Happy New Year from Walt's Magic Kingdom

Original Cel from Steamboat Willie held by The Walt Disney Archives

Merry Christmas from Walt's Magic Kingdom!

The Disney Archives Christmas Tree

Missing the Reindeer

Photo from Flickr

The Christmas Fantasy Parade of the old days featured the tall, silly looking reindeer, with tongues that hung out farther than Pluto's.  They were whimsical.  The newer reindeer appear more feminine, in my opinion.

Breakfast with Leonard

The man is a legend.  I mean who knows more about movies than Leonard Maltin? I sourced a lot of material from him while working on my masters thesis, specifically on the topic of Disney films.  When I found out I was going to get to interview him regarding his 2012 Movie Guide, I couldn't decide what not to ask him.  I was only going to have 10 minutes and I had so much that I wanted and could discuss with him.

First off, I inquired why he is still printing a book version of his guides being that we live in this iPad/Kindle/digital age.  Well he quickly informed me that the information is available as an App for your Ipod and iPad with more information than what could be put in the book.  The other reason for the book is the target audience - older people.  I even told him how as a kid, I used to go through his books and memorize stats like a sports fan memorizes baseball cards. The fact is that older generations are not necessarily interested in looking up information on the internet, they want a physical reference guide.  And really, a book is just easier to use.

Maltin also explained that he too will use IMDB on occasion but it it not always the most effecient way to find or organize data.  Sometimes you want the simplicity of a book, where you can look up the title and see if it's worth watching and who starred in it.

Since we share a love of Disney animation, I went on to discuss some concepts with him.  One of my first questions was to name his favorite Disney short.  He quickly and simply answered "The Band Concert." You'll recall that one.  It's where Mickey is conducted the orchestra in the park as it gets picked up and carried away by a tornado.  It was the first color Mickey Mouse cartoon and is considered by many to be one of the best.  It even has it's own theme park attraction at DCA!  It was no surprise that Maltin named it as his favorite.

I went on to discuss with him my actual thesis topic, which was the restoration of Disney's animated features and the loss of the animation art.  I wish had this access to him about six years ago when I had first begun that project.  He made a good point, which is that as much as they try, there is no way to completely reproduce on a DVD and television the look of those animated films which were recorded onto silver nitrate film and projected against a silver screen.  They can come close but it won't look the same.  There is also the slippery slope of "what were they trying to make it look like?"  Akin to "What would Walt do?"  He thinks the most recent restoration work done Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was excellent.

My time with Mr. Maltin went by all too fast, but I did get to ask one other fun question: Keaton or Lloyd?  While he appreciated my slant on the old question of Keaton or Chaplin, he still refused to answer.  He said it was pointless to try to say one is better than the other.  While I admit I am a Harold Lloyd fan over Chaplin and Keaton, it is still silly to compare them against each other.  Each was a master of comedy.  The discussion ended when Tony Anselmo walked by the table and had some small talk with Maltin.  That too was almost unbelievable.

Much like our conversation, the book is awesome.  Maltin's 2012 Movie Guide has grown by another 300 entries since the 2010 edition with over 17,000 movies covered.  He also has the Classic Film Guide with over 10,000 movies from the beginning of film through the 60s with even more detail given to each movie.  These books would make great holiday gifts and are reasonably priced at Amazon. Get your 2012 Movie Guide now!

Lucky photo op!

(c) Disney

On a recent studio visit by D23 for media, they just happened to also be taking a photo for an upcoming D23 magazine issue.  After watching the initial photo being snapped, we were invited into the photo for the legends and luminaries.  In addition to the media and family members of those special guests, were the following people:

Kathryn Beaumont - voice of Alice and Wendy
Alice Davis - Imagineer
Lisa Davis - voice of Anita in 101 Dalmatians
Joe Hale - animation producer
Dickie Jones - voice of Pinocchio
Margaret Kerry - model for Tinker Bell
Burny Mattinson - storyboard artist
Floyd Norman - animator
Richard Sherman - composer/lyricist
Ruthie Thompson - scene planner, ink and paint girl (101 years old!)
Tyrus Wong - background artist for Bambi (also 101 years old!)

Another visit to the Disney archive

D23 hosted a media event recently to give a us a presentation of some of the upcoming D23 events.  While at the Disney Studios, we were also given another chance to explore around the archives, including the mysterious second floor!  Below are some items I found interesting:

Disneyland Barker Bird

Jug from Darby O'Gill and the Little People

This photo is just one of many bookshelves of random items.  Above, you can see heads from Pirates and Haunted Mansion.  There is also a small model of the multi-plane camera.  The maquette on the right is from The Black Cauldron.  The ships on the left were used for designing the ships for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Happy Birthday Uncle Walt!

110 Years Young Today!

Meeting Richard Sherman

I had the awesome opportunity to visit the archives as a D23 media guest.  In addition to learning about all the fantastic D23 events coming up, I also was able to rub shoulders with several Disney legends and luminaries such as Alice Davis, Dickie Jones, Floyd Norman and Richard Sherman.

We all were fortunate to have Richard Sherman sit down at Walt's piano and play some tunes.  This is the same piano that the Sherman Brothers used to showcase their new tunes for Walt in his working office.  This piano for many years was seen inside the Opera House on Main Street at Disneyland.

Richard Sherman played for us the music to Feed the Birds, followed by a sing-along of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.  Lastly, he played Chimpanzoo, a song cut from Mary Poppins prior to production.

After the performance and after many of the guests left, I approached him for a photo and some small talk.  I told him how much I enjoyed the documentary "The Boys" about he and Robert's relationship.  I also expressed my appreciation for the legendary music he created over years.  He mentioned how special it was to work at the studio during Walt's time. "It felt like a family," he said.  To say it was a magical moment is an understatement.  All of the invited luminaries seemed truly happy to be recognized.  Their group photo will appear in an upcoming issue of the D23 Magazine.