1961: The Beginning of the End
The 1960s was an incredible decade in our nation’s history, especially in the year 1961. On January 20th of that year John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was sworn in as President of the United States of America. On April 23rd of ’61, Judy Garland performed her legendary “comeback” concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and on August 5th the theme park Six Flags Over Texas officially opened in Arlington, TX. The 1960s was also the decade that all movie studios had to modernize their styles of filming because the “counterculture” revolution began. Cultural and political perspectives around the globe were beginning to change the way audiences viewed movies and they demanded more from their films. So, Walt Disney made his contribution to the ‘60s by producing films that experimented with new technology. 1961 is a year full of special films, along with some other notable accomplishments.
On January 25th, 1961, Walt Disney produced 101 Dalmatians. The film was a major ordeal at the studio because it was their first animated feature since Sleeping Beauty (1959), which unfortunately had been a flop two years earlier. It was also their first animated feature to be completely produced using “Xerox photography” instead of their usual “Ink and Paint photography” which was used on every animated film prior to “Dalmatians.” Walt’s long-term friend and business partner, Ub Iwerks was the inventor of the “Xerox,” process and in inventing it, he made it possible for drawings to be applied to Xerox cells as opposed to a piece of paper. He actually first applied it to the dragon fight sequence in “Sleeping Beauty.” “Dalmatians,” was a huge hit for Disney, thanks to the new technology. It received a great deal of critical acclaim, some of whom said it was the closest to a real “Disney” film in years. They had never seen that many animated characters…just think about all those spots.
In ’61, Disney also released both The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap. Like “Dalmatians,” both films were the studios first uses of a new technology. Petro Vlahos, who is credited with having invented the sodium vapor process (live actors performing on a set piece surrounded by lights combined with background footage filmed at a completely different time). Vlahos had originally invented it for Ben-Hur (1959), but came to Disney in the ‘60s where he recreated his process. The sodium vapor process was first applied to “The Absent-Minded Professor.” Robert E. Mattey and Eustace Lycett also added miniatures and wire-supported mockups to Vlahos’s work and the film was nominated for a Best Special Effects Oscar as a result. “Parent Trap,” combined the sodium vapor process with split-screen technology, which is what created the “twins” illusion even though the twins were played by one actress, Hayley Mills. Disney continued use of the “sodium vapor process” in Mary Poppins (1964), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and various other films during the 1970s and ‘80s.
’61 was also the year that Walt Disney had the Disneyland Monorail System extend to the Disneyland Hotel. It was also the year in which he co-founded the California Institute for the Arts, or CalArts for short. CalArts was established as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States for students of visual and performing arts. Several people who attended later became employees of the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios. Famous alumni include Tim Burton, Brad Bird (writer/director of The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007)), and Glen Keane (supervising animator of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989) and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (1991)). Bird and Keane were both mentored by Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men.
Walt Disney achieved many other “firsts” until the very end of his life, which sadly would only be five years later, in 1966, at 65 years of age. But 1961 was a unique year for the studios, and helped set the stage for more to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment