Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

In late 1927, Walt's cartoon character was "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit". It was distributed by Universal and a man named Charles Mintz. In February 1928, Walt headed to NYC by train to negotiate a new contract for the character. He had no idea that Mintz had hired out all but one of Disney's animators and basically stole the character from Walt. On the train ride home, instead of wallowing in self-pity and bitterness, Walt came up with another character.....and made sure he owned his rights this time.

Fast forward to 2006. Universal still owns the rights to Oswald, although he died out in animation shortly after Mintz stole him from Walt. NBC has earned the right to show an NFL football game on Sunday nights, and they want John Madden and Al Michaels to do the game since ESPN is now doing Monday night football. ABC, owned by Disney, negotiates with NBC for Al's rights to do play by play in the game. The new CEO of Disney asks NBC (which owns Universal) to give Oswald back to the company he belongs to. So, we have Al Michaels to thank for Disney getting Oswald back....almost 80 years later.

Just another lesson in things happening for a reason. I have a hard time seeing Oswald doing what Mickey Mouse did to the American culture. It's also a lesson that what goes around, comes around. Welcome back, Oswald!

DL and DW Parades

A tradition now for the past several years. Christmas morning at 9:00 cst, the Disneyland/WDW parades come on ABC with stars and Disney characters. It was taped earlier this month. We were there last year when they were filming it. Pretty warm but they make the audience wear santa hats anyway and take several takes until they get the right one. Then, they splice and dice it to perfection. If you're there like we were, find something better to do (like ride rides), and then watch it on Christmas Day. Check it out!

Merry Christmas!

Family Museum

For those of you interested in learning more about Walt...

http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/

Blessings...

Remembrance

A well established description of Walt was that he had one foot in the past and one foot in the future. He was always worried about Tomorrowland b/c he knew that tomorrow would be in the past soon enough. Time does fly and before you know it, the future IS the past.

Walt died 41 years ago yesterday, Dec 15th, 1966. It's interesting how people remember the day Walt died very vividly. It was a shock to everyone. He'd only learned he had cancer 8 weeks earlier. I was born 4 years after his death and yet I can remember watching Wonderful World of Disney and not realizing this man on tv (the tv that sat on the red shag carpet with the three channel tuner) was not alive. Walt died of lung cancer..from smoking. He picked up the habit while driving an ambulance in France during the end of World War I, enlisting by faking his birthday. His employees could hear him coming down the hallway. He had that cough, ya know. Because he seemed to know it was a bad habit, he always tried to keep it hidden from the cameras. There are few shots of him with a cigarette. His daughter Diane actually gave him "filtered" cigarettes for Christmas one year, to try and get him weaned of the non-filtered ones. With an obsessive personality like his, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him to try and quit. Yet, it probably took 10 years off his life. He had much planned...WDW, Epcot. More on Epcot in the future. It ended up being a compromise on Walt's dream.

When Disneyland opened, Tomorrowland was supposed to be 1986. I believe this was how long Walt hoped to live. He would have been 85.

Happy Birthday Snow White

Why is it that my wife just looks at this title before I start writing and laughs. So what. I am who I am. See, here's the thing:

Yes, Snow White came out 70 years ago, in 1937. It was a story about an innocent girl with a high pitched voice, an evil queen, a prince, a talking mirror, a huntsman who almost takes Snow White out with an ax, a red apple, and 7 mysteriously single dwarfs who worked in the jewel mines. It was also called "Disney's Folly" and was panned even before it came out. How did Disney expect people to sit through a full length cartoon? All they knew to that point were cartoon shorts...gags, 3-5 minute punchlines before the real movie began.

It worked. Walt mortgaged the studio to make it, everyone in his employ worked on it, he was very demanding of the animation, and was masterful at what was needed to tell the story. The first people who saw it wept..no kidding.

It won a special academy award, with the main statue and 7 miniature statues alongside it. Shirley Temple presented it to Walt. We would probably not have Disneyland or DisneyWorld if it hadn't done so well. Full-length animated features worked! Snow White, if it hadn't been for you..no Pinocchio, no Dumbo, no Peter Pan, no Lion King, no Little Mermaid, etc. etc.

This one's for you Emmy (SW is the flavor of the month). Someday your prince will come...and I'll be waiting with the huntsman and his ax.

Christmas musings

Tis the season - Merry Christmas to all. Christmas is a great time at the parks, as I've mentioned before, so get there someday during this time, if you're able.

Christmas was a favorite of Walt's. He was legendary for handing out all sorts of Disney plush toys and merchandise to friends, kids and family. One Christmas, he gave his secretary some stock in his new corporation and told her to hang on to it, it might be worth something some day. When the secretary died, having lived humbly, her son found the stock while ministering her estate. She was a millionaire and apparently didn't realize it. Wow.

Also, there's a scene in Lady and the Tramp where Lady is given as a Christmas puppy. She pops out of a red and white striped hatbox. This was how Walt gave his wife Lillian there first puppy after they married. I also have this scene memorialized in ceramic, a gift from Heather...for Christmas one year no less.

Also, did you know that he named one of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty after his mother? Her name was Flora. That's not Christmas-related, just a bonus. You can do these sorts of things when you make cartoons for a living.

Hope you all are enjoying the Holiday season! God Bless!