Happy Presidents Day

Presidents Day naturally brings to mind Honest Abe, especially this year when we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Great Emancipator's birth. What better time to once again celebrate Walt Disney's Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Controversial in its time before it debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, the show won over most skeptics when they actually saw what it was all about. In recent years, Walt's original presentation (which moved to Disneyland® Park in 1966) came to be considered old (stovepipe) hat by some, but that's like considering the Lincoln Memorial out-of-date or "irrelevant". To celebrate Walt Disney's original vision here's a conceptual artwork by the great and gentlemanly Sam McKim, whose renderings did so much to bring that powerful vision of Mr. Lincoln to life.

A (Belated) Snow White Valentine

In honor of St. Valentine’s Day (yesterday) here’s a Snow White Valentine in the form of the February 1938 cover of Mickey Mouse Magazine. This was published when Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was taking the world by storm, but one of the most interesting aspects of this lovely cover is that it’s rendered in the style of Gustav Tenggren, the Old World illustrator who was a stylist and pre-production artist for Snow White. His art was used for some publicity purposes (most famously the original one-sheet theatrical poster), and featured his interpretation of the characters, differing from the way they appeared in the film. As seen in this cover, which incorporates a piece of Tenggren publicity art, the Dwarfs were more gnome-like with gnarly fingers. Happy day-after- St. Valentine’s Day to all from the fairest one of all (that’s Snow White, not me).

One Lucky Duck

2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the introduction of Donald Duck so I thought I would post about “the Duck” (as Walt and his artists referred to Donald) today. Donald has always been associated with the number 13 (after all, poor Donald has the darnedest luck—or as his theme song composed by Oliver Wallace put it, with a touch of irony, “Who gets stuck with all the bad luck? /Nobody but Donald Duck!”) and so Friday 13 is really the Duck’s day. To celebrate, here’s the "lucky" 13th issue of Donald’s comic-book showcase, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories from October 1941. In this art from the Donald Duck newspaper comic strip drawn by Al Taliaferro (making a reference to the theatrical troupe of the Singer Midgets, who appeared as some of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz), it looks like the cigar-smoking nephews are the unlucky ones—but one way Donald is lucky is that this cover is not likely to be reprinted, for obvious reasons.

Chuck Returns, In 3-D Yet

Today, February 2, 2009 marks the return of the comedy-action-adventure-suspense-satire-spy series, Chuck. Named in honor of its lead character, the lovable everygeek Chuck Bartowski (winningly played by the great Zachary Levi), this unique series is being presented tonight in 3-D. (If you didn’t happen to get your 3-D glasses, check out your local grocery store for the special displays or call 1.800.646.2904 to order a pair. The 3-D episode of Chuck will be on NBC.com starting tomorrow, February 2, and will also be available in an non-3-D format.) In honor of this geek-chic show’s return here’s the cover of Issue 5 (of 6) of the Chuck comic book, in which our hero’s parachute-less plummet from an airplane is (as usual) the least of his worries. This terrific cover is by Kristian Donaldson, and the comic itself is written by Peter Johnson and Zev Borow, with art by Jeremy Haun and Phil Noto. If you have not given this unusual TV show a try, please do, as it will be on Mondays for at least the next few weeks. As you will discover, there are so many reasons to love Chuck.

Fun Factory

Before the first month of 2009 ends, I wanted to mention another Disney TV anniversary in January, and that’s the debut of the syndicated series The Mouse Factory on January 26, 1972. Produced and directed by Ward Kimball, the most iconoclastic member of Walt’s Nine Old Men (or of any other group of people Ward happened to be in), this program is perhaps best described as a Disney version of Laugh-In, using “wild” comedy and oftentimes quick clips of animation, as well as presenting entire shorts and featurettes. Each weekly episode was guest-hosted by a live-action actor or comedian (always billed as “Mickey’s Friend”), including Don Knotts, Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, and Disney favorites Annette Funicello and Dexter Riley himself, Kurt Russell. A scattering of merchandise was issued to celebrate the show, including this LP record album, using art that mirrored the opening animated titles of the show. The use of the vintage “pie-eyed” Mickey and his appearance on a pocket watch echoed the nostalgia craze of the 1970s, which seemed to have started at least to some degree with the sudden popularity of the 1930s Mickey Mouse watch, beginning in about 1968. The show itself was named after the old-time nickname for the Disney Studios. Please check back as I plan on posting one or two more Mouse Factory artifacts soon.

Gallegher Gets The News

January 24, 1965, marked the debut of the series of shows centering on “Gallegher” on the Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color TV series. Disney favorite Roger Mobley (who I wrote about here and here) stars as Gallegher, an early-1900s copy boy at the big-city newspaper, The Daily Press. By tirelessly following up clues, hunting down suspects, and putting himself in harm’s way, Gallegher continually proves himself a better reporter than any of the adult journalists who get the page-one bylines. In a photo (which incidentally misspells Gallegher's name) from Part II of this comedy/drama, Roger is shown with Jack Warden, just one of the many great character actors who appeared in the “Gallegher” episodes, including Bruce Dern, Anne Francis, Peter Graves, Dennis Weaver, Beverly Garland, and of course Edmond O’Brian and Harvey Korman as Gallegher’s newspaper co-workers. I’m at work (and have been for some time) on a behind-the-scenes account of the making of this Disney TV series-within-a-series. Watch this blog for more details, coming soon, and like Gallegher himself, you’ll be getting the news.

A New President For The Hall

On Tuesday, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States (or hadn't you heard?). An Audio-Animatronic figure of President Obama will be added to the line-up of Chief Executives in the Hall of the Presidents in Liberty Square in Walt Disney World Resort. Reportedly, the President will be recording a new speech to delivered as part of the attraction, in what has become a tradition started by Bill Clinton and followed by George W. Bush. An original 1971 attraction at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the Hall of the Presidents was closed in November 2008 for an extensive renovation, including a state-of-the-art updating of the projection and lighting systems. Master Imagineer sculptor Blaine Gibson, now 90, will not be sculpting the new figure as he has done for all the other Presidential figures in the show, but he will be a consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering Director of Sculpture Valerie Edwards (who by the way has sculpted some of the Walt Disney Classics Collection pieces). The revised version of the Hall of the Presidents (which was originally heralded with this magnificent poster, above), featuring a new and history-making President, is scheduled to reopen on July 4, 2009.

More About The Wonderful World Of Color Kid

From the pages of Sketches, the Official Magazine of the Walt Disney Collectors Society, here’s an article (from the Winter 2001 issue) written by me to celebrate that wonderful TV series, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Among the delights highlighted is “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh” starring the wonderful and, sadly, recently departed actor Patrick McGoohan. Recently released on DVD as part of the must-have Walt Disney Treasures series, "The Scarecrow" is one of Walt Disney's most unusual live-action production and it’s not to be missed. More to the point, this article features Roger Mobley, the young Disney star of the 1960s who I call the Wonderful World of Color Kid for his many appearances on the TV series. Here, this terrific actor is seen in his defining role as Gallegher, the sharp-witted turn-of-the-century copyboy more skilled at getting the news than his adult employers. Be sure and keep your eyes on this blog, because soon I will be announcing the launch of my website which will, before too long, feature the complete behind-the-scenes story of this all-but-forgotten Disney gem, starring the Wonderful World of Color Kid himself. Happy Birthday, Roger—I promise it won’t be too long now!

"Are You 23?"

Click here. Can't wait for March 10!

A Frosty New Year

Here's a card drawn and signed by Paul Coker, Jr., the artist who designed many of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, including Frosty the Snowman (1969), and which is available at the Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass blog. . Why am I posting about Frosty now rather than at Christmas? Maybe because the "Frosty the Snowman" song is a winter song and not a Christmas song despite its inclusion on just about every Christmas song collection ever. Of course, the Rankin/Bass special transformed Frosty's tale into a Yuletide story so that doesn't help, but it's a marvelously charming holiday-themed teleplay. One of it's most delightful aspects is how the jolly snowman says "Happy Birthday!" every time he magically comes to life, hence the inclusion of the greeting in Paul's drawing. You can see much more about Paul Coker, Jr., Frosty and other Rankin/Bass delights at Rick Goldschmidt's aforementioned blog. . Check it out, and in the meantime, as Frosty himself might say to anybody having a birthday today (or yesterday, for that matter): "Happy Birthday!"