Pixar Freeze Frame! - Boundin' with Stanley

The setting of the 2003 Pixar animated short Boundin' was likely not far removed from the small town of Radiator Springs, as demonstrated by this Pixar Freeze Frame.  The vehicle that delivers the rancher to shear the sheep is in fact Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs, who was immortalized (at least in statue form) in Pixar's 2006 feature Cars.  Stanley's somewhat less than anthropomorphic appearance in Boundin' predated Cars by close to two and a half years.

Forgotten Dreams: The Woodcutter's House

The Woodcutter's House, written by Robert Nathan and first published in 1927, represents a rather enigmatic chapter in the history of unrealized films at the Walt Disney Studios.  References to the project span a period of close to fifteen years, yet it remains almost completely undocumented in Disney history texts.

Robert Nathan was a generally well regarded writer of his era.  His career encompassed five decades, beginning in the 1920s.  He produced material that included novels, poetry, screenplays, non-fiction and children's literature.  His most famous works are likely two novels that were adapted into successful films, The Bishop's Wife and Portrait of Jennie.

The Woodcutter's House is a sequel of sorts to The Fiddler in Barley, both of which are among Nathan's earliest of books.  The Woodcutter's House is not the easiest of novels to categorize and define.  It stands as a bittersweet, yet low key romance, overlaid with an ecological morality tale.  Included in the mix are whimsical, fantasy elements and some not-so-subtle sexual allegory.  Nathan tells the story of Metabel, a plain young girl who, after the death of her father, leaves her home in the small village of Barley and is drawn to a distant mountain known a Hemlock.  There she comes upon a small cottage that is the residence of a simple woodcutter named Joseph and his Uncle Henry, a lettuce farmer.  Needing to fill the void caused by her father's death, Metabel moves in with the two men and assumes the roles of their cook and housekeeper.

Robert Nathan

Joseph, a quiet, sensitive naturalist, is pressured to be more ambitious by his uncle, and also by St. John Deakan and his daughter Prissy, the owners of a sawmill who live in the nearby town of Wayne.  Prissy has designs on Joseph, much to the dismay of Metabel who has fallen in love with the young woodcutter.  Prissy wants Joseph to put a road over Hemlock and exploit the mountain's abundance of ash wood, which Joseph stubbornly refuses to harvest, instead pursuing a less ambitious but more forest-friendly plan of moderation and sustainability.  The whimsy that Nathan weaves into the story involves a number of animals playing out their own melodramas, and the little green man, self-identified as "the god of good humor," an apparent guardian of the forest.

Such whimsy on the part of Nathan is often accompanied by a sharp metaphorical edge.  Early in the book, when Metabel and her dog Musket are walking toward Hemlock, a complaining Musket is engaged by a happier May-bug:

Musket walked along without enthusiasm; his mind was prey to forebodings, and he gazed at the ground with a gloomy expression.  He did not expect any good to come of this excursion; at the very least it was a long walk back. "A hill is never anything when you get to it," he said; "all you see is other hills, which look grander than the one you are on.  What I say is, if you wish to look up at a hill, then stay down in the valley where you can see it."

He addressed these remarks to a young May-bug.  But the May-bug did not agree with him.

"You are old," she said; "that is the trouble.  You sound very wise, but the truth of the matter is you do not feel anything.  Any one can be a philosopher, in that case.  It is quite another matter with me.  An emotion I cannot control fills me with the liveliest joy.  Hope lifts my wings.  Perhaps to-morrow I shall be a mother.  What an exciting life."

And she flew away into a spider's web.  "Even if I am not to be a mother," she murmured, as the spider began to eat her; "I am entirely too young to be a philosopher."

Such themes carried a burden of sophistication uncommon to Disney films of that era.  The animals may have been talking, but the matters they were discussing were distinctly adult and often somewhat risque.  An aging Musket is frequently frustrated by a lack of virility and the suspected unfaithfulness of Susan, a female dog that he is pursuing.  A small mouse asks for advice in regard to his more sexually experienced fiance.  

Later in the novel, the little green man attempts to explain the politics of Heaven to Metabel:

"The gods are always fighting.  I alone have no such desire; and that is what makes me unique.  I do not even urge my rabbits to attack Uncle Henry's lettuces.  What is the good of quarreling?  But the gods do not feel amiably inclined toward those who will not fight with them.  Accustomed to augments and battles to prove that the other gods do not exist, they cannot bear a mind in which there is neither envy nor disapproval.  Like you, I have almost no friends in Heaven, because I do not wish to fight about anything."

"While their mortal admirers slaughter each other upon the earth, Heaven resounds with divine slaps and blows.  The god of the Jews has had his nose pulled many times.  But he is tough; almost as tough as I am.  I respect him for his obstinacy.  I would like to be friends with him, but he will not have it.  'There is no good humor,' he assures me proudly, 'among the Jews.'  And he covers his beard with his hands, to keep an enraged Baptist saint from pulling it out."

Clearly, this was not exactly the type of philosophical content that Disney was willing to present in his films at that time.  

It is difficult at best to determine what attracted Walt Disney to The Woodcutter's House, though certainly the fantasy elements were likely a major component of his interest.  As early as 1946, newspaper accounts mention Disney developing the novel for a feature film.  In his autobiography, screenwriter Maurice Raph said that Walt had purchased The Woodcutter's House specifically for him to adapt.  Raph worked for Disney for two-and-a-half years following World War II, which would align closely with the aforementioned 1946 newspaper report.  Raph claimed that Disney's interest in the Nathan novel reflected a then progressive pro-environment attitude.  "He believed in supporting the balance of nature," Raph observed.

It seems that Walt always envisioned the material as a combination of live-action and animation similar to Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart.  In July of 1950, long after Raph broke ties with the studio, another newspaper article reported that Disney, "has taken Robert Nathan's novel, The Woodcutter's House and will make it even more of a fantasy for the movies."  The article noted that, "There will be but one cartoon character, the god of god humor, who presides over the real animals in the forest."  Later that same year, the New York Times indicated that Disney was in discussions with actor Danny Kaye for The Woodcutter's House.  Reporter A. J. Weiler observed that a screenplay had been completed by Larry Watkin and added that, "It has been on and off the Disney shelf for several years and its sole definite aspect is that Disney sees it as a combined live-action and animated feature."  Watkin had at that time just completed the screenplay for Treasure Island and would go on to script numerous Disney live-action films throughout the 1950s, including The Story of Robin Hood, The Light in the Forest and Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Danny Kaye and Joe Besser

It was shortly thereafter that The Woodcutter's House faded from Disney Studio history.  The only remaining footnote to the story is found interestingly enough, in a number of resources relating to the Three Stooges.  These sources report that in July of 1959, Stooge Joe Besser filmed fifteen minutes of test footage as the little green man for The Woodcutter's House.  Call sheets are the only evidence of the Besser screen test.  While the footage may still possibly exist, no storage records for it have be found within the Disney archives.

Though we are without the details of the project's ultimate demise, it is clear that The Woodcutter's House proved an insurmountable challenge for Walt Disney and his studio.  Though wrapped in whimsical underpinnings, Nathan's novel is in fact a mature and rather adult story that would have required substantial changes to become a more family-friendly presentation.

Vintage Headlines: But the Commercials!

"But the commercials!  They're enough to drive you nuts."

So said well known newspaper columnist and future Walt Disney biographer Bob Thomas in an article published on December 3, 1955.  Thomas was discussing the tremendous success of the The Mickey Mouse Club television show that had debuted just a few months earlier, but was at the same time lamenting the glut of commercials that accompanied the program.  Here in the 21st century, the average television viewer can expect anywhere from 20-30 commercials during a typical hour's worth of network television.

How much was too much back in 1955?  Let's see:

"Not only are there three in every 15 minutes.  The station sneaks in three more every fifteen minutes at the station break."

Outrageous!

Among the media, Thomas was one of Disney's more passionate cheerleaders and it was unusual for him to be so critical.  Indeed, he quickly qualified the rant by adding, "The Disney people are just as upset as the public.  Walt apparently didn't foresee the excesses of the network; he vows that next year he'll have some control over such matters."

Before launching into his anti-commercials diatribe, Thomas did speak to the phenomenon that The Mickey Mouse Club had become in just a very short time:

"Mickey never had it so good.  His outsize ears are popping up on the heads of kids all over the land:  they're buying the mouse hats (29 to 98 cents) at the rate of 24,000 a day.  (Whatever happened to coonskins?)  Two hundred other pieces of merchandise connected with the club are being sold, and more are added daily."

"The mouse has captured the daytime rating honors, snowing under his major opponents, veterans Howdy Doody and Pinky Lee.  A recent survey gave the club a 76 per cent advantage over the opposition in the East."

Vintage Snapshot! - Skyway to Tomorrowland

The Skyway was a Magic Kingdom mainstay during the park's first few decades, as demonstrated by this photograph from 1977.  Steve Birnbaum provided this description in the 1988 edition of his famous guidebook:

Entered from near Peter Pan's Flight, this aerial tram transports guests one-way to Tomorrowland.  En route it's possible to see the clear aquamarine pool traversed by Captain Nemo's ship, the striped tent tops of Cinderella's Golden Carrousel, Tomorrowland's Grand Prix and the not-so-wonderful rooftops of the buildings where many Magic Kingdom adventures actually take place.

Consider the Source: A Life in the Woods

The death of Bambi's mother is considered to be one of the harsher moments in Disney cinema, yet it generally pales in comparison to some of the intense material found in the novel that inspired the Disney animated feature of Bambi.  Make no mistake, Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten is not about benign forest creatures and twitterpation; it is a starkly realistic interpretation of the natural world.  Walt Disney chose to soften it into a more palatable and child-friendly walk in the wilderness.

Felix Salten was the pen name of Hungarian born author and journalist Siegmund Salzmann, who spent the vast majority of his life living and working in Vienna, Austria.  Bambi: A Life in the Woods was first published in Austria in 1923.  An English-translation was published in the United States by Simon and Schuster in 1928.  MGM filmmaker Sidney Franklin acquired the movie rights to the novel in 1933.  Ultimately concluding that the material would be too difficult to translate into a live-action film, Franklin sold the rights to Walt Disney in 1938.  Bambi arrived in theaters during the summer of 1942.  Disney would later adapt Salten's squirrel story Perri into a True-Life Fantasy in 1957, and draw inspiration from Salten's The Hound of Florence when creating the 1959 comedy The Shaggy Dog.

Prior to the release of the Disney film, Bambi: A Life in the Woods was always considered an adult novel.  In the decades since, the Disney association has inspired publishers to reclassify the novel as children's  literature, to the point where it is now considered by many to be a classic of the that particular genre.  While the story is not necessarily inappropriate for all but the very youngest of readers, it is indeed a rather direct and at times brutally honest account of forest life.  One such example is a passage where Bambi, while fleeing from hunters, encounters an injured hare:

Someone moved feebly in front of him.  It was Friend Hare's wife who had called.  "Can you help me a little?" she said.  Bambi looked at her and shuddered.  Her hind leg dangled lifelessly in the snow, dyeing it red and melting it with warm oozing blood.  "Can you help me a little? she repeated.  She spoke as if she was well and whole, almost as if she was happy.  "I don't know what can have happened to me," she went on.  "There's really no sense to it, but I just can't seem to walk . . ."  In the middle of her words she rolled over on her side and died.  Bambi was seized with horror again and ran.

Over the years, numerous critics and readers have associated many distinctly non-juvenile themes with the story.  It was banned in Nazi Germany for being "political allegory."  It is seen as an early example of environmental literature, advocating what many have interpreted as an anti-hunting bias.  Undercurrents of religious thought and philosophy can also be found within the book's pages.  Walt Disney effectively removed any kind of social commentary from his finished film, despite being accused of originating the "Bambi effect," that being the eliciting of an undeserved emotional objection to the death of a sympathetically-presented anthropomorphic creature.

Felix Salten

Walt took Salten's story and injected it with humor and levity while still maintaining the overall sense of peril and danger faced by the characters.  He eliminated the explicit violence found in Salten's text, replacing it with more indirect and off-screen references.  Perhaps the most dramatic departure from the novel involves the film's most famous sequence--the death of Bambi's mother.  In the book, Salten devotes an entire chapter to a sequence in which a large hunting party enters the forest and terrorizes the inhabitants, describing in detail the deaths of numerous animals, including the aforementioned wife of Friend Hare.  Amidst the turmoil, Bambi is separated from his mother.  The chapter ends with the somewhat low-key pronouncement that "Bambi never saw his mother again."  Walt jettisoned the large scale invasion and replaced it with the still very intense confrontation with just a single hunter.

Walt removed many of the novel's supporting characters, including Aunt Ena (Faline's mother) and Old Netta, an aging doe who helps Bambi survive after his mother's death.  The most significant omission is that of Gobo, Bambi's cousin and Faline's twin brother.  During the hunt where Bambi's mother is killed, an injured Gobo is taken by a hunter and eventually tamed.  He later returns to the forest, fearless of Man, and is subsequently killed by another hunter.  The character of Friend Hare eventually evolved into the movie's Thumper.   Flower the skunk was created by Walt and his crew and had no literary counterpart.

Walt at times did consider some of the book's more philosophical underpinnings.  One particular chapter from the book focused on two autumn leaves having a rather existential discussion about their own mortality before falling to the ground.  Disney artists in fact storyboarded the sequence, but it was ultimately rejected as being too disparate from the primary storyline.  The film also gives less focus to how humans are perceived by the forest creatures.  Salten explores that dynamic more deeply, as witnessed by this passage that appears near the end of the story when Bambi and the old stag confront the dead body of a human:

"Do you see, Bambi?" the old stag went on, "do you see how he's lying there dead, like one of us?  Listen, Bambi.  He isn't all-powerful as they say.  Everything that lives and grows doesn't come from Him.  He isn't above us.  He's just the same as we are.  He has the same fears, the same needs, and suffers in the same way.  He can be killed like us, and then he lies helpless on the ground like all the rest of us, as you see Him now."

Disney did provide a more cohesive narrative to the story, something that was lacking in the novel.  The climactic forest fire sequence was wholly created for the movie and helped reinforce the film's more defined themes of life, death and rebirth.  On a more minor and almost unnoticeable point, Walt relocated the story to North America from the European setting of the novel.  Bambi was in turn transformed into a white tail deer from his book-based roe deer incarnation.

Bambi: A Life in the Woods was indeed a challenge to bring to the screen.  In their book on the making of the film, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston noted that, "Walt was always ready to try something completely new if the idea intrigued him enough.  Although he claimed that his main interest was in the animals' personalities, he found himself moved by many of the themes in the book, several of which would keep haunting him over the next few years.  But at the time, while he thought he knew the special feeling he wanted in Bambi, he did not know how to achieve it, or even if it could be done."

Thankfully, Walt and his studio rose to that challenge.  But in many ways the final product is an entirely different animal from the material upon which it was based.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Boo's Toys

Boo, the pint-sized heroine of Monsters. Inc. has quite the toy collection in her bedroom.  Among the toys she hands to Sulley, prior to their sentimental goodbye near the end of the movie, are Jesse from the Toy Story 2, the toy ball from Luxo, Jr. and a rubber squeak toy of Nemo from Finding Nemo.  In this case, the appearance of Nemo predated the release of his own film by eighteen months.

Navigating the Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook

As a brand new Pirates of the Caribbean movie looms ever closer on the horizon, a colossal wave of related merchandise and tie-ins is also approaching the consumer shoreline, ready to inundate us with all variety of Disney swashbuckling gear and goodness.  The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook has landed on my desk thanks to the good folks over at Quirk Books, and it has proven to be an entertaining and fun reintroduction to the Pirates of the Caribbean universe.

Let's start with the disclaimer:

Ahoy, all ye would-be pirates, take heed:  This book is a work of entertainment.  The publisher and author hereby disclaim any liability from injury that may result from the use, proper or improper, of the information contained in this book.  We do not guarantee that this information is safe, complete, or wholly accurate, nor should it be considered a substitute for a reader's good judgement and common sense.

Right, then . . .

Tongues firmly planted in cheeks, let us proceed.

The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook consists of six chapters, covering such topics as Piracy 101, Maritime Skills, People Skills, Acquiring Booty, Cheating Death and Mysteries of the Deep, all presented from the point of view of the notorious Captain Jack Sparrow.  As the book's introduction notes, the contents are not in fact gospel truth but rather, " . . . a fast and loose list of amenable suggestions," about making your own way in the world.  Among the more specific and interesting topics: How to Use Words to Misdirect and Confound, How to spin Your Own Myth, Pirate Hygiene (or the Lack Thereof), How to Fight a Tavern Full of Angry Men, and The Fine Art of Being Somewhere Else.

The handbook references the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and brings to bear the new Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  In Piracy 101, we are given the background scoop on Blackbeard and Angelica, both prominently featured in the new film.  Blackbeard commands a zombie crew and wields a mythical weapon known as the Sword of Triton.

The book is a handsomely packaged hardbound edition, replete with extensive illustrations and photographs from of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  Author Jason Heller cleverly reengages the reader with the a movie canon we have not visited since 2007; it's an enjoyable return and a fun primer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Four Color Friday: Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

1953 marked the 25th Anniversary of the creation of Mickey Mouse and Dell Comics celebrated with the publication of Mickey Mouse Birthday Party, a whopping 100-page comic book chocked full of Disney four color fun.  While the actual content was not exceptionally remarkable, the inside front cover of the comic featured a message from Walt Disney, as displayed above.  Mickey is currently approaching his 83rd birthday, but let's face it--he doesn't look a day over 25!

Vintage Snapshot! - Building a Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was a work-in-progress when this photograph was taken in 1979.   According to author and Imagineer Jason Surrell in his book The Disney Mountains, "At two and a half acres, the attraction was a full twenty-five percent larger than the Disneyland adaptation."  He adds, "At 197 feet (and change) tall, Big Thunder became the tallest 'mountain' in Florida, a record that hasn't been broken, even by the mighty Mount Everest."

What a Character! - Scamp

He was the result of a gag rooted in Walt Disney's own theory of the plausible impossible.  In this case, it is the apparent notion that the mating of Lady and Tramp would produce female cocker spaniel puppies and male mixes, perfect matches to their respective parents.  Thus was Scamp born into the Disney canon of characters in the final moments of the 1955 animated feature Lady and the Tramp.  Though not identified by name in the film, Scamp's brief screen time was enough to inspire a decades-long career in comics and the starring role in a direct-to-video sequel to Lady and the Tramp, released in 2001.

The primary creative force behind Scamp was a gentleman named Ward Greene.  Walt Disney recruited Greene to work on the stalled "Lady" project that had been in development since the late 1930s.  Walt had liked elements of a short story by Greene featuring a character known as Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog, and asked Greene to fashion a story that would build upon the studio's Lady materials.  Greene then wrote the story of Lady and the Tramp, that was actually published two years prior to the release of the film.

Greene was a prolific writer and journalist and was also the general editor of Kings Feature Syndicate which distributed comic strips to newspapers.  Less than five months after the release of Lady and the Tramp in theaters, Greene introduced the Scamp comic strip in newspapers across the country.  Greene himself wrote the scripts with art by Dick Moores.  The series launched on October 31, 1955 and continued for over three decades until being retired in 1988.  Greene portrayed Scamp as an adventure seeker and a mischievous foil to his more prim and proper sisters.

The success of the comic strip ultimately led to comic books, beginning with appearances in Dell Four Color Comics in 1956 and 1957.  Twelve issues of a regular Scamp series followed.  Gold Key brought the title back in 1967 and produced an additional 43 issues through January of 1979.

Scamp was the star of the 2001 film Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure, one of the better direct-to-video sequels produced by Disney during its now infamous and controversial "cheap-quel" period.  It returned the pup to his animated origins some four and a half decades after his nameless debut in the original Lady and the Tramp.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - The Incredible Doc Hudson

Doc Hudson was apparently cruising the streets of Metroville some 18 months prior to his debut in Cars in 2006.  This Freeze Frame from The Incredibles shows a slightly less anthropomorphic Hudson Hornet parked on the street when Mr. Incredible is engaged in battle with Syndrome's formidable Omindroid.

EPCOT 1939: Donald Duck Day

Yes indeed, we are passionate enthusiasts here at 2719 Hyperion in regard to the 1939 New York World's Fair.  Our EPCOT 1939 series of posts examined the extensive similarities between the Flushing Meadows exposition and EPCOT Center.  Any opportunity to explore a Disney-related connection to the Fair is one we immediately pursue; thus we came to discover the significance of August 14, 1939.

It was Donald Duck Day.

Donald was flown in from Hollywood for this special event.  (Actually it was a three-foot model of the famous mallard, sent from the Disney Studios and likely the one that was typically used for public appearances and special events during that time period.)  He arrived at the Fair at 12 noon that day, just in time to attend the premiere of his latest cartoon, Donald's Penguin.  The short was shown every half hour from noon to 6pm at the National Biscuit Theatre in the Food Pavilion.  This was also the theater that hosted Mickey's Surprise Party, a cartoon short made especially for the National Biscuit Company as part of their Fair exhibit.  At 12:15, Donald handed out gifts to five hundred lucky children; at 12:30 he was paraded past the Perisphere, accompanied by marching bands and other entertainers, ultimately ending up in Carnivaland where a special luncheon was held at the Children's World Restaurant for the winning children.  Carnivaland was located in the Fair's amusement area that was adjacent to Fountain Lake.

The main event of Donald Duck Day was a special ceremony held in Carnivaland, hosted by a costumed character named Abie the Clown Policeman.  Donald was presented with a honorary degree of Doctor of International Friendship from Dr. Frank Monaghan, a professor of American History at Yale University.  In his speech, Monaghan noted that Donald, "never pretended to be a statesman, nor an ambassador nor even a politician; he has only wanted to be and has only been himself.  But his antics and his quacks are more sensible and inspired than the grave nonsense of many who pretend to higher things."  The professor continued, "He has given the world joy through laughter; he is the ambassador extraordinary of good will to the world." 

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
Epcot 1939
Museum of Modern Marvels

Vintage Snapshot! - Futureport

It was the gateway to one of Walt Disney World's most beloved attractions, a relatively simple backlit display that can still evoke idealistic visions of future living.  The Futureport remains an almost iconic representation of first generation EPCOT, and names such as Brava Centauri, and Mesa Verde are bittersweet reminders of a level of Imagineering achievement that will likely never be reached again.  While Horizons the attraction sadly fell into neglected obsolescence, even more tragic is that Horizons the idea and concept is something no longer embraced or celebrated by the Walt Disney Company.

The African Lion: Truly True-Life

In recent years, it has been very exciting to see the Walt Disney Company reinvent one if its most acclaimed and honored concepts.  The Disneynature brand is the 21st century successor to Walt's own original True-Life Adventure series of films, and African Cats, Disneynature's latest film opening in theaters this week, certainly has its celluloid roots in the 1955 True-Life Adventure feature The African Lion.

The African Lion is likely the most famous and critically celebrated of the True-Life series.  Even more notable, it was lauded for not being as contrived and gimmick-ridden as some of the earlier True-Life docs.  In his book The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin observes that, "it conforms to the True-Life formula without resorting to the much criticized gimmickry of earlier True-Life Features.  This not only doesn't diminish the interest in its subject matter, but it actually enables the audience to become more involved."

In late 1954, Walt screened an early cut of The African Lion for ranger-naturalist Eugene Burns who was also a well-known syndicated newspaper columnist.  In a column from February of 1955, Burns praised the authenticity of the movie in comparison to the previous True-Life films:

"Here I felt is a true-to-life portrayal, just as animals live it in the wild. And for this, will you please extend my compliments to your camera team, Alfred and Elma Milotte, who spent two years and nine months in Africa getting the picture.  As I talked to people who saw this husband and wife team in action, they told me that the pair worked long hours, exhausting hours, sometimes through days and nights to get their unadulterated effects. Here were no setups, contrived with gimmicks. When they photographed lions, for example, they followed a pride day after day, night after night, for months on end — not permitting the lions to get out of their cameras' range until the lions accepted them and became so accustomed to their truck that they siesta'd under it. A friend showed me photographs to prove it! Wild lions resting under a truck! This, I am sure, is what gives 'The African Lion' that feeling of understanding — it's a slice out of wild life, and a sympathetic one."

The Milottes were indeed the driving force behind much of the critical acclaim received by the film.  In a newspaper article they co-wrote for United Press, they spoke of their trials and adventures:

"For two years and eight months a specially built four-wheel-drive truck was our home as well a camera blind. Several times we broke down and had to make emergency repairs on the spot. We carried food and water for a month's supply out of Nairobi. Once we narrowly evaded encounter with a band of prowling Mau Mau. Solitude, the company of animals, we are used to. We've seen more animals than human beings in the 20 years we've been pursuing our adventures with wild creatures."

They added:

"The most trying thing about our procession is the wear on the nerves from the constant vigilance for interesting and significant incidents. During our time in the African wilds there was scarcely a daylight hour when one of us wasn't standing watch beside the cameras for some revealing act in the life and death drama always going on around us."

Alfred and Elma Milotte (From the Life magazine archives)

Vintage Headlines: Mickey's 1951 Comeback

Did you know that Mickey Mouse made a big comeback in 1951?  This Associated Press newspaper article from March 4, 1951 provides the details.

Mickey Mouse, all-time international movie favorite, is hitting the comeback trail. He's getting his tail back, too. After ten lean years, the fabulous rodent, who in some 125 films has played scholar, great lover, cowboy, explorer or medieval knight with equal aplomb, is set for a new series of starring roles.
"We never really dropped Mickey," says Walt Disney, who created the tiny dynamo 22 years ago and made a fortune off him. "We just kind of drifted away from him."

The toast of the world 15 years ago, Mickey began taking a back seat to other members of the Disney cartoon family in 1938. That was the year Walt made his first feature-length fantasy, Snow White. That year also marked the emergence of Donald Duck as a rival.  Disney's crew, which once turned out 15 Mickey Mouse starrers a year, cut back to three or four. Donald, Pluto and Goofy who broke in with Mickey, became famous in their own films.  Dumbo, Bambl and the Three Caballeros stepped into the limelight in elaborate feature pictures.

Disney says Mickey was de-emphasized, not because his popularity waned but because he's tricky to handle.  "Only my top men are good enough to work with Mickey." Disney says, (he's always done Mickey's voice himself). "Because he's a nice, sympathetic character, not a natural comedian like Donald. It takes a lot of ingenuity to write Mickey." During the war the little fellow became a complete casualty; Disney was  devoting 85 per cent of his production to special armed forces projects. Mickey has made only four or five films since.

With his comeback in four cartoons this year, many of the younger generation will be meeting Mickey for the first time, and they'll be seeing him with a tail. Maybe you've forgotten that Mickey has been tailless for more than a decade. When Walt first drew him he was a skinny little tyke. His only clothes were a pair of shorts and shoes and he had a tail. But for one reason or another, Walt can't remember exactly why, they lopped his tail off. Why tack it on again? "We came to realize." Walt says, "that he's not as cute without it. It's an expressive thing. I remember he used to twirl it when he was nervous or angry. It carries him through action smoothly, gives him balance and grace."

There have been other changes through the years. As he aged, Mickey graduated to long pants. They gave him a shirt. Once spidery, his limbs thickened and his body assumed a pear shape. His eyes, formerly dots, were given lids. In the new series he'll have eyebrows.

Mickey wasn't Disney's first love. The first was a cat. The second was a rabbit named Oswald. But Walt wasn't quite satisfied. He wanted to make improvements and when the company he worked for said no, he launched his own business. The first two mouse cartoons didn't make much of a splash.  The industry was being turned topsy-turvy by a new element--sound. Walt took his third Mickey to New York and had it synchronized for sound. They premiered Steamboat Willie at the old Colony Theater in New York in 1928 and the mouse was famous.

There never was a more versatile fellow than Mickey. He's been a tailor, a steam shovel operator, fire chief, cop, musician, magician, inventor, football hero, polo player, farmer, whaler, tourist, hula dancer, scientist and gas station attendant. He's been around the world—to Argentina. Alaska, Africa, the Alps. Arabia. Brazil, even to Gulliver's mythical Lilliput. Once he got going there was no stopping him.  His piping voice was translated into ten foreign languages. He had fan clubs in 50 countries. His likeness was given a choice spot in Mme. Tussuad's waxworks in London.  He got into the Encyclopedia Britannica and got Disney into Who's Who. He won Disney an Academy Award and countless other accolades. And his face appeared on armed forces insignia and on hundreds of commercial products.

The entire article is sadly ironic.  Only two Mickey Mouse cartoons were released in 1951--R'coon Dawg and Plutopia.  And Plutopia was essentially a Pluto cartoon that for some reason was instead branded to Mickey. The image presented with the article features a scene from Pluto's Party, which was released in 1952, along with Pluto's Christmas Tree.  Some comeback--Mickey is essentially playing second string to his own dog in all these cartoons.  The Simple Things, released in 1953, would prove to be the last traditional Mickey Mouse cartoon of animation's golden age.  Mickey's illustrious comeback of 1951 lasted a mere five cartoons.

But Mickey's comeback would be sustained in other ways.  Theme parks and television were just around the corner . . .

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Up with Lotso Huggin' Bear

Prior to his debut in Toy Story 3, the deceptively villainous Lotso Huggin' Bear managed to sneak into a few frames of Up.  He and the toy ball from Luxo, Jr. can be seen in the bedroom of a young girl who is surprised when she sees Carl Fredricksen's balloon-tethered house fly by outside her window.  Up arrived in theaters during the summer of 2009,  a year prior to the release of Toy Story 3.

Happy Birthday, Hayley!

2719 Hyperion sends out very Happy Birthday wishes today to one of our most admired Disney-related personalities.  Hayley Mills was born on April 18, 1946, and by age fourteen had become a shining star of Disney Studio live-action productions.  Her first Disney film, Pollyanna, would bring international acclaim and a special honorary Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance of 1960.  More enthusiastic notices would follow a year later with her dual performance of twins Susan and Sharon in The Parent Trap.

A wholly fanciful (and largely fictional) newspaper account from 1960 claimed that Mills first met Walt Disney when touring Disneyland with her family (including her father, noted British actor John Mills).  But Mills herself once recounted that the actual first meeting occurred a long way away from southern California.  According to Mills' biography on her Disney Legends profile, it happened when Walt was actively seeking a young actress for the Pollyanna part.  Mills recalled, "I went to Walt's suite at the Dorchester Hotel, in London, along with my parents, my younger brother and our Pekingese, Suki. Walt laughed a lot as he spoke, in rather a shy way, which I found very endearing. I think that's what made me warm to him. That, and the fact that he liked childish things -- I remember he and I were crawling around the floor after Suki, who was eating potato crisps off of the carpet."

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Retro Review: A Perfect Summer Movie

Vintage Snapshot! - The Gullywhumper

It's been quite some time since the Mike Fink Keelboats navigated the Rivers of America at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.  This Vintage Snapshot! returns us to 1977 where we see the Gullywhumper plying those waters.  The entrance to the Haunted Mansion can be seen in the background.  Despite their obvious Frontierland roots, the keelboats launched from Liberty Square at a dock just adjacent to the Haunted Mansion.  They ceased operation at Walt Disney World sometime in 1997, shortly after the Disneyland version of the Gullywhumper tipped over and dunked a boatload of guests at that park.

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Snapshot Disneyland! - The Gullywhumper

Rocketeer Parkeology

Relating to our recent posts celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the feature film The Rocketeer, our latest theme parkeology expedition unearths a famous helmet and jet pack and spotlights a certain character who traded aviation mechanics for frozen concoctions.

The Rocketeer was well showcased at the then still Disney-MGM Studios when it was released to theaters during the summer of 1991.  Sometime shortly thereafter, Lakeside Newsstand, a small retail venue facing Echo Lake was transformed into Peevy's Polar Pipeline, a refreshment stand specializing in frozen drinks.  Peevy is a prominent character in both the Rocketeer movie and the comics stories that inspired it.  Created by writer-artist Dave Stevens, Peevy is a combination scientist-inventor-airplane mechanic and a faithful friend to Rocketeer alter-ego Cliff Secord.  He was portrayed in the film by actor Alan Arkin.

The decor of Peevy's Polar Pipeline features a number of artifacts from the film, most prominent among them being the iconic Rocketeer helmet and corresponding jet pack.  A sharp eye will also notice a framed newspaper headlining the Rocketeer's first public appearance, a pennant for Bigelow's Air Circus and a replica of the jet pack's schematics that Jenny returns to Peevy near the end of the movie.

Historically, the Rocketeer appeared as part of the nightly Sorcery in the Sky fireworks show at the Studios during the summer of 1991.  In addition, the Bulldog Cafe exterior set piece from the movie resided on the Studio Backlot for a number of years.

I would like to send out a very special acknowledgment and thank you to Jessica from If We Can Dream It . . . who pointed out Peevy's Polar Pipeline to me all the way back in October of 2007.  Jessica was a true online pioneer of theme park details and created one of the first Disney World-related blogs to feature such content. 

Consider the Source: Pulp Fiction, Rocketmen and Betty Paige

In 1991, the Walt Disney Company had very high hopes for The Rocketeer.  It was envisioned as a potential movie trilogy that could in turn spawn a synergistic franchise encompassing merchandising, television and theme park tie-ins.  Sadly, it was not to be.  The movie-going public failed to embrace the concept and thus, the Disney interpretation of the Rocketeer remains limited to the live action feature film that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Similarly, the Dave Stevens comic book stories that inspired the film are rather slight in actual content.  The entire Rocketeer saga is comprised of just eight chapters totaling 112 pages.  But over the years it has in some ways grown greater than the sum of its parts; it is considered by many to be among the greatest of comic book publications, and Stevens, one of the true masters of the illustrated page.

The Rocketeer stories were born from the then emerging independent comics publishers of the 1980s.  Stevens' very first two Rocketeer chapters debuted in 1982 as backup features in Mike Grell's Starslayer series, published by Pacific Comics.  Chapters three and four migrated to a new anthology title called Pacific Presents which was published in late 1982 and 1983.  Chapter five went to press in 1984 with a wholly different publisher, Eclipse Comics.  Eclipse would later collect all five installments into one over-sized graphic novel collection.  Comico launched a new Rocketeer storyline, Cliff's New York Adventure, in 1988 with the publication of the Rocketeer Adventure Magazine.  Cliff's New York Adventure was continued in a second issue released in 1989, but then the series stalled.  Dark Horse Comics finally published the third issue and concluding chapter of the comic in 1995, some four years after the release of The Rocketeer movie.

Stevens drew inspiration for the Rocketeer primarily from movie serials and pulp magazine characters.  Visually, the Rocketeer outfit and helmet is wholly derivative of designs created for a series of Republic Pictures "Rocket Men" serials released throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.  The two Rocketeer storylines, (The Rocketeer and Cliff's New York Adventure), are very direct homages to 1930s pulp.  The Rocketeer indirectly featured characters from the popular Doc Savage stories, while Cliff's New York Adventure guest starred a thinly disguised version of the Shadow.  Due to potential copyright issues, those elements could not be carried over into Disney's feature film.

Stevens' Rocketeer stories are visually striking, fun and frequently very clever, but the storytelling is at times rushed and occasionally disjointed.  Likely this was due to Stevens falling victim to a run of bad luck in regard to publishers.  In an interview conducted a year prior to his untimely death in 2008, Stevens noted, "The whole experience of jumping from one, two, three, four publishers in a span of a handful of years, it just drummed all the enthusiasm out of me.  I loved the character and I loved creating scenarios in which the cast could play and grow, but it just wasn't meant to be.  If not for the disastrous financial end of it, it might have been a good gig to have for ten years or whatever."

The Rocketeer movie originated when screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo contacted Stevens in 1985.  DeMeo remembers. "Dave met with us and saw we were 'kindred souls.'  [He] knew that we understood and respected the pulp genre.  So we really met at the beginning of the road that led to the film--years before pre-production would begin."  Bilson recalls, "We had a story pitch we had developed with Dave that we presented to a number of studios before Disney bought it.  Dave would bring copies of the comic and some of his original art, which was always impressive.  But we didn't write a script until we had a deal.  Then there were several years of revisions and new drafts before the film was finally green-lighted."

Working closely with Stevens, Bilson and DeMeo created a more cohesive storyline from Stevens' first five Rocketeer chapters.  They focused on the central premise of the stolen rocket pack falling into the hands of pilot Cliff Secord and his mechanic friend Peevy, who are then hounded and pursued by a combination of gangsters, Nazis and federal agents.  Forced to jettison the Doc Savage references, they incorporated billionaire and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes into the plot and created a new central antagonist in the form of flamboyant movie star Neville Sinclair.  The Sinclair character, a secret Nazi agent, was inspired by a largely fabricated version of actor Errol Flynn attributed to biographer Charles Higham.  According to Stevens, " . . . from the get-go there was never any great villain.  All there was was the rivalry between Cliff and this--and what do you call it?--a Svengali photographer, and that doesn't make for a big adventure.  So we had to come up with a really suitable villain, and that was where Neville Sinclair came from."

The filmmakers transformed Cliff Secord's Bettie Paige-inspired nude model girlfriend into the more sexually-benign Jenny, in keeping with Disney's more family-friendly sensibilities.  The trio also added the climactic final showdown at the Griffith Observatory, culminating with an intense battle between Cliff and the Nazi agents on board a German zeppelin high in the skies over Hollywood.

Despite objections by some Disney executives, Rockeeter director Joe Johnston insisted on remaining faithful to Stevens' designs, especially in the case of the iconic helmet of the title character.  The Bulldog Cafe, based on an actual 1930s southern California eatery, was also deftly translated from comic to screen.  In an interesting collaborative twist, Stevens, Bilson and De Meo created the film's Lothar character, Sinclair's giant-sized henchman, and then later featured him in the final two chapters of Cliff's New York Adventure.  Bilson and De Meo co-wrote those last two comic installments with Stevens.  Lothar was directly inspired by vintage B-movie actor Rondo Hatton, whose brutish facial features were the result of acromegaly, a pituitary gland disorder.  The persona was recreated for The Rocketeer film by actor Tiny Ron Taylor working with veteran makeup artist Rick Baker.

Stevens was active in the making of the film.  He carried a co-producer credit and worked extensively on production design.  Bilson recalls, "Dave spent a lot of time on the set.  I think most of his energy was in the art of the film."  DeMeo adds, "What I remember was Dave's enthusiasm.  He was really into it, really enjoyed seeing his creation come to life as a film."

While The Rocketeer movie did not live up to Disney's exceptionally high expectations, it was distinctly not the box-office bomb many pundits claim.  And it is fondly remembered by fans and filmmakers alike.  Danny Bilson notes, "The Rocketeer may be the highlight of my long career.  I only wish it had more initial success for all the creative people involved--in particular, Dave Stevens."


Special acknowledgment to interviews with Dave Stevens and Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, published in Back Issue magazine, issue #47. 

Retro Review: Flying High with The Rocketeer

Two decades ago, one of Disney's better live-action films met with a severe case of audience apathy. It has since languished in unfortunate obscurity despite being an exceptionally well crafted period adventure and a loving homage to vintage movie serials and 1930s era pulp heroes.

The Rocketeer deserves to fly much, much higher.

I personally found the film to be very much in the tradition of early Disney live-action movies, though in setting, eras removed from the studio's 19th century adventure stories and swashbucklers.  I am always loathe to in any way channel the ghost of Walt Disney, but I think he would have approved of  The Rocketeer, if not necessarily the slightly edgier Dave Stevens' comic books upon which the movie was based.  Much in the way that Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson provided the boyhood nostalgia for Walt that he then successfully translated into motion pictures, the filmmakers behind The Rocketeer similarly tapped into the nostalgia of classic Hollywood B-movies and serials, and combined that inspiration with the new-found romance with aviation that was prevalent during the 1930s .  The result was an exciting and entertaining romp that was largely ignored by film-goers who, during that summer of 1991, were more enticed by the groundbreaking special effects of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the comedy antics of Billy Crystal in City Slickers.

The Rocketeer was Joe Johnston's sophomore directing effort.  Johnston, a special effects veteran who had cut his teeth with George Lucas on the original Star Wars films, was fresh with success from directing Disney's own Honey I Shrunk the Kids when he was enlisted to helm The Rocketeer.  His special effects background served him well on the assignment and the film's pre-digital-era craftsmanship remains impressive to this day.  Johnston recently directed the excellent The Wolfman remake and is currently wrapping up work on the World Wat II-based Captain America: The First Avenger, set to arrive in theaters this summer.

Beyond its well-executed and fast paced storyline and capable cast, The Rocketeer is a visual cornucopia of 1930s popular culture and Hollywood archetypes.  Aviation pioneer and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes plays a central role, while Errol Flynn is not so subtly channeled into the villainy of movie star Neville Sinclair, an undercover Nazi agent in pursuit of the jetpack that is the centerpiece of the film.  Also included in the mix is California Crazy architecture in the form of the  Bulldog Cafe; the over-the-top but rather accurate-for-the-era set design of the South Seas Club; the giant German dirigible Luxembourg; the film's climatic showdown at the Griffith Observatory; the true fate of the original and iconic Hollywoodland sign; and a brilliantly realized piece of animated Nazi propaganda showing squadrons of rocket-propelled German soldiers symbolically conquering Europe and North America.

One of the film's most notable components is the perfectly matched score by composer James Horner.  It was an Oscar-worthy effort that went almost entirely unrecognized at the time.  

Disney had intended The Rocketeer to be a trilogy of films, but the lackluster (but not entirely disastrous) box office returns quickly quashed further productions.  The film's troubled production history (screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo were fired and rehired several times during the movie's five years of development) and aforementioned box office did not endear it to studio execs, and it has subsequently faded from view.  A bare-bones DVD edition was released in 1999; a restored high definition Blu-Ray would certainly be welcome, but it doesn't appear to be on the company's radar at the moment. 

We will continue to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of The Rocketeer this week at 2719 Hyperion.  Check back tomorrow as we Consider the Source of the movie--the comic book stories of Dave Stevens.

Simply Incredible!

The Pixar migration to high definition continues as The Incredibles makes its Blu-Ray debut this week.  This is one that a lot of folks have been waiting for and it most definitely lives up to expectations.  Brad Bird's now classic retro-superhero tour de force screams brilliance even more so in a maximized home theater presentation that enhances the sharp, vibrant and often jaw-dropping visuals of this 2004 Oscar winner.  In this case, Pixar + Blu-Ray + Home Theater = Simply Incredible!

Pixar has a reputation for producing top-of-the-line DVD sets.  What is even more significant is that a Pixar DVD reissue, in this case The Incredibles, dramatically outshines a recent package for a brand new Disney film, that being Tangled.  It is embarrassing to say the least that the newly produced Blu-Ray special features for The Incredibles offers so much more than what consumers were given in total on the Tangled set.  In addition, all of the bonus features from the original Incredibles DVD have been included in the new Blu-Ray set.  It's a hefty batch of content spread across two discs, with a standard DVD and digital copy thrown in to boot.

What's new:

The Incredibles Revisited

This is a brand new roundtable discussion on the making of the film with Writer/Director Brad Bird, Producer John Walker, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Supervising Technical Director Rick Sayre, Production Designer Lou Romano, Character Designer Teddy Newton and Supervising Animator Tony Fucile.  It is a fun and often very funny conversational remembrance that is quite substantial in content and material, despite its twenty-five minutes length.  One especially interesting tidbit--the project was very nearly killed in the early going by a very high placed but unnamed Disney executive (Eisner?).

Paths to Pixar: Story Artists

Continued from previous Pixar DVDs, this series focuses on specific disciplines within Pixar, in this case, story artists.  Brief and succinct but still quite enlightening, the individuals showcased discuss their work, their career paths and the inspirations behind their efforts.

Studio Stories: Gary's Birthday

This hilarious series, also continued from previous Pixar DVDs, features a bare-bones animated vignette relating to the Incredibles production crew and how they solved the problem of too many birthday celebrations.

Ending with a Bang: Making the End Credits

The least of the newly produced features, this very brief piece provides interviews with Andy Jimenez and Teddy Newton about the creation of the film's end credits, which were inspired by Newton's own original production designs.

"The New Nomanisan" Island Redevelopment Plan

This interactive feature abounds with retro design and tongue-in-cheek humor.  It provides a guided tour of Nomanisan Island, now converted into vacation resort that still integrates Syndrome's infrastructure and robotic minions.

As noted, the set includes all the original and very extensive DVD bonus features, including most notably the animated shorts Boundin' and Jack-Jack Attack.

The 4-disc Blu-Ray Comb Pack includes two Blu-Ray discs, a Standard DVD and digital copy disc.

Cars 2 - Retro!

This newly unveiled movie poster for Cars 2 is circulating throughout the online Disney world, but I couldn't resist showcasing here.  Pixar loves retro and that is clearly evident in this throwback to James Bond-style 1960s era designs.  Great stuff!

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Finding Mike in Finding Nemo

We kept our heads above water in the previous two Pixar Freeze Frames, but we will be diving below the waves this time to discover where a certain sea "monster" can be found in Finding Nemo.  This particular cameo is not by any means hard to spot, but it may in fact be unknown to those viewers who have neither the patience nor the interest to sit through the film's closing credits.  Though never indicated in Monsters, Inc., it appears that Mike Wazowski has a penchant for snorkeling.  He swims across the screen, right after the Production Babies list and just prior to the Special Thanks acknowledgments.