Author Archives: hemingray

“Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” Makes AFI’s Top 100 Songs List

The American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top movie songs of all time in “100 Years… 100 Songs“, a three-hour television special aired on CBS on June 22. 400 candidates were nominated, and jurors narrowed the list down to 100 songs. Song of the South‘s Academy Award-winning song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” made the charts at a strong #47.

The fact that “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” made not only the top 100 movie songs of all time, but the top 50, speaks volumes. Disney has long exploited this song because of its enduring popularity, yet refuses to release the movie that made it so popular. Thanks to Mark Kratzner for the report.

SaveDisney.com Song of the South Poll Results

The results are in! Of the 1,367 people who participated in the poll, a whopping 81.3% would definitely buy Song of the South on video; 8.8% said they might not buy it but would likely rent it; 6.1% would not buy or rent it, but feel that artistic works should remain openly available; 0.5% would not buy it and feel that dated works should be withheld; and 3.4% didn’t care either way.

That’s a total of 90.1% of people who would buy or rent Song of the South, and a total of 96.2% who feel that this movie should be released. Any way you look at it, the results are overwhelmingly in favor of this movie being released. (Hint hint, Disney, are you reading this?) The poll results have been archived. Thanks to SaveDisney.com for creating the poll! And thanks to Merlin J. for the updates.

Song of the South Poll on SaveDisney.com

A new poll over at Roy Disney and Stanley Gold’s SaveDisney.com offers everyone the opportunity to vote on Song of the South:

“Which of the following statements most reflects your feelings?
  • I would definitely buy Song of the South on video.
  • I might not buy Song of the South on video, but would likely rent it.
  • I would not buy or rent Song of the South on video, but I feel artistic works should remain openly available.
  • I would not buy Song of the South on video, I feel dated works should be withheld.
  • I don’t care either way.”

While the voting has offically ended, see the news article above for the results.

SaveDisney.com Features Song of the South Articles Today

Roy Disney and Stanley Gold’s SaveDisney.com features three articles today about Walt Disney’s Song of the South. “Speaking of corporate suppression of art, Mr. Eisner:”

  • “Song of the South Fans Want Disney to Release its Ode to ‘Uncle Remus'” links to the archived article that Donald Liebensen of the L.A. Times wrote on May 7, 2003 entitled “Should dated films see the light of today?”
  • “Song of the South Adjusted Box Office Gross: $288.6m” points to boxofficereport.com‘s calculations that, when taking into account ticket price inflation for re-releases, Song of the South‘s adjusted box office gross weighs in at $288.6 million, making it the highest-grossing film that has never been released on home video in North America.
  • “Sign Song of the South Petition” urges everyone to join the 59,000 others who have added their names so far to James McKimson’s petition over atUncleRemusPages.com.

I hope that you all will also show your full support for Roy Disney and Stanley Gold by visiting their site SaveDisney.com and finding out how you can help restore Disney to its former glory. As reported on 2/14/04, Roy Disney fully supports the release of Song of the South, and said that releasing the movie would be one of his first acts if he were to return to the company. Thank you!

Peggy DeCastro, Vocalist in Song of the South, Passes Away

Peggy DeCastro, eldest of the Latina singing trio the DeCastro Sisters, known for the 1950s hit recording of “Teach Me Tonight,” passed away at the age of 82. DeCastro died March 6 in Las Vegas of lung cancer, said the trio’s manager, Alan Eichler.

The sisters – Peggy, Cherie and Babette – were known as “the Cuban Andrews Sisters” and gained fame with a flamboyant nightclub act in Cuba. They also sang on a Cuban radio station owned by their father.

After the family moved to Miami in 1945, the girls became students of Brazilian singing star Carmen Miranda, who put them in her motion picture, “Copacabana.” They also provided many of the bird and animal voices in Walt Disney’s “Song of the South.”

Wayne Brady Involved in a Song of the South Sequel?

I have received the following two emails from individuals:

“Last week on the Wayne Brady show, Wayne said he recently recorded voices as Brer Bear for a Song of the South ‘sequel’…imdb.com has nothing on it yet, but he did mention specifics on that he distinctivly liked having his character saying ‘please’ to eveything, even asking if he could ‘please bite someone’..” – The Manator

“So, yeah, last night on the Wayne Brady show, he mentioned extensively about some sort of Song of the South sequel, and that he was going to provide the voice of one of the Brers. Is this true? Is this the Co.’s way of trying to smooth over the SOS fans? Or is this just crazy BSing? Thoughts? Did anyone else see that last night?” – Olive

If anyone else out there saw this particular episode of the Wayne Brady Show and can corroborate these reports, please contact me!

Update: I also received a third email on May 17.

“My mom saw that episode of the Wayne Brady show and she told me he’s doing a voice for one of the Brer’s in a new movie. She heard on the show that the characters were based on the characters from Song of the South.” – Adam

Glenn Leedy, Toby in Song of the South, Passes Away

Glenn Leedy Allen, Sr., the talented individual who played Toby in Song of the South, has passed away on April 19, 2004 in Imperial Valley, CA at the age of 68.

At age 7, while on the playground of the Booker T. Washington school in Phoenix, AZ (the city where much of Song of the South was filmed), a talent scout from the Walt Disney movie studios discovered and recruited him for the role of Toby in Song of the South. He excelled at the role, and even ran up to Walt Disney during the filming and asked him, “Am I colossal, Mr. Disney?” Reassured, he went on to perform what the 1946 pressbook described as “one of the brightest performances of the picture.” Mr. Allen, you will be greatly missed.

For visitation, services, and burial information, please see the obituary.
For more biographical information on Glenn, please see his biography page.

South Carolina Man Arraigned for Pirating Song of the South

Of interest was an article published today in “The Post and Courier” of Charlston, South Carolina:

Richard Montague Powell, 66, was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Charleston on charges that he made up to $250,000 by pirating copies of Walt Disney’s motion picture “Song of the South.”

If convicted of violating federal copyright laws, Powell faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A search of Powell’s residence turned up hundreds of unauthorized copies of the motion picture on DVD and VHS, according to U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. Numerous firearms also were seized.

Powell may have netted a small fortune — as much as $250,000 — from sales of the movie over a three-year period, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The entire article is available to read online (free registration required). Thanks to Eric of the Song of the South Enthusiasts Group for informing us of this news!

Follow-up: Song of the South’s Mysterious Three “Missing” Minutes

In response to my recent news article on Song of the South‘s mysterious three “missing” minutes (see article), I received an email from Anders M Olsson of Lund, Sweden with this enlightening confirmation:

“It’s a well known fact that PAL runs 4% faster than NTSC, so this phenomenon, known as “PAL speedup”, is present on almost all movies released on PAL video. It’s really nothing to get excited about. It’s just there, and it’s an eternal source of confusion for those who aren’t aware of it.”

Thanks Anders! This was the first I had heard about this phenomenon, but it’s good to know that my calculations were correct. And all Song of the South fans out there can rest easy knowing that the PAL version’s shorter runtime is not due to any scenes being cut.

Song of the South’s Mysterious Three Missing Minutes

Folks who have looked into finding copies of Song of the South (legitimate or otherwise) have possibly run across the fact that the Japanese laserdisc version of Song of the South runs 94 minutes, while the British PAL VHS version only runs 91 minutes. Why the 3 minute difference? What was cut? Many have rejected the British PAL copy and endured the higher price and the subtitles of the Japanese laserdisc simply because of the longer runtime.

It has been rumored that the British PAL version is missing at least two small segments: namely, an extended scene of Johnny crying after his father leaves the plantation, and another scene at the end in which Brer Terrapin runs after Uncle Remus. After closely comparing my British PAL copy to the Japanese laserdisc, I have determined this rumor to be unfounded: the scenes were identical. And, even assuming this were the case, these two trivial segments would hardly count a fraction towards three whole minutes of missing footage!

Well, I decided to sit down and time the two versions. Sure enough, the Japanese laserdisc clocked in at about 94 minutes, and the British VHS PAL version about 91 minutes. No surprises there. But as I began watching them again, this time side-by-side to determine what had been cut, I noticed that the sound of the two copies quickly went out of sync as the credits rolled. Three minutes into the movie, and the sound was already out of sync by about 7 seconds. This meant that the British PAL VHS copy was running about 3.5% faster than the Japanese laserdisc. Sure enough, 91 x 1.035 = 94.185. Close enough!

So, it appears that the three minute difference is NOT, in fact, due to missing scenes, but rather due to the fact that the British PAL version runs slightly faster than Song of the South‘s official runtime of 94 minutes. If anyone has proof to the contrary, I would love to hear from them!