Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s 50th part 1

On December 18th, 1968, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios produced the movie-musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang based on the novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang Bang: The Magical Car written by James Bond author/creator Ian Fleming. The film was produced by Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli who produced several of the early James Bond films from Dr. No (1962) to The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). It was directed by Ken Hughes, who, ironically, was one of five directors on the film Casino Royale (1967)—a comedic spoof of James Bond with Peter Sellers as Agent 007. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang turns 50 years old on December 18th, 2018, and in honor of this milestone anniversary, I’d like to tell you fifty different facts about this magical film. There will be 25 facts in this blog and the other 25 will come later. Please feel free to comment if you’d like!

• Dick Van Dyke initially did not want to make this film, despite receiving several different offers with more money each time. When the offer reached seven figures, plus a percentage of the film’s profits, he accepted the part. He also accepted on the condition that he could play the character of Caracatus Potts with an American accent as opposed to an English accent, having had has cockney accent as Bert in Mary Poppins (1964) widely mocked by critics.
• The film featured the music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, primarily known for the music they wrote for Disney films. They were simultaneously working with Disney on the “Winnie the Pooh,” series. (The second “Winnie the Pooh,” short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was also released in 1968). The Shermans received Best Original Song Oscar and Golden Globe Nominations for “Chitty’s” title song. 
• Julie Andrews was originally offered to play Truly Scrumptious in the film, but declined. Sally Ann Howes, was cast instead, ironically having understudied Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady on Broadway. When Andrews left “My Fair Lady,” to play the female lead of Queen Guinevere in Lerner and Lowe’s next Broadway musical Camelot, Howes permanently took over the role of Eliza Doolittle at a higher salary than Andrews.
• Lionel Jeffries, who played Grandpa Potts in the film, ironically was four years younger than Dick Van Dyke, despite the fact that they played father and son in the movie. 
• Dick Van Dyke has acknowledged that the film’s director, Ken Hughes, was a talented “action” director, but was not a “people” director. Van Dyke said that Hughes hated kids, and Dick would often have to ask him to stop cursing in front of Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall who played Jemima and Jeremy Potts in the film. (Hughes was also dissatisfied with the final cut of the movie). 
• Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes guided the children through the performances and entertained them whenever they weren’t filming. 
• Van Dyke also said that he didn’t get along with Ken Hughes or producer Albert Broccoli.
• The Baron Bomburtst’s castle, Neuschwanstein, was also the model for the castle in Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959), which coincidentally is the Walt Disney Pictures logo and the symbol of the Disney television program Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1954-1991).
• James Robertson Justice, who played Lord Scrumptious, had a stroke not long after wrapping up his role in the movie, and temporarily had to give up acting.
• This film features the choreography of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood who also choreographed Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, in both “Mary Poppins,” and The Sound of Music (1965).
• Irwin Kostal was the conductor for “Chitty,” “Mary Poppins,” and “The Sound of Music.” (He won an Oscar for his contributions to “Sound of Music.”)
• “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” was released in 1968 which was a good year for movie-musicals. That same year, Barbra Streisand burst onto the screen in Funny Girl and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave the Best Picture Oscar to Oliver!.
• Although his performance in the film is exceptional, Dick Van Dyke was smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day and struggling with alcoholism around the time this movie was being made.
• “Chitty,” is the only film appearance of Heather Ripley, who played Dick Van Dyke’s onscreen daughter.
• Dick Van Dyke can briefly be seen in the opening credits sequence of the film waving a blue flag at one of the automobile races.
• In one of his later interviews, Dick Van Dyke said that the most difficult number to shoot in the movie was the “Me Ol’ Bamboo, sequence. He said that the number took 23 takes, and during each of those takes at the end of the number (where he and the other male dancers jumped over their bamboo sticks), someone always missed it. He recalls that on the 23rd take, he just barely made it over the stick himself. 
• While shooting the “Toot Sweets,” number, Dick Van Dyke popped a muscle and was out of dancing for six weeks.
• Gert Frobe, who played the role of Baron Bomburst, in the film is also known for having played the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).
• Ken Adam, who was the Production Designer on “Dr. No,” “Goldfinger,” and many other James Bond films was also the production designer on this movie. He was also the designer of the “Chitty,” cars.
• Six different “Chitty,” cars were designed for the movie. There is one on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu near Southampton UK. Another currently belongs to “Lord of the Rings,”/“Hobbit,” Trilogy director Peter Jackson.
• Dick Van Dyke was close friends with Benny Hill, who played the Toymaker. While filming, both men discovered that they each idolized Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel, and Van Dyke later said that both he and Hill thought “they were born in the wrong era.”
• Dick Van Dyke also recalled that at one point during filming, Robert Helpmann, who played the Child Catcher in the movie, was filming the scene where he’s first riding his carriage to kidnap the children. While Helpmann was on the carriage—but the children were not— the carriage tilted upward and almost crashed. Thanks to his athletic ballet dancing skills, Helpmann miraculously escaped the vehicle just in time before it crashed.
• The “Toot Sweets,” number took three weeks to film, and featured 38 dancers, 40 singers, 85 musicians, and 100 dogs. 
• Heather Ripley, who played Jemima Potts, refused to acknowledge the film for several years because her parents divorced while she was filming the movie.
• The original Broadway production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” opened at the Hilton Theatre on April 28th, 2005 and ran for 285 performances.

A Good Year!

In 1993, President George H.W. Bush signed the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with then Russian president, Boris Yeltsin on January 3rd. On January 20th, William “Bill” Jefferson Clinton was officially sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States. On February 10th, the World Trade Center was bombed, killing six people and injuring over 1,000. On April 10th, Chris Hani, who was an African National Congress Activist was tragically assassinated at the age of 50 in South Africa. And on May 28th, the countries of Eritrea and Monaco officially became part of the United Nations. But, 1993 was also a quite remarkable year for movies. 

It was the year that Steven Spielberg welcomed us all to Jurassic Park and won the Best Picture Oscar of Schindler’s List. Tom Hanks reunited with good friend/frequent co-star Meg Ryan in Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle and won his first Oscar in the category of Best Actor for Philadelphia. ’93 was also the year that Disney released two special Halloween-themed films: The Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus. It was also the year 20th Century Fox hit a “home run” when they released The Sandlot. In this blog, I have a list of films that came out in 1993, and  and I’d like to tell you something about each of them. (Please feel free to comment if you’d like!)

Jurassic Park-The T-rex’s in the film had roars that were a combination of dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant noises. The T-rex would also often malfunction due to rain. The film’s producer Kathleen Kennedy explained: “The T. Rex went into the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Scared the crap out of us! We'd be, like, eating lunch, and all of a sudden a T. Rex would come alive. At first we didn't know what was happening, and then we realized it was the rain. You'd hear people start screaming.”

Schindler’s List-Caroline Goodall, who who plays Oskar Schindler’s wife Emilie, in this film, previously appeared under Steven Spielberg’s direction as Moira Banning, wife of Peter Pan/Banning (played by Robin Williams) in Hook, two years earlier in 1991. Steven Spielberg later invited Robin Williams to the set of this film to tell jokes and perform comedy sketches to lighten up the depressing and gloomy filming atmosphere. 

Sleepless in Seattle-Dennis Quaid was originally considered for the role of Sam Baldwin in this movie—highly ironic, considering his then-wife, Meg Ryan ultimately landed the role of Annie Reid, after that role had been offered to the likes of Julia Roberts, Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jodie Foster. Tom Hank’s real wife, Rita Wilson appears opposite her husband in the movie, though as his sister. 

Philadelphia-Tom Hanks had to lose 26 pounds to play Andrew Beckett in this movie while Denzel Washington was asked to gain some pounds for his role as Joe Miller. To the dismay of Hanks, Washington often ate chocolate bars in front of him.

The Nightmare Before Christmas-Danny Elfman wrote the music for this film and also provided the singing voice of the character of Jack Skellington, as well as the voices of the characters of Barrel and the Clown with the Tear Away Face. Although Elfman is Tim Burton’s frequent collaborator, he and Burton and Elfman experienced “creative difference clashes” during the filming of “Nightmare.” As a result, Burton hired Howard Shore to compose the music for his next film, Ed Wood (1994).

Hocus Pocus-On an interview that she did for the British Broadcasting Company show “Breakfast,” in Feburary of 2008, Bette Midler specifically staid that this film was her favorite of all of her own movies. She later acknowledged in her autobiography, Bette Midler: Still Divine, that her other favorite film role was doing the voice of Georgette the Poodle in Oliver & Company (1988). Both “Hocus Pocus,” and “Oliver & Company,” coincidentally were produced by Disney.  

The Sandlot-David Mickey Evans wrote and directed this baseball classic and provided the narration for this film as the voice of the adult Scotty “Smalls.” He later wrote and directed a direct-to-video sequel, The Sandlot 2 (2005), which takes place ten years later. Evans again provided the voice-over narration, though this time as Scotty “Smalls’” younger brother, Johnnie Smalls. 

Dave-This film was a reunion for several members of its cast and crew. Kevin Kilne had previously appeared with Kevin Dunn in the movie Chaplin (1992) just the year prior and Sigourney Weaver had also worked with Kevin Dunn and Frank Langella in Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (also released in ’92). Weaver appeared under Ivan Reitman’s direction in Ghostbusters (1984) and its sequel Ghostbusters 2 (1989). “Dave,” was also released on May 7th, 1993, and Bill Clinton, who was a huge fan of the movie, had been sworn in as the U.S. President just four months earlier. 

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey-This Disney film was actually a remake of a film produced by Disney three decades earlier. The Incredible Journey (1963) which told the same story about two dogs and one cat that go on a journey to find their way back home and featured narration by Rex Allen instead of the animals having voices themselves. The film spawned a sequel Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco in 1996, though Don Ameche, who originated the voice of Shadow the golden retriever, tragically passed away not long after the release of the first film, and Disney then hired Ralph Waite, known for having played John Walton Sr. on The Waltons (1972-1981) to be Shadow’s new voice.   

Grumpy Old Men-This film was Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s sixth collaboration. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were both seriously considered for the roles of Max and John in the film, but Martin had to decline for health reasons, and passed away on Christmas Day of 1995, just three days after this movie’s sequel, Grumpier Old Men, came to theaters.                              

One wouldn’t easily think today that it has been a quarter of a century since these ten films have been released. Some of these films have actual accolades while others are simply famous for having gained cult status over the years. Overall, ’93 undoubtedly was an unforgettable year for the movies! 

Thurl Ravenscroft: He’s More than good, he’s GRR-EEE-AAA-TTT!

You may not know his name, but Thurl Ravenscroft’s voice is very well known: he originated the voice-over role of Tony the Tiger in all the Frosted Flakes commercials and sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” in the classic Dr. Seuss holiday special How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). Throughout his 65-year-career, he was rarely ever seen live on camera, but his distinctive deep voice was used in all kinds of films and television shows, including numerous Disney films, television shorts, and even theme park attractions.

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born in Norfolk, Nebraska on February 6th, 1914. He served as a navigator in WW2 Air Transport Command before relocating to Hollywood. When he relocated Hollywood, he founded a singing quartet group, the Mellomen, with a guy named Max Smith. The quartet remained a group from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Walt Disney must have heard their voices on the radio-turned-television program The Jack Benny Show (1932-1965) because he often hired them to perform in his movies. Their first official film appearance singing the song “Honest John,” in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (1940), but that song was deleted from the film. The studio did, however, hire Ravenscroft himself to provide the voice of Monstro, the whale in the film. Throughout the ‘40s, Ravenscroft continued singing in Disney films and shorts such as Dumbo (1941), The Nifty Nineties (1941), which is the short that played in front of Pollyanna (1960), in theatres, and Make Mine Music (1946). 

When Alice in Wonderland (1951) was in production at Disney, Ravenscroft, along with the rest of the Mellomen, voiced the Card Painters for the “Painting the Rose’s Red,” sequence in the film. They also voiced the Pirates and the Indians in Peter Pan (1953) and the Dogs in the Pound in Lady and the Tramp (1955). Ravenscroft himself also voiced Al the Alligator in the film. The same year as Peter Pan, he made his official appearance as Tony the Tiger in the first Frosted Flakes commercial and he continued that voice for the rest of his life. 

When Disneyland opened in 1955, he became the narrator for the Disneyland Railroad attraction, the voice of the singing bull frogs in the Splash Mountain attraction, the lead singing bust in The Haunted Mansion, and the singing voice of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean. Ravenscroft also voiced the character of Buff in Country Bear Jamboree and was the finale singer in It’s a Small World. In 1958, he lent his voice to the title character in Disney’s Oscar-nominated short, Paul Bunyan, and he also provided the singing voice of the character of “Stew Pot,” in Fox’s Oscar-winning film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical South Pacific. He also sang on several Disneyland Records and television serials including All About Dragons, Peter Cottontail and Other Funny Bunnies and Zorro (1960-1961), which also featured his group.  

In 1961, Ravenscroft voiced Captain the Horse in 101 Dalmatians. In ’63, he voiced Sir Bart in The Sword in the Stone, and the very next year in Mary Poppins (1964) he was the voice of the pig in the “Jolly Holliday,” sequence (singing: “The daffodils are smiling at the dove, oink oink!” The year after, he and the Mellomen, were the voices of the Elephants on Colonel Hathai’s crew in The Jungle Book (1967) and Pooh’s honeypots in the short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968). In 1970, Ravenscroft voiced the Russian Cat in The Aristocats and in 1978 he voiced the Potter in Disney’s Christmas-themed short The Small One. His final Disney character was Kirby the vacuum cleaner in The Brave Little Toaster (1987), and he reprised it for both of its direct-to-video sequels, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) and The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue (1999).

Thurl Ravenscroft died of prostate cancer at the age of 91 on May 22nd, 2005. He truly is an unsung legend in the history of the entertainment industry for having been a “familiar voice” to millions, and he will forever be remembered for voicing the exuberant, cereal-loving tiger and all of his Disney voice-overs. His career was more than good, it was great!