Sally Ann Howes: Truly a Treasure

When Walt Disney produced Mary Poppins (1964), the film became the envy of “James Bond” series producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli. Broccoli had successes with the early James Bond movies: Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), etc., though his three children: Tina, Tony, and Barbara were too young for those movies and Broccoli wanted to produce a movie that his children could grow up on—that could possibly imitate the success of “Poppins.” 

Broccoli discovered that Ian Fleming, ironically the author of the “James Bond” novel series, had also written a book called Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car as gift to his son Caspar. Hence, Broccoli brought the idea of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a movie-musical to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. When it came to cast, Broccoli had hoped to reunite Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews as the respective two leads, Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious. While Van Dyke agreed to play Potts, Andrews declined Scrumptious. Broccoli instead, found another renowned Broadway performer, Sally Ann Howes. While Truly Scrumptious became Howes’ best-known role, she mad quite a versatile career. 

 

Sally Ann Howes was born on July 20th, 1930, in the St. John’s Wood district of London, England. A career as a performer was natural thing for her because she was born into a show business family. Her parents were British comedian Bobby Howes and actress Patricia Malone, brother Peter was a professional musician, grandfather Capt. J.A.E. Malone was a London theatrical director of musicals, and her uncle Pat Malone was an actor on stage, television, and film. Most of her childhood was spent with her nanny and her parents’ theatrical friends, though it was organized and peaceful.

After appearing in school productions, Howes received her first major film offer when a friend of the family, who also happened to be a casting agent, recommended her for the leading role in a film called Thursday’s Child (1943). Producer John Argyle had tested two hundred girls for the part, to no avail, until he saw Howes’ test. After appearing in another film called The Halfway House (1944), Ann Howes was put under contract by Michael Balcon of London’s production company, Ealing Studios, and she appeared in seven films before the age of 20 including: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) and Anna Karenina (1948) with Vivien Leigh.

After getting another contract at Britain’s Rank Organization, she appeared with Sir John Mills in The History of Mr. Polly (1949) and Fools Rush In (1949). Television and stage later came calling and she appeared in the BBC’s Cinderella (1950) as the title character and made her first professional stage appearance in Sandy Wilson’s Caprice in London’s West End that same year. She also married H. Maxwell Cooker that year, but they soon divorced. In 1953, she co-starred with her father, Bobby, in West End’s original production of Paint Your Wagon, featuring music by Frederick Lowe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It flopped on Broadway, but ran for 18 months in London’s West End.

Lerner & Lowe’s next Broadway musical project, My Fair Lady, opened to rave reviews on March 15th, 1956 and starred Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins. When Andrews left the show 1958 to recreate Eliza Doolittle in London’s West End, Lerner and Lowe needed a permanent replacement and they offered the part to Howes. She declined their first offer, as she was attached to appear in Admirable Crichton (1957) with Kenneth Moore. Lerner and Lowe continued to persist and Howes finally accepted their third offer. She was even paid a salary higher than Andrews. During her first performance, she filled in for Andrews before she had officially left and the show’s director, Moss Hart announced that she would play the role and the audience was appalled by the news of Andrews’s absence. When Sally came on stage to perform, she stopped the show with the numbers “The Rain in Spain” and “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and Howes was later quoted as having said her debut in “Fair Lady” was “the most exciting day of my life,” and she remained fond of American audiences for the rest of her life. ’58 was also the year she married Richard Adler, composer of Broadway musicals such as The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, and she adopted his sons Christopher and Andrew.

In 1962, Howes starred in New York City Opera’s revival of Lerner and Lowe’s Brigadoon and she received a Tony Award Nomination for her performances as the Leading role of Fiona MacLaren, making her the very first Broadway actor ever to receive a Tony Nomination for a performance in a Revival. It caught the attention of “Cubby” Broccoli, who knew instantly he had found his Truly Scrumptious for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” In addition to casting Dick Van Dyke, Broccoli also hired many of the same creative team behind “Mary Poppins,” including composers/lyricists Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, Choreographers Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, and Conductor/Music Supervisor Irwin Kostal. “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was initially a commercial flop, but it has achieved near cult status today, and was even re-adapted for Broadway in 2005, playing a total of 285 performances and receiving five Tony nominations, including a Best Actress in a Musical nomination for Erin Dilly for her performance as Truly Scrumptious.

Howes divorced her second husband in ’66 and after “Chitty,” continued to appear on stage in touring productions of The King and I in Britain and The Sound of Music in the United States. In 1972, she married Douglas Rae and they were married for 49 years until his death in September 2021. She appeared in two seasons of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music as well. She never made another film appearance until 1980’s Death Ship. In 1990, she debuted in her one-woman show “From This Moment On,” at the Edinburgh Festival and later brought the show to the John Drew Theatre at Easthampton, New York as a benefit for the Long Island AIDS Association. Her final stage appearance was in a U.S. Tour of My Fair Lady though in this production, she portrayed Mrs. Higgins. (She was later replaced in the tour by Marni Nixon, who ironically had provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film adaptation of My Fair Lady.)

Sally Ann Howes died just this week of natural causes at the age of 91 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She will forever be remembered as Truly Scrumptious, though her career was “truly” remarkable.    

   

 

The Christmas Song That Beat Them All

Jerome Kern was once asked to describe Irving Berlin’s place in American Music and he replied “Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.” One song he wrote early in the 1940’s proves the point. The song I’m referring to is none other than “White Christmas.” Around for nearly eight decades and still beloved today—whether referring to the song or the 1954 movie—brings wonderful memories for many. Today’s blog explores the history of the melodious tune and how it became a classic.

There’s a story that says that Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas,” while staying at the La Quinta Hotel in La Quinta, California, though the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona, insists that Berlin wrote it there. It’s unknown for certain. At one point, he told his secretary, “I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote. It’s the best song anybody ever wrote.” The song was introduced to Bing Crosby, though Crosby initially wasn’t a fan of the song. He doubted its potential, but little could he have ever predicted how synonymous the song was going to become with his career. 

Crosby first performed the song on his NBC Radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941, not long after Pearl Harbor. He would later record the song with the Ken Darby Singers and the John Darby Orchestra playing the tune at Radio Records in Los Angeles. The song was later written into Paramount’s Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire-led film Holiday Inn (1942). Although “Holiday Inn’s,” “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” was the bigger hit at first, “White Christmas,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and it rose to the top of many radio charts, including Billboards, where it remained for 11 weeks. Despite “hit” status, Bing Crosby continued to deny its success, also being quoted as saying “a jackdaw…could have sung it successfully.” But Crosby’s alliance with the song still wouldn’t stop.

Irving Berlin initially began negotiations with Paramount for a film based on his song as early as 1948, though it wasn’t made until 1953. Paramount had intended to reunite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire from “Holiday Inn,” and Blue Skies (1946). Astaire declined due to disliking the script and his desire to be released from his Paramount contract. He was replaced by Donald O’Connor who later quit due to illness. He was replaced by Danny Kaye, with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as Crosby and Kaye’s respective love interests. 

“White Christmas,” was Paramount Pictures’ first film produced in the VistaVision process, which was a widescreen format invented by Paramount, which doubled the surface area of 35 mm film. The film became a universal hit, and was the highest-grossing film of 1954, earning 12 million dollars in theatrical rentals. It even earned Berlin another Best Original Song Oscar Nomination for the song “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.”

Bing Crosby’s original 1942 recording was damaged from constant playing, though it was rerecorded in 1947 by Crosby, and the Darby Singers with the Trotter Orchestra. That is the version most often heard today, and has sold about 50 million copies. One of those copies caught the attention of a five-year-old Michael Buble, which triggering his interest in jazz. Buble himself recorded the song as a duet with Shania Twain on his Christmas album in 2012. Their duet was re-recorded by the cast of Glee that same year. Gwen Stefani and Meghan Trainor also recorded their own versions: Stefani sang the duet version with Seth McFarlane in 2017, and Trainor sang her solo version in 2020.

The movie-musical “White Christmas” was adapted for Broadway in 2008. It opened at the Marquis Theatre on November 23rd, 2008 and played a total of 53 performances. The show received two Tony Award Nominations for Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations, and in addition to including many of the film’s beloved songs, the show also featured Berlin songs that were not written for the movie, including “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” and “Let Yourself Go.” The show was revived the following year in 2009, and played again the Marquis for a total of 51 performances.

Transitioning from pages of music, to movie screens, to the Broadway stage, “White Christmas,” is a special song for many reasons. It’s a song that’s about the kind of Christmas we all want and/or hope to have with lyrics like “Where treetops glisten and children to listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow.” And the irony is, even if we don’t get to experience a white Christmas (which we usually don’t in Texas), just listening to the song itself can still warm our hearts during the holiday season: “May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmases be white!”

  

 

       

Review: "Encanto"

Walt Disney premiered his first-ever cartoon movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) on December 21st, 1937, at the Carthay Circle Theater in Hollywood, California. The film broke ground as the very first hour-and-a-half long cartoon produced on hand drawn animation with color and sound. In the 84 years since then the Walt Disney Animation Studios have released 60 feature-length cartoons. Number 60 is the new film Encanto (2021), which premiered this past Wednesday, November 24th. Here’s my “Encanto,” review:

Mirabel Madrigal lives with her family at the magical Casa de Madrigal (House of Madrigals) in Columbia. Mirabel loves her large family dearly, from her sisters Isabela and Luisa, to her parents Augustin and Julieta, to her good-hearted but slightly overbearing Abuela, and they love her too. However, Mirabel constantly deals with loneliness because everyone in her family possesses magical powers…except her. It is a mystery to everyone why she doesn’t have any powers, and Mirabel herself wants to discover what her gift truly is. When the magical house begins to fall apart and Mirabel’s family also begins to lose their magical powers, a future-predicting uncle named Bruno helps Mirabel learn what she can do to save her house and family…her gift.

This movie tells a wonderful story about what makes each of us unique. The film was co-written and co-directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, who also wrote and directed Disney’s Zootopia (2016), winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar. While “Zootopia,” told a different story, both films emphasized how deep human bonds, rather than judgment helps us all accept each others’ unique contributions.

Bush and Howard shared writing and directing credit with Charise Castro Smith who made her directorial debut with “Encanto.” The film features an Original Score by Germaine Franco as well as Original Songs by Tony-Award-Winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is also credited as a story writer with Bush, Howard, and Smith. The film’s head producer is Clark Spencer who shared the “Zootopia,” Oscar win with Howard and Rich Moore, and it’s Executive Producer is current Head of Disney Animation, Jennifer Lee, who won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for Disney’s mega-hit phenomenon Frozen in 2013. Natalie Nourigat, who also worked as a story artist for “Encanto," wrote and directed an entertaining hand-drawn animated short film, Far From the Tree, that plays in front of the movie. 

The film’s voice cast includes Stephanie Beatriz as the voice of Mirabel Madrigal. Beatriz previously played Carla in this year’s film adaptation of In the Heights, a musical that originated on Broadway and was also written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Angie Cepeda and Wilmer Valderrama voiced Augustin and Julieta Madrigal respectively and while Cepeda makes her Disney debut, Valderrama is also known for voicing Gaxton in Disney/Pixar’s Onward (2020). John Leguizamo voices Uncle Bruno Madrigal and Alan Tudyk voices the family’s pet toucan, Pico. (Both Stephanie Beatriz and John Leguizamo lent their voices to the Ice Age (2002-2016) franchise as well. Leguizamo voiced Sid the Sloth in all five movies and Beatriz voiced Gertie the Dinosaur in Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), the fifth film in the series.)

Overall, “Encanto,” is a beautiful film in which audiences can identify with each of the characters in some way and there is really no villain. With a talented voice cast, visuals by the creators of “Zootopia,” and songs by musical-writing magician, Lin-Manuel Miranda, there’s really nothing not to like. In comparing “Encanto,” to Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), released earlier this year, I would say I liked “Encanto,” better because I’m a huge fan of musicals and I was thrilled to see Disney return to that format. Even if you don’t like musicals, you’ll still feel inspired by the film’s positive message on family and friendship.

    

     

Review: "Ghostbusters: Afterlife"

“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!” Ray Parker Jr. wrote these lyrics for the Oscar-nominated song “Ghostbusters,” the theme song of the film which which was released on June 8th, 1984 and was directed by Ivan Reitman. 35 years later, Reitman’s son, Jason Reitman teamed up with his father and Gil Kenan to reboot the story. In this new version, a modern-day family relocates to a country town and together discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and their role in the continuing saga. While Ivan produced, Jason Reitman directed and co-wrote the script with Kenan. Jason literally “grew up” on the set of the original “Ghostbusters” watching his father direct the original. This is my review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife:

Callie is a single mom with two young children, Trevor and Phoebe, and they have been evicted from their home, relocating to a farmhouse they inherited from Callie’s father in Summerville, Oklahoma. Neither Callie nor the children have ever known anything about him, or how died or what he was up to before he died. They just feel the pain of being abandoned by him. When they relocate, they learn that their father/grandfather was, in fact, Egon Spengler, a former Ghostbuster who played a significant role in the “ghost attack” in New York in 1984. As they continue to find out more and more information about Egon, they ultimately find themselves in trouble with the town sheriff and ultimately with new ghosts.

This movie is unbelievably well-written. It is as funny as it is touching, as it pays a loving tribute to the late-great Harold Ramis, who not only played Egon Spengler, but also co-wrote both of the original “Ghostbusters” films with Dan Aykroyd. Ramis passed away at the age of 69, in 2014, and besides the “Ghostbusters,” series he was also known for co-writing and directing: Caddyshack (1980), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999), and Year One (2009). The original “Ghostbusters,” was the highest-grossing comedy of all-time, succeeded by Home Alone (1990), six years later. That would not have happened had it not been for Harold Ramis, and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” in my view nicely continues the legacy, helping Ramis’ “spirit” to live on in the world of movies.

The film’s main casts consists of Carrie Coon as Callie, McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard as Phoebe and Trevor, respectively, along with Paul Rudd as the summer schoolteacher Mr. Grooberson. Logan Kim plays the kids’ new friend, Podcast. The new characters are entertaining, and the child actors are exceptional in their roles. Spoiler Alert: It is equally entertaining when we finally see Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson return as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddermore along with Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz. While it is disappointing that Rick Moranis does not appear in this movie, the return of the rest of the gang, including a surprise post-script all bring clever humor to the film.

In addition to having an exceptional script by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, the film includes music composed by Rob Simonsen, though the music does include references to Elmer Bernstein’s score from the original. The film was co-edited by Nathan Orloff and Dana E. Glauberman. (Glauberman previously edited Jason Reitman’s Juno (2007)). Costumes were designed by Danny Glicker who received an Oscar Nomination for the costumes he designed for Milk (2008) and Production Design was done by Francois Audoy who did the production designing for Ford v. Ferrari (2019).

On the whole, Jason Reitman did an incredible job making a film based on his special childhood memory. You could say he made us all wish we all could have grown up on the set of the original “Ghostbusters.” If you weren’t a fan of the lady-Ghostbusters reboot, released in 2016, you will rest at ease when you go to the see this movie. Personally, I would rank it as one of the best reboots ever of an ‘80s film series.       

 

Annie Blog

Stories about underdogs are always inspiring. The underdogs seem to always have optimistic attitudes, and they never let huge obstacles keep them from pursuing exactly what they want to achieve. Annie the Musical, tells the heartwarming story of a child underdog who never gives up hope in finding her long lost parents, but ultimately is adopted by the richest man in the universe. A new rendition is on its way to television, so we’ll look at the various versions of this famous story.

Origins of the “Annie,” story date back as early as 1885, when James Whitcomb Riley wrote a poem originally called “The Elf Child.” Riley learned the story of a young girl named Mary Alice “Allie” Smith who lost both her parents when she was nine years old, but was taken under the wing of Captain Reuben Riley and his wife Elizabeth to help with their housework and children, ultimately becoming part of their family. Riley changed the name of the poem to “Little Orphan Allie” in the poem’s third printing, but a typesetting error caused the poem to be renamed to “Little Orphan Annie.”

Flash forward to the early 1920s, and cartoonist Harold Gray, at the time employed by the Chicago Tribune, got the idea for a comic strip called Little Orphan Otto. It was changed to Little Orphan Annie by Chicago Tribune editor Joseph Medill Patterson and was published on August 5th, 1924. Gray created the comic strip in the hopes that it could one day be adapted into film and/or radio. Not only would that happen a few years later, but the comic strip continued appearing as a regular in the “Tribune,” for the next 76 years, until May 13th, 2010.

NBC Radio adapted the comic strip in 1931 and hired Pierre Andre to narrate the program solo with Alan Wallace directing. The radio program continued to air until 1942, and Little Orphan Annie was adapted for film the next year. Released by RKO Radio Pictures, it starred Mitzi Green as the main character. Paramount Pictures released their own version of Little Orphan Annie six years later, in 1938, with Ann Gillis in the title role.

Nearly 40 later, Broadway composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Martin Charnin decided to adapt “Little Orphan Annie” for the stage. The show opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) on April 21st, 1977 and starred Andrea McArdle. While movie audiences were falling deeply in love with Star Wars (1977) at the time, Broadway fell for “Annie,” and the show won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It ran for six years, and closed on January 2nd, 1983, playing a record 2,377 performances and making it the longest running show at the Alvin Theatre at the time. (It was surpassed in 2009 by Hairspray with 2,642 performances.)

Before long the musical caught the attention of Hollywood, and in May of 1982, the original film version of the musical was released by Columbia Pictures. Directed by veteran Director John Huston and starring Aileen Quinn as Annie, Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, and Albert Finney as “Daddy” Warbucks, the movie-musical flopped at the box office, but has gained a cult status today. Strouse and Charnin also produced sequel musicals: Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge in 1989 and Annie Warbucks in 1992, though neither eclipsed the success of the original Broadway hit. A sequel to the 1982 film, Annie: A Royal Adventure! was produced in 1996, but it wasn’t particularly well-received either. Broadway revived the musical for the first time in 1997, though it only played 239 performances.  

In 1999, however, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Network adapted the musical to air as part of The Wonderful World of Disney (1991-present). This film starred Alicia Morton as Annie, Victor Garber as “Daddy” Warbucks, Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan, and Audra McDonald as Grace Farrell. It even featured a cameo by Andrea McArdle. Directed and choreographed by Broadway veteran Rob Marshall, the film was so well-received that it wound up being a bigger hit for ABC than the original 1982 film was for Columbia. The film aired on ABC on November 7th (22 years ago today!) and it was thanks to this film’s success that Rob Marshall would continue to work with Disney: directing and choreographing Chicago (2002), which earned him a Best Director Oscar Nomination, as well as directing Into the Woods (2014), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (2023). (When directing “Into the Woods,” Marshall directed Lilla Crawford in the role of Little Red Riding Hood, who coincidentally had originated Annie in Broadway’s 2012 revival of the show!)

A documentary about the perspectives of those who have played Annie or any of the orphans on Broadway called Life After Tomorrow was produced in 2006. “Annie,” was then re-produced in 2014 by Columbia, though distributed by Sony. This version featured a modern/contemporary version of the plot and took place in “present day” New York rather than “Great Depression,” New York and featured Oscar-Nominee Quvenzhane Wallis as Annie, Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan, Rose Byrne as Grace Farrell, and Jamie Foxx as Benjamin Stacks (a modernized name for Oliver Warbucks.) On December 2nd, 2021, NBC will air an all-new live broadcast of Annie that will star Celina Smith as Annie, Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan, Harry Connick Jr. as “Daddy Warbucks, and Nicole Sherzinger as Grace Farrell.

“Annie,” is a special musical because in addition to being about optimism, it’s about how sometimes life doesn’t always turn out the way you had hoped, but what happens instead can still be pretty good. As they sing in the show “the sun will come out tomorrow.” The show has a unique place in the history of musical theatre, and it will continue to be loved.  

       

 

 

The Founding Blog

October 2021 is a milestone month for the Disney Company. October 1st marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Walt Disney World (as well as the birthday of Disney Legend Dame Julie Andrews!). And yesterday, October 16th, 2021, marks 98 years since Walt and Roy Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (founded on October 16th, 1923). Of course, that small start-up ultimately free into the Walt Disney Company. Let’s look at their story…

Walt Disney created Laugh-O-Grams Incorporated in Kansas City, MO in 1921. The “Laugh-O-Gram,” shorts were cartoons that told versions of classic fairy tales and children stories. The studio was unfortunately forced to declare bankruptcy in 1923, but Walt decided to bring the last “Laugh-O-Gram,” to Hollywood, California. The short, called Alice’s Wonderland stared child actress Virginia Davis in the title role. “Alice’s Wonderland” was a groundbreaking cartoon as it was the first to put real-life actors in animated backgrounds, the special effect technique that would set the stage for Mary Poppins (1964) 31 years later. Walt decided to try Hollywood to see if he could gain anyone’s attention for distribution, and well as start over with a brand new art studio. Fortunately, he was able to do just that.

Margaret J. Winkler, who owned a distribution company in New York, saw “Alice’s Wonderland” and immediately saw its potential. She arranged a distribution deal with Walt and Roy Disney, and together the brothers formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in their uncle, Robert Disney’s garage. They began producing the Alice Comedies series and by 1926, the studio name was changed to Walt Disney Studio. The following year the studio ended production on the “Alice,” series and began production on a new series of cartoons about a character called “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,” a series that would be released under the Universal Studios label.

At this point, Winkler’s husband, Charles Mintz, had taken over the distribution company. In 1928, Disney had hoped to renew the Oswald contract with a larger payment than before, but to his shock, he discovered that Mintz had chosen to produce the “Oswald” series himself and was on the verge of starting his own studio by hiring away many of Disney’s staff. Sadly, there was nothing Walt could do, but he refused to give up, and knew that he needed to come up with a new character. Having befriended a mouse at the “Laugh-O-Gram,” studio, Walt came up with an idea for unrelentingly optimistic mouse named Mortimer. His wife, Lilly, thought the name Mickey would be nicer, and they produced the first ever Mickey Mouse short, Plane Crazy in 1928. It wasn’t long before Mickey Mouse outshined Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Walt later changed the name of studio to Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Although that was the name of the studio, it never truthfully stopped being about both Disney brothers. While Walt would always be the one to come up with the creative ideas, Roy would always be there to oversee the financing as they continued producing Mickey Mouse cartoons, the “Silly Symphony” series (1929-1939), and ultimately feature-length animated movies: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). When Walt passed away in December of 1966, Roy took over as CEO of the company and worked as hard as he could to keep his brother’s vision alive through the movie studio as well as the opening of Walt Disney World. Coincidentally, Roy passed away in the same month as his brother, though five years later in December of 1971. 

Today, the Walt Disney Company is one of the most respected (and largest) corporations in the universe, though it would have gone out of business a long time ago had not been for Walt’s creative vision and Roy’s tenacious effort to hold onto that vision.   

 

Review: "Muppets Haunted Mansion"

The beloved Disney Park Attraction “The Haunted Mansion,” first opened at Disneyland on August 9th, 1969. It was rebuilt for the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World, which opened on Disney World’s opening date, October 1st, 1971. A film based on the attraction, was produced by Disney and released to the public on November 26th, 2003, which starred Eddie Murphy and on October 8th, 2021, a “Muppets” themed special Muppets Haunted Mansion was released to Disney+. Here’s my review of the special:

Gonzo, or “The Great Gonzo,” as his friends call him, and his best pal, Pepe the Prawn, have been invited to a Halloween party at an unknown location. It is not till they arrive that they learn the party’s location is The Haunted Mansion. There they meet the “Ghost Host” (played by Will Arnett) who challenges the two of them to spend the night in the mansion, and if they can they are free to leave the mansion but if not, they are doomed to live the rest of their lives (and “afterlives”) there forever. Gonzo is totally up to the challenge, though Pepe is not; but both agree to take on the challenge. Their adventure includes encounters with celebrity cameos, as well as “easter eggs” that reference the beloved attraction: from the Hitchhiking Ghosts to Madame Leota (or since Miss Piggy plays her in the show, “Madame Pigota”).

“Muppets Haunted Mansion,” has a decent plot. Gonzo claims that he isn’t afraid of anything and loves to be scared, but doesn’t believe that he will be scared just by staying a single night in The Haunted Mansion. What makes the special inspiring is that it reminds us that we’re all afraid of something, and there is no is shame in that whatsoever. However, if we’re arrogant about that and never admit to being afraid, we often find ourselves in an unpredictable amount of trouble that we can’t get out of easily. That’s a unique message that hasn’t been depicted before in other “Muppet” shows.

“Muppets Haunted Mansion,” features celebrities John Stamos, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Taraji P. Henson, as well as one by the late-great Ed Asner, to whom the special is dedicated in his memory. There is also an appearance by Kim Irvine as the maid. Irvine’s mother, Leota Toombs was the model for the character of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attraction. The special is directed by Kirk R. Thatcher, who also directed the Muppets in their made-for-television movie The Muppets Wizard of Oz (2005) and won an Emmy for his contributions to the series Muppets Tonight (1996-1998). Dave Goelz returns as the voice of Gonzo, along with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and various other characters. (Goelz is the only original “Muppet Performer,” involved when Jim Henson first created The Muppets in the mid-1970’s.) Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson, also makes a special appearance as the voice of the character, Sal Minella.

Like most of the “Muppet” movies, “Muppets Haunted Mansion,” is a musical. It features songs with music by Ed Mitchell & Steve Morrell and lyrics by Bill Barretta (who also voices Pepe the Prawn), Kirk R. Thatcher, and Kelly Younger. The songs aren’t exactly as entertaining as the songs you might recall from the feature length “Muppet” movies (i.e. “The Rainbow Connection,” from The Muppet Movie (1979) or “Man or Muppet,” from The Muppets (2011)), but you can enjoy the show’s nostalgic nods to the songs “Dancing in the Moonlight,” by King Harvest as well as the Haunted Mansion theme song “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” with music by Buddy Baker and Lyrics by Xavier Atencio.

All in all, not a bad show, but personally, I believe the feature length “Muppet” films are a bit more entertaining than this particular show. While it does have an inspiring message, its sense of humor gives a bit more for kids to connect to rather than adults. But…we still love the Muppets…wonder what Disney might have in store for them next.  

 

Walt Disney World's 50th!

1964 was a pivotal year in Walt Disney’s life. It was the year he finally produced the film version of Mary Poppins, which at the time was his biggest-ever hit. It was also the year that several beloved Disneyland attractions made their debut in the 1964-1965 World’s Fair: It’s a Small World, Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and Ford Magic Skyway. In addition, it was the year that he began plans for Walt Disney World, which opened on October 1st, 1971. Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will be celebrating 50 years on October 1st, 2021, so today’s blog explores Walt’s contributions to the park, and those who worked to help keep his vision alive.

In 1964, the Walt Disney Company began purchasing land in Central Florida, just southwest of Orlando. The 27,000 acres worth (109 square kilometers) was planned to include a “Magic Kingdom,” a larger and “more embellished” version of Disneyland, but Walt Disney and his brother Roy planned to include golf courses and even more resort hotels. The heart of “Disney World,” however was the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow,” or EPCOT. Walt described EPCOT as taking “an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.”

The Disney Family, however was completely grief-stricken when Walt passed away on December 15th, 1966. Roy Disney visited his brother on his deathbed at St. Joseph’s Hospital, across the Disney Studio Lot, and just a little over an hour after Walt had passed, Roy rubbed his brother’s foot and said “Well kid, it looks like the end of the road.” At that point, Roy Disney knew that he would have to carry on his brother’s legacy, and he hatched the idea of naming the park “Walt Disney World,” instead of just “Disney World,” as a tribute to his beloved brother. 

Roy also continued to oversee the construction of both the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, as well as the financing (which is something he did for the movie studio all of his brother’s life). Walt had originally envisioned both the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT to be combined together as the same park, though it was later decided after he passed that they could be two separate parks. That was helped along when the idea of EPCOT inspired the state of Florida to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) as well as the cities of Bay Lake and Reedy Creek (now known as Lake Buena Vista) which gave Disney the rights to exercise all administrative powers of Disney World. EPCOT opened on October 1st, 1982. In the Magic Kingdom many beloved Disneyland attractions were reconstructed: Peter Pan’s Flight, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Haunted Mansion, though exclusively new attractions were created for EPCOT as well: Spaceship Earth, Impressions de France, and Awesome Planet, which is now named The Land.   

In the early-mid 1980’s (long after Roy Disney passed away, in December of 1971), Walt Disney Imagineers Marty Sklar and Randy Bright were given an assignment to create new pavilions for EPCOT’s Future World Section. Sklar had previously helped Walt design It’s a Small World for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, as well as Disneyland’s Echanted Tiki Room. Together, Sklar, Bright, and their team came up with ideas for the “Great Movie Ride,” and “Wonders of Life,” attractions. When Michael Eisner, then the new CEO of Disney, saw these ideas, however, he thought they should be in a brand new park with a Hollywood theme, strictly dedicated to entertainment and show business. Hence, construction for Disney’s MGM Studios, now named “Disney’s Hollywood Studios,” began, opening on May 1st, 1989. In addition to several new attraction ideas, a satellite Disney Animation Studio was built in the park where animation for beloved Disney movies was made: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). Mulan (1998) and Lilo and Stitch (2002) were both produced entirely at the park’s studio.

The idea for Disney’s Animal Kingdom was conceived by Imagineer Joe Rohde, and when he brought a 400 pound White Bengal Tiger into Michael Eisner’s office at Disney,  Eisner approved the project. Rohde took imagineers to Africa and Asia to study the wildlife there, as well as the landscapes. When landscaping for the park began, a team of over 2,600 Imagineers spread four million cubic yards of dirt, planted 40,000 trees, and created 60,000 miles of underground utilities, waterways, and structures. This park was open to the public on April 22nd, 1998. This parks beloved attractions include: Kilimanjaro’s Safari, Kali River Rapids, and most recently, Avatar: The Flight of Passage, which opened to the public on April 29th, 2017.

Marty Sklar, who became the international ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering, passed away on July 27th, 2017 at the age of 83. In 2013, he published a book called Dream It! Do It! My Half-Century Creating Disney Magic Kingdoms. When interviewed by several Disney fans via AllEars.net, a couple asked him what Walt Disney would think about Disney World and its expansion. Sklar replied that Walt would say “What took you so long?”

It’s hard to believe that Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom has been around for nearly half a century. And it’s also mind-boggling the number of talented Imagineers who worked to help keep Walt’s own vision for Disney World alive. There’s no denying that even after 50 years, their efforts continue to pay off for the millions of visitors who come each year.

 

 

   

Edward Asner: More than Lou Grant

Today the world lost another legend in the world of entertainment: Edward “Eddie” Asner. He died at the age of 91 in Los Angeles, California, the cause of death which has yet to be determined. Ed Asner will be forever remembered for creating the character of Lou Grant on the beloved sit-com The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977), and reprising the character for the dramatic spin-off Lou Grant (1977-1982). He won five Emmys for his portrayal of the character (three for the original show and two for the spin-off.) It’s a rare thing for an actor to receive accolades for portraying the same character in both a comedy and dramatic show, though Asner’s career consists of an incredibly wide range of roles, much more versatile than Lou Grant.

Asner made his acting debut appearing in three episodes of the series Studio One (1948-1958), each of the episodes airing on television in 1957. Three years after that, he won Broadway role in the play Face of Hero in 1960, starring opposite Jack Lemmon. Soon Hollywood came calling. He made his film debut in The Satan Bug in 1965 and El Dorado in 1966, starring with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

When CBS was casting “Mary Tyler Moore,” both Asner and Gavin MacLeod read for the character of Lou Grant. While the network felt MacLeod was better suited for the role of Murray Slaughter, Asner’s initial reading for the role didn’t go well. He begged for a second chance, which they granted, and he was cast in the role. During the show’s run, he became close friends with each of his co-stars on the show: MacLeod, Mary Tyler Moore (with whom Asner had appeared in the Elvis Presley film Change of Habit (1969)), Betty White, and Ted Knight. And, just like Asner, Moore, White and Knight all won Emmys for their respective characters. (Moore and Asner both won Golden Globes as well!) In addition to reprising the character of Lou Grant in “Lou Grant,” the series, Asner reprised the character again in episodes of another “Mary Tyler Moore,” spin-off, Rhoda (1974-1978), and again in Roseanne (1988-2018).

The year before “Mary Tyler Moore,” ended, Asner was hired by Disney to star in the film Gus (1976) opposite Don Knotts. He won a six and seventh Emmy for his work in Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and Roots (1977) and began work in radio in L.A. Classic Theatre Work’s radio production of Babbitt in 1987. He returned to Broadway in 1989 for the revival of the play Born Yesterday. He continued various voice-over work throughout the 90s, voicing the characters of J. Jonah Jameson and Uncle Ben Paker in Spiderman: The Animated Series (1994-1998) and Disney Channel original shows, including Gargoyles (1994-1996) and Hercules: The Animated Series (1998-1999).

Asner gained an entirely new generation of fans when he cast in two different roles in the 2000s. The first: Santa Claus in the holiday cult classic Elf (2003) opposite Will Ferrell and James Caan (who had starred with Asner in “El Dorado.”) While “Elf” is arguably his most iconic portrayal of St. Nick, Asner also voiced St. Nick in the television films, The Story of Santa Claus (1996), Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999), and he even played Claus in an episode in a 2001 episode of The Ellen Show (2001-2002). Asner’s second most beloved, “modern-day” role would undoubtedly be the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Disney/Pixar’s Up (2009), a film that won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and also became the first film since Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) to be nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Before his tragic death, Asner reprised the character of Carl Fredricksen in the Disney+ spin-off series, Dug Days (2021) which will be available to stream on Disney+ on September 1st. He also appeared in the Netflix series Dead to Me (2019-present) which was executive produced by “Elf” co-star, Will Ferrell, and in the Youtube/Netflix “Karate Kid,” reboot series, Cobra Kai (2018-present).

Edward Asner was fortunate enough to act in every medium of entertainment throughout his 71-year-career. While older fans will most often recognize him as Lou Grant, younger fans will cherish him as the voice of Carl Fredricksen or as Santa Claus in “Elf.” He was a true legend who will indeed be missed!

         

The Skeleton Dance Tribute

In the year 1929, Walt Disney began producing the “Silly Symphonies.” The “Silly Symphonies,” were a series of short films created as a way to experiment with new filmmaking techniques, featuring different characters and different stories in each film. Disney produced a total of 75 “Silly Symphonies,” from 1929-1939. They won a total of seven Oscars, and the very first “Silly Symphony,” produced was a film called The Skeleton Dance, released to theaters on August 22th, 1929, 91 years ago today. I thought we could explore the intriguing history of that short.

I’ll begin with a synopsis: On a dark night at a church cemetery, four skeletons arise from their graves and begin dancing and playing musical instruments by using each other’s bodies. They play until sunrise, when they quickly rush back to their graves, forming a chimera (a mythological monster) on their way.

It’s curious that Walt Disney released a short film about skeletons dancing in August, considering that skeletons are synonymous with Halloween, in October. Walt Disney, however, was a big believer in scaring people creatively, often quoted as having said “People like to be scared,” and one could say that he made this short simply to scare people, but in an entertaining way. 

In addition to being the first of the “Silly Symphonies,” “Skeleton Dance,” was very popular, as it was also one of the first shorts Walt Disney produced with fully synchronized sound. (The “other first” was the Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie, released on November 18th, 1928). “Skeleton Dance” was produced and directed by Walt, though it was animated by Ub Iwerks, who was later asked by Columbia Pictures, Disney’s then-distributor, to readapt the short in color for Columbia’s Color Rhapsody series in 1937, and it was renamed Skeleton Frolic.

  

The skeleton characters in the short reappeared in the Mickey Mouse short The Haunted House, released on December 2nd, 1929, and they also appeared in an episode of the Disney Channel Series House of Mouse (2001-2003). They even appear in the Disneyland Paris Attraction, Phantom Manor, which is the Disneyland Paris version of The Haunted Mansion. There is also a level based on the short in the PlayStation3 video game Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, which was released in 2012.

All in all, “Skeleton Dance,” is a haunting, though entertaining short that helped Walt Disney continue to build on his success as a cartoonist. It was known for its unique blend of sound, music, and animation. Had it not been for “Skeleton Dance’s,” success, Disney never would have been able to produce the rest of the “Silly Symphonies” series, or the early “Mickey Mouse” cartoons. They both set the stage for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) eight years later, and the launch of Disney’s world of animation.

    

 

Fred MacMurray: Disney's Best Dad

When we think classic television dads there are many “dads” who fit that bill: Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy (1951-1957), Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), Rob Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966), Herman Munster from The Munsters (1964-1966), Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), and the list goes on and on. Steve Douglas, the father from My Three Sons (1960-1972), is another character who would be included on that list, portrayed for twelve seasons by Fred MacMurray on both the ABC and CBS Networks. While appearing on the show, MacMurray simultaneously began a contract at Walt Disney Studios, and became a close of friend of Walt Disney in real life. In honor of Father’s Day, I thought we could reminisce MacMurray’s Disney legacy, which includes portrayals of fatherly figures. 

Fred MacMurray made his Disney debut as Wilson Daniels in The Shaggy Dog (1959). This film co-starred Tim Considine as Buzz Miller, who coincidentally would go on to star with MacMurray as Mike Douglas in the first seasons of “My Three Sons.” “Shaggy Dog,” was a beloved hit for Disney, being Disney’s first live-action comedy to produce as well as second-highest grossing film of 1959, just under Ben-Hur (1959). His second Disney film, The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), proved an even bigger hit, becoming the very first live-action Disney film to spawn a sequel, Son of Flubber (1963). Fred MacMurray enjoyed shooting the party scene in “Son of Flubber,” because he actually plays the saxophone in the scene and MacMurray had considered a career as a saxophone player before becoming an actor. In between the “Flubber,” films MacMurray made another film for Disney entitled Bon Voyage! (1962), during which Walt Disney himself taught him how to hypnotize chickens. Whoever would have thought that was a thing?

In the first four films he made for Disney, MacMurray acted with Tommy Kirk, who played his older son in “Shaggy Dog,” and “Bon Voyage,” and the son of his main enemy in the “Flubber” films. Kevin Corcoran portrayed his younger son in “Shaggy Dog,” and “Bon Voyage.” Fred MacMurray starred in Follow Me, Boys! in 1966 and The Happiest Millionaire in 1967. These two films would be the Disney/feature film debuts of Kurt Russell and Lesley Ann Warren, respectively. Fred MacMurray later cited “Follow Me, Boys,” as his favorite of all his Disney films, having grown up a boy scout himself. 

“Follow Me, Boys,” also reunited him with Elliot Reid, who portrayed his competitor for the affection of Vera Miles in the film. Ironically, Reid had also portrayed MacMurray’s competitor for Nancy Olson’s affection in “The Absent-Minded Professor,” and in both films the ladies ultimately chose MacMurray’s character. Charles Ruggles, who also appeared in “Son of Flubber,” appeared in “Follow Me, Boys” as well. MacMurray was also sad to bid farewell to his friend Walt Disney, whose December 15th, 1966 death occurred while both “Follow Me, Boys,” and “The Happiest Millionaire,” were still in production. He made his final Disney film Charley and the Angel in 1973, once again reuniting him with Kurt Russell.

Fred MacMurray was somewhat typecast as a chivalrous gentlemanly husband/father throughout most of his career, but he did, on occasion, have roles that weren’t so gentlemanly. He was often quoted as having said his best roles ever were whenever he cast against type. His portrayals of Walter Neff, the insurance salesman who plots with Barbara Stanwyck on how to murder her husband in Double Indemnity (1944) and as Jeff Sheldrake, the womanizing corporate executive executive having an affair with Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960), are two great examples of that. Another example was with Humphrey Bogart and Jose Ferrer in The Caine Mutiny (1954), where he played deceitful Lieutenant Thomas Keefer. These three films were all nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and “The Apartment,” won, but sadly MacMurray never received an Oscar or any major award nomination throughout his entire career.

Fred MacMurray will forever be remembered for his “nice guy” roles, though one can definitely argue that he proved his versatility throughout his career and certainly was underrated as an actor. He retired from acting in 1978 after working for nearly 50 years, due to throat cancer and he passed away at the age of 83 on November 5th, 1991, having suffered from both leukemia and pneumonia. His adopted daughter, Kate MacMurray remembers her father being interviewed a few years before he passed away and the interviewer asked him how he’d like to be remembered and MacMurray replied “Fondly.” Taking into consideration the films he made for Disney, we certainly will remember him fondly.