Annimation's Leading Lady has her day

Continuing our look at Snow White's Golden Anniversary...
Snow White received her star on the Hollywood Walk of fame on June 28, 1987.  The star was the 1,850th on the famed sidewalks of Hollywood.  The star is in by Disney's El Capitan Theater.

Newport Beach Film Festival

Today I went to the Disney Rarities panel as part of the Newport Beach Film Festival.  Living in Southern California I'm sorry to say I have missed this the last 2 years.  I will definitely look for it in the future.  (Thank you to D23 on twitter for alerting me of the event and giving a discount.)  
The panel was to be hosted by "Oscar Nominated film producer Don Hahn and Disney Creative Director David Bossert."  Don Hahn was double booked and was at a Waking Sleeping Beauty screening in Denver (great documentary).  We were joined instead by Roy Patrick Disney.  (The Film Festival rep was quick to point out that Roy E Disney was a host two years ago.)
The presentation started with a short tribute to Roy E Disney and a few words from Roy P Disney.
In all there were seven items shown: "I'm No Fool with Electricity," "How to Have an Accident at Home," "How to Catch a Cold," "The Grain that Built a Hemisphere," "How to Have an Accident at Work," "Litter Bug," and "Goofy's Freeway Troubles."  David mentioned that two of these films had to be requested from vault storage in Pennsylvania and one had to get the legal department’s clearance, but more on that in a minute.
"I'm no Fool with Electricity" featured Jiminy Cricket and that fabulous song.  The part of the short that made everyone laugh was when Jiminy encouraged the fool to take his turn demonstrating the incorrect way and using lots of synonyms for fool that you don't expect to hear from a Disney character – at least now days you don’t.
"How to Have an Accident at Home" and the subsequent "How to Have an Accident at Work" featured Donald Duck and JJ Fate.  Donald, in his typical fashion, showed us how easy it was to have an accident.  JJ Fate lamented that these careless mistakes often lead to people mistakenly blaming Fate.
My favorite showing of the afternoon was "How to Catch a Cold."  This was made in 1961 in conjunction with Kleenex.  In this film Common Sense, a small little man, talks to The Common Man about his foolish idea to go into work while he has a cold.  The Kleenex product placement is evident but it really was a fun little short.  And, speaking as a teacher who has had many Jr's show up a school spreading around the colds, this film certainly could be shown today!
“The Grain that Built the Hemisphere” was done in January 1943 as part of the efforts to be neighborly with South America.  As World War II built up, the United States Government became increasingly worried about the influences on South America and thus this short was done to encourage the relationship between South America and United States farmers.  It was nominated for an Academy Award.  (For more on this time period check out the documentary Walt and El Groupo or the book South of the Border with Disney.)  It was fun to watch for the repurposed animation from Bambi and from “Farmyard Symphony”.
In order to show the 1961 “Litter Bug” David had to get the permission of legal.  He found this so entertaining that he brought the email to share with us.  According to the Disney legal department “Litter Bug” showed Donald in a “negative light.”  You see, Donald is a litter bug in the short.  This point is pretty funny because while Donald is a good Duck at heart, he’s never been the model citizen.  However, legal went on to say that the pest eradication methods discussed in the short are no longer appropriate (the film shows getting rid of mosquitoes with oil and the pest control book was written by one Dr. D. D. Tee.)   Needless to say, permission was granted for a one time showing provided it was shown in conjunction with other films and explained.  The legal rep went on to say that the theme song sure is ‘catchy.’
The last film shown was a Goofy feature that David remembered seeing in a Driver’s Education class.  Roy P. related that this reminded him of his first job on the lot in 1973 working at the gas station and parking the animators’ cars in their designated parking spaces.  I wonder why legal didn’t want a disclaimer with this one as Goofy demonstrates why alcohol and driving don’t mix.
There was time for some questions and answers.  The film festival representative asked why Disney does not include shorts on front of live action movies anymore.  The answer was fundamentally about economics but they did point out that Lasseter has brought back that tradition with the Pixar releases.  At any rate, the suggestion was to write theatre owners and encourage them as they only pay for the movie to be shown, not shorts.
Another question was asked about why voice credits are not shown.  The discussion that followed was that Walt didn’t want to deter from the characters ‘realness’ and that it was before the strike in the forties.  Although, after the strike, only key animators got credits.  David noted that as a producer that credits are his least favorite thing because even the person who “plugs in a DVD in the conference room” wants a credit.
Someone asked what else was on the restricted list.  While I heard many mutter Song of the South under their breath, the answer was that the majority are WWII films.  David did tell a story about a German film festival asking to show many of these films.  When he was asked his opinion on whether to do this or not, he said that Disney should do it, provided they send a studio rep to set up each short (He wanted to visit Germany!)
“Goofy’s Freeway Troubles” used stop motion animation and a question was asked regarding what else used that.  During some WWII training films it was used as well as a 1970 Ward Kimball effort titled “Dad Can I Borrow the Car?”.
The next question regarded the cleaning of acetate to reuse.  Roy P. answered this one as he remembered working on the lot and watching a forklift dump scenes from the Fox and the Hound in the dumpster.  He also related that it’s very difficult to store them because if they are stacked the paint is so heavy that they sag and then stick together.  David related that in the 40’s there where shortages of supplies so the position of ‘cell cleaner’ was added.  He also noted that Chuck Jones was a cell washer for awhile.  Working on the restoration of Bambi they had to remove tons of scratches.  These scratches were on the original print because of the cell washing.
The final question was is Disney returning to hand drawn animation.  The answer was yes; Princess and the Frog and the upcoming Winnie the Pooh.
I really enjoyed the panel and it went by very fast.  This was basically the same format as the one at the D23 expo but on a much smaller scale (and I had a seat!).

Golden Anniversary Parade

It's just like being there - kinda...
This parade was featured at Disneyland in 1987 to celebrate Snow White's Fiftieth Anniversary.  Enjoy this home video! (What did we do before youtube?)








A parade was also featured in Walt Disney World. The theme parks also used themed paper plates and cups at many food stops.

Golden Anniversary TV Sepcial

For the 50th Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney pulled out all the stops: a parade a Disneyland, reissue of the film, Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Snow White) and of course...A TV special!  This aired on NBC on May 18, 1987.

Popular Science Magazine

I was reading the Disney and more blog when I found out that Popular Science Magazine has all thier magiznes archived on thier website.  Searching for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will produce quite a few hits.  The January 1938 issue has an article "Putting a Fairy Tale on Screen."  In the article there is a discussion of the various sound capturing techinques used.  There is also article on  a marionette kit of Dopey in the October 1938 issue.  Some of the hits bring up adds for just that kit.  Even searching for Disney gives you quite a few hits.  I haven't finished searching and reading yet - there's a wealth of information out there!

D23 First Anniversary

 

March 10, 2010 marked the first anniversary of the D23 community and I celebrated by attending the first anniversary party at Disneyland.  I arrived at the park after a long and traffic-y freeway drive (where I passed the time listening to WEDway Radio podcast all about the Disneyland Hotel) in the early evening.  During check in the D23 team was greeting everyone and aswering questions.  Most commonly asked that I could hear was regarding the Expo.  We were given wrist bands and an infomational sheet.  The welcome letter is brief and to the point but it does detail that D23 has tens of thousands of members from all 50 states and 30 countries.  The announcment informational letter regard the Expo and the announced Destination D event is exactly what you find on the D23 website.

Passholders (and ticket holders) who were in the park at closing time (8) were escorted into the hub area to wait until the party began at 9.  We choose to leave to have dinner and returned at 8:45 when wristbands were let in.  Then we waited hub together for the party to start.  Having been a cast member at Disneyland I am well versed in 'Disney time' and wasn't surprised when cell phones switched to 9 pm we were still listening to Disneys' Music from the Park and waiting for the party to begin.  The voice of Disneyland announced a welcome and we heard the begining of Disney's opening day speech.  They then welcomed us with a few fireworks and a bottleneck into Fantasyland.

We were toward the end of the line so we bypassed the castle and walked around the side of the Matterhorn.  This lead us directly into Small World plaza where we got in line to take a picture with Mickey.

There were also photo locations with the Three Little Pigs, Clarabelle, Clara Cluck, Cinderella/Fairy Godmother/Mice, Brother Bear, The Country Bears, Alice/Hatter/White Rabbit, Pinocchio/Jiminy Cricket, The Hag (Heard Malificent was out, but never saw her)....My favorite was the Hag of course, but the country bears - they were really funny!  You could tell the costumes hadn't been out in a while because they kept having to make sure that the light brown bear (I know, terrible, I can't remember his name) head was attached right.

There were of course yummy desserts all over Fantasyland, and stranger still - beer and wine in Fantsayland! (that cost extra).  The fancier desserts did run out after an hour or so but there was lots of rice crispy treats.  One did land in my purse to make returning to work on Thursday a little more fun!

Most of the attratctions were running, the exceptions being the Matterhorn and the Carousel.  The longest wait was for Peter Pan, but it wasn't bad.  In fact, they also were showing Captain EO and had the Astro Orbitor open too.  They also had the Star Trader, It's a Small World Toy Shop, Le Petit Chalet Gifts, Castle Heraldry, Royal Street Sweets, The Mad Hatter, and the one in the castle (don't remember the name) all open.  It wasn't anything we couldn't get any other time though so I didn't see much shopping.  In fact, there was no D23 merchandise anywhere.

There were lots of media and Disney 'VIPs' walking around the park (ie Dave Smith and Tony Baxtor).  Some allowed people to form lines for pictures or autographs.  You had to know who you were looking for and be good a reconginzing the people.  I was kind of sad it wasn't more offical because it was more luck if you ran into them, but it did create a more relaxed atmosphere.  The Village Haus was closed as a place for the VIPs and D23 employees.  They had a little Disneyland history with the Roundabout Walt used to drive around the park.

When leaving the party you could walk down mainstreet or ride one of the omnibus, firetrucks, or other main street vehicles.  The park was very empty looking.  Reminded me of my old cast member days.  Everyone got a giant pin for the first anniversary (the same that was given in Disney World).
The event overall?  It was expensive and inconvenient being in the middle of the week.  The character locations were dark and unpredictable and who knew if you'd find a VIP at all.  Plus there was no D23 merchandise.  And the elclairs did run out early in the night.   But all and all it was a fun night and I'd do it again.

Oscar Weekend with Walt and Snow White

With the Academy Awards upcoming this Sunday there is a wide variety of information about Oscars of the past. For a nice look at Walt's history with Oscar see the D23 article.

 
In 1939 the 11th award ceremony took place at the  Biltmore Hotel.  The ceremony was on Februray 23 (a Thursday - no less) and was hosted by Frank Capra, the then Academy President.  You Can't Take it With You took the grand prize (and what a great movie it is).  Spencer Tracy and Betty Davis took home the top awards.  Four out of the five best short cartoon were Disney (Ferdinand the Bull won).

And Walt Disney was given special recongniztion for:  "a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."

You can see the Oscars at the Walt Disney Family Museum.  You can find a list and some pictures of other Oscars here.  On March 23 1986 Tony Danza hosted Walt Disney Goes to the Oscars: you can find this special posted in YouTube.