Sam Gennawey's Blog, page 14

Walt Disney's Academy Award Legacy

Photos by Jim Smith, courtesy The Walt Disney Family Museum.
Walt Disney Still Record-Holder for Most Won Academy Awards in HistoryWalt’s Oscar Collection Showcased at The Walt Disney Family Museum
San Francisco, CA (January 10, 2013)—The Walt Disney Family Museum celebrates the 2013 Academy Awards season with recently compiled fun facts about the legendary Oscars and Walt Disney. Twenty-six of these famed Awards are on view at the Museum including the celebrated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Oscar which is on exhibit through April 14, 2013 in the special exhibition, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic. 
Between 1931 and 1968, Walt Disney won 32 Academy Awards and still holds the record for most individual Academy Awards won. This number includes special and technical awards.
Twenty-six of Walt’s Academy Awards—including the Honorary Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—are on display at The Walt Disney Family Museum.
Walt’s first Oscar was the first ever Academy Award for Animated Short Subjects, his Silly Symphony “Flowers and Trees.” That same Academy Award Ceremony in 1932, Walt was also given an Honorary Award, which was presented to him for the creation of Mickey Mouse.
In 1939, Walt received a custom-made Oscar statuette for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Honorary Award consisted of one standard Oscar statuette, standing above seven other miniature ones—representing each of the Dwarfs, placed on a stepped, 20-inch long base. Shirley Temple presented this second Honorary Award (he won a total of four in his lifetime)—this by far was the most distinctive award in Academy history.
The first ever nature documentary Academy Award was awarded to Walt in 1948 for Seal Island.
In the 1960s, Walt purchased 20 miniature Oscar charms, each engraved with the name of the work for which it was awarded. He created a beautiful charm necklace and gifted it to his wife Lilian, who then converted it into a charm bracelet, which is on view at The Walt Disney Family Museum.
Academy Award host Bob Hope is rumored to have said (in tribute to Walt’s many wins), ‘if we have any of these statues left over, we’ll just send them to Walt Disney.’
Walt also holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations with 59 nods.
Join us for a daily screening of the Academy Award-winning film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the Museum’s Fantasia-inspired theater. The film screens daily at 4pm through April. Check www.waltdisney.org for more info and tickets. 
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic is organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum. Major support is provided by Wells Fargo. Exhibition design: IQ Magic. Media sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate.com, and ABC7/KGO-TV.
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ABOUT THE MUSEUMThe Walt Disney Family Museum presents the fascinating story and achievements of Walt Disney, the man who raised animation to an art, transformed the film industry, tirelessly pursued innovation, and created a global and distinctively American legacy. Opened in October 2009, the 40,000 square foot facility features the newest technology and historic materials and artifacts to bring Disney’s achievements to life, with interactive galleries that include early drawings and animation, movies, music, listening stations, a spectacular model of Disneyland and much more. 
Hours: 10am to 6pm, Wednesdays through Monday; closed on Tuesdays and the following public holidays: New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Tickets: $20 adults, $15 seniors and students, and $12 children ages 6 to 17.Admission is free for members.
Special ticket price for Snow White: $10 general.Special combination ticket which includes general museum admission: $25 adults; $20 seniors and students; $15 children ages 6 to 17.
Where: The Presidio of San Francisco, 104 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94129  Contact: 415-345-6800 / www.waltdisney.org www.facebook.com/thewaltdisneyfamilymuseum www.twitter.com/WDFMuseum 

The Samland Grab Bag! on MiceChat

Sam returns with a wonderful grab bag of Disney delights. Some fun and perhaps even surprising facts about Disneyland are shared below.
READ MORE HERE AT MICECHAT

STORYBOOK CIRCUS - AGAIN!

They say that good ideas never die at Imagineering, just put in a draw to come out when the time is right. This recently happened in Walt Disney World. The new Storybook Circus section can trace it’s roots back many years ago at Disneyland. Dumbo's Circusland would be a five-acre area both inside and outside of the berm adjacent to it's a small world. Circus-themed spaces go all the way back to some of the earliest ideas for Fantasyland as penned by artist Bruce Bushman. Animator Ward Kimball also contributed to the planning.
The centerpiece would have been Mickey's Madhouse, a proposed thrill ride geared toward children. Like Space Mountain at Walt Disney World, this ride would have been a wild mouse roller coaster in the dark. Guests would have entered the world of black and white cartoons of the 1930s and travel through an environment where they would be unable to see what is in front of them.  The Casey Jr. train would have been extended and given a second stop within Dumbo's Circusland. A dark ride called Circus Disney featuring Audio-Animatronics Disney characters and a new Pinocchio ride would be squeezed in as well. At the center of the land would be a playful fountain with the fireman clowns from the animated film.


Another early experiment did not turn out as well: the November 11 opening of the Mickey Mouse Club Circus. Walt always loved the circus and thought that was something the park needed. The "world’s largest striped circus tent" was set up at the far north section of the park just behind Holiday Hill, which was the pile of dirt from the Sleeping Beauty Castle moat. The tent was heated. There was a separate fee for the circus. Disneyland GM C.V. Wood tried to talk him out of the circus entirely. He argued, "Walt, you just can’t do this! A circus always plays by itself. The guy comes to Disneyland to stay around for four hours and see what you’ve got. He’s not going to spend two of those hours at a damn circus!” This criticism merely made Walt more determined. 
Ads for the one-hour show proclaimed the circus to be "personally produced by Walt to introduce his Mouseketeers to the public.” Members of The Mickey Mouse Club television show performed circus stunts, accompanied by the March of Toys with all the famous Disney characters along with Santa Claus, Bob-O (the Disneyland Clown), and Serenado the Wonder Horse. The most thrilling act was Prof. Keller and His Feline Fantastics, "an exciting and educational experience with 13 of the World’s most deadly killers!” At one point, the llamas escaped and they made it to the Main Street station and a panther attached a tiger during a parade.
Imagineer Bill Martin complained, "You couldn't tell the animals what to do, though, and Walt wanted more control. That's why we went to Audio-Animatronics later." The circus left town on January 8, 1956, deemed a commercial failure. C.V. Wood had been right. Admiral Joe Fowler said, "That was the first time that we learned this lesson. People came to Disneyland to see Disneyland.” The area that had contained the circus was reshaped in preparation of the Junior Autopia.

THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE

A war was starting to take place between two giant entertainment companies. 
In 1981, MCA, owners of Universal Studios, bought land in Florida for a movie studio and theme park. Michael Eisner decided he wanted Disney to beat them to the market. The Walt Disney Company announced in 1985 that it would build a $300-million studio tour in Orlando and it would open one year before Universal. In March, MCA decided to up the ante by announcing a major $75 million expansion at Universal City that would boost attendance by 50% to 6 million per year.  The expansion would include an E.T. ride, a Back to the Future ride, an attraction called Earthquake - San Francisco, and a stunt show based on the television show Miami Vice.  

Disney fired back with the announcement of an agreement with the city of Burbank to purchase 40-acres for $1 million to build the $611 Disney-MGM Backlot entertainment complex. The mixed-use development would feature a Disney-style attractions like a ride through famous movie scenes and a “Hollywood Fantasy Hotel.” There would be shops, restaurants, theaters, and clubs. The studio’s animation department would be moved into the complex as well as the Disney Channel studios.  
Michael Eisner had allegedly proposed to Jay Stein, a vice president at MCA that Disney would drop the plans to build the Burbank if MCA would drop plans to build theme parks in Florida. Stein complained that Disney was using “blackmail tactics” to get their way and the company sued Burbank claiming it had made a secret deal with his competitor. Southern California had become a skirmish in a much bigger war between entertainment giants.

DART

DART
In 1963, the success of Disneyland sparked all sorts of moneymaking schemes from ambitious promoters. One such proposal was a four to six mile elevated train "of completely novel design" between Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. To bring this project to reality, the Duorail Aerospace Rapid Transit Corp. (DART) needed to get the Anaheim City Council to sponsor the project. With that sponsorship, DART could seek $21 million in Federal  funding from the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency. Anaheim City Administrator Keith Murdoch described the project as "a truly experimental system, a research and development venture quite properly within the jurisdiction of the federal government." When asked at the time, Disneyland management was not aware of the project nor was Walter Knott who said, "The first time I heard about it was when I read the Papers." When City officials started checking into DART they could not obtain any information and the project faded into history.

Bobby Burgess Talks About Frontierland 1956

What Time is it in Paris?

Looking forward to Walt Disney World’s past

Time to step into the Wayback Machine and take a look at how the Walt Disney World public relations team tried to portray the Magic Kingdom just prior to opening.

Read more HERE exclusively on MiceChat.

But What About Cerritos Avenue?

Rose Parade

I just love living in Pasadena and wanted to pass on a few photos from very, very early this morning when the Cars Land (and others) float first pulled up in the line. Enjoy.