Jungle Cruise - The Criticism is Intense!

 This week's best clickbait.  It landed in a Google feed.

"Fan-Favorite Magic Kingdom Attraction Now Facing Intense Criticism"

Spoiler Alert! It's Jungle Cruise.

The photo featured with the article shows kids with balloons in front of Cinderella castle. Not an elephant or tiger in sight.  It takes five whole paragraphs before it even identifies Jungle Cruise as the subject. Classic clickbait tactics. Shameful editorial guidelines.

So the Jungle Cruise is now facing intense criticism.  From who?  It would appear that said criticism is coming solely from the author of the post.  The article is clearly an opinion piece where the writer projects very contrived  observations and conclusions on unnamed and unattributed sources. It generalizes the consensuses of whole demographics (i.e. "teens find it tame, "younger children lose focus").  The criticisms articulated are generally mild and certainly at no point intense.  It's as if the headline was written before the article.  Disguising hollow conjecture as objective journalism is a dishonest and sad way of generating attention.

As to the supposition itself - In my subjective (and clearly identified) opinion, Jungle Cruise is a perennial theme park attraction that has endured for over seven decades and will likely be around for at least seven more.  To say that it is suddenly facing intense criticism is nonsensical.  It transcends comparisons to thrill rides and other new tech attractions by way of brilliant and detailed designs (right down to its wonderful queue elements) and a legacy of historical significance and sentimental nostalgia.  It is important to also recognize that the perceptions of the very vocal but largely insubstantial coalition of influencers, lifestyle bloggers and clickbait journalists do not in fact represent the opinions of the vast majority of Walt Disney World visitors.  Most guests will likely experience Jungle Cruise once every few years, not two or three times every week. That degree of repetition is bound to inspire boredom and cynicism in even the most devoted Disney enthusiast. 

The Art of the Title Card: The Brave Little Tailor

It's fitting that one of Mickey Mouse's best cartoons would also have one of the studio's premiere title cards. Released in 1938, The Brave Little Tailor shines, as does its brilliantly designed title rendering. Unfortunately, it's difficult to even speculate as to the artist of the piece, as the short did not display credits. IMDB lists Les Clark and Frank Thomas as background artists

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
The Brave Little Tailor and the Beanstalk

Image © Walt Disney Company

Caxanga!

"Down in Brazil there's a sing-song game they play,
When you hear this tune it haunts you night and day.

Just play it once and I'm sure that you will find,
This quaint melody will linger in your mind."

Buried within the depths of Disney historical obscurity is a hidden gem known as Caxanga. It is one of my very favorite Disney cartoons. But among the likes of The Band Concert, In the Bag, Who Killed Cock Robin or the many others that occupy the very subjective halls of Jeff Pepper-determined fame, Caxanga has one very unique distinction. It was a production that was never completed, and hence, has never graced a movie screen.

Alternately called A Brazilian Symphony, Caxanga was one of many concepts that emerged from the early 1941 Latin American junket by Disney Studio personnel that ultimately gave birth to Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros and a number other similarly themed film sequences and cartoon shorts. The creative roots for Caxanga were documented in the film South of the Border with Disney, released in 1942.

South of the Border with Disney was a thirty minute film released in late 1942, that collected footage Walt Disney, artist Lee Blair and production assistant Larry Lanburgh took with 16mm cameras on that 1941 research trip-goodwill tour of Latin American countries. It predated the releases of any and all efforts it would ultimately inspire, primarily Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. The matchbox game, like other concepts showcased in the film, were then just ideas and notions of the potential entertainment to come.

Footage from the film shows production supervisor Norm Ferguson, story man Bill Cottrell, technical director Jack Cutting and artist Mary Blair demonstrating the matchbox game. An off-screen narrator explains--

"And here's an old Brazilian game called Caxanga. They say the Indians played it centuries ago. It was played with shells originally, but today they use matchboxes. The object is to go through this passing routine without missing. Here again, rhythm plays an important part. First you sing the verse, then hum it, then play to the tempo in silence."

The next scene shows an artist drawing a number of story sketches, suggesting a future cartoon or sequence of Donald Duck playing the game.

Attempts were made to incorporate caxanga into ideas that were being considered. At various points of development, the game had been in story plans for "Aquarela Do Brasil," a sequence ultimately completed for Saludos Amigos; "Carnival Carioca," a unrealized vignette that followed Jose Carioca and Donald Duck visiting the carnival in Rio; and an early concept for "Blame It on the Samba" that was to have featured Carmen Miranda. Storyboards for the proposed sequence featured Jose and Donald visiting Miranda during a nightclub performance of the title song. The two then reminisce of an earlier visit to Rio on the Night of San Juan, where Donald had become infatuated with a Miranda-styled lady parrot. She, Donald and Jose had then played the matchbox game for a few moments. "Blame It on the Samba" later evolved into a segment in Melody Time, in a more abbreviated and distinctly different form, due mainly to the unavailability of Miranda caused by contractual difficulties.
The game later became the centerpiece of two separate proposed cartoon shorts. The first borrowed elements from the aforementioned "Blame It on the Samba." It featured Donald and Jose out for a night on the town in Rio. Donald falls for a cute duck, this time a caricature of Aurora Miranda, who would be showcased in The Three Caballeros. Donald and Jose play a game of caxanga with the stakes being a date with Aurora.

The second concept progressed to the beginnings of pencil animation with some recorded music and dialog. In 1995, a reconstruction of the short was included on the laser disc set Exclusive Archive Collection Three Caballeros-Saludos Amigos. Despite its non-animated, rough draft nature, it is in many ways a wonder, and an entertaining indication of "what might have been." As I said, it is one of my favorite Disney cartoons, despite its unfinished status.

The short opens with Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and interestingly enough, Goofy, seated around a table on a rooftop patio, playing the matchbox game. The setting is Rio as reflected by the view from the nearby balcony; it was no doubt based on a similar panorama of Sugarloaf Mountain enjoyed by Disney artists while staying in Rio de Janeiro. The details of a photo featuring Lee and Mary Blair that appeared in the book The Art and Flair of Mary Blair, bear a clear resemblance to the crude but still distinct scenery and location depicted in the Caxanga storyboard sketches.

Donald is quickly exasperated by both a clever gag involving on-screen subtitles and the furious pace of the tabletop game. The short then quickly transitions more into a clear musical vignette as Donald carries the melody of the aforementioned catchy tune with him into sleep and dreams. As Donald lies in his bed, water faucets, a clock, window shutters, a chandelier and even the lights of the city all begin to sound off in tempo to the melody. The storyboard sketches exhibit a pulsing, wacky dreamscape not far removed from the Pink Elephants sequence in Dumbo, but reflecting visual styles successfully executed in both Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros. Sheep of the counting nature transform into matchboxes; Donald's bed becomes one with the game; oversize matchboxes morph into versions of Donald, Jose and Goofy who then substitute Donald for the matchbox in play. In on especially creative sequence, Donald precariously scampers across the tips of igniting matchsticks. Upon attempting to balance on the final one, his form goes into silhouette and then morphs into a crowing rooster, announcing the dawn and a hopeful respite from both the music and its inspired torment.

It's interesting to speculate as to where the creative process might have ultimately taken Caxanga. Based on the reconstruction, its clever and entertaining conceptualizations certainly had the potential to make it a vibrant, imaginative addition to Disney's Latin American canon.

Images and Video © Walt Disney Company

Originally published on 2719 Hyperion February 2, 2008

Vintage Snapshot: Sid Cahuenga's One-of-a-Kind Antiques and Curios

I miss Sid Cahuenga.  During the early years of the Disney-MGM Studios, this retail location just inside the front gate was a gold mine of movie memorabilia.  I personally procured numerous items including movie one-sheets, press photos and other assorted ephemera dating back as far as the 1950s and 1960s.  The authentic memorabilia that was the store's hallmark diminished over the years until the retail incarnation finally closed in 2013.  Retaining its theme, it was repurposed for MyMagic+ and has since evolved into a PhotoPass support and service center.

The Art of the Title Card: How to Be a Detective

We are introducing a new series here at 2719 Hyperion that celebrates a largely overlooked and little appreciated component of classic animated shorts - the title card.  While largely generic and plain during the Disney Studio's early years, full canvas illustrations became the standard for title cards from the late 1930s onward.  Examples ranged from the minimal to the elaborate, but were almost always striking in design, composition and execution.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the artist behind any given card.  Conventional wisdom suggests either the Layout or Background credited individual was responsible so that is the attribution we will make here.

Our inaugural entry is from the 1952 Goofy short How to Be a Detective.  The design employs a clever mashup of magnifying glass and disguise elements to create a noir inspired vignette.  Al Zinnen was the credited layout artist; Dick Anthony did the backgrounds.

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
How to Be a Detective - December 12, 1952

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Saunders

This month marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Disney incarnation of A. A. Milne's beloved character, Winnie the Pooh.  The animated short subject Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree premiered in theaters on February 4, 1966.  From humble beginnings, an IP empire was born.  It was the only Disney-produced Winnie the Pooh film released in Walt's lifetime.

Surprisingly, unless you have an old school VHS machine or a laserdisc player, you cannot view Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree in its original form.  In 1977, it was absorbed with Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too into the feature length The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  After VHS and laserdisc releases, those short subjects were essentially retired in favor of the longer compilation.

Professional Disney Adult Driven to Begging!

This week's best clickbait.  And trust me, I don't search for this stuff.  

"I’m a Professional Disney Adult. Here Are 9 Things I’m Begging You to Bring to Your Disney World Hotel in 2026"

Okay, what is a Professional Disney Adult?  I recognize that influencers have strategically spun the term Disney Adult from a negative into a perceived positive, but I thought Disney Adult-ism related more to extreme and potentially dysfunctional fandom.  The author here seems to be defining it as a respected vocation and clearly not a non-profit one.  I get it, from an editorial standpoint, Disney Adult is likely more palatable in a clickbait headline than the more honest "influencer."  But "professional?"  Where does one get their Disney Adult degree?  Or their influencer degree for that matter?

The premise of the post is that you spend so much time in your Disney hotel room that you absolutely need among other things, a humidifier ($28), white noise machine ($15), portable hanging shelves ($33) and a laundry hamper ($8).  Who spends that much time in their hotel room??? I mean it's Disney World, not a remote cabin in the backwoods.

The supposed subtle pitch (I'm Begging You to Bring . . . ) translated means "I'm begging you to buy any or all of these 9 things so we can earn a nice commission.  Why would you be begging otherwise?  Sure, all the necessary disclaimers are there, but it all seems just so . . . insincere.  The trend in clickbait headlines is to personalize, but if your best friend talked to you this way, you'd probably cock an eyebrow and quickly change the subject.

Sadly, this type of click-driven, revenue generating online journalism has become a shameful standard.  And too many once reputable news and information sites have tragically adopted these editorial practices and replaced journalists, historians and travel writers with self serving influencers selling you anything and everything you don't need.

Snapshot: Alligator Swamp R.I.P.

The Rivers of America was sadly on its deathbed when I visited Walt Disney World this past June.  The barricades were mere weeks away when Alane and I took one last trip on the Liberty Belle riverboat.  It was a bittersweet voyage as it brought back memories of my first visit to the Magic Kingdom in 1973 when I would have circled the waterway in either the Admiral Joe Fowler or the then recently christened Richard R. Levine.  The mostly static vignettes viewed from the decks remained every bit as charming as they did five decades ago.  Alligator Swamp is now but a Snapshot and a happy memory.

The Life and Times of the . . . Hyperion Kid?

About ten years ago, I began a writing project that was largely inspired by Bill Bryson's very entertaining memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.  Bryson chronicled his growing up in the Midwest and in doing so, created both a vivid portrait and historical encapsulation of post-war Baby Boom America.  I wanted to do the same, albeit frame my early life's journey as a very personal reflection of Disney entertainment in the popular culture.  I knocked out a few chapters, but as it always seems to happen, family and work soon pushed it to the back burner, and I declared that frequently repeated mantra, "I'll get back to it eventually."

Well, hopefully, eventually is now here.  Retirement has arrived, creating the opportunity for me to return to 2719 Hyperion on a more consistent basis.  It's a very different world from when I launched this site close to twenty years ago.  Finding readers in the current online environment will be a challenge.  Social media and influencers  have, in my opinion, soured and trivialized what was once a healthy community of Disney journalists and historians.  It may be tilting at windmills, but I want to give it a go.

My intention is to publish my aforementioned memoir in installments here on 2719 Hyperion.  I also intend a return to Addressing the Many Worlds of Disney Entertainment when possible.  If you are new to my endeavors here, welcome!  If you were a regular visitor in past, welcome back!  Comments are always welcome.  Talk to you soon!

Sally's Question

Certainly even more relevant today than it was on October 5, 1963.  A now sentimental moment when one cultural icon acknowledged another.  Memories of their creators continue to diminish, but Mickey Mouse and Snoopy will live forever.  Perhaps that is what Walt and Sparky would have wanted. 

Knock, Knock - Anyone There?

 Probably not.  But what the heck.  Retirement beckons and it's time to visit some old haunts.  More to come, if only for my own self-satisfaction.

Let's Get Together for a Perfect "Summer" Movie

Ah, what is the perfect summer movie? Jurassic World? Incredibles?

Solid arguments could be made for these and countless others as well. Since Jaws and Star Wars were released in the mid-1970s, summer has become the season for high energy, popcorn-filled, franchise-driven trips to the local multiplexes. But my candidate for a perfect summer movie predates those two films by nearly a decade and a half, and while it was certainly a special effects powerhouse in its day, it is best remembered for its undeniable charm and the engaging performances of its cast.

The Parent Trap makes me wish I had been a kid back in the summer of 1961. Released ever so appropriately in June of that year, the film remains timeless on many levels despite being so firmly grounded in the post-war, early baby boom popular culture. From the very funny shenanigans and heartwarming discoveries at Camp Inch to the fateful camping trip where gold digger Vickie gets “submarined,” The Parent Trap just oozes summer in nearly every frame of film.

There are so many points of merit to this wonderful movie, it’s hard to know just where to start.

Well, how about the opening credits? This captivating sequence of stop-motion animation was created by T. Hee, Bill Justice and X. Atencio and echoed their earlier efforts on Noah’s Ark and foreshadowed 1962’s Symposium of Popular Songs. Accompanied by Annette Funicello’s and Tommy Sands’ bubblegum rendition of the title song, the clever vignette immediately sets a tone of fun and romance that the entire movie ultimately embodies.

The screenplay and direction of David Swift mix equal parts melodrama, romance and comedy for very satisfying results. Some reviewers, including Disney scholar Leonard Maltin, felt the film uneven in its comedy and ultimately average, a criticism I personally have to disagree with. However, nearly all critics of the time were universal in their praise of the film’s cast. Accolades were deservedly given to romantic leads Brian Keith and the always beautiful Maureen O’Hara, but the film is also notable for its equaling engaging supporting players; among them Nancy Kulp, Frank DeVol, Una Merkel, Joanna Barnes, Charlie Ruggles, Ruth McDevitt and Leo G. Carroll.

But let’s face it; from beginning to end, The Parent Trap belongs to Hayley Mills. Her remarkable performances as both Sharon and Susan are every bit as convincing as the special effects that allow her two characters to share the screen. Studio veteran Ub Iwerks supervised the processes that brought together the two distinctly different twins; it proved an amazing marriage of technical achievement with the exceptional acting of the very talented Mills.

My favorite detail from the film? When Sharon and Susan are placed in isolation at Camp Inch, their discovery of sisterhood appropriately happens within the walls of a cabin named Serendipity. But you’ve got to squint to see the sign by the cabin’s front door.

As I said near the beginning, The Parent Trap is pure summer, in atmosphere as well as setting. Filled with summer camp antics, poolside pratfalls and treks through the wilderness, it is a shining example of family entertainment made the old fashioned way. While I’ll likely be visiting places such as Isla Nubar and Metroville in the coming weeks, I will also be doing some R&R at Camp Inch and Mitch Ever’s southern California ranch. 

One minor postscript: While the 1998 Lindsay Lohan remake was not a bad movie, it was certainly unnecessary. It was one of the less than remarkable results of Walt Disney Pictures “recycling” phase of the late 1990s that begat the likes of Flubber, and the live action 101 Dalmatians among others.

Mickey Mouse in the Dieselpunk Age

Here’s an interesting quote from Walt Disney:

“The robot angle is popular now. There have been several robots made that really do perform things, and the public is aware of the possibility of the thing.”

Is he referencing the now-famous Buddy Ebsen “little man” experiment? Or discussing the advent of audio animatronics as ultimately realized by such milestones as Great Moments with Mister Lincoln or Pirates of the Caribbean?

No, these words predate even those events by quite a number of years. They were written in January of 1933 as Walt put to paper his ideas for a cartoon short that would ultimately take the form of Mickey’s Mechanical Man, released on June 17 of that same year.

The cartoon was an odd and decidedly offbeat entry in the still clearly evolving Mickey Mouse series. As Walt noted, a fascination with robots and mechanical men was gradually emerging in Depression-era popular culture and it would reach a crescendo of sorts with Westinghouse’s introduction of Elektro the Robot at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. But while Mickey’s automaton marvel is certainly inspired by representations of robots in the science fiction pulp magazines of the era, the cartoon’s story and setting are much more pedestrian and decidedly non-“fantastic” in nature.For Sam, as Mickey named his mechanical wonder, is not destined for the amazing adventures experienced by his magazine and Hollywood counterparts, but was created in fact for a slightly less inspired function: boxing.

Sam’s adversary in the ring took its cue from another popular archetype of the period, a savage and menacing gorilla. Likely the short’s creative talent were aware of the impending April 1933 release of Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong, as the story’s boxing simian just happened to be named The Kongo Killer.

The story’s action and humor center on the literally one-note gag of Minnie’s car horn that sends Sam into a frenzied, out-of-control rage. It is ultimately that gimmick that empowers Sam to defeat his rival. In a fast paced sequence, boxing glove-donned arms and apertures rapidly and successively emerge from all over Sam’s body and pummel Kongo into submission.

While Walt’s original notes detailed scenes of Mickey actually building Sam and subsequently operating him by remote control, the finished short provides no apparent explanation of the robot’s origin, and he acts relatively autonomous from his mentor. Without this background, the cartoon takes on an almost matter-of-fact attitude towards its somewhat wacky premise, as if robot-gorilla matchups were common events during those early years of the Great Depression. But as in many of Mickey’s early black and white efforts, it’s the occasionally off the wall and weird ideas such as those realized in Mickey’s Mechanical Man that became many of the mouse’s more memorable moments.

In the end what I enjoy the most about this particular short is the simple tin can-style design of Sam and how it epitomized those early steam-powered, gear-filled representations of mechanical men. Cartoons are very often snapshots of popular culture, and Mickey’s Mechanical Man presented us with an early rendition of what would become a major icon of science fiction-themed entertainment.

Special thanks to Hans Perk who made available Walt’s original notes for Mickey’s Mechanical Man on his website A. Film L.A.

It's the Simple Things . . .

The 1953 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Simple Things is an average and in almost all ways unremarkable production. But what it has come to represent, at least to me personally, resonates on an emotional and sentimental level that goes beyond anything the actual short itself conveys.

The Simple Things certainly lives up to its title. Mickey and Pluto take a fishing trip to the beach where their primary antagonists are a persistent clam and overly annoying seagull. It follows the typical pattern of multi-character shorts, where each character has a separate vignette (Pluto with the clam; Mickey with the gull) and then reunite for an overall climax.

But what distinguishes The Simple Things, was that for all intents and purposes, it was essentially the last Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Granted, Mickey’s Christmas Carol would be produced in 1983, and would be followed seven years later by the Prince and the Pauper. But they were both special productions-- adaptations of literary works with more extended running times, and were not really akin to the typical 7-8 minute shorts produced during the studio’s first three decades. And while both Runaway Brain (1995) and Get a Horse! (2013) certainly match the just described criteria for classification as cartoon shorts, both stand more as happy and refreshing anomalies rather than a return to regularly produced theatrical short subjects.

No, despite these films and even the television-produced Mickey’s MouseWorks, House of Mouse and the current Mickey Mouse Disney Channel/Youtube shorts, The Simple Things represented Mickey’s retirement from the very art form that he as a character certainly defined and revolutionized. It would also foreshadow Walt Disney’s own shuttering of the studio’s shorts department two years later in 1955.

Mickey’s retirement from film did not relegate him to the life of leisure embodied in the carefree fishing trip of The Simple Things. He quickly transitioned into a television personality via the Mickey Mouse Club and appearances on the Disney anthology program, and later into the roles of theme park ambassador and corporate icon. But he would with his costars--Donald, Pluto, and Goofy among others--leave behind the very form of entertainment that in fact had given birth to the Walt Disney Company.

I can’t imagine that director Charles Nichols and his crew ever intended for the title of The Simple Things to imply anything beyond the cartoon’s theme and content. But in my studies and research of the short, it has always been identified as Mickey’s last cartoon and in that context the title has always taken on an additional meaning for me. The song "The Simple Things" that opens and closes the film, provides more than a moment of bittersweet sentimentality when considered in the context of the then declining animated short subject, not just at Disney but across the rest of Hollywood as well.

The theatrical cartoons of 1930s, 1940s and 1950s are in many ways the simple things referenced by that song’s lyrics. As Mickey and Pluto no doubt journeyed to a rocky beach to escape their worries and troubles in The Simple Things, I and countless others still escape in a similar fashion to that simpler, yet always endearing animated entertainment of those bygone days.

What a Character! - Spike

One of Disney's lesser known characters recently resurfaced at the 2018 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. So what better occasion than this to revisit that certain cartoon insect who was the bane of a famous duck's existence during the heyday of classic Disney animation.

Alternately referred to as either Spike or Buzz-Buzz, the little fellow proved to be a worthy adversary to Donald Duck. Of the name confusion, author and Disney historian John Grant noted "It is certain that the bee who appeared in Bee on Guard was called Buzz-Buzz; a bee antagonized Donald in six other shorts, and this bee was often called Spike. The two bees are, to this eye at least, hard to tell apart; it is possible that any perceived differences may simply be the result of different artists working at difference times."

Spike made his debut in the 1948 cartoon Inferior Decorator. Fooled initially by Donald's flower print wallpaper, he quickly falls victim to the duck's trademark bullying. While Donald tends to maintain the upper hand throughout the short, the plucky Spike perseveres and comeuppance is ultimately delivered in the end.

Spike switched headliners in his second appearance, trading pratfalls with Pluto in the 1949 cartoon Bubble Bee. The short plays off of two totally oddball premises. First, that Pluto finds himself coveting bubble gum balls from a gumball machine. Second, that for some bizarre reason, Spike is pilfering said gumballs and hiding them in the nearby hive. A succession of bubble gum-based gags quickly follows and similar to Donald's previous fate in Inferior Decorator, Pluto also gets it in the end.

Spike returned to Donald Duck cartoons that same year in Honey Harvester, and remained the malicious mallard's co-star for his remaining five appearances. Slide, Donald, Slide, Bee at the Beach and Bee on Guard all featured similar bee-duck craziness. But Spike's final appearance in 1952's Let's Stick Together turned out to be an unintentionally appropriate swan song. An older version of Spike is seen reminiscing about an earlier, and often contentious partnership with Donald. Most notable about the short was that the older Spike was given a normal voice, distinctly different from prior appearances where he had always communicated via high pitched buzzes and squeaks. This is especially ironic in that longtime Donald Duck director Jack Hannah once noted the benefit of this particular attribute, saying "You can get a funny sound effect out of a bee. They can cuss you out with that little bee noise." This older Spike was also similar in personality to another insect supporting player, Bootle Beetle, who co-starred a few times with Donald during roughly the same time period.

Of the end of Spike's career, John Grant observed, " . . . it is very interesting that this retrospective [Let's Stick Together] should appear so abruptly, and at a time when the bee's career looked to be highly successful -- as if, indeed, he was all set to become a regular fixture in Duck movies in perpetuity. One can only assume that Disney overestimated his popularity."

A Visit to Dr. XXX

It is a near overwhelming task to quantify the sheer brilliance of the 1933 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Mad Doctor.

Director Dave Hand clearly intended to borrow style and design from that era's stark yet very stylized black and white horror films. This seven-minute tour de force is heavy on atmosphere and surprisingly, a little bit more chilling and unsettling than one might expect. So much so that it was considered unsuitable for some audiences by a British film censor, and later, 16mm prints carried a similar warning.

The Mad Doctor employs many standard horror story conventions, beginning with its dark and stormy night opening. It then goes on to blend three somewhat disparate themes--a haunted house filled with booby traps and secret passages, threatening creatures in the form of animated skeletons, and the title character and his ambitious plans of body part amalgamation. Let's face it gang, those early Mickey cartoons were not the benign "strolling in the park one day" and "I'll clean up your yard" efforts that characterized his later Technicolor years.

The tone is established quickly when Pluto is violently kidnapped and taken to a skull rock-perched castle, the ominous and threatening features of which are only clearly revealed in split second lightening flashes. Mickey bravely follows in pursuit and quickly encounters the first in a series of comical yet still decidedly scary booby traps, when the castle bridge disassembles as he moves across it. Still teetering high above the crashing waves of the sea, Mickey is literally pulled into the castle's interior. At the same time, a nameplate near the door reveals the villain to be Dr. XXX. This is a distinct aside to Warner Brothers 1932 film Doctor X. That particular film's art direction and set design no doubt inspired Dave Hand and his crew as Mickey and Pluto's subsequent adventures would reveal.

Mickey finds himself in a set piece with all the standard haunted house embellishments. Cauldrons, chains and manacles, skulls and bones all litter the entrance foyer, while a swarm of bats emerge from the darkened recesses. Most striking is Mickey's journey down a secret passage that is, in my opinion, one of the single most amazing pieces of animation from those still rough-around-the-edges early days of cartoon production. In this sequence, as Mickey travels down a claustrophobic passage, the view follows him in a continuous shot as he pivots around a corner and tumbles down a long shaft. My son, upon viewing this segment of the short for the first time, immediately exclaimed, "Wow, that was 3-D!" No, actually that was hand-drawn, traditional animation at its finest, where the background elements were ingeniously animated along with central character.

Following earlier efforts such as The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House, the comical potential of skeletons is revisited again as Mickey encounters the prank-delivering undead denizens of the doctor's castle. It is here that the very clever designs of the creative team are entertainingly demonstrated, beginning with a coffin-styled cuckoo clock complete with skeletal cuckoo. Equally clever and well-realized is the skeleton-filled stairs that Mickey literally finds himself falling victim too. An ensuing chase scene in which the skeletons lob their own skulls at Mickey builds up the short's kinetic energy, but it's tempered somewhat by the still determined and resilient mouse's encounter with a giant spider skeleton.

At the same time, helpless victim Pluto is mired in troubles of his own. The mad doctor has revealed both himself and his diabolical plans. These plans involve Pluto and an equally terrified chicken and a lot of cutting and dissecting. The doctor's chalkboard diagrams are very funny as is his poetic soliloquy, but Pluto's fear in the scene is so palpable that the short does tangibly shift into a slightly more chilling and for some, no doubt frightening experience. When the mad doctor cuts apart Pluto's shadow, it is almost more disturbing than comical.

Despite his own valiant rescue efforts, Mickey soon finds himself in similar circumstances, and with no hope of escape. The story's happy resolution is only accomplished through the "it's all just a dream" plot device. But subtly, this underlying nightmare context is still a bit unsettling--the villain was never vanquished and the heroes were left to some decidedly grisly fates. I can see why some of those early card-carrying members of the theater-sponsored Micky Mouse Clubs may not have left the theater happily whistling "Turkey in the Straw."

But that was, and is still the joy of those early Mickey Mouse cartoons. Most of these endeavors displayed a plucky irreverence that was ultimately lost or diminished in later years. The Mad Doctor both immersed itself in, and at the same time, satirized Hollywood's then fledgling horror genre to great effect. It is certainly a classic piece of animation, and one of the most notable achievements of the Disney Studio's pre-Technicolor years.

Images from The Mad Doctor © Walt Disney Company

Snapshot Missouri! - Rocketing Through Kansas City

Back in 2011, we featured a short series entitled Snapshot Missouri. It featured photos from a Disney-centric midwest road trip that my son and I had taken that year.  The series fell victim to what became my regrettable, erratic publishing schedule and ended after a mere four posts.  My son and I have since become roadtrip warriors (as documented both here and on our sister blog Boom-Pop!) and revisited the Show-Me State in 2015 and again last summer.

Our visit to Kansas City last June was not Disney-focused as it had been in the past, and time did not permit the usual touring of Walt Disney historical sites such as the McConahy Building and 31st Street.  But we did manage a quick freeway exit detour to the old TWA headquarters building, located at the corner of 18th Street and Baltimore Avenue.

TWA sponsored the Rocket to the Moon attraction at Disneyland from 1955 until 1962.  At the same time, TWA displayed a replica Moonliner on the roof of their headquarters building in Kansas City. That original replica is now preserved at the nearby National Airline History Museum.  The building itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and a restoration was completed in 2006.  Part of that restoration involved the placement of a new Moonliner replica that we now happily showcase here.

Snapshot '73: The Fort Wilderness Railroad

It remains a little remembered but still treasured piece of 1970s Walt Disney World iconography.  I speak of the Fort Wilderness Railroad.

Author Michael Broggie noted in his book Walt Disney's Railroad Story:

"Built with the best of intentions, the Fort Wilderness Railroad serves as a prime example of a simple concept that turned into an operational nightmare.  Four quaint, five-car steam trains were planned to operate over a 3 1/2 mile route, providing transportation through the Fort Wilderness campground area at Walt Disney World Resort.  Considering the $1 million cost to build its locomotives and rolling stock, however, the line was hardly a cost-efficient operation--running for a relatively short period between 1973 and 1977."

There is no argument that can truly be made on behalf of this failed endeavour (the chapter in Broggie's book is entitled "Fort Wildnerness Folly"), but it can make one nostalgic for a time when cost efficiency wasn't necessarily the highest priority at Disney World and experimentation was encouraged rather than immediately subjected to a cost-benefit analysis.

These impromptu snapshots date from 1973 when the railroad was just getting up and running.  One interesting footnote - two of the coach cars were modified to become Pleasure Island ticket booths in 1989.

Windows to the Past: Brother Juniper the Mouseketeer 1958

Brother Juniper was a long-running one panel comic strip created by Frederick Francis McCarthy.  It featured the diminutive and ever cheerful title character whose name was derived from the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of Saint Francis of Assisi.  McCarthy was a Franciscan friar who created his comic strip character in 1942.  The comic strip entered newspaper syndication in 1958 and lasted more than three decades.

Shortly after its debut at the beginning of 1958, Brother Juniper payed homage to the then stellar popularity of original Mickey Mouse Club.  This strip was published on February 19, 1958.

Snapshot '73: The Grand Prix and Tomorrowland

Returning to our Snapshot '73 series, we showcase this now impossible view of the Grand Prix Raceway as seen from Skyway that linked Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.  Against a rather scenic backdrop of the Contemporary Resort, cast members survey their fleet of vehicles.  The Tomorrowland terminus of the Skyway sits in what then seemed a remote corner of the park.  The purpose of the large striped circus tent remains a mystery; it sits in the approximate location of the future Carousel of Progress.