Walt Disney's Original "Newsie"

In light of Disney's newly Tony Award-anointed musical Newsies (and Jeff Kurtti's article about Walt and Newsies), I thought it was an opportune time to mention that Walt Disney showcased his own "newsie," Gallegher, on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Though Gallegher wasn't a newsboy like the characters in the Broadway show, he was a copy boy on an 1890s newspaper who wanted to be a reporter—and in fact proved himself a headline-hunting scribe better than his elders in every episode. And his trademark cap was very much in the Newsies tradition. The photo above gives a glimpse at the detailed sets, props and costumes created for this elaborate TV series. For those who haven't already seen it, you can "read all about it" in the D23 article I wrote about Walt Disney's "Gallegher," starring the always-excellent Roger Mobley. 

Walt Disney Meets Santa Claus

Originally broadcast on December 23, 1962, "Holiday Time at Disneyland" is one of the most delightful Disneyland-centered episodes of the Disney anthology series. First shown on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, this colorful (naturally) episode showed off holiday celebrations at Walt's Magic Kingdom, kicked off with a simultaneously surreal and altogether appropriate meeting between Santa Claus and Walt. Did I say "meet"? Walt and Santa greet each other as if they are old friends. Well, why wouldn't they be? First off, Walt made Santa into a Disney character in two Silly Symphony cartoons, Santa's Toy Shop (1932) and The Night Before Christmas (1933). Secondly, in the conversation between the two magic-makers, Walt clearly expresses his dominion by stating that while Mr. Claus has one day a year, Walt has the other 364—an incredible statement when you think about it. Even Santa is impressed when Walt calls upon Tinker Bell to turn off the unusual Southern Californian snowfall and she obliges with a flick of her magic wand. After all, who is more important in the world of childhood than Walt Disney? I say this as someone who firmly believes (as I'm sure anyone who regularly reads this blog also believes) that Walt Disney is not just for the kids. And neither is Santa. I post all of this (including this still from "Holiday Time at Disneyland" taken from the Storyboard blog of the Walt Disney Family Museum) as a birthday tribute to Walter Elias Disney, born this day in 1901. Surely a bit of Christmas magic must have rubbed off on this December-born baby who would grow up to rival even Santa Claus as a master magic-maker.

No Mallets, No Watermelon

On January 24, 1965—46 years ago today—"Gallegher" made its debut "in living color" on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. This multi-episode comedy-adventure about the go-getting boy reporter was a hit the moment it hit the airwaves in early 1965. The other two episodes of that first batch of "Gallegher"s aired on January 31 and February 7, and led to three more sets of sequels, including the Emmy-nominated "The Further Adventures of Gallegher," which premiered in September 1965. The debut of the nonstop exploits of the copy boy who always followed his newsworthy nose tracking down headlines was in itself big news, as evidenced by Gallegher's prominence in the 1964 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report. As you can see in this detail from the "Television" portion of the 1964 Annual Report (click on the image for a larger view), which touted "Gallegher" as part of the "bright array of stellar programming" resulting from "the public response to more fully developed stories such as last season's three-parter 'The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.'" Unfortunately the Gallegher photo is flopped, as you can see from the part in star Roger Mobley's hair, which is actually on his left. (Even odder is the flopped image of NBC's trademark peacock. One wonders why it was necessary to have even the very symbol of Disney's then-home network facing the wrong way.) Ready to read more about Walt Disney's "Gallegher" as so ably portrayed by Roger Mobley? Then be sure and check out "Walt Disney's Forgotten TV Classic" at the D23 website (it's free), written by me. P.S. "Gallegher"'s January 24 premiere came just eight days after star Roger Mobley's birthday. Happy belated birthday, Roger!

More Colorful

Both last season and this, NBC has returned to its "living color" roots from the 1950s and 1960s (the phrase was first used for NBC's then-few color broadcasts in 1953) with a campaign promoting its shows and their characters as "More Colorful." This naturally makes me think of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which at the start of the 1966-1967 TV season (when NBC finally became the "The All Color Network," as 100% of NBC's programming—from Today in early morning through Tonight at late night— were colorcasts) was promoted with this artwork, along with the rest of the Sunday prime time lineup. Featured are Bryan Russell and Roger Mobley starring in not "Gallegher" but instead the 1964 theatrical release Emil and the Detectives, which was the World of Color season premiere. (By the way, thsi art comes to us from Rankin-Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt's must-see blog, a fun visit anytime but especially during the holidays.)