Song of the South

Tonight I am writing about a true Disney Classic:  Song of the South. This is a beautiful movie combining the magic of Disney animation with the talents of live actors. The songs are memorable and have become carved in the minds and hearts of all who love Disney. What Disney lover has not skipped gleefully toward splash mountain singing Zip A Dee Doo Dah? Who does not have a laughing place? Sadly, today's youth do not know that the songs and ride that they love are based on classic American stories. It is the Disney Company's shame that they have chosen to ignore the Song of the South. Ignoring for the sake of not offending someone is not going to change history. The Civil War (War of Northern Aggression as we call it in the South) happened. Reconstruction happened. Slavery happened. If we pretend that these things ever occurred, how will future generations ever understand and avoid the same mistakes? I want to be able to share this story with others. I want to able to sit down and watch Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remus. I want to be able to relive those happy feelings of childhood with a movie that Walt Disney was proud to create. Please petition the Disney Company to release Song of the South!  (songofthesouth.org)

Until the Disney Company decides to release this movie legitimately fans will continue to purchase bootleg copies of this dvd or try to find it in pieces on youtube.  Not releasing this title will not stop fans from finding ways to view it.  And just to remind you of the wonders that came from this movie:

Congratulations Joe!

Time for a Disney Nerd moment!  Yea!  Imagineer Joe Rohde was just honored this month by the Themed Entertainment Association with the Buzz Price Thea Award Recognizing a Career of Distinguished Achievements.  For those who aren't familiar with Joe, let me give you a hint who he is:

See that mountain in the background?  Do you know what it is?  Give up?  Expedition Everest!  One of the best roller coaster experiences you will ever discover and one of Mr. Rohde's imaginations come to life!  Not only is he responsible for the ride itself, Mr. Rohde is the mind behind everything you see in this picture and everything you don't.  Where is it?  Animal Kingdom, of course!  Joe Rohde has been one of the famous Disney Imagineers forever (it seems) and is one of my heroes.  He is the reason I wanted to become a Mechanical Engineer - I wanted to design roller coasters for Disney just like Joe.  Of course, it helps when the man who started the company (yes, I'm talking about the great man behind the mouse himself - Mr. Walt Disney) was the original Imagineer.  In fact, without Walt Disney the term Imagineer would never have been invented.  Most engineering jobs take place in a cubicle with white walls and lots of texts books and calculators.  Mr. Disney hated that model.  He encouraged everyone working in his buildings to make their spaces unique and personal - to bring life to the boredom.  He wanted the space around you to encourage your mind to go farther than the universe.  How amazing would it be to work in an office like those in the Disney corporation?  I know it has been a dream of mine since I was 5 and will continue to be a dream when I am 95.  I only hope that one day my Imagineering dream will become a reality.  And if I can't become one of the elite, the great, the wonderful Imagineers, then I hope to at least get to meet and talk with Joe Rohde one day.  My only fear is that I would have the opportunity to meet one of the greats and either freeze up and not be able to speak or blurt out every nonsensical thing in my head and sound crazy.  Still, my Disney wish is to meet and spend time with Imagineer Joe Rohde.  Hopefully my fairy godmother is listening so that one day the dream that I wish will come true.  ;)

One Little Spark!

Figment is a rule-breaker.  He has his house on the ceiling.  Upside down.  Figment is an original.  Walt Disney had limitless imagination.  He named his thinkers and dreamers Imagineers!  I’m leaving my Disney Classics tangent (sort-of) to imagine imagination.  Can you imagine?  Sadly many children today can’t imagine.  They sit in front of the television watching mindless shows (thank you new Disney Channel), and playing violent video games.  Research has shown that children’s brains CAN NOT develop properly without pretend play, aka using imagination.  Where would the world be today without imagination?  We would have no space program, no sky scrapers, no iphones.  There would be no (gasp) Disneyland or Walt Disney World.  Oh the horror!  Turn off your television, turn off the video games.  A prominent neuropsychologist advocates throwing out video games altogether.  Play with your kids.  Go outside and find shapes in the clouds.  Go on a treasure hunt.  Read books together.  Eat supper together and have discussions.  Build houses on the ceiling!  Save our Imagination!  Walt Disney had a vision and dared to give in to imagination.  He let his one little spark ignite and grow into a vast empire.  An empire built on imagination!  To paraphrase Figment… One little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation.  Right at the start of everything that’s new, one little spark, lights up for you! 

Back to Classics!

Everybody's Waiting Here at Pooh Corner!

Who remembers the original Disney Channel?  When my sister and I were little the Disney Channel was awesome, amazing, astounding!  We remember being Welcomed to Pooh Corner, getting fit with Mickey while Mousercizing, and flying from town to town with Dumbo’s Circus.  Our love of Mickey Mouse and his friends was created by our mother and cultivated by the original Disney Channel.  We loved watching Mickey Mouse cartoons in their entirety.  The Disney Channel is making strides by creating the Have a Laugh series.  However, they are cheating children, adults, and future generations out of incalculable joy by denying us the full cartoons!  I teach children with special needs.  I use Disney cartoons as a motivator.  The old black and white cartoons from the 1920’s and 1930’s seem to be the favorites among my students!   We love to watch Donald have his tantrums while Chip and Dale wreak havoc on his life.  Goofy’s innumerable accidents make me feel better about my motor skills.  And Mickey and Minnie are the ultimate romantic couple.  More relationships should last as long as Mickey and Minnie’s!   If the children I teach and those of my friends are any indication, the love of Disney Classics is alive and well.  This love needs to be cultivated with the creation of a Disney Classics television channel.  My family and I have begun a letter writing campaign to lobby for the creation of this channel.  We need many more to join so that those of us who love Disney can be heard!

Challenge: Be Like Walt Disney

Normally we would be talking about a return of the Disney Classics (which we still completely believe in and support).  But I would like to take a quick break from our usual topic to remark on an amazing Disney tradition: service.  Walt Disney's commitment to service, customer service especially, knew no bounds.  One of my favorite Disney quotes along this line of thought is "My business is making people, especially children, happy."  How incredible is it that we have a model in front of us on how to treat others that is so simple and yet so powerful.  I have been fortunate enough to have visited Disney World several times.  While I have not had the pleasure of visiting Disneyland or any of the Disney Cruise Lines (yet), I do look forward to the day I can take those trips.  What impressed me most about Disney World is how wonderful the Cast Members (or workers if you are not a Disney fanatic) are to everyone they encounter.  Walt Disney wrote the book on customer service, and gives us a guide to model in our daily lives with all our interactions.  Maybe we are not able to make everyone happy - but how much better would our lives be if we could try to make others happy?  Impossible, you say?  Well in the words of the great man himself:

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. Walt Disney

If you don't believe me and you're not sure whether to believe in Mr. Disney then let me show you two remarkable feats that were created through imagination.  No - not the castles at the theme parks.  Anyone who has visited Europe knows that castles can be built.  But here are my top "if you can dream it, you can do it" (Walt Disney) structures.

First, Spaceship Earth: a magnificent globe that graces EPCOT and houses a ride through the stars.  Up close it looks like a bunch of pyramids were glued together to form this amazing structure.  Truly a project of the mind that couldn't be contained, so it become a reality for us to enjoy.

Second, the Tree of Life: Standing tall at Animal Kingdom this incredible tree appears to have jumped right out of the song "Colors of the Wind".  Animal carvings come together in this structure that from far away doesn't appear to be anything more that a giant tree.  But believe me, this engineering marvel was the result of huge imagination by very creative people.

So now that you have seen what imagination, service, attention to detail, and kindness can do, I challenge everyone to be like Walt Disney - truly a legacy worth passing on.

Whatever happened to Saturday mornings?

Remember the mornings when you would jump out of bed on the weekends and your parents would let you watch TV just so they could rest a while longer?  Such great programs like (my favorite) Duck Tales, Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck, and Tale Spin ruled the airways.  Everyone knew what crazy adventure Uncle Scrooge took his nephews on, wished they had an uncle who wanted to go on a treasure hunt too.  I even had a dollar sign shaped pool like Uncle Scrooge's designed and was just waiting until I built my mansion so I could have it installed.  More than the money and adventure I remember the relationships that were formed.  Tale Spin for instance made a family out of four characters who, in the real world, would not have socialized together after quitting time.  Gummi Bears helped me to believe in magic and to look for the unexplainable in everyday life - not so that I could find all the answer, but so I could appreciate the mystery.  This is the legacy these Disney favorites of the 80s gave to us.  They taught us to look at the world around us as a giant playground and then sent us out to explore and conquer it.  Do the children of today get that same feeling of discovery when they look outside their window?  Do they go to the park to see the ducks and then wonder what adventures these beautiful creatures will experience once the humans leave?  Do they know and understand the magic of the world around them and how precious it is?  These shows deserve to be seen by all.  And while you can buy them on DVD, why not have them back ruling the airways on Saturday mornings?  Why not have a classic Disney channel that you can allow your children to watch without fear?  And why not have a Disney channel that the adults can watch so we can feel again the childlike innocence that once filled us?  I don't know about you but I am ready to take back Saturday mornings!  Starting with my favorite uncle:

I just love his since of style!  Makes me want a top hat of my own.

A Disney Legacy Gone, but Not Forgotten

The world lost a true "Disney Classic" today with the passing Robert Sherman. Robert and his brother Richard were studio songwriters for Walt Disney. They are responsible for many of the songs that get trapped in our subconscious and refuse to be eradicated.  These tunes include movie favorites from “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Jungle Book”, and “Mary Poppins”.  The Sherman brother wrote that immortal classic that we all love to hate, hate to love, “It’s a Small World”.  Many people don’t realize that the Shermans wrote other for other studios as well.  They composed the music and lyrics for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “The Slipper and the Rose”.    

Robert Sherman was born in December of 1925 to a well-known Tin Pan Alley song writer.  During World War II this American hero obtained permission from his parents to join the United States Army at age 17.  In April 1945 Robert was among the first Allied troops to enter Dachau concentration camp after it had been evacuated by the fleeing Germans.  In the same month, Robert was shot above the knee, compelling him to walk with a cane for the remainder of his life.   In his later years Robert returned to London to live.  He passed away there peacefully on March 5, 2012.

Robert Sherman left an amazing legacy.  His songs were maddeningly enchanting and infectious.  The Sherman brother’s songs are part of what makes Disney so very enjoyable.  Thank you Mr. Sherman for providing the music and lyrics for those supercalifragilisticexpealidocious songs. They have shown us that is truly is "A Small World After All" and made our childhoods and thus adult hoods extraordinary!   Your great music will always be in our hearts and minds.  Thanks to you "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for all Disney lovers!