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Song of the South Trivia

  • Song of the South won two Academy Awards in 1948. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah won an Oscar for Best Song, and James Baskett won an honorary Oscar "For his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world". The film was also nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.
  • James Baskett spoke the part of Brer Fox so quickly that the animators were unable to sync their animation with complete accuracy. Animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston calculated that Baskett spoke about eight words a second, or 1/8th of a second per word!
  • Song of the South's World Premiere was on November 12, 1946, at 8:30 PM at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Song of the South was originally going to be titled "Uncle Remus."
  • Song of the South's re-release in 1972 set a boxoffice record for an animated reissue.
  • Song of the South was expensive to produce for its time: about $2,125,000. In 1946, The Walt Disney Studio made $226,000 from the film.
  • Most of the outdoor live action scenes were filmed in Phoenix, Arizona.
  • Billed as a live action musical drama, all but five minutes of Song of the South contains music.
  • James Baskett, the talented actor who portrayed Uncle Remus, originally called in to the Walt Disney Studio to try out for the vocal part of a butterfly. Not only did he get the bit part, but was also found to be the perfect voice for Brer Fox, in addition to landing the main role of Uncle Remus.
  • When the Walt Disney Studio was recording voices for the Laughing Place animated sequence, Johnny Lee (the voice of Brer Rabbit) was called away on a USO tour. The vocally talented James Baskett filled in for Lee, taking on both Brer Fox's and Brer Rabbit's parts.
  • James Baskett was the first actor hired by Disney.
  • Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten were the first actors to enter a contract with Disney.
  • On November 30, 1944, Walt Disney Productions entered a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Los Angeles, CA, to begin filming for "Uncle Remus" on January 2, 1945.
  • In 1939, Walt Disney bought the rights to the Uncle Remus stories from the family of Joel Chandler Harris.
  • The laughing of Brer Rabbit heard during the Laughing Place sequence of Song of the South was reused in The Jungle Book (1967) when Baloo tickles King Louie.
  • Many of the talented African-Americans who participated in Song of the South were also all regulars of the Amos 'n' Andy show:

    1. James Baskett (Uncle Remus, voice of Brer Fox) was Gabby Gibson.
    2. Nick Stewart (voice of Brer Bear) was Lightnin'.
    3. Johnny Lee (voice of Brer Rabbit) was Lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun.
    4. Hattie McDaniel (Aunt Tempy) was Sadie Simpson.
    5. Roy Glenn (unconfirmed voice of Brer Frog) was a supporting role.
  • In Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), Song of the South had five animated cameos, to my knowledge the most from any single film. This would make sense, given that the film is set in the year 1947, at the height of Song of the South's popularity.

    1. Brer Bear can be seen walking off the Maroon Cartoons studio lot.
    2. In the first Toon Town sequence, the three Sis Moles pop up from the ground
    3. Just to the right, the Tar Baby can be seen sitting on the back fence.
    4. The three hummingbirds say, "Hi Eddie!" and "Bye Eddie!" as he drives by.
    5. Brer Bear can be seen in the toon crowd of the final scene.

For Splash Mountain trivia, be sure to check out the Splash Mountain Facts & Trivia section!

Song of the South Quizzes

Are you a Song of the South expert? Take a Song of the South Quiz! There are 3 levels of difficulty to choose from, below.