Author Archives: hemingray

Disneyana Auction Unearths Rare Song of the South Items

Last night marked the end of the JustKidsNostalgia.com Disneyana auction, which showcased hundreds of very rare Disneyana items, including several fromSong of the South. Among the most notable prices realized: a 1946 Six Sheet movie poster ($1,281.85); 1946 Three Sheet movie poster ($1,179.51); 1946 Campaign Book ($631.56); and a 1956 Six Sheet movie poster ($584.43).

While the theatrical posters were way out of my league, I was very fortunate to obtain three publicity photo sets, totaling 26 photos. These rarely-seen photographs were taken directly from Disney Key Book albums (reference guides used by the studio), and include shots of the original opening credits of the film, animators behind the scenes actually working on the film, and several publicity shots of Glenn Leedy, Bobby Driscoll, and Luana Patten. Of course I will be posting them on this website in the Archives section in the coming weeks, so keep a lookout!

SongoftheSouth.net Notable News

SongoftheSouth.net’s web counter recently hit 500,000 since I first began counting visitors in 2000. Alright! Also, I have spoken with James McKimson over at UncleRemusPages.com, home of the original Song of the South Petition. While James has not had the time to update the petition in several months, he believes that it has since risen to over 100,000 names. [Update 5/10/05: I have created a new petition to alleviate James from needing to manually maintain the list of supporters.]

And finally, SongoftheSouth.net’s Merchandise has received a much-needed product refresh. I’ve redesigned some of the t-shirt graphics, plus added several new products, including buttons, magnets, coffee mugs, mousepads, messenger bags, and even a much-requested bumper sticker. I’ve also taken $1 off the price of the white t-shirts. Now more than ever is the time to get the word out on getting Song of the South released once and for all!

Song of the South Special Edition DVD To Be Released in 2006?

Today, Jim Hill over at Jim Hill Media posted “what he just heard from his sources deep inside Buena Vista Home Entertainment.” In the article, Jim claims that a Special Edition Song of the South DVD will finally be released in the fall of 2006, just in time for Song of the South‘s 60th Anniversary.

Why would Disney finally release this movie? Well, Disney’s financial reports for the first quarter of 2005 show that DVD sales are down by 20%. According to the source, BVHE is hoping to sell 10-12 million units of this movie, which would translate into big bucks (and certainly put the bootleggers out of business, which Disney has long been losing more and more money to.) Combine that with the fact that Song of the South is Disney’s most requested movie, plus its 60th anniversary on the horizon, and you have a potentially winning combo here.

There is a lot more to this claim than what I have mentioned here, so I encourage you to read Jim Hill’s full article and see for yourself:

http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=1313

New Rendition of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” on Disneymania 3 CD

On February 15, Disney released a new CD entitled Disneymania 3, which features 15 well-known Disney songs by current popular artists. Track 7 is our beloved “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, performed by Aly & A.J. A sample of the song can be heard at Amazon.com.

In January of 2004, we saw the release of Disneymania 2, which also had a rendition of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” on it, performed by Stevie Brock. Thanks to “harleymanofutah” of the Song of the South Enthusiasts Group for the news report!

“Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” is unquestionably Song of the South‘s most enduring tune. It won an Academy Award for Best Song and has always been a mainstay in Disney’s music library. From Big Band to Disco to Pop, the song has been covered by dozens of artists over the decades.

Song of the South In The News

Recently, Song of the South has been featured in three news articles:

  • The most recent article, published today in The Boston Globe, is entitled “‘South’ Deserves A Fresh Look” written by Renée Graham. It’s a great article and definitely worth a read.
  • Yesterday saw the column “Black To The Future” posted over at Jim Hill Media. The author, Floyd Norman, discusses “the fateful day that he brought Uncle Remus out of retirement” during his days as a writer in Disney’s publishing department. Another great read!
  • On January 31st, The Kansas City Star featured Song of the South in the article “Disney Headed ‘South’ For Live-Action Movie.” They chose Song of the South as their fifth featured Oscar-winning movie in their “Month of Oscar” countdown. (Free registration required.)

In addition to the above articles, several other news sources have picked up on Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook’s hopeful comments regarding Song of the South (see Jan. 1 news below). All of the above, combined with SaveDisney.com’s recent article, has brought unprecedented traffic to SongoftheSouth.net, but more importantly, has kept Song of the South in the public eye. Thanks to Rebekah Moseley, Ryan, and Merlin Jones for reporting these news articles to me!

New SaveDisney.com Article: In Defense of Disney’s Uncle Remus

“Song of the South is a reaffirming story of the bond between two friends that refuse to be separated by race, class, age — a friendship that is forged and held against all odds. Merlin Jones makes a case for the release of Walt Disney’s suppressed classic.”

I must say that Merlin’s article is simply the best Song of the South article I’ve read to date. It is well worth the read! It’s also a valuable source of information for rebutting anyone who is dead set against this movie. Thank you for writing this article, Merlin! You have done the Song of the South and Disney fan communities a great service, and we appreciate it.

[Update: This article is no longer available at the original address, but has been archived here.]

Ruth Warrick, “Sally” in Song of the South, Passes Away

Very sadly, Ruth Warrick passed away on January 15 at the age of 88. She was the last known surviving actress fromSong of the South.

Ruth Warrick’s film debut was in the 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane as Emily Norton Kane. She went on to perform in several other movies throughout the 1940’s and early 1950’s, including Sally in Song of the South. On TV, she was perhaps best known as Phoebe from the soap opera All My Children.

To Ms. Warrick, Song of the South would always be “a very special movie.” She was saddened by the fact that the movie had not been released, and felt that the movie was “probably one of [Disney’s] crowning points.” She will be greatly missed.

Song of the South Fan Art Contest Results

The results are in! The first-ever Song of the South Fan Art Contest turned out to be a great success, thanks to everyone who participated! There were a total of 11 submissions from 6 participants.

The Grand Prize goes to Heather Little, age 17, for her work “Bring Back the Briar Patch”, whose creativity and artistic talents really impressed me. She will receive a Song of the South t-shirt of her choice plus a $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

But I was also impressed with everyone else’s work and creativity as well. So, I am giving everyone a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate to show my appreciation for their participation. Thank you! Uncle Walt would be proud.

Be sure to check out all the entries!

More Hope for a Song of the South DVD Release?

A recent thread over at the Home Theater Forum has brought out some very interesting news. Dick Cook, Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, spoke at the Summer 2004 Annual Convention of the NFFC. The September/October 2004 issue of the FantasyLine Express (the club’s newsletter) reported part of his talk:

“After the formal part of his presentation, Cook took questions from Conventioneers. Among the issues on Conventioneers’ minds:

Will Song of the South ever be released on DVD?

“Yes. Cook said that the public has requested a DVD release of Song of the South more than it has requested any other film. That said, Disney also is aware that some elements of the film reflect the time in which it was made and don’t reflect current attitudes. He said that the Studio has encountered similar issues with other older material. In some cases, such as some of the World War II material in the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series, they’ve addressed the issue through introductions that place the material in context. He said that Disney hasn’t yet found the ideal solution forSong of the South, but he was confident that they would.”

Coming from the Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, this sounds very hopeful. We now have confirmation that the studio recognizes it is the single most requested movie and that the studio is exploring ways that it can appropriately present this film to today’s audience. We just hope they leave the original film unaltered. Thanks to Lars Karlsen for the initial heads up!

This topic is also being discussed over at UltimateDisney.com, and a couple of other sites have since picked up on this story as well: ign.com’s “Will Song of the South Be Heard?” and FilmRot.com’s “Song of the South Ban Lifted?“

Film Print Fetches $8K on eBay; Song of the South 2nd on Amazon

A 16mm film print of Song of the South was recently offered up for auction on eBay, fetching a substantial $8,100. Pristine or high quality copies of Song of the South have always demanded a premium, with film prints usually demanding the highest prices. Another popular collector’s item, the Hong Kong laserdisc, regularly fetches over $1,000. Or, for those who aren’t bothered by subtitles, the Japanese laserdisc can normally be found in the $150-200 price range.

Meanwhile, several readers have noted that Song of the South has risen to the #2 spot in Amazon’s Most Requested DVDs, surpassed now only by “Twin Peaks – The Second Season.” The other releases that held Song of the South at 3rd place back in August have since been released. Be sure to Let Amazon (and Disney) know how many people want this movie released by going to this page and entering your email address.