|
RELATED LINKS:
PAGE CONTENTS:
A Few Tidbits
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Mary Poppins
A Few Tidbits
Animation artists love inside jokes. In the Disney film Beauty and the Beast (1991), the road
signs that Belle's father encounters in the forest show the names of two California cities: one points to Anaheim, while the
other points down a dark, sinister-looking path to Valencia. In truth, Anaheim is the site of Disneyland, while the rival
Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement theme park is in the city of Valencia.
In 1940, Walt Disney's Fantasia was the first film in history to use
stereophonic sound. Ever the perfectionist, Disney personally paid for equipping the New York and Los Angeles Cathay theaters
with stereo speakers for his pet film's world premiere. Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office.
In March 2000, the Disney company reversed its 43-year ban on mustaches
for its theme-park employees. A memo sent to the 12,000 Disneyland and Walt Disney World employees said guests would be comfortable
with “neatly trimmed mustaches.” Founding father Walt Disney sported his own mustache, but that didn't stop him
in 1957 from banning facial hair. He did this to distance his crew from stereotypical county-fair “carnies.” The
grooming code at the theme parks still bans beards, goatees, piercings, and unnatural hair colors.
In the scrolling final credits of Disney's Fantasia, the sorcerer's name
is listed as "Yensid" – Disney spelt backwards.
Every plant in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is
edible. Plants in this section of the amusement park include bananas, strawberries, tomatoes, and more. Guest are more than
welcome to pick their fill.
For the Disney film Aladdin (1992), Robin Williams agreed to work for
"scale," the Screen Actors Guild minimum of $485 per day, plus a painting by Pablo Picasso.
H.R. Haldeman and Ron Ziegler, who helped plan the Watergate burglary
for President Nixon, both worked at Disneyland when they were younger.
Box-office champ Toy Story (1995) is said to be filled with subtle inside
jokes. One is in the name of the evil boy who lives next door to Andy and the toys. Sid Phillips, the wicked boy, was reportedly
inspired by a former Pixar employee of the same last name who was known to disassemble toys and use the parts to build bizarre
creations.
Cowboy singer Rex Allen narrated more than 80 Walt Disney films.
Discovering two photographs of nude women among the film's more than
110,000 frames, Disney Studios recalled 3.4 million copies of the kiddie home video release of The Rescuers (1977), featuring
the voices of Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor.
Disney World in Florida was opened to the public in 1971. The amusement
park was the largest in the world, set within 28,000 acres. It required a $400-million investment, and did not do well during
the first year it was opened. Only 10,000 people visited Disney World during that initial year. With time, however, the attendance
numbers rose to more than 10,000 people an hour.
Disney World in Orlando, Florida, covers 30,500 acres (46 square miles),
making it twice the size of the island of Manhattan, New York.
Disney's Mulan was the first feature length production created by Walt
Disney Feature Animation, Florida, located at Disney/MGM Studios at Walt Disney World. Mulan did not do well in China. Many Chinese, especially
the elderly, complained that the title character looked too Western.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
No one can say just when Walt Disney began thinking about undertaking
his biggest project to date, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but by the summer of 1934, his ideas were beginning to take
concrete form. An exploratory outline that he distributed to his animation staff, dated August 9, 1934, included the following
discussion of the dwarfs' names: "The names which follow each suggest a type of character and the names will immediately identify
the character in the minds of the audience." Some of the names that were considered, then discarded, included Scrappy, Doleful,
Crabby, Wistful, Dumpy, Soulful, Tearful, Snappy, Helpful, Gaspy, Gloomy, Busy, Dirty, Awful, Dizzy, Shifty, and Biggy-Wiggy.
In 1938, Walt Disney received a special honor for his film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Disney was given an Oscar and
seven miniature statuettes to commend his film.
In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the dwarfs are indistinct,
interchangeable characters. For Disney's version, more than 50 names and personalities were thought up -- including Tubby,
Burpy, and Biggy-Wiggy -- before the final Seven Dwarf names were chosen.
MARY POPPINS
Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written
by P. L. Travers and illustrated by Mary Shepard.
Van Dyke's attempt at a British accent was nonetheless
widely ridiculed and is still frequently parodied. It is still often cited as one of the worst attempts at a British accent
by an American actor.
In 2006 this film ranked #6 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals.
Magic Performed
* Blows other potential nannies arriving at the Banks
home away in a gust of wind.
* Flies to the Banks home with an umbrella.
* Pulls out the Banks children's
ripped advertisment from her pocket.
* Sits on the Banks staircase railing and slides upwards.
* Pulls out
a hatstand, potted plant and lamp from her carpetbag.
* Cleans up the children's nursery by clicking her fingers.
* Duets with her reflection.
* Leads Bert, Jane Banks and Michael Banks to jump into a street painting.
*
Leads Bert, Jane Banks and Michael Banks on a walk above the London rooftops.
* Flies away from the Banks home with
her umbrella.
Songs Performed
* A Spoonful of Sugar
* Jolly Holiday
* Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
* Stay Awake
* I Love to Laugh
* Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)
* Chim Chim Cher-ee
|
