Chris Van Allsburg: Imagination that Inspires the Impossible

        If you grew up in the 1990s, like me, you probably read all kinds of different children’s books. You may have read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond in 1985, or The Rainbow Fish written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister in 1992, or even Stellaluna written and illustrated by Janell Cannon in 1993. But do you remember Chris Van Allsburg’s work? Chris Van Allsburg won two Caldecott Medals (award for Most Distinguished American Picture Book for children) for writing Jumanji in 1981 and The Polar Express in 1985. Both these and others by him have been turned into movies, and he contributed artistic talent to one of Disney’s most beloved films, as well.

Chris Van Allsburg was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, 1949. His parents initially raised him and his older sister on a farmhouse, but the family moved to an actual home in Grand Rapids when he was three so that he could walk to school. After graduating High School in East Grand Rapids, he went to the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Michigan, which included an art school at the time. There, he majored in sculpture, learning all kinds of techniques including bronze casting, wood carving, and resin molding. After graduating the University of Michigan in 1972, he continued studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Sculpture in 1975. After graduating there, he built his own sculpture studio at home.

Although Van Allsburg struggled with ideas of what to sculpt at first, he began sketching some ideas that his wife, Lisa (whom he married in 1974), thought would be good in children’s books. She showed the work to an editor, who agreed to contract his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi which was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1979. The book was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal. Van Allsburg’s second children’s book, Jumanji, was published two years later. He also created illustrations for a series of books called “The Enchanted World,” which were published between 1984 and 1987 and were written by various authors.

Soon after, Chris hatched a new idea. As an adult, he always loved to reminisce about childhood visits to Herpolsheimer’s and Wurzburg’s department stores in Grand Rapids. To him, being at those stores to him, always felt like visiting Santa Claus at the North Pole. This conjured up the idea of a young boy meandering around on a cold, wintry night becoming curious when he sees a train, only to discover that the train was headed to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus. This became the story line for “Polar Express,” and Van Allsburg based the train itself off of the Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive, which is a restored train that he played on as a child. The book was officially published in ’85, and Van Allsburg won his second Caldecott medal for it the following year. 

After writing Two Bad Ants in 1988, Chris Van Allsburg was very fortunate enough to be hired by Walt Disney Animation to work as a Visual Development Artist for The Little Mermaid (1989). He published his first novel, The Widow’s Broom in 1992. Following that, Columbia/TriStar Pictures hired Van Allsburg to write the screen story for the movie version of Jumanji (1995) starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt. He continued writing and illustrating books, including Bad Day at Riverbend, which was published that same year and he illustrated A City in Winter which was written by Mark Helprin in 1996. He wrote and illustrated Zathura in 2002, which was a sequel to “Jumanji,” that took place in space instead of the jungle, though the books featured different leading characters. He also served as executive producer on the romantic comedy-drama How to Deal (2003).

Around the time of working on both “Zathura,” and “How to Deal,” Van Allsburg received word that Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis were interested in making a movie of “Polar Express.” Hanks himself had optioned for the movie version as early as 1999, but at the time, the film was to be live-action. Zemeckis, however, later ruled that a live-action movie “would look awful and would be impossible” Zemeckis also felt that the book’s artistic style “was so much a part of the emotion of the story,” and would be completely lost in a live-action movie. 

That being the case, the process known as “performance-capture technology” was invented exclusively for the movie. It involved all the actors wearing camera dots on their faces used to detect all their movements and the filmmakers then connected the animation to their actions via computer. Zemeckis co-wrote, co-produced and directed the film, though he invited Chris Van Allsburg to executive produce so that the film would be true to the original vision of his book. The film received three Oscar Nominations, for Best Original Song “Believe,” Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Best Achievement in Sound Editing. It was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the very first film produced on “Performance Capture.”

The following year, Columbia/Tri-Star produced the film version of Chris Van Allsburg’s other book, “Zathura.” Zathura: A Space Adventure was directed by Jon Favreau and starred Josh Hutcherson as the older brother, Walter. Hutcherson had previously shared the voice-over role of the Hero Boy in “Polar Express,” with Daryl Sabara while Tom Hanks provided the performance-capture movement for the part. He published the books Probuditi in 2006 as well as the novel Queen of the Falls in 2011. When Columbia rebooted the “Jumanji,” films with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and it’s sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), they did not involve Van Allsburg, though he was given screen credit in both movies for having written both the book as well as the original film’s screenplay.

Chris Van Allsburg is a remarkable children’s book author. He will always be remembered for “Jumanji,” and “Polar Express,” as well as the films that those books inspired, but more importantly, he will be remembered for writing creative stories that inspire children to believe in the value of imagination and the impossible. And “The Little Mermaid,” certainly wouldn’t be the classic that it’s considered today had it not been for his visual development skills.

Mae Questel: Boop-Oop-Da-Bethany

    Comedy is a favorite in Holiday Movies. And while the main characters tend to get most of the laughs, there are also on occasion supporting characters that bring the house down. It’s hard to imagine Elf (2003) without Bob Newhart as the timid but lovable Papa Elf who narrates the story and raises Buddy, or Home Alone (1990) without Devin Ratray as Kevin’s older brother, Buzz McCallister, who purposefully treats his little brother as though he were beneath him. In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about someone else who brought big laughs to the beloved holiday classic, “Christmas Vacation,” even while appearing in just a few scenes. And that wasn’t even the most interesting part of her career! 

Mae Questel was born on September 13th, 1908 in The Bronx, New York. She knew from the time she was a child that she wanted to be an actor, and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and with The Theatre Guild. Tragically, her parents forced her to drop out and pursue another career. Despite that, young Mae Questel refused to give up on her dream and at age 17, she won a talent contest at RKO Fordham Theatre for impersonating a singer named Helen Kane (known as the “Boop-Oop-A-Doop Queen”). Mae found herself an agent and began regularly performing as a vaudevillian, impersonating celebrities like Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Eddie Cantor, and various others. Her impressions ultimately caught the attention of Max Fleischer, who at the time was looking for an actress who’d be willing to voice his cartoon character, Betty Boop. Questel was hired and wound up voicing Betty Boop for seven years and in more than 150 cartoon shorts.

Two years into voicing Betty Boop, Questel landed the voice-over role of Popeye the Sailorman’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl. She also made an uncredited appearance in The Great Ziegfeld, released in 1936. She retired both the characters of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl in 1938, though she returned to Olive Oyl in 1944 and continued to voice her until 1962. Questel made her Broadway debut in 1948 in Doctor Social, opposite Dean Jagger, and her first credited film appearance wasn’t until 1961 in the drama-comedy A Majority of One (1961), which starred Rosalind Russell and Sir Alec Guinness. Questel was later cast as Mrs. Strakosh in Funny Girl (1968), the biopic based on the life of Fanny Brice which starred Barbara Streisand. It is ironic that Questel would appear in this movie because when she performed as a vaudevillian, Fanny Brice happened to be one of the many celebrities that she impersonated.

She later appeared with Streisand’s former husband Elliot Gould in Move (1970). She appeared in episodes of Somerset (1970-1976) and All My Children (1970-2011) as well. 

In 1989, Mae Questel was cast in her final film role as Great Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. During the Christmas Eve Dinner scene, the Griswold’s acknowledge that it’s Bethany’s 80th birthday, despite the fact that in reality, Questel turned 81 while the film was being made. She was also 19 years older than William Hickey, who played her husband Great Uncle Lewis in the film. (Just the year prior to “Christmas Vacation,” Questel made her final voice-over appearance as Betty Boop in Disney’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).) She died due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease on January 4th, 1998 at the age of 89. 

Mae Questel is best-known for lending her voices to both Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, though her legacy also lives on in the role of the feeble-minded Great Aunt Bethany. Her role in “Christmas Vacation,” helped popularize the iconic film, though her distinctively high-pitched voice helped make every role she played enduring and timeless. It is truly unforgettable when Aunt Bethany is asked to say “Grace” (or the blessing) at the dinner table scene of “Christmas Vacation.” Bethany replies “Grace, she passed away 30 years ago,” then proceeds to recite the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Families all over America will laugh at that scene all week long! 

Peggy Lee: The Lady in Lady & The Tramp

        What qualities does one typically look for in a singer? A melodious voice, exceptional pitch or range, and a resonating tone are all examples, and it depends on the music genre as well. In today’s blog I want to tell you about someone who who has given us all that and more, in the style of both jazz and popular music, throughout her 60 year career. In addition to a remarkable career in the music industry, she became an Oscar-nominated actress, and of course she gave both her acting and music talents to one of the most beloved Disney films produced in the 1950s.

Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom on May 26th, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota. As a child, she worked as a milkmaid, and started getting paid for singing as a teenager. She landed her first professional singing job performing on KOVC Radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She later performed on WDAY in Fargo, where Radio Personality Ken Kennedy gave her a new stage name, Peggy Lee. As a result, she left North Dakota to try her luck as a singer in Los Angeles at age 17. However, it was while working at the Doll House in Palm Springs that she received an offer to perform regularly at a nightclub in Chicago called “The Buttery Room,” and while performing there she was noticed by Benny Goodman, who at the time was looking to replace his band’s lead singer, Helen Forrest. He gave her an offer to perform in his band in 1941, which she did for two years.

Lee’s first two number-one hit songs were “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place,” in 1942 and “Why Don’t You Do Right?” in 1943, performing with Goodman’s orchestra. She also appeared as her herself with the orchestra in both the movies Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl in ’43. She was fired by Goodman when she married the orchestra’s guitarist, Dave Barbour. Together, Lee and Barbour had a daughter, Nicki Lee Foster, and they wrote several songs together, including “I Don’t Know Enough About You,” “Golden Earings,” and “It’s a Good Day.” Sadly, Lee and Barbour’s marriage ended in divorce after eight years, though she later reconciled with Goodman and made record with him, Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee, released by Columbia records in 1949.

In 1948, Lee teamed up with Perry Como and Jo Stafford for the NBC Radio Program The Chesterfield Supper Club (1944-1950). She made her debut as an actress, co-starring with Danny Thomas in The Jazz Singer (1952) a remake of the Al Jolson 1927 film of the same name. That same year, she recorded the album Road to Bali: Selections From the Paramount Picture, released by Decca Records. It was in this film that she sang the song “Lover,” which was another hit single for Capitol Records. 1955 was one of the busiest years of her entire career, because in addition to receiving a Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nomination for playing an alcoholic Blues singer in Pete Kelly’s Blues , she was hired by the Walt Disney Studios as a primary contributor to the animated classic Lady and the Tramp.

Hiring Lee to work on “Lady and the Tramp,” was a groundbreaking decision. It was the very first time throughout in the studio’s history that a well-known celebrity was hired to be in one of their movies. Even more importantly, Lee wrote the lyrics to the majority of the film’s soundtrack, including the lullaby “La La Lu,” and classics “Bella Notte,” and “He’s a Tramp.” In addition to writing the lyrics, she provided the voices of Lady’s human owner, Darling, and Peg the pekingese as well as Aunt Sarah’s mischievous cats, Si and Am. The film wasn’t very well-reviewed in its initial release, but it is considered a classic today. (“Lady and the Tramp” film was remade for Disney+ in 2019.)

Lee released her very first solo Christmas album in 1960, entitled Christmas Carousel, which featured “Winter Wonderland,” “The Christmas Song,” “I Like a Sleighride,” and other classics. She was nominated for 12 Grammys throughout her career and finally won for the song “Is That All There Is?” which was released by Capitol in 1969 and also featured arrangements by Randy Newman. Lee’s final album for Capitol Records, “Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota,” was released in 1972. And in 1983 she made her Broadway debut at the age of 62 in autobiographical play that she wrote entitled “Peg,” which sadly was not a success. 

Due to an unfortunate heart attack, as well as complications from diabetes, Peggy Lee died in Los Angeles on January 21st, 2002 at the age of 81. In 2003 there was a concert tribute to her at Carnegie Hall in New York called “There’ll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee,” which featured performances by Petula Clark, Rita Moreno, Nancy Sinatra, and many others. She undoubtedly was a performer of many talents and will forever be remembered for having a smooth yet sophisticated singing voice and bringing it to “Lady and the Tramp.” (It’s hard to imagine the iconic “spaghetti-dining sequence” from “Lady and the Tramp” without Lee’s beautiful lyrics.)

Santa Fun for the Whole Family

        Long before Tim Burton produced Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and before Nick Park and Peter Lord directed Chicken Run (2000) for Dreamworks, there was Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. Do either of those names ring a bell? These two men founded Rankin/Bass Productions Inc. on September 14th, 1960, remaining in busyness together for 27 years. If you’re like me, and look forward every year to watching “Rudolph,” you have these two men to thank.

Rankin/Bass produced a variety of feature films and television specials, unitizing stop-motion animation. Several of the television specials they produced were holiday-themed and the very first special was the beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) starring Burl Ives—a huge hit. Ten years later, they produced The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), based on the book of the same name by Phyllis McGinley. “Year Without a Santa Claus,” was also a success, and while it didn’t quite outdo the success of “Rudolph,” it ultimately resulted in more modern versions: a live-action remake released in 2006 and a sequel, A Miser Brothers’ Christmas, released in 2008. And it’s no slouch either, rating 7.8 on IMDB’s 10-point scale.

This story is heartwarming: Santa Claus comes down with a cold at Christmas time and decides to take the year off when his doctor tells him that fewer kids are believing in Santa Claus. Mrs. Claus takes matters into her own hands by sending two elves named Jingle and Jangle down to the city to find people who still believe in Santa Claus. On their way the elves encounter a friendly boy named Iggy who says believing in Santa Claus is for little kids, but when Santa himself shows up, Iggy soon changes his mind. A fight over the town ensues between “Snow Miser” and his brother, “Heat Miser” but, Mother nature helps her sons learn to compromise, and the first snowfall in ages help Santa realize how much he means to children.

 

The “Year Without a Santa Claus,” includes a very talented voice cast, some of whom reprised their characters for other Rankin/Bass specials and who appeared together in other projects:

• The film starred Mickey Rooney as the voice of Santa Claus. Rooney had previously voiced Santa Claus in the Rankin/Bass special Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970) and he reprised the role for Rankin/Bass’s Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979) and in A Miser Brothers’ Christmas (2008) which was produced by Warner Brothers Animation and directed by Dave Thomas.
• Dick Shawn voiced the frosty Snow Miser, and he and Mickey Rooney appeared together in the film It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963).
• George S. Irving provided the voice of the hot-headed Heat Miser and he reprised that role in “Miser Brothers’ Christmas,” as well.
• Shirley Booth, who won a Best Actress Oscar in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) lent her voice to the spunky Mrs. Claus and this was her last acting credit before she retired from acting permanently.

Why does a film like this continue to hold up today? First of all, it’s a beautiful reminder how one is “never too old to believe.” It’s also full of amusing tidbits: Mother Nature having two sons (Makes you wonder who the father could have been too?), and the chuckles that from watching Jingle and Jangle resemble their namesake bells.

Christmas is a time for fun, and this film brings loads of it—it’s definitely a kid film first, but adults will enjoy the great animation, and the silliness of Snow Miser and Heat Miser fighting over control of the city’s weather. In any case, it’s become a family tradition for many, and is one of those movies, like “Rudolph,” that helps us usher in the wonderful Holiday season!