Windows to the Past: Brother Juniper the Mouseketeer 1958

Brother Juniper was a long-running one panel comic strip created by Frederick Francis McCarthy.  It featured the diminutive and ever cheerful title character whose name was derived from the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of Saint Francis of Assisi.  McCarthy was a Franciscan friar who created his comic strip character in 1942.  The comic strip entered newspaper syndication in 1958 and lasted more than three decades.

Shortly after its debut at the beginning of 1958, Brother Juniper payed homage to the then stellar popularity of original Mickey Mouse Club.  This strip was published on February 19, 1958.

Donald's Diary: Bewitched, Bothered and Bogie

 

It's always fun to mine yesteryear popular culture from a vintage cartoon.  Earlier this week we showcased a Freeze Frame! from the 1954 Donald Duck cartoon Donald's Diary that paid homage to Disney artist Tyrus Wong.  In the same short, the production crew also made reference to a rather famous popular song, and in addition, hijacked one of Humphrey Bogart's notable film quotes.

When Daisy primps before a big date, three of the perfumes on her vanity are identified as Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.  This is a reference to the song Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, written and composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1940 Broadway musical Pal Joey.  The show tune quickly transcended its initial venue, evolving into a pop standard performed by any number of notable vocalists including Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Barbara Streisand, Carly Simon and even Sinead O'Connor.

Near the end of the short, Donald abandons his plans for matrimony and instead enlists in the foreign legion.  The narrator extolls, "Though I was born when I kissed her, I died when we parted."  As Donald is shown walking guard duty at a remote desert outpost, the narrator adds,  "But I lived for a little while."

That ending sequence is a riff on one of Humphrey Bogart's most memorable film quotes.  In the 1950 movie, In a Lonely Place, Bogie plays a cynical and violence-prone screenwriter suspected of murder.  In a scene with co-star Gloria Grahame, Bogart's Dix Steele character speaks a line from a script he is writing:  "I was born when she kissed me, I died when she left me, I lived a few weeks while she loved me."

Freeze Frame! - Ty Wong Chop Suey

Tyrus Wong had been absent from the Walt Disney Studios for more than a dozen years when the Donald Duck cartoon Donald's Diary was produced in 1954.  But he was still very much remembered.  The proof is in this Freeze Frame from the short wherein Wong was immortalized as the proprietor of a Chinese food restaurant.

Wong's tenure with Disney was brief but significant.  He worked at the studio from 1938 to 1941.  According to his Disney Legends biography:

Looking for steady employment, he joined The Walt Disney Studios to work on animated shorts, but quickly moved into feature films after submitting landscape paintings with deer as early concepts for "Bambi," which was in pre-production. Among his paintings, a stunning image of a stag fight filled with dynamic action, strong compositions, and dramatic lightning. 

Wong went on to work for Warner Bros. for twenty-five years as a production artist for live action films.  Beyond Warner Bros., he was a successful commercial artist, designing Christmas cards for Hallmark and providing illustrations for magazines such as Reader's Digest.  Still very active at age 101, he currently designs elaborate flying kites that have been described as "masterful expressions of his artistic sensibilities."


Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
Freeze Frame! - Daisy's Favorite Spot

Windows to the Past: The Shaggy Dog at the Palace

This particular Window to the Past, while highlighting a classic Disney live-action feature, also serves to illustrate segregation as it existed in the late 1950s.  This photograph reflects an era when many African American audiences had their own separate movie theaters, in this case the Palace Theatre in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 1959.  The featured attraction was Walt Disney's The Shaggy Dog, and the Palace's management certainly dressed up the front of the theater for the occasion.  A copy of the original movie poster can be seen in a glass case just to the right of the box office.

Photogragh via Cinema Treasures.

Peter Pan's Four Color Treasure Chest

It was one of the heftiest comic books ever produced.  Topping out at a whopping 212 pages, Walt Disney's Peter Pan Treasure Chest, published by Dell Comics, was released in early 1953 to coincide with the debut of Disney's animated feature Peter Pan in theaters.  It cost a then allowance-draining fifty cents and has proven to be one of the rarer Disney comic books from that particular era.  Copies now fetch between $200-$300.

A full quarter of the book was devoted to a 54-page adaptation of the movie.  Two additional 20-page tales involved crossovers with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse respectively.  A 32-page story centering on Captain Hook and a search for buried treasure was loosely adapted from the classic 1942 comic Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold by Carl Barks and Jack Hannah.  Bubbles the Water Baby was a 12-page "story of the Mermaid Lagoon."  Mr. Smee and Nana were showcased in their own shorter stories while John and Michael were teamed for an Indian Adventure that filled sixteen pages.  Activity pages filled out the remainder of the book.

Mickey and Peter Pan from Walt Disney's Peter Pan Treasure Chest

 

The 1953 Peter Pan Marketing Machine

If you thought that far-reaching and media-saturating marketing campaigns were primarily a more contemporary Disney Company tactic, think again.  In early 1953, it was difficult to open a newspaper and not be exposed to advertising featuring tie-ins to Peter Pan, which was released in February of that year.  And if you thought that the products and services being endorsed were likely juvenile in nature, you would be most mistaken, as evidenced by the above-featured ad for the Peter Pan Haircut.  Salons across the country offered the cut, as well as the Peter Pan Permanent.  It was "brushed and curled to the very last inch--this whimsical wonderful wearable hairdo!"

Other Pan-related campaigns included Western Airlines, that proclaimed, "Let Western Airlines tell you why every girl and boy can fly!"  Tinker Bell was just one of the film's characters that promoted Weather-Bird Shoes in shoe stores nationwide.

IGA Supermarkets and other food chains promoted having a Peter Pan Party, which tied into an article published in the magazine Woman's Home Companion.

Previously at 2719 Hyperion, we featured components of the advertising campaign for Admiral Appliances that also made use of the Peter Pan cast.

There was certainly much more to Peter than just peanut butter . . . 

What a Character! - The Mountain Lion

The twilight of animation's golden age is littered with potential cartoon stars that sadly faded with their medium.  Numerous new characters were born out of the 1950s-era Disney shorts, but most were simply not granted enough time to establish themselves.  One such case study involves a character who, despite starring in five different cartoon shorts, did not even earn a name for himself--literally.  In historical texts, he is simply the "the Mountain Lion," although he has unofficially been identified by some scholars as Louie.  For practical reasons, we will apply that monicker for the purposes of our discussion here.

Louie was introduced in the 1950 Donald Duck cartoon Lion Around.  He is an undomesticated creature, an inarticulate denizen of the forest, but certainly not in the benign and harmless fashion of Humphrey Bear, who was also a product of the same time period.  In Lion Around, the nephews attempt to fool Donald with a mountain lion disguise, which of course leads inevitably to an encounter with the real McCoy.  In Hook, Lion and Sinker, Louie gains more of a  comical edge and a personality bordering on buffoonery.  He and his young cub attempt to steal fresh fish from Donald, and their antics bring to mind Disney's coyote characters, Bent-Tail and Bent-Tail, Junior.

The Mountain Lion's finest moments would however be achieved with a different co-star.  He shared the screen with Goofy in both with 1950's Lion Down and its 1952 followup, Father's Lion.  Lion Down brings the lion to the city where he has to deal with a blissfully ignorant Goofy.  In Father's Lion, a true Goof classic, Louie again falls victim to Goofy's exaggerated and wholly unintentional bravado, and Goofy Junior's always dead-on aim with his pop gun.

Louie's final appearance was in the Cinemascope cartoon Grand Canyonscope, where he reunites with Donald Duck and encounters J. Audubon Woodlore, who has been displaced from his usual patrols at Brownstone National Park.  It is a widescreen tour de force of sight gags and pratfall comedy, of which Louie is a prominent player.

Disney historian John Grant described the Mountain Lion as, "a rather anonymous character," and noted that, "this indeed was his strength, for it was as a mysterious lurking presence that he had his greatest effect."  And it was through such anonymity that he has at least happily gained some degree of historical notoriety.

Vintage Headlines: Disneyland Summer Reading

Here's a fun slice of 1950s pop culture with a Disney spin.

Kids have been nagged about summer reading for decades; in 1956, the librarians of Kern County, California came  up with a clever twist to encourage their young patrons to crack open the books--a Disneyland-themed summer reading program.  The details were provided in this newspaper article from June 14th of that year:

Disneyland has been chosen as the theme for Kern County Free Library summer reading clubs according to Miss Irene Branham, supervisor of work with children.  All elementary school children in the county are eligible to participate in the summer reading program. Registration for the clubs will take place in county branches during June. Children interested in joining a club are urged to sign up now.

By way of books, children joining the Disneyland clubs will visit Disneyland's Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Frontierland. Each child will have a Disneyland map and booklet in which to record his make-believe visits to each land. Reading certificates will be presented to children reaching the goal of 10 books read during the summer.  Disneyland maps and posters donated to the library by Disneyland Inc. will decorate the 35 county branches sponsoring summer reading clubs. Miss Branham emphasizes that this is a pleasure reading program with the double objective of  encouraging leisure time reading and providing the librarian with an opportunity to give reading guidance to young patrons.  The library's vacation loan, allowing children to borrow eight books for a period of six weeks, will enable children to continue reading for the club during the family vacation.  Children and their parents may get further information about the summer reading program by visiting any branch of the Kern County Free Library.

Vintage Headlines: More and Better Shows

Spring of 1955 was a busy time for Walt Disney.  The Disneyland television show was nearing the completion of its first season, the opening of Disneyland the park was just a few months away and The Mickey Mouse Club would premiere on ABC the following September.  Newspaper columnist Bob Thomas provided a look at the state of Disney productions in this article from March 15, 1955:

The 51 acres of  the Walt Disney Studios probably contain more ideas than any similar place in the world.  The place bristles with new plans and ambitious projects. Leading the thinkers is a 53-year old dreamer named Walter Elias Disney. One of the major reasons for his fabulous success: he has never outgrown the boyish notion that even the wildest dreams can come true. Vast millions of TV viewers know Walt as the proprietor of Disneyland, an hour show that has brought new dimensions of entertainment and enlightenment to home screens. The public's response has been immense. The ABC network show sprang into the list of the 10 most seen programs.  Some 15,000 letters reach the Disney Studios weekly. The producer has even bigger plans for next  season. The first year's product of 20 shows ended last week. Fifteen programs will be repeated. Ten of these will be played again during the summer.

On Sept. 7, Disneyland will start a new season of 26 shows. Because of the amazing success of the Davey Crockett trilogy, Walt will have two frontierland subjects. One is "Johnny Tremaine," the story of a boy who lived during the American revolution and witnessed Paul Revere's Ride, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. The other is called "Children of the Covered Wagon." Based on fact, it will show a pioneer caravan over the Oregon Trail. "I want to get Fess Parker (who played Crockett) out of buckskin," Walt said. "He'll play  a doctor who goes along with the wagon train. Buddy Ebsen (Crockett's sidekick) will be in it too." Among the other Disneyland subjects: rocket around the world; the Goofy success story; "Robin Hood" (two parts); "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." plus the life of Washington Irving; history of the animated cartoon; American folk lore; a day in the life of Donald Duck.

Disney's latest enthusiasm is an hour-long, five-a-week children's show for ABC, the Mickey Mouse Club.  Starting this fall, it may well revolutionize the kiddie market. It Howdy Doody looks worried these days, you'll know why. "The show will be emceed by Mickey himself," Disney said. "Our people-and-places photographers all over the world will send film showing what children in other lands are doing. As soon as we get accredited, I expect to sec the Mickey Mouse newsreel right with the others filming the President at the White House."  Disney plans to show kids how to draw, how to keep clean, how to drive safely. "It seems to  me that most shows play down to the children," he observed. "I plan to play to the 12-year-olds; the younger ones will want to reach up to that age. I don't think teenagers will have their intelligence insulted, and I believe we'll have a lot of adults watching."

The pre-TV functions of the Disney lot are going in high gear too. In the mill are cartoon features like "Lady and the Tramp," "Sleeping Beauty" and a widescreen release of "Fantasia." His nature photographers are filming elsewhere; the next feature will be "The African Lion." Disney is also planning such live-action films as "King Arthur," "The Great Locomotive Chase" and "Colorado Expedition." Then there is Disneyland, the11-million-dollar, 160-acre wonderland near Santa Ana, Calif.  Opening, this July, it will be the closest thing to a world's fair that America has seen in the postwar era.

Some annotations to the article:

Johnny Tremaine emerged as a feature film (sans the "e") instead of television episodes, as did Children of the Covered Wagon, the title of which changed to Westward Ho! The Wagons.  King Arthur of course became the animated The Sword in the Stone.  Colorado Expedition was eventually released to theaters as Ten Who Dared.

Vintage Headlines: But the Commercials!

"But the commercials!  They're enough to drive you nuts."

So said well known newspaper columnist and future Walt Disney biographer Bob Thomas in an article published on December 3, 1955.  Thomas was discussing the tremendous success of the The Mickey Mouse Club television show that had debuted just a few months earlier, but was at the same time lamenting the glut of commercials that accompanied the program.  Here in the 21st century, the average television viewer can expect anywhere from 20-30 commercials during a typical hour's worth of network television.

How much was too much back in 1955?  Let's see:

"Not only are there three in every 15 minutes.  The station sneaks in three more every fifteen minutes at the station break."

Outrageous!

Among the media, Thomas was one of Disney's more passionate cheerleaders and it was unusual for him to be so critical.  Indeed, he quickly qualified the rant by adding, "The Disney people are just as upset as the public.  Walt apparently didn't foresee the excesses of the network; he vows that next year he'll have some control over such matters."

Before launching into his anti-commercials diatribe, Thomas did speak to the phenomenon that The Mickey Mouse Club had become in just a very short time:

"Mickey never had it so good.  His outsize ears are popping up on the heads of kids all over the land:  they're buying the mouse hats (29 to 98 cents) at the rate of 24,000 a day.  (Whatever happened to coonskins?)  Two hundred other pieces of merchandise connected with the club are being sold, and more are added daily."

"The mouse has captured the daytime rating honors, snowing under his major opponents, veterans Howdy Doody and Pinky Lee.  A recent survey gave the club a 76 per cent advantage over the opposition in the East."

Four Color Friday: Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

1953 marked the 25th Anniversary of the creation of Mickey Mouse and Dell Comics celebrated with the publication of Mickey Mouse Birthday Party, a whopping 100-page comic book chocked full of Disney four color fun.  While the actual content was not exceptionally remarkable, the inside front cover of the comic featured a message from Walt Disney, as displayed above.  Mickey is currently approaching his 83rd birthday, but let's face it--he doesn't look a day over 25!

The African Lion: Truly True-Life

In recent years, it has been very exciting to see the Walt Disney Company reinvent one if its most acclaimed and honored concepts.  The Disneynature brand is the 21st century successor to Walt's own original True-Life Adventure series of films, and African Cats, Disneynature's latest film opening in theaters this week, certainly has its celluloid roots in the 1955 True-Life Adventure feature The African Lion.

The African Lion is likely the most famous and critically celebrated of the True-Life series.  Even more notable, it was lauded for not being as contrived and gimmick-ridden as some of the earlier True-Life docs.  In his book The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin observes that, "it conforms to the True-Life formula without resorting to the much criticized gimmickry of earlier True-Life Features.  This not only doesn't diminish the interest in its subject matter, but it actually enables the audience to become more involved."

In late 1954, Walt screened an early cut of The African Lion for ranger-naturalist Eugene Burns who was also a well-known syndicated newspaper columnist.  In a column from February of 1955, Burns praised the authenticity of the movie in comparison to the previous True-Life films:

"Here I felt is a true-to-life portrayal, just as animals live it in the wild. And for this, will you please extend my compliments to your camera team, Alfred and Elma Milotte, who spent two years and nine months in Africa getting the picture.  As I talked to people who saw this husband and wife team in action, they told me that the pair worked long hours, exhausting hours, sometimes through days and nights to get their unadulterated effects. Here were no setups, contrived with gimmicks. When they photographed lions, for example, they followed a pride day after day, night after night, for months on end — not permitting the lions to get out of their cameras' range until the lions accepted them and became so accustomed to their truck that they siesta'd under it. A friend showed me photographs to prove it! Wild lions resting under a truck! This, I am sure, is what gives 'The African Lion' that feeling of understanding — it's a slice out of wild life, and a sympathetic one."

The Milottes were indeed the driving force behind much of the critical acclaim received by the film.  In a newspaper article they co-wrote for United Press, they spoke of their trials and adventures:

"For two years and eight months a specially built four-wheel-drive truck was our home as well a camera blind. Several times we broke down and had to make emergency repairs on the spot. We carried food and water for a month's supply out of Nairobi. Once we narrowly evaded encounter with a band of prowling Mau Mau. Solitude, the company of animals, we are used to. We've seen more animals than human beings in the 20 years we've been pursuing our adventures with wild creatures."

They added:

"The most trying thing about our procession is the wear on the nerves from the constant vigilance for interesting and significant incidents. During our time in the African wilds there was scarcely a daylight hour when one of us wasn't standing watch beside the cameras for some revealing act in the life and death drama always going on around us."

Alfred and Elma Milotte (From the Life magazine archives)

Vintage Headlines: Mickey's 1951 Comeback

Did you know that Mickey Mouse made a big comeback in 1951?  This Associated Press newspaper article from March 4, 1951 provides the details.

Mickey Mouse, all-time international movie favorite, is hitting the comeback trail. He's getting his tail back, too. After ten lean years, the fabulous rodent, who in some 125 films has played scholar, great lover, cowboy, explorer or medieval knight with equal aplomb, is set for a new series of starring roles.
"We never really dropped Mickey," says Walt Disney, who created the tiny dynamo 22 years ago and made a fortune off him. "We just kind of drifted away from him."

The toast of the world 15 years ago, Mickey began taking a back seat to other members of the Disney cartoon family in 1938. That was the year Walt made his first feature-length fantasy, Snow White. That year also marked the emergence of Donald Duck as a rival.  Disney's crew, which once turned out 15 Mickey Mouse starrers a year, cut back to three or four. Donald, Pluto and Goofy who broke in with Mickey, became famous in their own films.  Dumbo, Bambl and the Three Caballeros stepped into the limelight in elaborate feature pictures.

Disney says Mickey was de-emphasized, not because his popularity waned but because he's tricky to handle.  "Only my top men are good enough to work with Mickey." Disney says, (he's always done Mickey's voice himself). "Because he's a nice, sympathetic character, not a natural comedian like Donald. It takes a lot of ingenuity to write Mickey." During the war the little fellow became a complete casualty; Disney was  devoting 85 per cent of his production to special armed forces projects. Mickey has made only four or five films since.

With his comeback in four cartoons this year, many of the younger generation will be meeting Mickey for the first time, and they'll be seeing him with a tail. Maybe you've forgotten that Mickey has been tailless for more than a decade. When Walt first drew him he was a skinny little tyke. His only clothes were a pair of shorts and shoes and he had a tail. But for one reason or another, Walt can't remember exactly why, they lopped his tail off. Why tack it on again? "We came to realize." Walt says, "that he's not as cute without it. It's an expressive thing. I remember he used to twirl it when he was nervous or angry. It carries him through action smoothly, gives him balance and grace."

There have been other changes through the years. As he aged, Mickey graduated to long pants. They gave him a shirt. Once spidery, his limbs thickened and his body assumed a pear shape. His eyes, formerly dots, were given lids. In the new series he'll have eyebrows.

Mickey wasn't Disney's first love. The first was a cat. The second was a rabbit named Oswald. But Walt wasn't quite satisfied. He wanted to make improvements and when the company he worked for said no, he launched his own business. The first two mouse cartoons didn't make much of a splash.  The industry was being turned topsy-turvy by a new element--sound. Walt took his third Mickey to New York and had it synchronized for sound. They premiered Steamboat Willie at the old Colony Theater in New York in 1928 and the mouse was famous.

There never was a more versatile fellow than Mickey. He's been a tailor, a steam shovel operator, fire chief, cop, musician, magician, inventor, football hero, polo player, farmer, whaler, tourist, hula dancer, scientist and gas station attendant. He's been around the world—to Argentina. Alaska, Africa, the Alps. Arabia. Brazil, even to Gulliver's mythical Lilliput. Once he got going there was no stopping him.  His piping voice was translated into ten foreign languages. He had fan clubs in 50 countries. His likeness was given a choice spot in Mme. Tussuad's waxworks in London.  He got into the Encyclopedia Britannica and got Disney into Who's Who. He won Disney an Academy Award and countless other accolades. And his face appeared on armed forces insignia and on hundreds of commercial products.

The entire article is sadly ironic.  Only two Mickey Mouse cartoons were released in 1951--R'coon Dawg and Plutopia.  And Plutopia was essentially a Pluto cartoon that for some reason was instead branded to Mickey. The image presented with the article features a scene from Pluto's Party, which was released in 1952, along with Pluto's Christmas Tree.  Some comeback--Mickey is essentially playing second string to his own dog in all these cartoons.  The Simple Things, released in 1953, would prove to be the last traditional Mickey Mouse cartoon of animation's golden age.  Mickey's illustrious comeback of 1951 lasted a mere five cartoons.

But Mickey's comeback would be sustained in other ways.  Theme parks and television were just around the corner . . .

Windows to the Past: Lady at the Loew's Grand

We've looked out this particular Window to the Past before.  The view encompasses a movie theater in downtown Atlanta.  Our previous visits were during May of 1955 and June of 1956.  This photograph captures another Disney-related moment, one dating from August of 1955.

The Loew's Grand was perhaps Atlanta's best known picture palace and was frequently home to the latest Walt Disney feature.  Lady and the Tramp debuted there on August 4, 1955 and both humans and dogs were on hand to celebrate the film's release.  The image is from the Special Collections at the Georgia State University Library.

"You Can't Sue God"

From Kirk Douglas' 1988 autobiography The Ragman's Son:  "I was shocked at Disney's audacity in exploiting my children."

What was the star of Disney's own 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea so upset about?  So much so that he carried a grudge for three decades?

Sometime in early 1956, Kirk Douglas and his two young sons, Joel and Michael, spent a Saturday afternoon at Walt Disney's Holmby Hills estate.  The highlight of the visit for Kirk and his kids was the opportunity to ride on the Carolwood Pacific, Walt's 1/8 scale model railroad.  Shortly thereafter, film footage of the older Douglas sitting atop a miniature engine and navigating a trainload of kids around Walt's backyard appeared on an episode of the Disneyland television program.  The show in question, Where Do the Stories Come From, demonstrated how the inspiration for the 1951 Donald Duck cartoon Out of Scale came from the model railroading hobbies of Walt and two of his animators, Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball.  The episode first aired on April 4, 1956.

Douglas was surprised and distinctly irritated by the footage.  "I wrote him a letter saying that I would prefer that he never use film of my kids and me on a commercial program," he revealed in The Ragman's Son.  He noted that he then received a letter of apology in return.

 

But when Where Do the Stories Come From was rerun just two months later on June 6, 1956, the footage in question was still included in the program.  Douglas was outraged.  On the advice of his lawyer, he initiated a lawsuit that named Walt, the Disney Studios, the ABC television network and the program's sponsors among the defendants.  Douglas insisted it was a matter of principle and if he won, any monetary awards would be donated to charity.

But according to Douglas in his autobiography, just before the matter went to trial he had misgivings.  "I thought, what am I doing?  There are some people in our profession –Bob Hope, Walt Disney-who can do no wrong."  Over the objections of his lawyer, he dropped the suit.  "I doubt if I could have gotten anywhere with it.  You can't sue God."

Douglas' recollections, while apparently noble on the surface, are seemingly at odds with the public record from the summer of 1956.  In The Ragman's Son, he portrays himself as the offended parent, furious over the seeming exploitation of his children.  Yet, upon examining the film footage in question, the Douglas sons are at no point either identified or mentioned.  Numerous children are shown riding the train, but there is no direct correlation between any of them and Kirk Douglas, at least not to the public at large to which Joel and Michael would certainly have been unrecognizable.

Douglas' exploitation charge becomes especially curious when examining newspaper accounts of the affair from the summer of 1956.   He sued for $400,000 in damages and an additional $15,000 for compensation for the "work" he did in the filmed footage.  He claimed the matter was an invasion of privacy, but according to multiple reports, emphasized more that ". . . the showings damaged his reputation and earning power, because his status and income potential are based on the kind and number of appearances he chooses to make and the payment he gets for these performances."  It appears that what really upset the actor was that he wasn't paid for the appearance.

Not so coincidentally, a couple weeks after the charges were filed, Douglas expounded on how television had the means to undermine his career and livelihood.  In a newspaper column he himself penned, he stated, "I feel if people can twist a knob and see me in their living rooms every week, they will not leave the house to pay to see me in a film."

In fairness, Walt Disney is not without blame in the matter.  The studio agreed not to use the footage in subsequent airings of Where Do the Stories Come From and whether by error or design, failed to live up to that accord.  In response to the suit, Walt stated publicly that, "The entire appearance of Mr. Douglas on television was for 26 seconds and it is inconceivable that a man who has appeared so extensively in motion pictures, magazines and television could be damaged on a television screen in that amount of time."  But had the studio excised the footage as promised, the entire matter would have been over before it started.

Vintage Headlines: Fred Waring in Wonderland

This month marks the 60th anniversary of an early television era Disney milestone.  On March 18, 1951, a significant portion of the popular Fred Waring Show was devoted to showcasing the music from Alice in Wonderland and featured cast members Kathryn Beaumont and Sterling Holloway.  Walt was featured in a brief prerecorded segment about the movie itself while Mary Blair designed the special stage sets used on the program.  The actual release of Alice in Wonderland was still months away.  Walt had already promoted Alice the previous Christmas Day with the special One Hour in Wonderland, his first foray in television production.

Peg Simpson, a television reporter at the time, noted:

Fred and his Pennsylvanians will introduce the music of Walt Disney's new, all-cartoon motion picture, "Alice in Wonderland." Although the story will not be told, the music will be presented with settings costumes that interpret the true "wonderland" flavor. Twelve-year-old Kathy Beaumont who acted the part of Alice for the animation of the film, will join the Pennsylvanians in the interpretations. Sterling Holloway, Disney's Cheshire Cat, will also be there. But, with the exception of little Kathy and Holloway, all parts will be taken by the Waring staffers.  Six of the songs from the film will be launched with the aid of all the Pennsylvanians.  Mary Blair, Disney set designer, has adapted the sets to television and the whole show's sure to be a gay, charming event. "I can think of no one in this cockeyed world better equipped to introduce the music from "Alice in Wonderland" than Fred Waring and Pennsylvanians," says Walt Disney. We agree fully.

Columnist John Crosby observed:

Among the more serious firsts to be committed recently was that of Walt Disney in plugging his forthcoming movie, "Alice in Wonderland," on Fred Waring's Sunday night television show.  Actually, this is the second  time Mr. Disney has used television to promote his new picture. He did it once before on a special Christmas show during which a good many of the better scenes from his early movies and one scene from "Alice in Wonderland" were shown Disney is the first major producer to use television this way.  In general, the movie people have shied away from TV as a competitor even though it's possibilities as a promotional medium are pretty obvious. Personally, I think Disney has done a shrewd job of exploitation. The two fragments of "Alice in Wonderland" I have seen have whetted my appetite for more, for the whole picture, in fact.

Fred Waring was no stranger to Disney.  He and his Pennsylvanians had performed the Trees segment in the 1948 package film Melody Time.

  

Excerpts from this particular episode of The Fred Waring Show are included on both the Masterpiece and 60th Anniversary Alice in Wonderland DVD sets.

What a Character! - Bucky Beaver

His flame burned bright for a number of years, but then quickly faded.  An undisputed icon of late 1950s popular culture, Bucky Beaver starred in television commercials for Ipana toothpaste, and for necessary relevance here, has quite a noteworthy Disney pedigree.

Similar to 7-Up spokesbird Fresh Up Freddie, Bucky was created by the largely forgotten Disney Studios commercials production unit that was active throughout the 1950s.  Disney artist Tom Oreb has been credited with the design of the character.  Oreb has emerged in recent years as one of the leading talents behind the stylized "cartoon modern" look that was prevalent during much of the 1950s and 1960s.  While his resume includes films such as Sleeping, Beauty, 101 Dalmatians and Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom, he worked extensively in the commercials unit, spending much of his time restyling many of Disney's own characters into more abstract designs, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Jiminy Cricket.  Bucky Beaver is an excellent example of that particular approach and easily one of the better designs born out of Disney's commercial efforts.

Bucky's trademark "Brusha, brusha, brusha" jingle was written and composed by adult Mouseketeer Jimmie Dodd, who also provided Bucky's voice, albeit in an altered, sped-up form.  Bucky's arch-nemesis was DK Germ, a Snidely Whiplash type villain who would always turn tail at the sight of a tube of Ipana, which Bucky was always quick to brandish.  Each commercial would have Bucky playing a different role--train engineer, circus star, white knight, and my personal favorite, Bucky Beaver-Space Guard.  That commercial in particular showcases the era's infatuation with space age-themed marketing.

Though largely unknown today, Ipana toothpaste was probably the most popular brand of toothpaste in United States from from the 1920s through the mid-1960s.  Its success began to wane in the 1970s when its parent company, Bristol-Meyers began to focus more on pharmaceuticals.  Bucky quickly faded from public memory as well.  The appearance of a Bucky Beaver Ipana commercial in the 1978 film Grease seems to be the character's only substantial claim to fame to subsequent generations.

Disney! Zorro! Color Television! Wow!

I have to take some small pride in the fact that I was never quite gullible enough to be taken in by ubiquitous comic book adverting that promised the likes of x-ray glasses and full-scale toy submarines but instead delivered cheap gags and flimsy cardboard mock-ups.

Case in point: a Color Television Set featuring Disney-related content.  And for the amazing price of $1.00.  Sure, its easy to dismiss this now as gimmicky hokum, but filtered through the naive mental lens of a baby boomer kid in the mid-1950s--"A COLOR TELEVISION SET WITH DISNEY CARTOONS AND ZORRO?!?! DAD! I NEED A DOLLAR--QUICK!" 

The Lido Toy Company produced countless low-end plastic toys out of their Bronx headquarters throughout the mid-20th century and the COLOR TELEVISION SET is a shining example of their shrewd flair for enticing young customers to buy, well, junk.  The actual product here was a tiny plastic box into which you fed what were essentially paper comics on small rolls.  Each set came with eight different rolls of "color film" which were actually a series of rather primitive pictures not even up to comic book standards.  You advanced through each roll using the dials on the side of the "television."  The company acquired many different licenses for this particular item, but knew they had a hot commodity with the Disneyland and Zorro TV shows.

A half a century later in this wonderful Jetsons-future that we live in, kids can watch television shows on devices every bit as small as those original Lido plastic boxes.  The financial battle cry however, has been been adjusted up somewhat:

"DAD! I NEED $200 FOR AN IPOD--QUICK!"

What a Character! - Fresh Up Freddie

You will not find him in any comprehensive listing of Disney animated characters, but Fresh Up Freddie was indeed born within the walls of the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California.  Specifically, he was created in the H-wing of the animation building by a unit of the company whose history has been largely swept under the rug.  Freddie was never destined for big-screen greatness; his sole purpose was to be a cartoon pitchman for 7-Up.

The Disney Studio produced hundreds of television commercials during the 1950s, primarily ones associated with their own television programs: Disneyland, Zorro and the Mickey Mouse Club.  Commercial production was not anything that Walt Disney himself was particularly proud of, and hence it remains largely undocumented in most Disney historical texts.  Fresh Up Freddie was born out of the 7-Up company's sponsorship of the weekly Zorro television show that premiered in 1957.

Of the numerous animated characters created by the commercials unit, Freddie is of particular note due to his similarities in design and personality to two other Disney birds, Panchito and the Aracuan, both of whom originated in the 1944 feature film The Three Caballeros.  In appearance he was a rooster much like Panchito; in mannerisms he was dodge-about hyperactive in a way that often directly mimicked the Aracuan bird.  Freddie was created and designed by Paul Carlson and Dave Detiege, who were both very active with the commercials unit.  According to Carlson, 7-Up bought 26 commercials at $100,000 apiece.  The actual animation was farmed out to freelancers.  Though initially without a name, the bird was ultimately given the moniker "Freddie," a likely tribute to 7-Up bottler Fred Lutz, Jr.  Freddie was voiced by Disney vocal veteran Paul Frees, best known for his zany renditions of Ludwig Von Drake.

Freddie was used as part of a larger advertising campaign that extended to radio, print and even premium items and merchandise.  The consistent buzz-line for the campaign had Freddie saying, "Right now, you're probably asking yourself--" followed by a query relating to the subject of the ad, i.e., "What does a ghost hunter drink to quench his thirst?" or "What does a hot test pilot drink for a quick, refreshing lift?"  Magazine and comic books ads featured full page Freddie adventures.  Freddie would interview fictional celebrities on radio spots, and Freddie was often incorporated into newspaper grocery store ads thanks to 7-Up co-op advertising programs.

Freddie even got into a little hot water with the FBI in 1959.  According to a newspaper account:

"7-Up ran an amusing radio commercial that had "Fresh Up Freddie" Interviewing a make-believe film personality, Kim Schullz. Freddie uttered the following words at the end at the interview, "Thank you, Kim, we'll be seeing you in your latest picture 'I Was a Wonderfully, Terrific Teenager for the FBI'. The FBI wasted little time pulling out the law books and showing Seven-Up that you can't use the word FBI without  written permission. They killed the commercial."

How to Catch a Cold . . . as Taught by Disney and Kleenex

As I sit here and tap out these words on my keyboard, I have a box of tissues close by.  I am hopefully near the end of a seasonal head cold that has plagued me for the last week or so.  It's a topical subject this time of year and one with a distinct, historical Disney cartoon connection.

In 1951, the Disney Studios produced a ten minute cartoon entitled How to Catch a Cold.  On the surface it was a public service film meant to educate; on a more subtle level it was a commercial for Kleenex tissues, or Kleenex disposable handkerchiefs as they were called back then.  Disney was commissioned by International Cellucotton Products Company (ICPC) to produce the film.  ICPC was a marketing subsidiary of Kimberly-Clark who owned the Kleenex brand.  The company had previously worked with Disney in 1946 on a similar but more specialized animated film, The Story of Menstruation, which became a health class standard for many young girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and related specifically to Kimberly-Clark's Kotex brand.  How to Catch a Cold was less sensitive in nature, opting for a more comical approach to its subject matter.  It could almost be considered a slightly more benign cousin to the Goofy cartoon Cold War that was also produced in 1951.

How to Catch a Cold was directed by studio veteran Hamilton Luske and produced on a budget of $150,000.  It featured the character of Common Man, being lectured on cold prevention by an alter ego sprite appropriately named Common Sense.  Most notable to the effort was Bill Thompson who voiced both Common Man and Common Sense.  Thompson was a veteran Disney voice-actor (Ranger Woodlore and numerous film roles) and is probably best known for voicing Droopy at MGM.  Despite its corporate pedigree, Kimberly-Clark did not want the film to appear overly commercialized.  A company marketing executive on the project noted at the time that, "[W]e do not want to load [How to Catch a Cold] with commercials.  I would think that credits at the beginning and at the end of the picture, plus a few shots of cold sufferers taking tissues from the Kleenex package in the picture itself would suffice."

The film was initially distributed to schools and community organizations.  Then in 1952, it became something of a minor pop culture phenomenon when NBC used it as a demonstration vehicle for color television.  In that regard, the short was seen by more 200 million viewers over the course of the next few years.  Despite such dramatic market penetration, Kimberly-Clark never experienced any significant increase in sales or market as a result of the film.  It was updated in 1986 but has since essentially faded into obscurity.  Ephemera dealers however seem to do a brisk trade on a series of posters that were distributed to schools and organizations that screened the film.