That’s the Principle of the Thing.” Baker, for those of you who do not know, is one of the prolific Disney theme park songwriters. Anyway, the article is here.
Finally, there is a great article that was posted on Halloween on Passport2Dreams that I missed. In celebrating the Haunted Mansion, Foxxfur discusses “The Myth of Story,” further discussed in an article on re-imagineering. Both these are worth a read and sober thought and judgement.
Happy 61st birthday to Song Of The South, the Disney/RKO motion picture that debuted on this day at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. This movie was obviously based on the Uncle Remus stories from Joel Chandler Harris (who in turn wrote them from previously told folk tales), but nonetheless gave us three frequently used characters in Disney parks: Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and my favorite Brer Rabbit.
Obviously, we can ride Splash Mountain to celebrate, or we could sit and sulk about how Song of the South is not yet released in home video format. Eisner and Co. thought it too racially sensitive to release, and I can see why. I do believe that this movie has much more charm than the racial issue though.
There’s been a buzz recently that Iger and Co. are looking to rerelease Song Of the South, and Iger’s even admitted pondering this himself. Let’s hope that soon we will be able to get this movie as next in a long line of the Walt Disney Treasures series.
On this day in 1953, Walt Disney Productions released a pair of animated shorts that remain well-known to this day. Ben and Me told the odd story of a mouse who lived with and inspired Ben Franklin. Based on a book by Robert Lawson and adapted for the screen by the great story artist Bill Peet, the two-reeler was eventually nominated for an Academy Award. On his blog, Michael Sporn has posted a series of storyboards that Peet created for the film.
Also released today was the famous Donald Duck short Working for Peanuts. Directed by Jack Hannah, and featuring perennial Duck antagonists Chip and Dale, the short was Disney’s first to be released in 3-D. While it would later be seen on television in 2-D, it would be revived for 3-D presentation in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom as a preshow for Magic Journeys from 1987-1993 and again theatrically in front of 3-D presentations of Meet the Robinsons in 2007. The Animation Backgrounds blog has posted a series of stills from the short showing the stylized, non-traditional backgrounds created by Disney artist Eyvind Earle. Earle, who most notably worked extensively on Sleeping Beauty, employed a very modern and impressionistic style that marked a break from the past in Disney animation of the 1950’s.
The “Stuff From the Parks” blog has posted this fascinating diagram from 1954 of a proposed layout for Main Street at Disneyland. Notable are the early ideas for shop themes, the Nautilus set walk-through in the Opera House and accompanying animation studio demonstration, and most interestingly the International Street concept that would never be built but resurfaced nearly thirty years later as World Showcase at EPCOT Center.
One of the stories that kind of slipped under the radar recently was that Scott Trowbridge, vice president of Universal Creative Studios, was hired away by Walt Disney Imagineering and is now the new vice president of creative research and development. This is big, big news as Trowbridge was senior show producer on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a perennial contender for the title of best dark ride ever created. This is a huge coup for WDI and I can’t wait to see what it leads to.
Staying in the parks, about.com has an interesting talk with Imagineer Tony Baxter about Disneyland’s new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and the path that the attraction took from the original Submarine Voyage‘s senseless closure in 1998. While a great story, it underlines how my ‘home park’ in Florida has suffered from the lack of a powerful champion in WDI’s brain trust.
Disneyland in Malaysia! Disneyland in… Siberia? Malaysia and Siberia might want to call Hong Kong, who’s going to have to bail out the faltering Hong Kong Disneyland, which continues to fall below attendance expectations due to the glaring lack of any actual amusement in their amusement park.
Finally, I should mention the passing of renowned Imagineer and author Bruce Gordon who died November 6th at the far too young age of 56. Gordon was a fan favorite at various conventions, and authored or co-authored a number of authoritative books on Disney parks, animators, and imagineers. He was currently working with the Disney family on The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and had a number of books in the pipeline for publication. He will be greatly, greatly missed.
And… this. Umm…
This post brought to you by the BUY-N-LARGE company store
From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats.
Obviously, we can ride Splash Mountain to celebrate, or we could sit and sulk about how Song of the South is not yet released in home video format. Eisner and Co. thought it too racially sensitive to release, and I can see why. I do believe that this movie has much more charm than the racial issue though.
On this day in 1953, Walt Disney Productions released a pair of animated shorts that remain well-known to this day. Ben and Me told the odd story of a mouse who lived with and inspired Ben Franklin. Based on a book by Robert Lawson and adapted for the screen by the great story artist 
Also released today was the famous Donald Duck short 
Staying in the parks, about.com has an 
John Lasseter talks about 
Finally, I should mention the passing of renowned Imagineer and author 
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