Song of the South: Celebrates its 61st Anniversary!

Today marks the 61st anniversary of Disney's Song of the South. The working title for Song of the South was Uncle Remus.

Walt Disney had long wanted to make a film based on the Uncle Remus storybook, but it wasn't until the mid-1940s that he had found a way to give the stories an adequate film equivalent, in scope and fidelity. "I always felt that Uncle Remus should be played by a living person," Disney is quoted as saying, "as should also the young boy to whom Harris' old Negro philosopher relates his vivid stories of the Briar Patch. Several tests in previous pictures, especially in The Three Caballeros, were encouraging in the way living action and animation could be dovetailed. Finally, months ago, we 'took our foot in hand,' in the words of Uncle Remus, and jumped into our most venturesome but also more pleasurable undertaking."

There are three animated segments in the movie:

• "Brer Rabbit Runs Away" (approx. 8 minutes), including the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah".
• "The Tar Baby" (approx. 12 minutes), interrupted with a short live action scene about two thirds of the way into the cartoon, including the song "How Do You Do?"
• "Brer Rabbit's Laughing Place" (approx. 5 minutes), the only segment that doesn't use Uncle Remus as an intro to its main story, including the song "Everybody's Got A Laughing Place."

Also most of the last couple of minutes of the movie contains animation, as most of the cartoon characters show up in a live-action world to meet the live-action characters, and in the last seconds of the movie the real world is turned into an animated one.

Although the film has been re-released several times (most recently in 1986), the Disney corporation has avoided making it directly available on home video or DVD in the United States because the frame story was deemed controversial by studio management, despite Uncle Remus being the hero of the story. Film critic Roger Ebert, who normally disdains any attempt to keep films from any audience, has supported the non-release position, claiming that most Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take films more literally than do adults. However, he favors allowing film students to have access to the film. In the U.S., only excerpts from the animated segments have ever appeared in Disney's DVDs (such as the 2004 two-disc release of Alice in Wonderland (1951), television shows, and the popular log-flume attraction Splash Mountain is based upon the same animated portions).

Despite rumors of a forthcoming DVD release, Disney CEO Robert Iger stated on March 10, 2006 at a Disney Shareholder Meeting that it had been decided that the company would not re-release it for the time being. At the annual shareholders meeting in March 2007, Iger announced that the company was reconsidering the decision, and have decided to look into the possibility of releasing the film. In May 2007, it was again reported that the Disney company has chosen not to release the film. However, rumors to the contrary continue to surface.

The Walt Disney Classics Collection released a 3-piece scene consisting of Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox plus an Opening Title. Brer Rabbit ("Born and Bred in a Briar Patch"), Brer Bear ("Duh!") and Brer Fox ("I Gotcha, Brer Rabbit!") and the Opening Title were released in 1996 and all were retired the following year on February 15, 1997.

Trivia: Brer Rabbit's laughing heard during the Laughing Place sequence is reused in The Jungle Book (1967) when Baloo tickles King Louie.

The Touch of an Autumn Fairy

With last week's first wave of announcements for 2008 Members Only releases, it had me reflecting on past members-only releases and keeping with the fall theme of this month's blog entries, thought of the Autumn Fairy from Disney's Fantasia.

In 1998, the Walt Disney Collectors Society unveiled a new type of release, a Members Only Limited Edition. This was the first Society Limited Edition offered to Society members. They would end up doing a Members Only Limited Edition release, skipping a year in between each release, until 2004. The Autumn Fairy, sculpted by Kent Melton was released in an edition size of 5,000. The sculpture was a combination of bronze and porcelain done with opalescent paint highlights.

The Autumn Fairy is from the Nutcracker Suite portion of Fantasia. The Nutcracker Suite a personified depiction of the changing of the seasons; first from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter. It features a variety of dances, just as in the original, but danced by animated fairies, fishes, flowers, mushrooms and leaves; no actual nutcracker is ever seen in this version. Many elements are rendered carefully and painstakingly using techniques such as drybrush and airbrush.

The Dewdrop Fairy was released in 2002, a Numbered Limited Edition of 2,002 pieces released in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Walt Disney Classics Collection followed in 2005 with the Frost Fairies, a Numbered Limited Edition of 500. Both were sculpted by Kent Melton.

The Nutcracker Suite musical score was done by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Animation Supervisors were Fred Moore and Vladimir Tytla and Animation by Art Babbitt, Les Clark, Don Lusk, Sy Young, and Robert Stokes.

As an added treat, below is a portion of the Autumn Fairy Sequence (courtesy of YouTube.com):

Nutcracker Suite portion from Disney's Fantasia is ©Disney

Pocahontas: A Legendary Beauty!

This weekend, the Walt Disney Classics Collection announced the 2008 Members-Only releases which included a Commission-Only release (Wendy from Peter Pan). One previous Commission-Only release that fits this month's Fall and Thanksgiving theme is Pocahontas. "Listen With Your Heart", a non-member commission release was sculpted by Gwen Dutcher and released in 1996 following the film's Fall 1995 release. The redemption period was March 01, 1996 thru May 31, 1996.

Animators working on the film regarded Pocahontas as being one of the hardest films ever produced by the studio. The complex color schemes, angular shapes and facial expressions meant that the film was in production for 5 years. The hard work paid off, however. Pocahontas herself is now frequently cited as being one of the most beautifully and realistically animated characters in the Disney canon, her fluid movements mainly being attributed to rotoscoping.

The film's premiere was a huge event in Central Park. With over 100,000 people attending, it holds the record for the largest movie premiere. The film received critical praise for both the animation and art direction. The film utilizes very different colors than in previous Disney films, which resulted in a beautiful color palette from the Art Department at Disney. Colors that symbolized different emotions, such as red for anger/hate, blue for love and pink and purple for nature were purposely used. The animators also decided to be unconventional when they decided to use the "mother spirit in the leaves" motif, which consisted of leaves floating in the wind during significant scenes in the movie that represented passion and beauty.

Originally the animal characters had dialogue, just like in previous Disney features. This was dropped when the filmmakers pushed for a more realistic treatment of the story. One character, a turkey named Redfeather, was dropped entirely. John Candy had provided a large amount of voice work for this character who was to be Pocahontas's sidekick. However after Candy's death in 1994, the concept was scrapped.

In the very first draft of the script the character of "Grandmother Willow" was written as a male character who was the spirit of the river, the character was named "Old Man River". The song "Just Around the Riverbend" was written for this character to be sung. Gregory Peck was offered the role and as much as it pained him to do it, turned down the role because he felt the title character needed a motherly figure to turn to for advice. Soon the filmmakers agreed with him and the character was changed.

Pocahontas made her second appearance in 2006 as the third release in the Leading Ladies Series. "Legendary Beauty," sculpted by Margi Wray was Limited to Production Year 2006. Many collectors hope the Walt Disney Classics Collection will release John Smith to recreate the moment when Pocahontas meets John Smith for the first time.

Donald Duck: The WDCS Membership Gift for 2008!

Merrily marching over hill and dale, Donald Duck is the 2008 Membership Gift sculpture! Huey, Dewey and Louie are the perfect companions to Good Scout Donald.

Donald Duck ("Happy Camper") and Nephew ("A Real Trooper") are sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons. Patrick is no stranger sculpting Donald Duck but this is Patrick's first membership gift sculpture release for the Walt Disney Classics Collection!

Donald is available from January 01 thru December 31, 2007. Nephew Duck sculpture will be available from January 01, 2008 thru March 31, 2009. Purchase three identical Nephew Duck sculptures (sold separately) to represent Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Contact any Authorized Walt Disney Classics Collection Dealer and/or the Walt Disney Collectors Society and join Good Scout Donald and his devoted troop as they blaze a trail of excitement into a world of fun-filled adventure!

For those unfamiliar with the short Good Scout, I've included a clip of the animated short (courtesy of YouTube.com) below:

Good Scouts is a Donald Duck Cartoon ©Disney

A Spellbinding Adventure Continues!

This year, Walt Disney Collector Society members will have the opportunity for another Members-Only Commissioned Release!

Wendy Darling ("Peter! Oh Peter!"), sculpted by Dusty Horner is available to active Society members from January 01, 2008 thru March 31, 2009. Wendy can begin to be pre-ordered starting in January, 2008 and will begin shipping and arriving at retailers in February, 2008.

Once in Peter's world, Wendy wants to meet the beautiful sea maidens from Mermaid Lagoon but will she catch Peter's attention?

A Spellbinding Adventure Continues ..

Two new exciting sculptures were released this year from Walt Disney's animated classic, Peter Pan (1953) and when paired with Wendy, this spellbinding adventure continues!

This years Of Dreams & Magic release, a Walt Disney Collectors Society Members Only Sculpture is straight from Mermaid Lagoon from that moment when Peter is boasting of his escapades to Never Land's bevy of beautiful mermaids.

"Spinning a Spellbinding Story," sculpted by Dusty Horner which originally was available to active Society members from January 01, 2007 thru March 31, 2008, has been extended to March 31, 2009 with the upcoming release of Wendy.

In one of the most famous images in Disney animation, Captain Hook masterfully commands the rowboat as the bumbling Mr. Smee rows for Skull Rock. A Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) of 1,500, "An Irresistible Lure," a two-piece set that also includes Tiger Lily and Tick-Tock Croc is sculpted by Tim Bruckner.

Pictured with all three releases is Skull Rock, a gift given to registered convention guests upon registering for the 2003 Celebration of Walt Disney Art Classics aboard the Disney Cruise Line®, May 15-18, 2003. Skull Rock was a Limited Edition of 500.

A Forbidden Discovery!

The sixth release in the Of Dreams & Magic Series is from Disney's animated classic, Beauty and the Beast. This beautiful Members-Only sculpture captures the haunting beauty of one of Disney's most enthralling animated films.

Belle with the Rose Table ("Forbidden Discovery"), sculpted by Dusty Horner is available to active Society members from January 01, 2008 thru March 31, 2009.

A perfect pairing is Belle with the 2004 Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) sculpture of Beast ("Fury Unleashed") sculpted by Kent Melton. Within my presentation for Belle, I put together an image of Belle with Beast and I think you'll agree, they look awesome together!

'The Little Mermaid' Swims onto Broadway Nov. 3rd!

Disney Theatrical Productions proudly presents the theatrical stage production of The Little Mermaid, based on the Disney film and the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, beginning previews at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre November 3, 2007 for an official opening December 6, 2007.

The company features Sierra Boggess as Ariel, Sean Palmer as Prince Eric, Norm Lewis as King Triton, Tituss Burgess as Sebastian, Eddie Korbich as Scuttle, Jonathan Freeman as Grimsby, Derrick Baskin as Jetsam, Tyler Maynard Flotsam, Cody Hanford and J.J. Singleton as Flounder and Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula.

Francesca Zambello directs, with a score featuring classic songs "Part of Your World," "Kiss the Girl" and the Academy Award-winning Best Original Song, "Under the Sea," composed by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and his longtime collaborator, the late Howard Ashman. The musical debuts 11 new songs by Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. Book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright.

Performances begin on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street, NYC) today, November 3, 2007. The official Broadway opening night is December 6, 2007.

Brother Bear Celebrates it's 4th Anniversary!

Brother Bear is a 2003 traditionally-animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 1, 2003.

Originally titled Bears, it was the third and final Disney animated feature produced primarily by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida; the studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this film in favor of computer animated features.

One of the two releases from Walt Disney Classics Collection is a personal favorite of mine, Koda, a talkative, pesky bear cub.

"Sitting Cub", an Open Edition release sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons was released in July, 2004. Earlier in 2004, Patrick also sculpted the Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) of 2,000 featuring Koda & Kenai ("Brotherly Time").

Next year, Brother Bear will be celebrating it's 5th Anniversary!

2008 Members Only Release Update!

Have received quite a few emails this evening regarding the Members Only releases for 2008, wondering when I'll be updating the website with this info.

Enesco, LLC released images and information to their sales reps earlier this afternoon and asked I wait until Saturday morning, to allow reps to get the information out to their dealers. This avoids collectors contacting their dealers and them not prepared to answer any questions on the upcoming Members Only releases.

Thank You for your patience.

What to Look Forward to in November!

Halloween has come and gone, hopefully your day ended with more treats than tricks :)

November is here and fall is definitely in the air and we begin to think of the next holiday, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving you ask? But the stores are switched or switching over to Christmas you say?? It seems Christmas has become so commercial, we begin seeing signs as early as July and almost in full swing by Halloween. Thanksgiving seems to take a back seat, considered a minor holiday. Did you ever notice you don't see much in the way of decorations and cards for Thanksgiving and they are usually in a small section in the stores, not getting the store space like Halloween and Christmas? Same can be said for WDCC. There really isn't much representing this holiday as well.

As I refuse to put up Christmas lights and decorations until after Thanksgiving, I plan to do the same here at the blog on the website. This month's entries may be light but the focus will be on some fall/Thanksgiving related releases -- Pocahontas, Little Hiawatha and Soup's On from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs plus this month we should also see the 2008 Members Only Releases and quite possibly the remainder of 1st Quarter 2008 as well! An actual date has not been confirmed at this time.

Happy Halloween!

Amanda & I want to wish everyone a 'Happy Halloween'! Hope your day is full of treats but nothing wrong if a trick or two ]:)

These past couple days, my blog entries have focused on my favorite Halloween short, Trick or Treat. As a special treat, below is the animated short for your viewing pleasure (courtesy of YouTube.com). Hopefully I won't get into any trouble for posting it ]:)

Grab your favorite witch's brew and some candy treats and Enjoy!

Trick or Treat is a Donald Duck Cartoon ©Disney

Walt Disney Collector Society Reminder!

A reminder that two Walt Disney Collector Society offerings for 2007, their redemption period ends today, October 31st! One being a Villain (Ursula) and two being Henchmen (the Badun Brothers, Horace & Jasper) to another, how appropriate that their redemption period would end on Halloween!

Ursula and her Vanity ("Devilish Diva"), a 2-piece Members Only Release sculpted by Ruben Procopio, is available exclusively to active members of the Walt Disney Collector Society. This vainglorious villainess is the eleventh annual release in the Disney Villains Series.

Horace & Jasper Badun ("Bumbling Baduns"), a 2-piece Members Only release sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons, is also available exclusively to active members of the Walt Disney Collector Society. These bumbling henchman of Cruella De Vil are a Members-Only Commissioned Set and marks their WDCC debut!

Contact your Authorized WDCC Dealer and/or the Walt Disney Collector Society Today! Time is running out!

Disney's First Villain!

Fiercely beautiful, the Wicked Queen has reached an age where her radiance is fading. Insanely jealous of her lovely young stepdaughter, the Queen forces her to work as a scullery maid in the hope that drudgery will tarnish the girl's blossoming beauty. When the Magic Mirror reveals that Snow White has finally become "more fair than thee," she plots the girl's death in a rage so twisted that she's eventually willing to sacrifice her own beauty to destroy Snow White's.

She uses witchcraft to transform herself into a hunchbacked old peddler and succeeds in persuading the naive girl to accept her poisoned apple. Unknowingly, however, she's wrought the means of her own demise. For, though her disguise serves the terrible deed, that same feeble body will hinder her escape.

Actress Lucille LaVerne was chosen to voice both the Wicked Queen and the Hag Witch because of her versatile voice intonations. Yet when she first started voicing the Witch, the recording session director commented that her intonations were too polished, too much like the Queen. After excusing herself for a moment she returned to perform a gravelly voice that now surpassed the director's expectations. Curious, he asked what she'd changed. Smiling a toothless grin, she explained she had just removed her false teeth.

The Queen is often referred to as "Queen Grimhilde" in Disney publications of the 1930's. Her appearance was inspired by the Helen Gahagan character in the film "She" (1935).

In a portion of the Disney film that was never completed, the Evil Queen was to have captured the Prince who wakes Snow White. In this scene, she was also to have made the skeletons in the dungeon dance in order to frighten him. This would later inspire the dungeon scene in Sleeping Beauty when Maleficent mocks Prince Philip.

The Walt Disney Classics Collection introduced the Hag first into the collection in 1995. "Take the Apple, Dearie" was the 1996 Spring Event featured sculpture. The sculpture period actually ran from 09/01/95 thru 03/31/96. It also has the distinction of receiving the 1996 NALED Award of Excellence.

The following year, the Evil Queen was the 1997 Spring Event featured sculpture. The event period ran from 02/97 thru 06/97. To date, these are both the best representation of these characters and the most sought after. Both were sculpted by Kent Melton.

Disney's version of the Queen is still one of the most popular movie villains to date. She would go on to make frequent appearances in Disney comics, where, under the alias The Witch, she regularly antagonized Disney characters like Li'l Bad Wolf, Chip 'n Dale and Tinker Bell.

In one comic story she tries to get rich by turning Pinocchio into gold and tricks two of Donald Duck's nephews into becoming apples-in the end she is temporarily turned into gold herself and our heroes are restored to normal. There was even an Italian story explaining how she had survived her apparent death in the movie, and why she couldn't change back to her normal self. Walt Disney described the Queen as "a combination of Lady Macbeth and the Big Bad Wolf."

Today's entries focused on two Disney Villains who who used magic, witchcraft and spells, one considered a major Villain (Evil Queen/Hag), whereas the other has been described as a minor Villain (Madam Mim). Tomorrow we meet a Witch who uses her magic to help some costumed youngsters and take us into Halloween!

Meet 'Mad' Madam Mim!

Halloween isn't just about ghosts, witches, vampires and even a headless horseman. It also brings to mind the Disney Villain.

Whether animated or in a live-action film, the villain has always fought the hero/heroine or just made their life a misery, the final usually featuring the primary villain going somewhat psychotic or superpowered. Disney's gallery of rogues is one of the best known ones, and most of the villains from the animated movies are the favorites among fans.

One relatively minor villain, when compared to the rest of Disney’s Stable of Villains, is Madam Mim. Madam Mim, or Mad Madam Mim as she is sometimes referred to, is a fictional witch, best known from the Disney movie based on The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White, where she was voiced by Martha Wentworth. The character appears in the original version of the novel, but not in the revised version more commonly known.

Her total screen time doesn’t exceed more than twenty minutes and even then her discovery is by accident due to Arthur’s desperate escape from the hawk. Had Arthur not been pursued by the hawk, he probably never would have even encountered the ‘Mad’ Madame Mim. Madame Mim is a villain by unusual circumstance and not by grand design of the story.

Personality and Character Traits:

• Madam Mim is self-serving, bad-tempered, quite unscrupulous, and, above all, mad; she breaks rules that she herself creates or finds loopholes to take advantage of, (in the movie, she did both); she terrorizes Arthur in a demented game of cat and mouse (Merlin as well), much to her amusement; and she has no qualm with destroying either Arthur or Merlin outright. The former over his association with the latter (she has an ongoing grudge-match with the goodly wizard, Merlin, for reasons unknown).
• She also appreciates things not for their good qualities, but for their bad qualities instead; she takes gleeful pride in how ugly she can become and she delights in withering a once beautiful rose, turning it into something ugly.
• Mim loves to partake in games, proclaiming that she’s “…mad about games…” before beginning her enthusiastic game of cat and mouse with Arthur, (beforehand she was playing a game of solitaire).
• Mim is also an incredibly sore loser, as evidenced when she flies into a tantrum after losing her duel to Merlin.
• Like all evil figures, she utterly detests sunshine.
• She is cunning and intelligent to some degree, yet reckless, and can be extremely aggressive, if not overly so when competing in one of her many ad hoc games.
• She has two main prerogatives: 1) Entertaining herself (at whoever’s expense it may be from) and 2) being an antagonist to Merlin. In that order.

The Disney version of the character was adopted into the Donald Duck Universe where she sometimes teams up with Magica De Spell and/or the Beagle Boys. She also sometimes appeared in the Mickey Mouse Universe where she teamed up with Black Pete on occasion and even with the Phantom Blot at one point. She also was in love with Captain Hook in several stories. In many European Disney comics, she has lost her truly evil streak, and taken on a character appropriate to The Addams Family instead; morbid, but still relatively polite.

She was animated by two of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men, Milt Kahl (who also designed the character), and Frank Thomas. Kahl animated her initial interaction with Arthur, while Thomas oversaw her famous "wizard's duel" with Merlin.

The Sword in the Stone may have been forgotten or ignored by some, but the wizard's duel between the backhanded Mim and the wise Merlin remains a memorable highlight from the film and the Walt Disney Classics Collection recreates this moment in it's Gold Circle release for 2007!

"Wizards Duel" is a 3-piece boxed set that features Merlin (8-1/2"), Madam Mim (6-1/8") and Archimedes and Wart (5-1/2") released in April as a Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) in an edition size of 750.

This release not only marks the WDCC debut of Merlin, Archimedes and Madam Mim but also giving Mim the distinction of being the first Villain to be the subject of a Gold Circle release! Merlin & Mim were sculpted by Bruce Lau and Archimedes & Wart sculpted by Jacqueline Perreault Gonzales.

TGIF!

Was a little bit under the weather this week, so followed doctor's orders and took it easy (something I'm not used too!). Catching up on emails, snail mail and the blog this morning.

Have had many questions regarding the 2008 Walt Disney Collector Society offerings. Have not received a date yet when they will be announced :( Hopefully soon, I for one (feel like Alice) am very curious about this year's member gift offering :)

In the most recent Halloween blog entry, Matthew reminded us how many other great moments are in that closing montage in Disney's Lilo and Stitch. With that, set up a discussion at the Duckburg Internet Cafe to list ideas of what we'd like to see and possibly use this discussion as the basis for future polls.

This weekend, there are a couple Signing Events:

• Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Product Release & Signing

Special Guest(s): Dave Pacheco and David Bird
Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: Disneyana Shop, Main Street, U.S.A., Disneyland® park

• Animation Art Welcomes Margaret Kerry, the Original Tinker Bell

Special Guest: Margaret Kerry
Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 1:30 PM
Location: Animation Art
Woodfield Shopping Center
Schaumburg Il, 60173