Disney is Preserving Song of the South

Over at CartoonBrew.com, editor Jerry Beck has posted on his blog “‘Song of the South’ can be yours –  for $1,499“, in reference to an auction on eBay for a 16mm IB Technicolor print of the film. The opening bid was $1,499. (Update: It ended up selling for $2,750 with 8 bids.)

But perhaps even more interesting is a post left in the comments section of the article, in which reader Egbert Souse states that “Disney is remastering Song of the South from the original negatives in 4K resolution. It’s not in the immediate pipeline for a Snow White or Bambi level restoration, but they’ll have complete digital files by the end of next year.”

Update (10/1/2011): As confirmation for the above comment that Disney is working on preserving Song of the South, Merlin Jones has pointed me to the following article over at the Home Theater Forum, which discusses Disney’s restoration of Dumbo and the efforts they are currently putting forth to preserve their entire library of volatile nitrate film negatives (which Disney used for all films prior to 1955):

“Since 2004 Disney has undertaken a huge scanning project with the Library of Congress.  They ship large chunks of their library across the country in refrigerated trucks to MPI at Warner Brothers and make 4K digital scans, verifying that every frame was scanned successfully.  They aren’t stopping with digital.  Due to the volatility of the nitrate stock and that fact that regardless of what they try to do they can’t prevent the eventual decay, Joe Jiuliano and his team are making new black and white successive exposure negatives designed to preserve the films for another 100 years.  The project is almost complete and when they are finished they will have re-preserved their entire nitrate library: 16,500,000 frames.

“And it’s not just animation.  This project has been used to get 4K scans and new prints to preserve live action classics like Song of the South (no plans to release) and just this year Parent Trap, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Old Yeller, The Absent-Minded Professor and Pollyanna (I encouraged them to start releasing these live action classics to Blu-ray).”

This is just a small excerpt of what is an excellent article, including restoration photos and interviews with Disney’s Sarah Duran-Singer (Senior V.P. of Post Production), Dave Bossert (Creative Director and Artistic Supervisor of the Restoration and Preservation Team), and Joe Jiuliano (Director of Film and Video Services, and Technical Advisor for the Restoration Committee.) Check it out!

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/314907/disney-s-restoration-of-dumbo-and-efforts-to-preserve-their-film-library

Song of the South is Now on Facebook

At the request of many readers, I have finally created a Facebook page for Song of the South! Facebook has millions of members, and has proven to be one of the most powerful social networking tools currently available on the Internet.

So, why add Song of the South to Facebook? This site’s primary objective is to spread the word and educate the public about this film. The powers-that-be at Disney have clearly demonstrated that they have no intention to release this movie to the American public, and would prefer if we’d just forget this movie ever existed. Whether you love this movie or hate it, censorship is not the solution. I strongly believe that this movie should be released so that we can make our own decisions.

Therefore, this new Facebook page, as well as Song of the South.net, will be updated hand-in-hand as one more avenue to reach the public about this movie. If you have a Facebook account, please click the “Like” button to start this ball rolling! Thank you.

http://www.facebook.com/songofthesouth

Song of the South Among Salon’s Top 10 Greatest Missing Movies

Salon Entertainment columnist Andrew O’Hehir has written an article on the Top 10 Greatest Missing Movies, one of which is none other than Walt Disney’s Song of the South. O’Hehir covers a wide range of films, from those that are “well and truly missing” to the ones that “can’t be seen because those who own them simply don’t want you to see them” (guess which movie he’s talking about.) Here is the list of films, in order:

  1. Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
  2. The Mountain Eagle (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)
  3. The Great Gatsby (Herbert Brenon, 1926)
  4. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
  5. Song of the South (Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, 1946)
  6. Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)
  7. Let It Be (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970)
  8. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
  9. Catch My Soul (Patrick McGoohan, 1974)
  10. The Day the Clown Cried (Jerry Lewis, 1972)

O’Hehir describes Song of the South thusly: “This Disney mixture of live action, animation and highly uncomfortable race relations definitely exists, and if you’ve got $150 or so burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy it on VHS tape. Sooner or later, you’d have to think the corporate suits in Mouseland will find the right context for a collector’s edition DVD: Essays by Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West? Earnest panel discussions on the Jim Crow era and the depiction of African-Americans in Hollywood? I’ve never seen “Song of the South” in its entirety and I’m sure it’s got many cringe-worthy moments, but can anyone possibly deny its cultural and historical importance?”

(Indeed, which is why we’re still trying to get Song of the South to be added to the United States Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Click here for more information on how you can easily nominate the movie yourself.)

I found O’Hehir’s article to be very interesting, as most of these films I had never heard of before now.

Click here to read the full article on Salon.com. Thank you to D.Z. for the news report!

New WDCC Brer Bear Collectible: “A Hankering for Hare”

Announced in May, a new Walt Disney Classics Collection figurine from Walt Disney’s Song of the South is joining the Summer 2011 releases. The new WDCC figurine features Brer Bear and is entitled “A Hankering for Hare.” This piece is designed to complement the Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit set released in 2010, entitled “Cooking Up a Plan” and “Last Laugh”, respectively. The three pieces form a scene from the Laughing Place animated sequence of Song of the South (you can watch the YouTube clip here).

“Galumphing and a bit bumbling, Brer Bear is Brer Fox’s bosom buddy, so when the crafty fox is ready to roast Brer Rabbit for dinner, the burly big guy is more than ready to dig in.”

The figurine measures 7.5″ high, and is plussed with a pewter fork and knife. It is sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons, and has a suggested retail price of $185.00. It is currently available for pre-order from WDCC authorized dealers and will be released this summer. Special thanks to Brian Slatky for the news report!

MousePlanet article: The Sad Song of the South

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.

Without any more ado, here is Jim Corkis’ excellent article. I highly encourage you all to read it! http://www.mouseplanet.com/9602/The_Sad_Song_of_the_South

Special thanks to Joey for informing me of this article, and to Jim for writing it.

Disney CEO: “Don’t Expect to See [Song of the South] Again”

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.

So there you have it, folks. An audio archive of the shareholder meeting is available here:
http://a.media.global.go.com/investorrelations/Disney_2011_ASM.mp3

Special thanks goes out to Matthew for posing the question, and for notifying me!

1956: Reliving the Disneyland Dream!

1956 contest poster, from my collection.

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.

If the film doesn’t show up below, click here.

Splash Mountain WDW Getting Lap Bar Restraints

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!

Disney: “We Want People to See Song of the South”

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.

I encourage you all to read the full article here: http://www.post-movie.net/?p=1840

A big thank you goes out to Steve for reporting on this and letting me know!

Song of the South Turns 64; SongoftheSouth.net Turns 10!

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.