The Hauntingly Interesting Origin of the Hatbox Ghost

On August 9th, 1969, The Haunted Mansion attraction opened in the New Orleans Square at Disneyland. If you’ve visited the attraction, you probably remember that attraction is known for having “999 happy haunts.” In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about the fascinating history of one of those many “haunts,” that originally was part of the attraction upon opening but was removed not long after. Thankfully, it was restored on May 9th 2015, six years ago today: “The Hatbox Ghost.”

When WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises (now known as Walt Disney Imagineering) designed The Haunted Mansion, they designed “The Hatbox Ghost,” as the highlight of the “attic scene” in the attraction. His head design was the same as Ezra the Hitchhiking Ghost. He was to appear directly across from the Bride Ghost and a special lighting effect was designed to make his head disappear from the top of his body and reappear in the hatbox he held. Although the effect worked perfectly fine in early tests, everyone at WED felt that it wasn’t quite as impactful due to guests viewing it from different angles and the other lighting of the attraction. Hence, the apparition was removed within weeks of opening, and the “Bride Ghost” took over his spot.

However, on April 10th, 2015, it was announced that “Hatty,” (his fan-given nickname) would return to his original spot at The Haunted Mansion, in honor of Disneyland’s 60th anniversary. When he was restored, everyone at Walt Disney Imagineering made improvements on the character. The original “Hatty’s” only moving body part was his shaking hand that held his cane. The 2015 “Hatty” can move all of his body parts. His signature move starts with his face being projected on a blank head, then it falls down his body and is re-projected in the hatbox, then after seconds is back on his shoulders. Corey Burton, who has done significant voice work for Disney (he is the current voice of Donald Duck’s uncle, Professor Ludwig Von Drake), provides the character’s voice, succeeding the original voice, Paul Frees, who coincidentally originated the voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake.

Although the Hatbox Ghost does not appear in the Disney World version of The Haunted Mansion, when guests get their picture taken during the Haunted Mansion’s “Portrait Hall” sequence, the pictures show the Hatbox Ghost overlooking their “Doom Buggies.” He is also known for making guest appearances on Disney’s House of Mouse (2001-2003), The Haunted Mansion Comic Book series, and he is a prominent feature in “The Haunted Mansion Holiday,” in which The Haunted Mansion is decorated for Halloween with a theme inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which has been a tradition of the park for almost 20 years. The ghost appears with a Halloween pin on his hat.

“The Hatbox Ghost,” certainly is a special asset to The Haunted Mansion. It’s a shame that it was removed not long after the ride had initially open but it’s great news that Walt Disney Imagineering was able to improve upon it and make it more fun than ever before. Who would have thought a ghost like that could also have such an intriguing history at Disney? 

 

 

Review: "22 vs. Earth"

Disney/Pixar’s Soul (2020) was very fortunate to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar last Sunday, April 25th, 2021, along with the Oscar for Best Original Score. On April 30th, 2021, Pixar released a new short, and a prequel film to “Soul,” on Disney+. Titled 22 vs. Earth (2021), it tells a story of Tina Fey’s “Soul 22” character’s time in “The Great Before,” before she meets Joe Gardner’s soul, and acknowledges why she doesn’t want to go to Earth. Here’s my review of this short film.

The short opens with Soul 22 explaining why she doesn’t want to go Earth. As she speaks to another random soul, she says she doesn’t want to go because she believes that it’s a “dirty, wet, and lonely” planet and that it’s just not worth visiting and she decides to rebel against going to Earth by rounding up five young souls to steal the inspiration of life from other souls in “The Great Before.” However, even when the five young souls steal the inspiration from the other souls, they wind up becoming inspired themselves and going to Earth, abandoning Soul 22 in a humorous way.

Just like “Soul,” the movie, “22 vs. Earth,” is inspiring because it reminds us that life on Earth can have all kinds of different meanings and/or inspirations. But beyond that, it shows that life’s many inspirations make life on Earth worth living. People often question the true meaning of life, but the truth is, life can have all kinds of different meanings.

“22 vs. Earth,” continues the beautiful visuals of “Soul.” Going on this 3D Animation journey, we get to see a bunch of different “souls” that couldn’t be more cute to look at, and by the time we see them head off to Earth, it’s as though the audience is in outer space. It’s a brief, but fun adventure.

“22 vs. Earth,” also continues the clever humor of “Soul.” It was written by Josh Cooley, who won the Best Animated Feature Oscar last year for his direction of Toy Story 4 (2019) and the short was directed by Kevin Nolting who edited “Soul,” as well as Disney/Pixar’s Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015), both of which were awarded the Best Animated Feature Oscar and written and directed by “Soul,” director Pete Docter, who also executive produced the short. Reprising her role from the film as the voice of Soul 22, Tina Fey appears alongside Richard Ayoade and Alice Braga, as the Counselor Jerries. The short film was scored by Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross, who won both the Best Original Score Oscar and Best Original Score Golden Globe for “Soul,” awards they shared with Jon Batiste.

“22 vs. Earth,” is a beautiful animated short film. As it reunites many of the same talent from “Soul,” along with the same visuals, it continues the same inspiring message from “Soul,” that life is full of all kinds of meaningful inspirations. Hats off to Pixar for making both a film and a short with such a unique message!

   

The Origin of the Best Animated Feature Oscar

In honor of the fact that tonight is Oscar Sunday, I thought today’s blog could be about the history of one of my favorite Oscar categories: The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Feel free to let me know in the comments section of which is your favorite of these movies.

Beginning with its history, the Oscars have been around since 1929, although the Best Animated Feature category has only been a part of the show for the past 20 years. Up till that point, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were reluctant to create a category for animated films. The reason? Prior to 2001, the Academy felt that there were enough animated films produced that could honestly be considered award-worthy, other than those produced by Disney. The Academy had given a Best Picture Oscar Nomination to Beauty and the Beast in 1991, and a Special Achievement Oscar to Toy Story in 1995.

By 2001, however, due to the advancement of new animated film companies competing against Disney, the Academy decided to create the category for Best Animated Feature Film. It was presented for the first time at their 74th show, and the very first film to receive the award was DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek (2001). “Shrek” beat Paramount Pictures' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) and Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. (2001), though “Monsters, Inc.,” did manage to win the Oscar for Best Original Song, “If I Didn’t Have You.” The following year, Spirited Away (2002) won; It was produced by the Japanese Animation Studio, Studio Ghibli (though released by the Disney label). It’s rather ironic that Disney didn’t win the first two awards in the category!

The first Disney/Pixar film to be awarded the Best Animated Feature Oscar was Finding Nemo, released in 2003. The Incredibles (2004) won the year after that, and that film also took home the award for Best Sound Editing. In 2006, the Best Animated Feature Oscar was given to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) co-directed by Steve Box and Nick Park. (Park also won Best Short Film, Animated Oscars for the Wallace & Gromit short films, The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) and Box was an additional key animator on Chicken Run (2000), also co-directed by Park.) In 2007, George Miller took home the Oscar for the direction he gave to Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, beating Sony Pictures' Monster House (2006) and Disney/Pixar’s Cars (2006). 

Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille (2007) won the Oscar in 2008 and was written and directed by “Incredibles,” writer/director, Brad Bird. (Bird is also known for providing the voice of Edna Mode in “The Incredibles” and the Ambrister Minion in “Ratatouille.”) The next recipient was Wall-E (2008), which was written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who also wrote and directed Finding Nemo (2003) and voiced Crush the Sea Turtle in that film. When Wall-E (2008) was released some people were resentful of the fact that it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture of the Year, leading to the controversy of whether or not it was robbed of that chance. 

This controversy was somewhat resolved when Up (2009) won the award the next year, and was also nominated for Best Picture. While The Hurt Locker (2009) received the Best Picture Oscar that year, “Up” also took home the award for Best Original Score written by Michael Giacchino, who has scored several different Disney films, including “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” “Up” was written and directed by Pete Docter who also wrote and directed “Monsters, Inc.” He received another Oscar for writing and directing Inside Out (2015) and is nominated again this year for Soul (2020).

 

Toy Story 3 (2010) was nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture, and it won the latter along with the award for Best Original Song “We Belong Together,” written by Randy Newman. In addition to Newman’s win for the song “If I Didn’t Have You,” in “Monsters, Inc.”, Newman also received nominations for the songs “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” in “Toy Story,” “When She Loved Me,” in Toy Story 2 (1999) and “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” in Toy Story 4 (2019). In 2012, Warner Bros.’ Rango (2011) took home the Oscar, but Disney struck Oscar gold for the next six years in a row, with Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), “Inside Out,” Zootopia (2016), and Coco (2017). “Brave,” was a “big first,” since one of the film’s directors, Brenda Chapman, became the first woman director of an animated film ever to win an Oscar. “Frozen” and “Coco” both won the Best Original Song Oscars: “Let It Go,” and “Remember Me,” respectively.

The Oscar was next given to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018, beating Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Disney’s sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 (2018). “Toy Story 4,” was last year’s winner, and Disney and Pixar both make history tonight, as it is the first time both have a had a film in the running simultaneously for Best Animated Feature: Onward (2020) and “Soul.” “Soul,” is also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound.  

    Disney and Pixar have been very fortunate to have won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for 14 beloved movies (Ten of which were produced by both Disney and Pixar, and four were produced by Disney.) Their competition tonight, includes Netflix’s Over the Moon (2020), Aardman Animation’s A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2020), and Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (2020). How things will officially turn out will be acknowledged at 7:00 pm Central Time on ABC.

Review: "Big Shot"

You might remember John Stamos best for his role as Uncle Jesse Katsopolis on Full House (1987-1995) and its reboot series Fuller House (2016-2020). He received Emmy Nominations for his role as “Blackie Parrish” on General Hospital (1963-present) and for Executive Producing the miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000), and he even portrayed leading male roles in Broadway musical revivals including “The Emcee/M.C.” in Cabaret (1998) and Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie (2009). This past Friday, April 16th, 2021, Disney+ released the pilot episode for a new show called Big Shot (2021) starring Stamos. Here’s my review of the show:

in “Big Shot,” Stamos plays Marvin Korn, a divorced and disgruntled Basketball coach, who was forced out by the NCAA for having a bad attitude as a coach but was instead hired to coach the basketball team at an all-girls high school. He is not thrilled by his new assignment at all, and he makes that clear to the team, along with rudely criticizing some of them, which they take personally. However, as he gets to know their assistant coach, Holly Barrett (played by Jessalyn Gilsig), she tells him that he can’t be rude, but she also notices that despite his crankiness, he actually does have potential to be a good coach, and encourages him to inspire the team. Korn ultimately coaches them at the very first game (which they loose), but he inspires the team, and it’s pretty clear that they’re just getting warmed up.

What’s inspiring about this show is that it’s about how important it is to always have a good attitude, especially on the ball court. Marvin has to improve on his own personal attitude toward coaching basketball, but the team also has to improve on their playing skills, as well as respecting their coach. Clearly, both Marvin and the team are learning that you can choose if you want to be a “big shot” or not, but if that’s what you choose, it can make you a jerk.

The show is also very funny. It was co-created by David E. Kelley, Dean Lorey, and Brad Garrett. Kelley and Lorey are both known for executive producing drama/comedy series like Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and Arrested Development (2013-2019). Garrett won three Emmys for his performance as Robert Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005), but he also produced the romantic comedy series ’Til Death (2006-2010).

Furthermore, the show includes the supporting cast of Yvette Nicole Brown as the High School’s Dean of Students and Keala Settle will have an upcoming role as one of the team member’s mothers. Brown previously played Aunt Sarah in the Disney+ remake of Lady and the Tramp (2019) and Settle portrayed Lettie Lutz in The Greatest Showman (2017), the role that made a worldwide sensation of the Oscar-nominated song “This Is Me.”

“Big Shot,” definitely has good potential. It combines the creative vision of accoladed television personalities, along with well-written humor and versatile actors. And it’s also about a man who will inspire girls to have confidence in themselves, not just as a team, but individually too, and that’s perfect for today. Let’s hope we see more of that good in the episodes to come.  

 

   

 

   

Burrow Review

When Disney/Pixar’s Soul (2020) was originally set for theatrical release in November 2020, there was also a short film planned to play in front of it: Burrow (2020). Both films, however, were subsequently released on Disney+ on Christmas Day 2020, “Burrow,” as part of Pixar’s “SparkShorts.” I was finally able to watch “Burrow” for the first time last week, so I thought today’s review could encourage you to do the same.

  “Burrow,” is cute, well-told, uproariously animated and entirely charming. It tells the story of a rabbit determined to build (or “burrow”) her dream home in the ground. She inadvertently keeps digging into spaces occupied by other animals, and ultimately winds up digging to the very “bottom,” of the burrow where she breaks a seal unleashing flowing water that endangers all. Finally, she learns of the value of asking for help, and teams up a ferocious badger feared by the other animals and they round up the others to dodge the water. Finally, all work together to help the rabbit build her own space.

“Burrow” has beautiful visuals. It uses 2D Animation just like the SparkShort Kitbull (2019) did the year before. Not only is the rabbit herself cute, but all the animals in the short are cute to look at. And as the rabbit digs through the burrow, it becomes easy to be curious what other animals she’ll encounter, and if she will ever achieve her goal of having her “dream burrow.” (Note that “Burrow,” is currently nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film also just like “Kitbull.”)

For music, “Burrow,” features compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including his Oboe Concerto. While Pixar Short Films typically have original music, the Mozart compositions intermix with the plot beautifully and are a great companion. 

The film was written and directed by Madeline Sharafian who began her career at Pixar as a Storyboard Artist on Coco (2017). Sharafian based the plot for “Burrow,” on her own career as an artist. Quoted in an interview on Disney+: “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t ask other people for help ‘cause I want to show them right of the bat that I can do it, so this film was kind of my way of envisioning what my life could be like if I ask other people for help.” 

Sharafian also explained that as a child, she loved looking at “cutaway shots” in movies, which is a shot that suddenly introduces something new to focus on, different from the main focus of the plot. To make a film with several cutaways was a dream come true for her. Sharafian also worked as a cel painter/animator on the short film Weekends (2017), which also received an Oscar Nomination for Best Short Animated Short Film; She was also part of the “Story Trust,” for the SparkShort Purl (2018). (Story Trust is a Walt Disney Animation Studios term that means artists who rely on each other to provide input and feedback about films being worked on at the time.)          

All in all, “Burrow,” is wonderful and inspiring short because it’s acknowledges that, when one has big goals to pursue, they should never be afraid to rely on others for help, at least every once in a while. Especially when part of a team/ or family, it’s when one relies on others that one can achieve goals in ways unpredictable and uniquely fulfilling.

Falcon and Winter Soldier/Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Review

The first two episodes for Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winder Soldier (2021) are now officially streaming on Disney+. The miniseries will consist of six episodes. The pilot episode of “The Mighty Ducks,” reboot series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021) officially became available to stream on Disney+ this past Friday, March 26th and it has ten episodes. Both shows are waiting to release episodes week by week.

From what the pilot episode acknowledged, both the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, (aka Sam and Bucky) are struggling without their friend Captain America (aka Steve Rogers), since he went back in time to be with his love, Peggy Carter, at the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019). Steve gave Sam his trademark shield, which Sam decided to give up to the U.S. Government to be displayed at the Smithsonian; while Bucky is still attending therapy, recovering from his days as a brainwashed assassin (aka the Winter Soldier). There’s still a great deal of unpredictability yet to come in both of their lives, with the new threat of the “Flag Smashers.” They have yet to figure out how to work as partners as they are without the rest of the Avengers and they aren’t super close.

It is great to see Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, and Don Cheadle all back in their roles from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are all equally talented actors and they bring each of their characters to life brilliantly, as do Wyatt Russell, and in the following weeks, Daniel Bruhl and Emily VanCamp. Director Kari Skogland continues the epic look and feel that Anthony and Joe Russo created in each of the MCU movies they directed (i.e. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019)). The show features well-choreographed fight scenes and visual effects reminiscent of the movies, so there’s no reason why fans of the movies wouldn’t be fans of the series. 

“The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” is about how Evan (played by Brady Noon) is cut from The Mighty Ducks Junior Hockey Team. His paralegal mother, Alex, (played by Lauren Graham), encourages him to form his own new hockey team, which she will coach, along with the help of the Ducks former coach Gordon Bombay (once again portrayed by Emilio Estevez). This is interesting because the new show appears to be more about Alex and her relationship with Evan, and how she will balance her career along with coaching her son’s new ice hockey team. It will also be interesting to see what happens with Estevez’s character. In the original film he was a self-absorbed lawyer but learned to humble himself when he became coach of the original Ducks. Now, he’s more of the curmudgeon, reluctant advisor to the new “mom coach.” 

Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay is an interesting pairing along with Lauren Graham-who plays yet another eccentric, but caring mother (much like Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016) and Sarah Braverman on Parenthood (2010-2015)). Why Gordon has lost his passion for hockey remains a mystery, but who knows? Maybe Alex will play a role in rekindling his passion along with finding her own self-confidence. She might or might not also become his new love interest. The show has ten episodes in store, but there is the possibility it could be picked up for a Season Two. That presents curiousity whether or not the Season One cliffhanger could be return of another one of the original film’s cast members.    

I don’t know about you, but I personally am very impressed by these two shows. It’s disappointing that both show’s episodes will only be available to stream only one week at a time, whereas the full season would be available on Netflix, but they both have good potential. Let’s hope the future episodes live up to that.    

   

Lucille Ball: More than Lucy Ricardo

In honor of the fact that March is Women’s History Month, I thought in today’s blog we would acknowledge the history-making, groundbreaking career of a woman who made audiences laugh at a time when that ability was typically reserved for men. She was in entertainment for 61 years, and while she was known for portraying, on television, the role of a scheming redheaded wife of a conga drum player, in real life she was a not only a devoted wife and mother—and close friend to many other Hollywood talent—she was a force of nature in a very difficult business. She is none other than Lucille Ball!

Lucille Ball first knew that she wanted to be in show business as a twelve-year-old, when she performed in the chorus line of a stage show produced by the Shriner’s organization that her stepfather worked for. While she fell in love with being applauded, as a 17-year-old, she was deemed “too shy” by the professors of the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts and had no chance of succeeding whatsoever in the entertainment industry while her fellow classmate, Bette Davis, received utter praise. Despite this, Ball refused to give up on her dream, and she headed for Hollywood, auditioning for and booking an uncredited appearance in the 1933 film Roman Scandals.

The Great Depression was still going on in Hollywood when she arrived, so work wasn’t exactly easy to find. Although she booked small roles in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers films like Top Hat (1935) and Chatterbox (1936) the money she was paid wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Not only was she suffering from the impact of the depression, but Studio Head Samuel Goldwyn was quoted as having said: “Funny women don’t sell tickets. Beautiful women do.” The complicated thing about Lucille Ball was that she was beautiful, but also had an exceptional talent for physical comedy. Studio heads didn’t understand or even appreciate it, but movie audiences did, and she later earned the nickname “Queen of the B pictures.”

Lucy was cast alongside Richard Carlson and Ann Miller in a film called Too Many Girls (1940). The film also featured a young Cuban bandleader/conga-drum player named Desiderio”Desi” Arnaz who was making his debut as an actor. They fell deeply in love with each other and eloped after a 6-month courtship. Eight years later, Ball was cast in My Favorite Husband, a radio comedy series for CBS Radio in which she would portray a rather eccentric wife named Liz Cooper, opposite Richard Denning as her husband. The show was a hit, and CBS later talked to her about re-adapting the series for television. (TV was just being created at the time and was outdoing the popularity of radio.) Ball agreed, but she requested the network cast her real-life husband in the role of her television husband, as their performing schedules hadn’t allowed them to see a great deal of each other. The network was reluctant, knowing she was great deal more popular then him, but they ultimately relented, and together Ball and Arnaz formed Desilu Productions, which would produced the television show that was ultimately renamed I Love Lucy (1951-1957) for six hilarious seasons.

There were a great deal of laughs on the show, but there were touching—and groundbreaking—memories as well. When Lucille Ball became pregnant with their second child, their son Desi Arnaz Jr., she feared the show would have to be cancelled (their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, had been born six weeks before the show went on air.) “I Love Lucy,” producer Jess Oppenheimer suggested writing the pregnancy into the show. CBS execs were very opposed to this idea, but they gave in and the “Lucy Goes to the Hospital,” episode was a huge hit when it aired on January 19th, 1953, which was the same day Desi Arnaz Jr. was born. and this made her the first leading lady of television—in reality and story—to have a baby on television. 

While producing the show, Ball was also a ground-breaker. The show made use of the 3-camera technique or the “Multiple-camera setup,” a process that had been invented for film and was first used on the Russian feature Defense of Sevastopol in 1911. Desilu however, made it more unique using 35 millimeter formant rather than 16 millimeter format. 

After “I Love Lucy,” Ball and Arnaz were paired together again in The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960), a continuation “I Love Lucy,” which consisted of 13 episodes that ran for an hour rather than 30 minutes. Their marriage sadly ended in divorce in May 1961. After they divorced, Lucy bought out Arnaz’s share of Desilu productions to run the company herself. It was a small, but impactful decision.

As the very first female head of a television studio, Lucy gave the “green-light” to Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969) and the original Mission: Impossible (1966-1973) but she also continued to perform, starring in The Lucy Show (1962-1968) and Here’s Lucy (1968-1974), both of which were co-produced by her second husband Gary Morton. It was around this time that she became a frequent collaborator/mentor to friend Carol Burnett, guest starring numerous times on The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978).

In addition, Lucy had the idea of “re-running” episodes of television shows. While other studio exec’s were saying “you can’t expect TV stations to run episodes a second time,” Lucy said “not only are they going to do it, I’m going to make them pay me for a privilege!” Thus, the idea of syndication was born, making many television actors/producers/directors very wealthy in the process.  

Lucille Ball was the very first female television studio head, the very first woman to become a mother on television, and the very first to be “in charge” of the laughs the audience gave. She passed away on April 26th, 1989 at the age of 77. She was an incredibly performer and left legacy in entertainment that wouldn’t be forgotten in a million years.