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December 13, 2008
MousePlanet Article: Song of the South That Never Was
Once again, MousePlanet staff writer Wade Sampson has written an excellent article on Song of the South. This article focuses on "what could have happened with Uncle Remus and his animated friends." If you're interested in learning more about the history of Song of the South's development prior to its theatrical release in 1946, this article is a must read:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=ww081210ws
I also highly recommend two other articles on Song of the South written by Wade earlier this year, which detail the history of Walt Disney's Uncle Remus comic strip and the theatrical premier of Song of the South in 1946. See the news article from February 19th, below. Thanks to Maggi for the news report!
November 12, 2008
Celebrating Song of the South's 62nd Anniversary
On this day, 62 years ago, Song of the South made its worldwide debut at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. As a special tribute, I have added several photographs from the worldwide premier to the Photo Archives section. These photos appear courtesy of the Georgia State University Library's Special Collections and are exhibited with permission. Enjoy seeing a piece of Disney history! |
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September 30, 2008
New Song of the South Southern Series Pin Released
On September 15th, Disney released a new pin series in a salute to the American South. Each pin pictures a Southern belle and gentleman. Appropriately enough, one of the pins depicts Brer Bear, Brer Fox, and Brer Rabbit from Song of the South. Who's the rabbit belle on Brer Rabbit's arm? They don't mention her by name, but I would suspect it's Miss Molly, long-time "sweetheart" of Brer Rabbit seen in various Disney comics and books over the years. This would be the first time she's appeared on a pin.
DisneyShopping.com Product Description: "Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear find the belle of the ball to be mighty satisfactual on this limited-edition Disney pin inspired by Walt Disney's classic Song of the South. Imported"
The pin is limited to an edition of 250 and is available to order from DisneyShopping.com. The price is $12.95. |
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August 20, 2008 (Updated October 22)
Rumor: Song of the South Preview on Upcoming Sleeping Beauty DVD?
It has been reported that a Wikipedia page on Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty has a reference to a Song of the South "Sneak Peek" in the upcoming 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition DVD release, scheduled for October 7, 2008:
- A 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition release of Sleeping Beauty, as a 2-disc DVD & Blu-ray Disc, is currently scheduled for October 7, 2008. This release will make Sleeping Beauty the first entry in the Platinum Edition line to be released in high definition video. The Blu-ray version will feature BD-Live, an online feature, and the extras will include a virtual castle and multi-player games. (The sneak peek includes Pinocchio, Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, WALL-E, Song of the South and Tinker Bell.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty_(1959_film)
No additional information has been found on this claim, so it has been labeled a rumor. The DVD is available for preorder on Amazon.com . Has anyone else out there heard anything about this? If so, please contact me. Special thanks to Jeff S. for the news report!
UPDATE 9/28/08: The reference to Song of the South has been removed. One of the nice things about Wikipedia is that all changes are logged. If you view the page history, we can see that the reference to Song of the South has been added, and subsequently removed, multiple times since the beginning of August. The first time Song of the South was added was on August 4th (see edit) by IP address 76.208.167.85.
UPDATE 10/22/08: Now that several people have received their Sleeping Beauty DVDs, this rumor can be put to rest; there is no preview or "sneak peak" of Song of the South as had been posted on Wikipedia.
July 29, 2008
Dummies In The Attic: Joel Chandler Harris & The Wren's Nest
Last month, Rachael Maddux of Paste magazine published an article entitled "Dummies In The Attic", a story about Joel Chandler Harris' home the Wren's Nest, which he built and lived in until his death in 1908. Lain Shakespeare, the great-great-great grandson of Joel Chandler Harris, is interviewed in the article and is currently the executive director of the Wren's Nest museum.
Interestingly, the article pictures two mannequins that until recently were collecting dust up in the attic of the Wren's Nest. According to the article, they were originally given to the Wren's Nest by Walt Disney for the premier of Song of the South in 1946. Now, over 60 years later, Uncle Remus and Johnny are seeing the light of day once again. According to Lain: "They’re part of Wren’s Nest’s history — and I thought it would be a cool thing to show people."
Read the full article here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/06/dummies-in-the-attic.html
I would also encourage you to visit The Wren's Nest web site: http://www.wrensnestonline.com/
April 15, 2008
Ollie Johnston, Last of Disney's "Nine Old Men", Passes Away
Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Disney's "Nine Old Men", passed away Monday at age 95. He died of natural causes at a long-term care facility in Sequim, Washington.
Besides being a Directing Animator for Song of the South, Ollie worked on numerous other Disney films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Robin Hood and The Rescuers.
We will miss you, Ollie! Thank you for all the wonderful films I was fortunate to grow up with.
March 29, 2008
Song of the South Mentioned (Again) at Shareholder Meeting
Carol Koster of Disney Echo shared the following with me: "The annual meeting of Shareholders of The Walt Disney Company was held in Albuquerque MN today, March 6, 2008. A shareholder got up during the Question and Answer segment to ask Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney, 'Before the end of my lifetime will I ever see 'Song of the South' released to home video?' To which Mr. Iger replied the now 'standard' reply: They discuss the possibility regularly, there are certain issues of 'sensitivity' surround this movie and the long ago past era it was made in, times are different now, no immediate plans to release it, but they do regularly revisit it, etc."
Last year, at the 2007 shareholder meeting, the topic of Disney releasing Song of the South was raised by shareholder Carol Koster. Iger's response was more encouraging, and it picked up a lot of press.
The year before that, at the 2006 shareholder meeting, the same question was raised. At that time, Iger basically stated that Disney had no plans to bring the movie back.
This marks the third year in a row that Song of the South has been brought up at the annual shareholder meeting. And until they release the movie on DVD, we hope that shareholders keep bringing it up! Thanks to Carol Koster and Shawn Kelly for the news reports.
February 19, 2008
Two Excellent Song of the South Articles from MousePlanet
MousePlanet staff writer Wade Sampson has written two very interesting and in-depth articles related to Song of the South. The first article, published on January 17 and titled "Disney's B'rer Rabbit Hops Into the Funny Pages", describes the history and background of the Disney Uncle Remus comic strip. This weekly comic strip ran for over 27 years, from 10/14/1945 to 12/31/1972.
The second article, published on February 13, is "The Song of the South Premiere" which is a very comprehensive history of Song of the South up to the point of its theatrical premiere on November 12, 1946. If you are interested in learning more about Song of the South's history, this article is a must-read. Thanks to Wade Sampson for publishing these excellent articles and thanks to Joey Sartin for the news report!
January 8, 2008
Song of the South Mentioned at Blu-ray Conference
Engadget has reported on the Blu-ray Press Conference held at CES on Monday, January 7th in Las Vegas. Among many of the panel members was Bob Chapek, President of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. During the question & answer session, the following question was posed:
- Q. With Blu-ray the aparent winner, are we going to see more catalogue titles?
A. Bob says Song of the South won't be covered here today, but one of the pinnacle moments was when we decided to bring out Snow White, which signaled it was mass market, since this was a most cherished title. This time they are releasing Snow White this October. "And what's the price point Bob?" "Wow" -- and as a result we know where this is going. David Bishop says most of the panel lived through DVD and just like that, they look at the core and try to release products that are valuable to them.
It's interesting that he even chose to mention Song of the South at all at a Blu-ray conference. Is he just getting the disclaimer out there to preempt anyone who might ask about Song of the South? At the very least it's a recognition that there is a lot of interest in Song of the South being released, whether it be on regular DVD or Blu-ray. Read into it however you want. Special thanks to Konrad Haskins for the news report! |
