The Princess and the Frog; A Disney Legend Cameo

We just got back from seeing The Princess and the Frog. It was as great as it was advertised. The animation, backgrounds and story were first rate Disney. Throw that together with a great sound track and I am already looking forward for DVD. I was happy to note that Disney's tradition of head nodding toward history in their movies is alive and well. I don't think it would give anything away to mention this. It'll even make your watching this movie a little more magical. In the finale of the movie, there is a bad playing. On the base drum I read that the bands name was "The Firefly 5 Plus Lou". For those that have followed Disney History, this is a clear nod toward the Firehouse Five Plus Two and Louis the trumpet playing Aligator in the movie. The FFPT was a loose band of Disney artists back in the early 1940's that would get together to just play. They became more popular and in their hey-day, they actually released a couple of albums.

Well, after reading that on the base drum I took a closer look at the band and wouldn't you know it, there was Frank Thomas playing his heart out on Piano. It was a quick look, but it was pretty obvious it was Frank. These are the "Hidden Mickey's" of movies that just let us know that this is never just a 9-5 job for the artists that draw these great animated movies.

Go out and see The Princess and the Frog it was great. I can't wait to see it again.

A Disney Legend: Marvin Davis

As the Disney Legend's website says, the Disney Legend award was created "To acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney Magic" There have been 216 Disney Legends awarded since the inception of this award in 1987. Many of the names on this list are known to most Disney enthusiasts, but for every well known legend there are 10 that you might have never heard of. These are their stories.

When I was looking through the list of Disney Legends I came across Marvin Davis. At first I mis-read and thought it was Marc Davis, but no, there's Marc further up the list. When I first looked at Marvin Davis' Disney Legend write-up I was very intrigued. Mr. Davis appears to be a true example of the thin line at the Disney Studios between the Movies and the Amusement parks. Marvin Aubrey Davis was born in Covis, New Mexico in 1910. He attended UCLA and USC and graduated with a degree in Architecture. And then the next logical step? A job with 2oth Century Fox working on such movies as Gentlemen Prefer Blonde's and the Asphalt Jungle as an Art Director. After a couple of years in the motion picture industry, Dick Irvine, a friend of Marv's from Fox, hired him on at W.E.D. Enterprises. 'Marvin developed the first diagrammatic plan for Disneyland and remembered that on August 8, 1953, Walt dropped by his office and picked up a No. 1 carbon pencil and drew a triangle in the middle of the plan and said, "That's where I want the railroad to run." While Walt had the idea, it was up to Marvin to make it workable.With a degree in architecture, it was Marvin's job to translate Walt's ideas into workable site plans. Marvin was the one who scaled the park to match the acreage.'

Marvin did most of the layout that Herb Ryman used to create his concept art of what Disneyland was to look like. After the park opened up he showed his versatility by moving back to the camera side of the company in movies and TV. He worked for Disneys as Art Director on such movies as Follow Me Boys, Big Red and Moon Pilot. He worked on all of the Disney TV shows of the 50's and 60's; Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club, Davy Crockett and Disneyland/Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. He won an Emmy in 1962 for Wonderful World of Color. Mr. Davis returned to WED in 1965 and was working on the Florida Project. "In addition to the master plan for the theme park, Marvin contributed to the design of such resort hotels as the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Golf Resort. " Marv was responsible for the design of Main Street and the External views of the Haunted mansion. He also worked on early plans for Walt's dream community EPCOT. He was quoted, when discussing Walt and his ideas for the Florida Project, "...he(Walt) designed the whole traffic flow around EPCOT on a little napkin." After Walt's death, Marvin still felt it his responsibility as project lead to present the plans that had been completed for EPCOT to Roy Disney. 'When Marvin Davis presented his plans to Roy, they were met with a sad, simple, answer. "Marvin," Roy Disney spoke, "Walt's dead." So was the city known as EPCOT.' The entire EPCOT project reverted into the EPCOT Center that opened in 1982.

Mr. Davis retired from the company in 1976. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1994 and passed away in 1998. For all he has done for the Disney Company in so many ways, Marv was honored with a Window on the Main Streets of both Disneyland and WDW's Magic Kingdom.

He shares the window over the Bank in Disneyland with Dick Irvine and the one in Florida says; Walter E. Disney Graduate School of Design & Master Planning “We Specialize in Imagineering” Headmaster, Richard Irvine Dean of Design, John Hench Instructors Edward Brummitt Marvin Davis Fred Hope Vic Greene Bill Martin Chuck Myall .

The Walt Disney Family Museum has a great interview with Mr. Davis with video clips of many topics. Please check this out.

One interesting note, Marvin was married to Marjorie, daughter of Bill Cottrell, a Disney executive for over 40 years and niece to Lillian and Walt. Marjorie had actually co-starred in a couple of the early Alice series of live action/cartoon's Walt had directed.

Sources: Chronology of the Walt Disney Company, Disney Legends, Wednesdays with Wade: Disneyland's Forgotten Founding Fathers, Walt Disney Family Album, IMDB, JustDisney, Mouseplanet:Mark Goldhaber,

A Disney Legend: Joyce Carlson

As the Disney Legend's website says, the Disney Legend award was created "to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney Magic" There have been 216 Disney Legends awarded since the inception of this award in 1987. Many of the names on this list are known to most Disney enthusiasts, but for every well known legend there are 10 that you might have never heard of. These are their stories.

Dolls by Miss Joyce, Dollmaker for the World. If you were walking down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom of WDW, as you pass the Toy Store next to the Arcade, take a look up at the windows and you’ll catch a glance of a very prettily decorated window with the above text written on it. From that one line you might be able to deduce that Joyce Carlson might have had something to do with the It’s a Small World attraction. Dolls and a World theme as the give away and you would be right. But there is so much more to Miss Joyce-y, as she was know to her close co-workers than It’s a Small World.
Joyce Carlson was born in Racine, Wisconsin on March 16, 1923. She and her family moved to Southern California when she was 15. After finishing High School in 1944, Joyce was in need of a job and was hired at the Disney Studios as a ‘traffic girl’. That is pretty much someone who delivers things through the company such as mail or office supplies to the animators through-out the studio. She earned herself the nickname ‘Hotshot’ after a character she resembled from a Comic Strip called Terry and the Pirates. It stuck with her for a while. After working with the company for over six months Joyce decided that she wanted to do something more and interviewed for an Ink and Paint job. She had been busy in her first months at Disney and had a very nice portfolio put together that ensured her the job. At that time the Ink and Paint Department had the non-pc name of the ‘Nunnery’ for it was staffed almost exclusively with female employees. Miss Carlson worked on a number of projects in Ink and Paint starting with a number of the Training Film shorts for the government during the war. Joyce then moved up to features including The Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty. She was promoted to Lead Ink Artist for the production of Lady and the Tramp. With the 1960’s there was a big change in the animation process. With the Xerox machine Ink and Paint artist were not needed as much. Joyce was fortunate enough to get moved over to W.E.D. which would later become Walt Disney Imagineering. She was part of the team that created the models and designs for the It’s a Small World attraction for the 1964 Worlds Fair. Miss Joyce is credited with designing many of the singing and dancing dolls found in this attraction and she helped bring this attraction to many of the Disney Parks. Joyce has also worked on Carousel of Progress. She has worked with many Disney Legends including Mary Blair and John Hench. Through-out the 1980’s and 1990’s Joyce continued to work with Imagineering. Part of her job was ensuring the quality of any of the new attractions would be first-rate. Another part of Joyce’s job in her last years at Disney was in passing down to new Imagineers some of the tricks of the trade passed down from older animators/imagineers to her. Joyce was the first female Disney employee to have a 50 and 55th anniversary with the company. In an interview with Jim Korkis in 2000 Joyce says:
"I always wanted to be in the creative end and I got my dream. I've still got lots of ideas and boxes and drawers filled with things and tools. Around Christmas, I get ideas and I make things out of Styrofoam. I love working with Styrofoam. I still have one of my pens from my ink-and-paint days where I can get any kind of line you want from thin to thick. I still get out into the parks. I still ride Small World."

Joyce Carlson passed away in January of 2008 at the age of 84. The next time your in the Magic Kingdom walking down Main Street or riding through It’s a Small World. Give a thought to the Imagineering involved and give a big Thanks to Miss Joyce-y.

Sources: 2719 Hyperion, Mark Goldhaber at Mouseplanet, Wade Sampson at Mouseplanet, Disney Legends, and Wikipedia.

A Disney Legend: Milt Albright

As the Disney Legend's website says, the Disney Legend award was created "to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney Magic" There have been 216 Disney Legends awarded since the inception of this award in 1987. Many of the names on this list are known to most Disney enthusiasts, but for every well known legend there are 10 that you might have never heard of. These are their stories.

Milt Albright has a very distinct title among many. Milt is the very first Disneyland employee on record. But that is just the middle of the story. Milt Albright came from Missouri in the footsteps of another famous Missourian, Walt Disney. Milt started at the studios as a junior accountant in 1947. His job was basically writing out and delivering the checks to most of the people in the studios at that time. Even to Walt Disney. On some occasions they would share a story about Missouri. One of Milt's hobbies was automobiles. In 1953 he used that hobby to design a car for the new Disneyland Park that Walt was working on. As the story goes, Walt was not to impressed with the car, but he was big time impressed with Milt. Walt hired Milt Albright as the first Manager of Accounting for Disneyland. And that was it, Milt was the very first employee at Disneyland. There were other things for Milt in the Disney Company. In 1957, Milt was the manager of the short lived Holidayland. Holidayland was part picnic grounds, part circus, part corporate function area. Some of the Mickey Mouse Club members would perform here when not shooting the show. It's now the Disneyland employee parking lot. Per Milt, “It wasn’t any one thing that killed Holidayland. It was just the combined effect of a whole lot of things.” It closed in 1961. After Holidayland, Milt moved into Guest Services part of the company. While there he founded the Grad Night tradition at Disneyland. The first Grad Night was on June 15, 1961. Milt also developed and presented the Magic Kingdom Club, a chance for Disney park goers to get various discounts in the parks. Another major project of Milt's was the Disney News magazine which each Magic Kingdom Club member automatically got. The first issue came out in Dec. 1965. Milt's last position with the Disney Company was Manager of Guest Communications. He retired from the park in 1992. Milt is a Member of Club 55, the club for the original Disneyland employees. He received his Disney Legends award in 2005 and even has a window on Main Street in Disneyland.

"Milt Albright, Entrepreneur. No job too big, no job too small."

Source Links: Disney Legends Site Disneyland's Club 55 Holidayland Mouseplanet Disney News Milt's Window at Photos from the Parks Today in Disney Hist.

A Disney Legend: George Bruns

As the Disney Legend's website says, the Disney Legend award was created "to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney magic" There have been 216 Disney Legends awarded since the inception of this award in 1987. Many of the names on this list are known to most Disney enthusiasts, but for every well known legend there are 10 that you might have never heard of. These are their stories.

This week let's talk about Disney Legend George Bruns (1914-1983).

George Bruns worked for the Disney Company from 1953-1978. He was a musician, conductor, song writer and musical director. George first came in

contact with the Disney company due in part to Ward Kimball. Ward had recommended George when they needed a jazz tuba player for a cartoon being made at another company(UPA). The two men were friends due to their Jazz band connections. When Walt and the conductor Walter Schumann had a falling out in Sleeping Beauty, Ward Kimball again suggested Geroge Bruns to take the job. His first assignment was the Blue Bird Scene with Bill Peet and Mary Costa. He did so well with that assignment he was then asked to score the entire movie.

George was born in Sandy, Oregon. He was a child prodigy in that he had mastered the piano, tuba and trombone by high school. He tutored under Dent Morey who was very well known in the Portland area. He went to Oregon State U. The OSU Alumni Assoc. web page says "...however, in looking back on what we know of his student years, Bruns spent most of his time, both on and off campus, playing music, either tuba in the ROTC band or string bass in the popular Jim Derickx Orchestra." After school George toured with a couple of bands in the Northwest with a band-mate in one of them with the medical sounding name of Doc Severeson of Johnny Carson fame. After George's start with the Disney Company he worked on many different projects. He did the music for most of the first season of the Disneyland show. He also composed the music for The Balad of Davey Crockett. He put that song together with a writer from the Disneyland show in about 30 minutes. It sold eight million copies. He also composed the theme for the Zorro tv show and music for the Mickey Mouse Club. He worked on a number of animated movies and had Oscar nominations coming for Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Babes in Toyland, and Sleeping Beauty. He won a Golden Laurel Award for Babes in Toyland. George even guested with the Firehouse 5 plus 2 band that Ward Kimball and other Disney employees had put together in the 1940's. Some of George's other accomplishments were composing the music for the Jungle Book and co-writing the Yo Ho Pirate song with Xavier Atencio. He also was responsible for the music in the Herbie movies. He considered the work on adapting Tchaikovsky's ballet score for 'Sleeping Beauty' and the song 'Love' from Robin Hood as his some of his best and most challenging work with Disney. IMDB.com lists that George worked on over 75 Disney projects. George retired from the Disney Company in 1978. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2001.

Sources and more info:

Disney Legends

OSU Alumni Assoc.

IMDB

Wikipedia

For Whom The Brass Bell Tolls by Hal Smith