The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1967

Okay, this one from 1967 is just a little bit weird. Is Mickey going to cut down the tree? Or has he decided to spare it the hatchet? Or has the deed already been done and he's admiring his handiwork?

Snapshot! - "Where the Stars Stay and Play"

This billboard in Disney-MGM Studios is easily missed when heading down Sunset Boulevard. But it plays an important part in setting up the whole story of the Tower of Terror. Too bad most folks miss it in their rush for short lines and FastPasses.

The text:

Our City's Newest Landmark

The Hollywood Tower Hotel

Featuring Fashionable Dining & Modern Accommodations

"Where The Stars Stay and Play"
_

Cheers!

Call me sentimental, but being this close to Christmas, I just can't stay away from holiday themed posts. This activity was featured on the back cover of Walt Disney's Merry Christmas, published in 1960.


One of the very cool things about Disney Comics back then were the crossover stories. In this particular issue, Gyro Gearloose starred with the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf in the story "Plans Aplenty." In "The Bewitched Dolls," Daisy Duck's nieces April, May and June appear with Dumbo, Pinocchio and Gepetto and the Wicked Witch. In the comic's final story "Too Few Clues," Chip and Dale cross paths with Doc and again the Wicked Witch. Fun stuff when you're a kid, great nostalgia when you get just a little older.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1977

One of the few Studio cards not to include Mickey and the gang, this holiday greeting from 1977 features Elliott from Pete's Dragon.

Symposium on Popular Songs - December 19, 1962

Symposium on Popular Songs sits in a relatively unvisited corner of Disney animation history. Rarely seen since its release on this date in 1962, it was finally made available last year on the Walt Disney Treasures Disney Rarities DVD set. It’s interesting for a number of reasons and, and it has some especially notable names in its credits.

Disney’s marketing department released this short article as a part of promotional material sent out to theaters:

With $3.88 worth of groceries, a pipe cleaner, a spool of yarn, a box of toothpicks, 500 sheets of colored paper and their whimsical imaginations, Walt Disney artists Bill Justice and X. Atencio created a symposium of comical characters that make "A Symposium on Popular Songs" one of Disney's funniest featurettes.

The star of the Technicolor production, however, is that expert on everything, the man who invented jazz, Professor Ludwig von Drake. Making his motion picture debut, the Professor introduces a brand new cast of "animoted" stars—made of movable paper cutouts—to trace the history of popular music from ragtime to the twist. Whenever possible, "Pops" von Drake steals the spotlight by singing one of the tuneful melodies composed by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman.

Ludwig's modest home is vaguely reminiscent of the Taj Mahal. He greets his guests at his massive double doors and leads them into the parlor. He explains how, when he was a starving musician at the turn of the century, he was in rags. So he invented ragtime. As the Professor sings and plays "The Rutabaga Rag," a group of "animated" oranges, apples, rutabagas, string beans, and other vegetables and fruits dance the ragtime.

Since ragtime was soon worn to shreds, the Professor decided to write a new song about the roaring twenties. He introduces Betty Boopie Doop to sing "Charleston Charlie," and a group of flapper era characters to do the Charleston.

Ludwig's next great song hit came after he had lost all his money in the depression. To cheer everyone he wrote, "Although I Dropped a Hundred Thousand in the Market, Baby, I Found a Million Dollars in Your Smile." To sing it, the Professor introduces Rah, Rah Rudy and his Megaphone Boys.

During the late 1930's and early 1940's, a new type of singer called "crooners" captured the imaginations of the American public. Ludwig brings on Fosby Crooner to sing his love ballad, "I'm Blue For You, Boo-Bo-Bo-Bo-Boo." Fosby makes it easy for the audience to join in by bouncing from word to word as he sings.

While everyone was cutting "Boo-Boo" records, Ludwig was cutting out paper dolls. By "shear" accident, he cut out three talented look-alikes called the Sister Sisters. The girls introduce the Professor's new boogie woogie rhythm with "The Boogie Woogie Bakery Man." During the 1950's, the beat that put American youth back on its feet was Bop. To sing his new bop hit, "Puppy Love is Here to Stay," Ludwig introduces Freddie Babalon and his Babalpnians.

In his Hi-Fi studio—"Dot means Hi-Finance," says the Professor— von Drake brings his "Symposium on Popular Songs" to a swinging climax by singing and twisting to his latest hit, "Rock, Rumble and Roar."

In color by Technicolor, Walt Disney's cartoon featurette, "A Symposium on Popular Songs," was written and styled by Xavier Atencio, directed by Bill Justice, with words and music by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, and arranged and conducted by Tutti Camarata. Animation was by Eric Larson, Cliff Nordberg, Art Stevens, Ward Kimball, Les Clark and Julius Svendsen. Buena Vista releases.

Justice and Atencio previously employed the studio-dubbed “Animotion” stop motion animation process on the 1959 release Noah’s Ark, and in a number of opening title sequences of live action features, most notably The Parent Trap in 1961. Both Noah’s Ark and Symposium earned Oscar nominations. The results of the process in Symposium are both clever and creative, but can be a shock to those expecting traditional hand-drawn, cel-produced Disney animation.

The music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers are a lot of fun, but sadly have been largely forgotten, even by the Disney company itself. I’ve only come across one song, “Although I Dropped a Hundred Thousand in the Market, Baby, I Found a Million Dollars in Your Smile,” on a CD compilation. Surprisingly, The Sherman Brothers CD that the company released back in 1992, did not include any of the seven numbers from Symposium.

The highlight of Symposium on Popular Songs for me personally is Ludwig Von Drake, as performed by Paul Frees. Von Drake is one of the most underrated of all Disney characters. He is nothing short of hilarious in all of his appearances, of which Symposium is no exception. An especially great example of Frees’ voice and comedic talent with Von Drake is the vintage 1961 vinyl LP Professor Ludwig Von Drake, which has been recently made available for download on iTunes.

Likely one of the reasons Symposium remained locked away, especially in recent years, was a fairly extreme caricature of a Chinese character in the Boogie Woogie Bakery Man sequence. Thankfully, Disney has moved away from the soccer-mom focus group method of marketing its classic animation, and now allows viewers to evaluate these films, and their occasional controversial elements, for themselves.

Treasures Come Just Once a Year, Bringing Cheer . . .

It's a special day that only comes once a year.

And no, it's not Christmas.

It's the day that Disney releases its annual wave of Walt Disney Treasures DVDs. And it just happens to be today. This year we are treated to More Silly Symphonies, Complete Pluto Volume Two, Your Host Walt Disney and the Hardy Boys. And just a mere two weeks after the release of the Complete True-Life Adventure sets in the new Disney Legacy series.

Okay, it's kinda like Christmas . . .

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1939

Pinocchio took center stage on the Studio's 1939 holiday greeting.

Freeze Frame: Mickey's Christmas Carol

While numerous characters from the Disney stable play starring and supporting roles in Mickey's Christmas Carol, there are in fact some interesting cameos scattered throughout the film.

While Mr. Toad and Chip and Dale are quite obvious in the Christmas party scene, there are a few other not so quickly recognized characters in the same sequence.

Grandma Duck and Uncle Waldo Goose are in attendance. Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow dance by quickly, as does Lady Cluck, from Robin Hood.

Also from Robin Hood, Skippy appears with his good buddy Toby Turtle, as Rat and Mole look on.

Two of the Three Little Wolves are chased by a youthful version of Practical Pig.

While Donald is now the companion of Toad's old friend Cyril.

Incredibly, one fab five character was noticably absent from the film. Sadly, Mickey's pal Pluto didn't make the cut.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1936

The vintage 1930s look of the characters is evident in the Studio's Christmas card from 1936. Walt's signature had yet to evolve into the stylized logo that most are familier with today.

Silver Creek, Dynamite and Ol' Georgie MacGregor

Over the years, many colorful characters found their way to the valley of Silver Creek Springs, the fictional home of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort. One such individual, Georgie MacGregor, is especially notable for his contribution to the Lodge’s surrounding landscape and the very nature of Silver Creek itself.

MacGregor, a prospector, arrived in the valley in 1852 seeking his fortune. Silver Creek was named for its mineral deposits that made the water shimmer, but that didn’t deter MacGregor. He was convinced there was a rich silver vein there just waiting to be tapped. The Silver Creek Star newspaper related how Georgie managed to “set up camp” near the Lodge with the help of proprietress Genevieve Moreland:

Even if Ol' Georgie was "a few logs shy of a full load" in the common sense department, he was nevertheless cunning. When he approached the Wilderness Lodge, he presented himself not as a prospector, but as a cook. The frontier, at this time, did not have a surplus of chefs, so such skills were highly valued. The Lodge had become a gathering place for artists, naturalists and others, and Jenny thought Ol' Georgie would be a welcomed addition. She offered Ol' Georgie a room in the Lodge in exchange for his services. He responded, "Now, Miss Jenny, I reckon the best place fer me is yonder, by that thar stream. Thataways I won't bother any of your guests an' I'll be closer to the trout. I kin clean the pans easier thataways, too.

It wasn’t long before Jenny discovered MacGregor’s true intentions. In a surprise visit to his camp, she discovered cooking pans filled with water and silt from the stream, and Ol’ Georgie was shooting trout point blank with his Hawken pistol. Jenny quickly hired a new cook, a former Army sergeant, in hopes of dissuading MacGregor from his hopeless endeavors.

It didn’t work.

The Silver Creek Star related the subsequent sequence of events, and their explosive consequences:

On a supply run to the trading post for cooking utensils and fishing gear, Georgie returned with two crates. He took one to the kitchen and the other he carted off to his cabin. Ol' Georgie was cooking up one last plan to uncover his fortune. The next morning, Ol' Georgie doggedly served breakfast and slipped away quietly to his cabin. The guests were still gathered around the table, discussing how much better the food tasted when all of a sudden, a tremendous explosion shook the very foundation of the Lodge, knocking them to the floor.

After collecting themselves, they scrambled down the stream in a panic. Where the stream once flowed gently over rocks was now a cavernous, smoldering hole, deep in the earth. Ol’ Georgie was no where in sight. His cabin was splintered and roofless. The group stood in silent amazement at the damage around them. A faint voice was heard from above. Ol' Georgie had blown himself twenty feet up a pine tree, black as tar and barely conscious. A box labeled dynamite stood under the tree.

It was the last time Ol" Georgie ever looked for gold or silver. And the cratered pool he blew into the ground serves as one of the fondest recreational pastimes at the Lodge.

At Disney, even the swimming pool has a back story.

Another interesting detail in the vicinity of Silver Creek relates to the Teton Boat and Bike Rental, located near the lake shore. The building is the original cabin that Colonel Ezekiel Moreland built shortly after arriving in the valley for the first time.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1958

King Brian and his fellow leprechauns give Mickey and Donald some help with the holiday trimmings. This Studio card anticipated the June 1959 release of Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Cedric's Christmas Carol

A short time back, a good friend was doing an extensive housecleaning of his parents’ home and discovered a few things that he thought I might enjoy. Among the items were eight water-stained, near-crumbling pages from the December 1957 issue of McCall’s magazine. They told the story of Walt Disney’s Christmas Carol, a slightly different take on the Dickens’ classic. Its main character was a mouse.

Just not Mickey.
The story opens like this:

It was Christmas Eve, and up in the garret in a cozy corner back of the chimney, ten little mice were gathered round a candlestick, their ears all set to hear a Christmas story.

"Now, quiet as a mouse, everyone," said their father as he opened a very small book with a worn and faded cover and adjusted his tiny spectacles. "It's a very old story,” he said, “and it’s called A Christmas Carol.


In this version, Bob Cratchet has been replaced by the character of Cedric Mouse. Cedric works for Ebenezer Scrooge as a clock and watch repairman in Scrooge’s Clock Shop. Not unlike Bob, Cedric struggles to care for his family on the mere two pence per week wage that Scrooge pays him.

Gone are Jacob Marley and the Christmas ghosts. Instead, Scrooge’s old grandfather clock comes to life and turns himself years ahead to demonstrate to Scrooge the future consequences of his miserly ways.

As you can see, the illustrations that accompanied the story are simply wonderful. Cedric and his fellow mice are clearly distant cousins to both Cinderella’s loyal friends and Amos from Ben and Me. I especially like the story’s final illustration where Cedric and his family all dance around a Christmas tree--made of watch gears!And the last two paragraphs pay sly homage to the story’s original author:

One of the little mice sitting around the candlestick piped up. "Daddy, that sounds very much like a Christmas story I once overheard the people downstairs reading. Their story was by Charles Dickens."

"Dickens?" said the father with a sly little smile. "The dickens you say!" And he snuffed out the candle with his nightcap. "Now off to bed, everyone, quick like a mouse, and a Merry Christmas to all!"

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1950

Mickey and the gang unwrap Alice in Wonderland nearly seven months prior to its summer of 1951 release.

December 15, 1966

"It would take more time than anybody has around the daily news shops to think of the right thing to say about Walt Disney.

He was an original. Not just an American original, but an original. Period. He was a happy accident, one of the happiest this century has experienced. And judging by the way it’s behaving, in spite of all Disney tried to tell it about laughter, love, children, puppies, and sunrises, the century hardly deserved him.

He probably did more to heal - or at least soothe - troubled human spirits than all the psychiatrists in the world. There can’t be many adults in the allegedly civilized parts of the globe who did not inhabit Disney’s mind and imagination for at least for a few hours and feel better for the visitation.

It may be true, as somebody said, that while there is no highbrow in a lowbrow, there is some lowbrow in every highbrow. But what Disney seemed to know was that while there is very little grown-up in every child, there is a lot of child in every grown-up. To a child, this weary world is brand-new, gift wrapped. Disney tried to keep it that way for adults.

"By the conventional wisdom, mighty mice, flying elephants, Snow White and Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy and Doc - all these were fantasy, escapism from reality. It’s a question of whether they are any less real, any more fantastic than intercontinental missiles, poisoned air, defoliated forests, and scrap iron on the moon. This is the age of fantasy, however you look at it, but Disney’s fantasy wasn’t lethal.

People are saying we will never see his like again."


Eric Sevareid
December 15, 1966

Dennis in Walt Disney World (Sort of)

When I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of the Dennis the Menace comic books. I especially loved the giant-size special editions that featured the Mitchell family's numerous vacation trips. They traveled to locations such as Hawaii, California, and Washington D.C., but amazingly, they never ventured to the world's number one vacation destination--Walt Disney World. I decided to create my own little "what if" scenario in the form of a comic book that never existed, but sure would have been cool if it had. Unfortunately, I do not possess the talent to do anything beyond the cover.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1991

Snow is falling at the Disney corporate headquarters in Burbank in this holiday greeting from 1991.

The Multiflex Octoplane

We haven't done a desktop in a while, so how about a clever set of blueprints straight out of Mickey's Toontown Fair. Take note--this conceptual design involves the cooperation of neighborhood chipmunks (namely Dale), and the emergency escape parachute has been cut for budgetary reasons. Just one of many details from Fido's Fearless Flight School for Cats and Dogs.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1942

The studio Christmas card from 1942 is a real window to the past. Mickey, Donald, Minnie and Pluto are all active in the war effort, while Santa himself promotes Disney's heavily propaganda-themed feature Victory Through Air Power.

The Disney Studios Christmas Cards: 1960

Dalmatian puppies impart a holiday message in a unique way in this Studio Christmas card from 1960.

How to Be a Detective - December 12, 1952

It begins with a man being violently thrown from a bridge into the icy cold waters of the river below. It ends with a climactic car chase through both urban and rural landscapes. In between, blackjacks are wielded, bullets fly, mickeys are slipped and violence reigns supreme.

It’s a fast paced, hard boiled eight minutes. And oh, did I mention--it’s a Goofy cartoon.

Released on December 12, 1952, How to Be a Detective is without a doubt, one of the best Goofy cartoons ever produced. An over-the-top send up of Hollywood’s dark crime noir genre, it is as irreverent as it is hilarious.

The Goof is cast as Private Eye Johnny Eyeball, who is paid a fast $100 by a “classy dame” to simply “find Al.” He is quickly confronted by Pete in the role of a homicide detective who tries to warn him off the case. He then finds himself consistently at odds with a “suspicious character” who closely resembles one of the weasels from the Wind in the Willows sequence of Icabod and Mr. Toad. Eyeball finds himself subsequently being drugged, machine gunned, fitted with cement shoes and thrown in the river, dropped down an elevator shaft, and kicked out of the morgue (“Beat it! And don’t come back ‘til you’re ready!”)

Comically violent images abound. Take for instance the window actions near the beginning of the short:It’s enough to send a soccer mom on boycotting and letter-writing rampages. Fears of just such actions pretty much kept How to Be a Detective locked up in the vault until its release on the Disney Treasures Complete Goofy DVD a few years ago.

Crazy criminal activity aside, the short sports some outstanding art direction. There are some top notch backgrounds that really evoke the crime film genre that is the target of the cartoon’s humor--

The opening bridge toss:

The eerie, rundown house on the hill:

And the seedy Al’s Joint saloon:

. . . are just a few great examples.

In the end, the case is of course solved, and more by happenstance than by the efforts of Johnny Eyeball. An all around great cartoon and one of the studio's better efforts from the 1950s.