Dumbo, Alice and More Come To Netflix

I was pretty happy yesterday to see some honest-to-goodness Disney Classics arrive on the Netflix streaming service. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship between the two entertainment giants and more titles both popular and obscure will start to surface!

Some major titles making their debut on Netflix:

• Dumbo (1941)
• Alice In Wonderland (1951)
• The Aristocats (1970)
• The Fox and the Hound (1981)
• The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
• The Rescuers Down Under (1991)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Tigger Movie (2000)

And then some other goodies from the studio:

• One Magic Christmas (1985)
• Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World (1998)
• The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars (1998)
• The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue (1999)
• Air Bud: World Pup (2000)
• Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (2002)
• Tarzan & Jane (2002)
• Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003)
• Air Buddies (2006)
• Tinker Bell (2008)
• The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008)
• Mickey Mouse Club House: Road Rally (2010)
• Car Toons: Mater's Tall Tales (2010)
• Spooky Buddies (2011)

I was surprised to see some of Disney's real animated treasures like Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland available and pleased to find some off-beat titles as well. It looks like this could be the start of something magical...

Wrapped & Ready (1984)

Reconstucting Disneyland part 2

Continuing my project of putting together the first season of Disneyland...

 

Episode 1.4  11/17/54  The Donald Duck Story
Walt Disney shows us a scrapbook of the life of Donald Duck, which sets the stage for showings of several Donald Duck cartoons. This episode presented the first real challenge of piecing together an episode from the Anthology series. While many of the cartoon episodes are easily available, I don't have this particular episode nor was I able to track one down anywhere. I did find a list of the cartoons used in the episode, as well as some information pointing to a large number of clips from the episode were used in a DVD bonus feature. I thought about substituting a different Donald Duck episode for this one, but those are all coming up in the line up later on, so I watched a selection of cartoons featured in the episode. Honey Harvester (1949), Tea For Two Hundred (1948), Donald's Dream Voice (1948) and Three For Breakfast (1948) are all found on the Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald Volume Three: 1947-1950 DVD. Orphan's Benefit (1934) can be found on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse Black & White. I supplemented the cartoon line-up with the bonus feature from the Donald Duck Treasures DVD: The Many Faces of Donald Duck (2007) which is a 16 minute discussion of Donald's career with plenty of clips from The Donald Duck Story episode.

Episode 1.5  11/24/54 So Dear To My Heart
The 1948 feature film about life for a young farm boy at the turn of the century was presented. Although not nearly as popular or well known as other animated films from the Disney library, this movie has had three VHS releases and is also available on disc exclusively from the Disney Movie Club. My copy is the original 1986 VHS release. The preview for the next episode of the Anthology series can be found in the bonus features of the Lady & The Tramp 50th Anniversary DVD.

Episode 1.6  12/1/54  The Story of Dogs
A look at the new animated feature Lady & The Tramp is presented, followed by a tribute to Mickey's best friend Pluto. This was a fun episode to recreate as you can easily find almost the entire episode. The Lady & The Tramp half is on the film's 50th Anniversary DVD release, while the Pluto half is on Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Pluto in the bonus features section under "Pluto's Picture Book." Each segment has opening and closing credits but the preview for the next episode is not to be found on either.

Disneyland Resort- "Mater Bells" TV Spot

YouTube Character Videos Vol. 1

Last night my family and I got sucked into the abyss of YouTube for over a half hour, watching videos of people meeting characters at the Disney Parks. There are a few factors that come into play when portraying a "face character" because you need not only the look but also the attitude and mannerisms to really sell the character. There two videos are fantastic:

This Ariel sounds just like she does in the movie:



And here Rapunzel and Flynn are amazing... More to come...

Reconstructing Disneyland

What's considered to be the longest running show in television history, The Wonderful World of Disney (and all it's various incarnations) has never received a proper DVD season by season release. A majority of the episodes are made up of preexisting material, be it animated shorts or feature films, so it's likely the anthology series will never see an official digital release. Single episodes have seen releases over the years and many segments of the show have popped up as DVD extras in recent years. Often times the show was divided into two segments, and it's not uncommon to find half an episode as a bonus feature on one disc, and the second half on another title.

I've always thought it would be fun to see if I could recreate the series, researching the contents of episodes and digging into my extensive collection of Disney product on both DVD and VHS...not to mention Laserdisc. Since I just got back from a week at Walt Disney World, and I'm looking to keep that Disney Magic going in the real world, I thought now would be as good a time as any to start my little Reconstructing Disneyland project.

Episodes lists for the series can easily be found online at various sources. I've found the one at www.disneyguides.webs.com to be fairly thorough. I also stick by a list published in The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin. The book The Wonderful World of Disney Television by Bill Cotter offers more insight into the contents of each episode although the book does not offer an episode by episode airdate guide.

Here's the first three episodes I watched over the weekend:

Episode 1.1 10/27/54 The Disneyland Story
Your host Walt Disney offers a preview of Disneyland the park and Disneyland the series. The hour is rounded out by a selection of Mickey Mouse cartoons. This episode appears in its entirety on the DVD Walt Disney Treasures: Disneyland U.S.A.

Episode 1.2 11/3/54 Alice in Wonderland
The 1951 feature film was presented, edited to fit the hour time slot. The film has had numerous releases on both video and DVD. I have the fantastic 2004 Masterpiece Edition DVD which not only includes the whole movie but also Walt Disney's introductions from the first broadcast and a later 1960's repeat airing. A staple of each episode was a lengthy preview of the next week's instalment. The preview portion of episode two can actually be found in the Trailers & Promos section on disc 2 of True-Life Adventures Volume 2: Lands of Exploration. The menu listing incorrectly states The Vanishing Prairie/Seal Island (TV Promo) where the episode is actually just Prairie/Seal Island.

Episode 1.3 11/10/54 Prairie - Seal Island
The first half shows how photographers get the up close and personal shots that make up the True-Life Adventure films. The second half is the Academy Award winning short Seal Island. Prairie is presented as a bonus feature on True-Life Adventures Volume 2: Lands of Exploration. The disc features the color version with the opening titles from a later Wonderful World of Color rebroadcast and closing credits. There is no preview segment for the next episode.  The short subject Seal Island is presented as a whole on Disc one of the same True-Life Adventures set.

Some of these will be easy to find or put together, others will be more of a challenge.
See ya real soon!

Dumbo Flies Again!

Recorded 10/11/12

Deborah Gibson "Home"

Deborah Gibson performing "Home" from her stint as Belle in the Broadway production of "Beauty and the Beast" back in 1997 on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

Herbie The Love Bug In Person

Easily one of my favorite film franchises of all-time is the Herbie The Love Bug series of films from Disney. I've seen plenty of Herbie cars in my travels, mostly cars used in the newer 2005 movie or the Disney On Ice production from the 80's. But to see a real honest to goodness Herbie used in one of the original movies is a real treat. So, when I learned that the REAL HERBIE was going to be in my neck of the woods I got pretty excited.

This past weekend I dragged my kids up to the Antique Auto Club of America Museum in Hershey, PA to see two authentic Herbie The Love Bugs used in the filming of the 1974 sequel Herbie Rides Again. The original movie, The Love Bug, was the highest grossing movie of 1969 and apparently stayed the top box office grosser of all time until a little film with some spaceships, robots and lightsabers showed up in 1977.

The AACA Museum has two Herbie cars on loan from the William E. Swigart, Jr Automobile Museum in Huntingdon, PA. They are on display until April 24, 2011. The first Herbie is in beautiful condition:

The original Herbie was a pearl white 1963 Volkswagen (VW) Model 117 Deluxe 2-door sedan equipped with a sunroof.


Also on display is this beat up Herbie:

The beat up interior

Poor Herbie, he's been through a lot.

And for extra nerdy fun, here's the registration for Herbie:

This is a sign that was used when Herbie made public appearances back in the day. Since the original four theatrical films, there has also been a TV movie in 1997 and a 5th theatrical production, Herbie Fully Loaded in 2005.

Herbie is awesome!

3 Year Old Girl Takes Down Minnie Mouse

Dinner Plans?

Another product of a bygone era at Walt Disney World. Making reservations at WDW's three hot spots back in 1978 was as simple as mailing in a card.

Checking Out

When you're into rare vintage WDW ephemera, it pays off to have horders as parents. Here's the bill from a 1982 Christmas visit to Fort Wilderness.

Nightmare With Annette

What in the name of Robert and Richard Sherman is going on in this vintage TV clip?

25th McAnniversary

From 1996...

Beauty And The Beast - In Theatres!

Disneynature Direct To DVD

I like to think I know a thing or two about flamingos, mostly because I stayed at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. But seriously folks...

I really enjoy the nature film that Disney has been putting out under the Disneynature banner. It's nice when the company does something in line with their heritage and the Disneynature films are a nice throwback to the old True-Life Adventure films that Walt Disney believed so much in. The new films aren't near as good as the old ones. The new Disneynature films could benefit from being a lot more playful and a little less like a museum IMAX film. Either way, both Earth and Oceans were way more entertaining that other junk I've recently plopped down $8.50 to see.

So, while checking out Walt Disney Home Entertainment's website the other day I was pretty excited to see that they've got a new Disneynature title set for release on DVD the same day as Oceans DVD premiere. On October 19 The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos should pop up on DVD shelves:



This film, while new to American audiences, came out in France in October of 2008 and then the following year in the UK. I'm excited to get my hands on a copy.

Disneynature's next big screen epic, African Cats, is scheduled to hit theatres on Earth Day next year.

Disney Inspired Ball of String

What's this giant ball of string, found at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Ocean City, MD, have to do with the world of Disney?



Well, not much...but I thought the story behind this big ol' ball had an interesting twist to it...

A tour of the newly designed Disney Store with President, Jim Fielding

Meet The New Disney Channel Stars

Disney Lab Unveils Its Latest Line Of Genetically Engineered Child Stars

Dream On Silly Dreamer on TV

Did you know there was something called The Documentary Channel? Neither did I! Apparently it's a channel showing nothing but documentaries (and infomercials) and it can be found on Channel 263 on DirecTV or Ch. 197 via Dish Network. Anywho, this Wednesday April 7 they are showing the Disney Animation Studio doc Dream On Silly Dreamer about the end of the hand-drawn unit of Walt Disney Feature Animation. This film was done years ago, and obviously with The Princess and the Frog in theatres last Christmas, we know this story has a happy ending. But still, this movie got very limited release and it's not even available on Netflix, so I'm pretty interested in seeing it! Set your TiVo's for Wednesday April 7 at 1:40pm.