Keep track of the latest news items regarding Song of the South, this web site, new collectibles, and other related topics. Have news to report? Report it!
MousePlanet staff writer Jim Corkis (a.k.a. Wade Sampson) has written another excellent article covering Song of the South, this time stemming from the recent shareholder meeting, in which Disney CEO Robert Iger once again shot down any hope for a release of this movie.
“Obviously, the Disney stockholders were not asked whether they would like to see the film released.” My thoughts exactly, Jim. Iger has proven by his remarks that he and some of the Disney executives are making a personal decision to withhold this movie from the public. What does this have to say about the power of the shareholders? Clearly from hearing the applause this question elicits every year, there are many other shareholders that would like to see this movie released as well.
Disney’s annual shareholder meeting was held this year on March 23rd in Salt Lake City, Utah. Once again, Disney CEO Robert Iger has dismissed the possibility of releasing Song of the South on DVD. Since 2006, shareholders have annually raised the question at every shareholder meeting. In 2006 and 2007, Iger assured shareholders that they were taking another look at the film due to the “numerous requests” they received. By 2008, however, his tone began to change, and by 2010, he was calling the movie “antiquated” and “fairly offensive”. And now, for 2011′s response—shareholder Matthew Hansen was able to squeeze in the meeting’s final Q&A question:
Hansen: My name is Matthew Hansen; I’m a shareholder here locally. This year is a large anniversary for one of Disney’s classic films. Disney restoration team artistic supervisor Dave Bossert recently said, ‘There’s been a lot of internal discussion about it, and at some point we’re going to do something about it. I don’t know when, but we will. We want people to see it because we realize it’s a big piece of company history and we want to do it the right way.’ With this year being the 65th anniversary of Song of the South, I was wondering when we might see that. [Applause]
Iger: [laughs] We almost got through the meeting! I thought you were going to say it’s the 60th anniversary of Peter Pan, I was kind of hoping for that. I said last year at our shareholder’s meeting that I had watched Song of the South again and, even though we’ve considered from time to time bringing it back, I didn’t think it was the right thing for the company to do. It was made in a different time. Admittedly you could use that as context, but I just felt that there are elements to the film, while it was a relatively good film, that wouldn’t necessarily sit right or feel right to a number of people today. And, just felt that it wouldn’t be in the best interest of our shareholders to bring it back, even though there would be some financial gain. Sometimes you make sacrifices on the financial side to do what you believe is right and that’s an example of that.
Hansen: Would it be possible to have, kind of how they have the Disney exclusive videos that aren’t available in stores?
Iger: I just don’t feel that it’s right for us to use company resources to make it available, whether it’s wide or whether it’s narrow… narrowly available. It’s a strong belief that I have— consulted with other top executives of the company. They all agreed, and I think, just remember it as it was, and don’t expect to see it again for… at least for awhile, if ever.
In 1956, Walt Disney held a nationwide contest, sponsored by 3M (the makers of Scotch tape). Contestants had to answer the following question in 25 words or less: “I like Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape because…” Out of all the entries, 25 lucky families would win a trip to the newly-opened Disneyland! (…or New York, but would you really want to choose that over Disneyland?!) At that same time, Song of the South was being re-released to theaters. And who better to promote this contest than our lovable trio, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear?
One of the 8 million tape dispensers made for the contest.
The Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, was one of those 25 lucky families to win. They even created a homemade documentary of the whole experience! The film has proven to be so important from a historical perspective that it was added to the National Film Registry in 2008 (yes, the very same registry we’re trying to get Song of the South into!)
So sit back and enjoy life (and Disneyland) as it was back in 1956. I certainly enjoyed watching this, and if you’re a Disney fan I think you will too. Be sure to keep an eye out for the original Scotch tape display with Brer Rabbit! Special thanks goes out to Steve for letting me know about this great piece of Disney history.
Walt Disney World’s Splash Mountain logs have been redesigned, with the addition of lap bars. The photo to the right has been widely circulated and shows rider test dummies in place to test the new restraint system. According to StitchKingdom.com, the new lap bars and seating enforces 2 guests per row, at the cost of increasing launch times by 8 seconds per boat, and reducing potential ride capacity.
To date, there have only been two reports of accidents involving WDW’s Splash Mountain that I know of, both occurring over 10 years ago. The first incident, on November 5, 2000, happened when a 37-year-old man was killed as he exited his boat in the middle of the ride and was then struck by another boat. The second incident, on December 20, 2000, involved an elderly woman who was injured due to exiting the log too early at the loading area. I would guess this kind of thing happens fairly frequently; we just don’t hear about it until there’s an injury.
It should be interesting to note that this is not the first time that Splash Mountain’s logs have been redesigned. In 1989 when Disneyland’s Splash Mountain opened, the logs sat up to 8 people on a shared padded “bench”, which required some straddling. This design was changed in 2001, reducing the number of seats to 5, with individual backrests installed. The back of the log is now wider to accommodate larger guests, or two smaller guests sitting side-by-side. It will be interesting to see if either of the other two Splash Mountain attractions (Toyko or Disneyland) will receive similar lap bar restraints in the future.
The ride at Walt Disney World is set to reopen on Tuesday, February 1st. Thanks to Keith for the news report!
Yep, you read that right. Disney restoration team artistic supervisor Dave Bossert has dared to say what CEO Robert Iger won’t. Film journalist Steve Head asked Bossert about Song of the South during the Q&A portion of “Fantasia: A 70th Anniversary Celebration” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in October. This is what he had to say:
“I can say there’s been a lot of internal discussion about [Song of the South]. And at some point we’re going to do something about it. I don’t know when, but we will. We know we want people to see Song of the South because we realize it’s a big piece of company history, and we want to do it the right way.”
Bossert has overseen the restoration of classic Disney films such as Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp. For him to say this is pretty encouraging news, and I must say a refreshing departure from Iger’s now scripted response every year at the Disney shareholder meetings. Interestingly, it was also revealed that Song of the South’s original negatives are stored in a climate-controlled vault at the Library of Congress’ audiovisual preservation facility in Culpeper, Virginia.
On this day exactly 64 years ago, Song of the South made its worldwide debut at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Look at the some of the photos from the premier (courtesy of the Georgia State University Library), or take a look at some of the promotional materials released for the premier.
Today also marks SongoftheSouth.net’s 10th Anniversary! (Wow, has it really been that long?!) This web site was officially launched on November 12, 2000 (and this is how it looked). In those 10 years, this site has grown from a few visitors a day to several hundred; I’ve been honored to be contacted by several relatives of those who were involved in this film, and even briefly featured on CNN.
In commemoration of this 10-year milestone, I figured it would be appropriate to bring back Song of the South Radio, featuring over three hours of music and vintage radio ads from Song of the South. I originally created the radio station for Song of the South’s 60th anniversary in 2006, but it proved so popular that I kept it going. Recently the subscription lapsed, but now it’s back for good. Enjoy! And if you like the station, please add it to your favorites.
You’ll also notice that Facebook and Twitter buttons have been added to the bottom of the news articles. I’ve seen these become more ubiquitous with news and blog sites, so I figured I’d try it out just for fun. Let me know if they work (or don’t!)
My biggest thank you goes out to you, the visitors, for all your support over the years! Let’s always remember the real reason for this web site: provide the public with the most information available on Song of the South. Disney won’t, so it is up to us to keep the public informed. Keep the faith! I am confident we will see this movie released.
Notice anything different? In preparation for SongoftheSouth.net’s 10th Anniversary next month, I’m giving this site some much-needed TLC. The biggest enhancement so far is this News section, one of this site’s most visited features. Gone are the old static pages; from now on, this section will be powered by WordPress, a popular and powerful blogging tool. This benefits you, the reader, in several ways:
You can now leave comments on the articles posted here.
Searching archived news is now simple, either by keyword or tags.
RSS feeds are now available for easy subscription.
This also benefits me because there’s less maintenance; pages are dynamically updated via PHP. Posting news is so much easier now, this has turned out to be one of those “gee, wish I’d done this years ago!” moments. There’s more site enhancements in store for the coming months, so stay tuned!
While not directly related to Song of the South, this is a very significant breakthrough in the realm of cartoon censorship. The Censored Eleven is a collection of Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies cartoons created between 1931 and 1944 that were withheld from syndication by United Artists in 1968 because they were deemed too racially insensitive. This censorship persisted through Ted Turner’s acquisition of pre-1948 Warner Brothers cartoons in 1986. While commercially unavailable, these cartoons have been circulating around the Internet for years, including sites such as YouTube. (Sounds like some other film we know of… hmmm…)
Then, in February of this year, Warner Brothers purportedly tested the waters to release these censored cartoons by having a special screening at the first annual TCM Classic Film Festival. Most recently, at the New York ComicCon held this month, Warner Brothers confirmed that they will indeed be releasing the Censored Eleven on the Warner Archives collection sometime in 2011. Source: ToonZone
What impact could this potentially have for Song of the South? If these cartoons are indeed released, perhaps Disney will follow suit and finally make this much maligned (and much tamer) film available to the American public. Interestingly, some of the other Warner Brother cartoons released on DVD in the past include a foreword by Whoopi Goldberg, stating that while many of the cartoons contain behavior which was, and still is, not acceptable, these cartoons are a vital part of history and should not be forgotten. Sound familiar? Many supporters of Song of the South‘s release have suggested this same type of introduction. Maybe with Warner Brothers leading by example, Disney will finally listen?
More information about the Censored Eleven can be found on Wikipedia. Thanks to Zack and Wiwille for the news report!
In an article written on June 11th, Richard Ruelas of the Arizona Republic details the ties of Song of the South to the state of Arizona. The state has two important links to this movie: First, it was at a Phoenix school playground where Glenn Leedy was discovered by a talent scout and recruited for the role of Toby; and second, the majority of Song of the South‘s outdoor scenes were actually filmed at a ranch in Phoenix.
The full article is available here. Thanks to Tom for the news report!
For the first time since 1996, this summer’s Walt Disney Classics Collection release includes Song of the South themed figurines. Entitled “Brer Fox & Brer Rabbit: Cooking Up a Plan/Last Laugh”, the set depicts Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox from the beginning of the Laughing Place sequence of Song of the South, in which Brer Fox is about to cook up Brer Rabbit. Interestingly, Song of the South isn’t mentioned at all in the official product description:
“Walt Disney loved the animal fables penned by Joel Chandler Harris in which clever Brer Rabbit constantly outfoxed crafty Brer Fox— but this time it looks like it’s the hungry fox who has the upper hand. But never fear, quick-thinking Brer Rabbit will have the last laugh. First brought to life through Disney animation, these fanciful folklore critters have been immortalized in the classic Disney Theme Park attraction Splash Mountain. These fun-filled sculptures are plussed with a bronze fork and pewter neck on Brer Fox and a pewter pole for Brer Rabbit.”
The set was sculpted by Rubén Procopio, and the suggested retail price is $225.00 for the set. The full Summer 2010 catalog can be viewed on the official Walt Disney Classics Collection web site. Thanks to Michael Damato for the news report!
Let me know if they work (or don’t!)