"Heigh-Ho"

N'er was there a crueler Monday than the one after a holiday....

"Give a Little Whistle"

"Give a Little Whistle" was written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington. The song was published in 1940 and was of course introduced in Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the second Disney animated feature.

WALL-E's heavy, heavy rotation

Damn, I love this movie....

I guess if it was the only music available on Earth, one might listen to these two selections from Hello, Dolly! (1969) over and over again. I happen to like them both, alot, but I wonder if I would if it weren't for the inclusion of them in WALL-E.


"Put On Your Sunday Clothes"
(I'll never hear this now and not think of WALL-E "humming" it.)


"It Only Takes a Moment"

"Down to Earth"

Wikipedia entry:

"Down to Earth" is a single and part of the soundtrack album WALL-E, sung, written and produced by Peter Gabriel featuring The Soweto Gospel Choir; the music was composed by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman.

The song has been nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 66th Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards. It won the Grammy for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture.

The post in which I make you cry

Here, you might need these:

In Texas, hunting, and deer hunting, specifically, is a huge part of our culture. And here in East Texas, it's an even bigger deal. I've been deer hunting one time, about twenty years ago, doing it with several die hard hunters. The "peer pressure" was tremendous to shoot one. I got to the moment of truth where I actually had a deer in my scope. And. I. Just. Could. Not. Do. It. Couldn't do it! And I knew/know well why -- Bambi. I'd been effectively and irrevocably "Bambi-fied." Sounds like I share some good company, based on a recent poll reported by Telegraph.co.uk:

Walt Disney's classic animated film Bambi has been voted the best "tear-jerker" of all time, despite being 66 years old.

The tale of love, life and loss which follows the story of a young deer has touched generations of young fans since its release in 1942.

Its "lump in the throat moment" comes when Bambi's mother is shot by hunters.

Her actual death is never shown, instead, the fawn's father tells him quietly: "Your mother can't be with you any more," as they walk off into the snow together.

The film was named best tear-jerker in an online poll of more than 3,000 people, carried out on behalf of Pearl and Dean, with 18 per cent of the vote.

Sir Paul McCartney has credited the film with turning him vegetarian.

In an interview three years ago, he said: "I think that made me grow up thinking hunting isn't cool."

Are you ready for this? Sure? Allrighty then:

Okay, that is pretty rough, but I still think this scene from Dumbo tops even that one. I can clearly remember my mother (who brought my little sister and me to see it in this Galveston theater, during the October 1972 re-release) crying during this:

Are you sure you want to do this to yourself?
The brief, minor chord reprise of the "Baby Mine" melody at the end gets me every time.

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)

skip ahead past the FBI warning to :30

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo"

From the Wikipedia entry:

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (also called "The Magic Song") is a novelty song, written in 1948 by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston. It was introduced in the movie Cinderella, in 1950.

A recording by Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters was the most popular. It was recorded on November 7, 1949. The flip side was (another one from Cinderella) "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes." The recording reached #14 on the Billboard chart.

Another recording, by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae, was released by Capitol Records (although there's just something about Jo Stafford's voice I don't like, listen to that version here). The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on December 16, 1949 and lasted 7 weeks on the chart, peaking at #19.

But obviously the best version of the song is in its original inception, in the Disney classic, Cinderella, with Verna Felton as the Fairy Godmother:

Alice

Along with Peter Pan (1953), Alice in Wonderland (1951) is one of my favorite Disney flicks. They are both from that great period in Disney animation history. Disney cartoons have always been about whimsy, and Disney didn't get much more whimsical than Alice in Wonderland. This trippy psychedelic mesmerizingly beautiful video and song was supposedly made by a nineteen-year-old Australian guy and is comprised of sampled bits from the film's soundtrack.

"Love Is a Song"

Despite the fact that the majority of males in East Texas are passionate about deer hunting, I simply can not do it, in large part because of (I've had deer in my site and could not squeeze the trigger):



Judy Marsh and Donald Novis
Music: Frank Churchill
Lyrics: Larry Morey
Performed by: Donald Novis
From: Walt Disney's Bambi (1942)

"Heigh Ho (Dwarfs' Digging and Marching Song)"

Music by Frank Churchill, lyrics by Larry Morey - from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)


The names of the Seven Dwarfs ("Bashful," "Doc," "Dopey," "Grumpy," "Happy," "Sleepy" and "Sneezy") were chosen from a pool of about fifty potentials. Blabby, Jumpy, Shifty, and Snoopy were among those that were rejected (along with Scrappy, Cranky, Dirty, Awful, Silly, Daffy, Flabby, Jaunty, Biggo Ego, Chesty, Bald, Gabby, Nifty, Sniffy, Burpy, Lazy, Puffy, Dizzy, Stuffy and Tubby (Wikipedia entry).

"A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"

"A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" is a song written and composed by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston for the Walt Disney film Cinderella (1950). In the song Cinderella (as sung by Ilene Woods) encourages her animal friends to never stop dreaming, and that theme continues throughout the entire story.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Original theatrical poster from Wikipedia
From the Wikipedia entry:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 animated feature, the first produced by Walt Disney. Although it was not the first full-length animated feature to be produced (the 1917 Argentine film El Apóstol holds that distinction, and there are seven other earlier ones), it was the first animated feature to become widely successful within the English-speaking world and the first to be filmed in Technicolor.

The film premiered on December 21, 1937, with a wide theatrical release by RKO Radio Pictures on February 8, 1938.

Snow White was the most successful motion picture released in 1938, and is the tenth highest-grossing film of all time within the United States when adjusted for inflation.

Snow White was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Fantasia), ranking #49.

In 1989, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Adjusted for inflation, the film is the highest grossing animated film.

"You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!"

Partly because it's my favorite Disney song from what is probably my favorite Disney cartoon, but primarily because someone uploaded it, here is the "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" segment from Peter Pan. I most likely saw it for the first time during the film's 1969 reissue (Peter Pan was first released in '53, then '58). There will always be a magical quality about this for me (I hope!):



Bow down to the Disney animators - every speck of pixie dust was hand drawn.


I love the music from Peter Pan, primarily "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" My little sister and I spent a lot of time listening to the Peter Pan soundtrack. It's some of the earliest music I can remember (also "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus's Garden"). "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" was written by Sammy Cahn and Sammy Fain. The singers are The Jud Conlon Chorus and The Mellomen - are they not the sound of fifties' mainstream culture?!



Noteworthy trivia about the film (from its Wikipedia page):

This film marked two "lasts" for Disney: 1) This was the final Disney film in which all nine members of the Nine Old Men worked together on it as directing animators. 2) It was the last Disney animated feature to be distributed by RKO Radio before Disney started its own distributor, Buena Vista.

The phrase "second to the right and straight on till morning" was changed into "second star to the right..." for the Disney version, however the phrase was said by Peter Pan while standing on one of Big Ben's clock hands. Also, since the film came out, non-Disney versions have used the term "Never Never Land" as opposed to "Neverland".

The melody for "The Second Star to the Right" was originally written for Alice in Wonderland (1951) as part of a song to be entitled "Beyond the Laughing Sky".

Though the film was extremely successful, Walt Disney himself was dissatisfied with the finished product. He felt that the character of Peter Pan was cold and unlikable, not to mention adult-hating.

Initially planned for the film was a scene where Tinkerbell is dying and Peter sings a song to save her. This scene was cut for pacing purposes and Tinkerbell appears with Peter later in the film and no explanation is given as to her healing.

Ronald D. Moore, one of the executive producers and developer of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica," has cited this film as the inspiration for one of the recurring themes of the T.V. series concerning the cyclical nature of time. The first line of the film, "all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again," has been featured prominently in the "Battlestar Galactica" series as a piece of scripture often repeated by characters.


Bonus image:Nana!

Virtual Disney

A site called WDWLIVE has this webcam that overlooks Main Street USA in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. At first, it is easy to be fooled, because it isn't actually a live shot. Only the Disney company could set up a live cam in the park, so what WDWLIVE has done is the next best thing. Here is their explanation:

Is this a LIVE web cam? Of course not. Only Disney could offer something like that. Instead, we offer you dynamic video footage looking down Main Street U.S.A. Depending on the time of day you visit our web cam, the video adjusts itself to reflect real "daylight" conditions. Our unique algorithm also randomizes the video you see within the time block of your visit. And if you visit at just the right time, you might be lucky enough to get a glimpse of Share a Dream Come True, SpectroMagic or Wishes!

The footage was filmed over several trips to the World, starting in 2004 (like the near-empty Main Street video that plays late at night) and the latest being in September 2006 (that's why the Castle has the mirror but not all the spirals). In all there are about 300 clips and almost 4 hours of footage. Some clips play at specific times, like Share a Dream at about 3:10 pm, Spectromagic around 9:00 pm and Wishes at 10:00 pm. Other time periods have a set of clips (usually around 10 to 20) that randomly play (but not the same twice in a row). The SAME SET of 300 clips play every day.

The cam is not perfect. It will not match the sunlight conditions 100% perfectly, nor will it match the weather in anyway. In short, do not take the cam too seriously. It is just something that has been created for fun … something to give WDW fans (like myself) their greatly needed Walt Disney World "fix" ... to get that feeling of "being there" without actually being there. Enjoy it for what it is.

What struck me initially about the footage are all the sounds. It actually sounds like the happiest place on Earth! Check it out.

Here's a pretty good video someone made in the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland (practically identical to the one at Disney World):


This is video (mostly dark, but great sounds) of the Peter Pan's Flight (probably my favorite the last time I was there back in 1976) at Disneyworld:


And a great video of the Alice in Wonderland ride in Fantasyland at Disneyland:

The Black Hole

I saw Disney's The Black Hole back in 1979 when it first came out. A plot summary from Ultimate Disney:

In the late 1970s, The Black Hole was the Disney studio's full-force venture to make a sci-fi epic, coming on the heels of Star Wars. From the bombastic opening overture and impressively elaborate, high-tech opening credits, you expect a grand-scale space opera and on the surface, it appears to be that.


I was very much into Star Wars (1977) at the time, so I definitely would have been part of the target audience for The Black Hole. It may have been the last Disney movie (before Pixar) that I saw in a theater. The Wikipedia entry has some interesting info:

Widely regarded as Disney's answer to Star Wars (though work on the film was already underway as early as 1975), at $20 million it was the most expensive picture produced by the company to date. It was generally not well received by critics, although the special effects were highly praised. The movie earned $25 million at the US box office, making it the 13th highest grossing film of the year.

V.I.N.CENT was what you would get if you combined R2D2 and C3PO

The film was nominated for cinematography and visual effects Academy Awards and was notable for being the first Disney film not to have a universal rating, due to mild language (being the first Disney film to include profanity of any type) and scenes of human death never seen in a Disney production before. To that end, it was rated PG in the U.S. (also another first for Disney). Along with frequent subtexts, there were also metaphysical and religious themes expressed through the film, a first for any Disney film. This film led the company towards experimenting with more adult-oriented films, which would eventually lead to the creation of its Touchstone Pictures arm to handle films considered too mature in nature to carry the Walt Disney label.

1980 VHS release from Wikipedia
The Black Hole has been released several times on VHS and DVD. It is actually one of the very first Disney videos ever made, the first release being 1980. Although never a huge hit, it has spawned an avid cult following.

I remember being very frightened by the movie, particularly the robot Maximillian. It looks like the folks at Cracked.com had a similar experience as I did, because Maximillian is #6 on their "The 7 Most Underrated Movie Henchmen" list. They have a great video of it, and this description:

The hulking, vaguely humanoid robot Maximillian was the henchman of Dr. Hans Reinhardt (a villain whose primary character trait, it seems, was having crazy blow-dried hair. In this he excelled). Maximillian is a Swiss army knife of destruction, with laser arms, whirling blade arms, a juicer, a blow-drier (for his boss), more laser arms—you name it, he's got it and is probably going to use it to murder you. Plus, he never says anything; he just stares at you and follows you around—even to the bathroom, waiting patiently outside while you do your business.

Even Maximillian's own boss is a little freaked out by Maximillian. And with good reason: When the shit inevitably hits the fan later in the film, the big red robot leaves Dr. Reinhardt trapped beneath some wreckage and hops into an escape craft. Every robot for himself, sucker!

In the psychedelic ending of The Black Hole, Reinhardt is trapped in Maximillian's body, standing atop an infernal landscape. Owned! Who's the boss now, smart guy? Maximillian—King of Hell, fools!

"The Age of Not Believing"

From the Wikipedia entry:

"The Age of Not Believing" is a song written by Richard and Robert Sherman for the 1971, Walt Disney musical film production Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Angela Lansbury sings the song in the motion picture. In the lyrics Lansbury's character expresses how as one grows up, he loses his belief in magic. The song works on two levels, both on the personal level and also thematically for the whole film. For it is an insecure, adolescent Britain, entering into a new, more rational age who must learn to borrow from its own past magic in order to overcome the tremendous challenge which is before it.

When the characters in the film finally learn to trust in magic, they are able to achieve their goals and Britain is saved from the Nazis. "The Age of Not Believing" was nominated for a Best Song Oscar. The Sherman Brothers' entire musical score was also nominated for an Oscar that year as well. This represented the songwriters' fourth and fifth Oscar bids respectively.


Sherman Brothers with Walt Disney (from the cover to Walt's Time)

Radiator Springs

Radiator Springs is a "rural desert town located in Carburetor County on U.S. Route 66, not far from Interstate 40, in the state of Arizona. Radiator Springs was once a bustling community that thrived on the tourism of passing motorists traveling across the country. Once I-40 was built, bypassing the town, the tourists stopped traveling through Radiator Springs, and the town fell into disrepair." (from Wikipedia entry)

Old Route 66
approaching Radiator Springs via Route 66
There is photographic evidence supporting the idea that townsfolk perhaps didn't expect the ultimate result of the construction of I-40:


But despite the tough times Radiator Springs and its residents have been through, evidence was everywhere of a possible turnaround.

the exit sign on I-40 appeared to be new
aerial view, Main Street
Radiator Springs main drag

Glen Rid Motel, now apparently the Racing Museum
Mrs. Piston and Pop n Patch Tire Repair neon



Flo's V8 Café
Cozy Cone Motel

The primary evidence of a turnaround in Radiator Springs was the fact that nearly all of the old neon signs were in perfect condition. Like glittering jewels in the Arizona desert:


Cozy Cone Motel at night
Ramone's House of Body Art at night
Casa Della Tires ("Home of the Leaning Tower of Tires") at night

Flo's V8 Café at night
Radiator Springs Curios at night
Sarge's Surplus Hut neon
view of Main Street neon, via Mrs. Muffler
Main Street neon, traffic perspective
the beautiful, newly refurbished Radiator Springs Drive-In Theater
Plan your own visit, or read about a similar town. Also, there is this really cool Route 66 guide to the “Cars” movie someone put together.