Hey Alligator!

Continuing in my obscure songs and movies is The Parent Trap, from 1961. The lead actress was named Haley Mills, and she played against herself, a technical feat in the early 1960's. I really have no idea how this was performed, but my guess would be filming a scene twice (once as the twin Sharon and once as the twin Susan) and superimpose the film. Originally the film was to be made with body doubles most of the time, but the effect worked so well that Walt Disney ordered more of the effect. Some of the body double work is evident in this scene, where often in the beginning one will have their back turned while the other is in focus.


In this scene,the twins are trying to get their parents their parents back together by recreating their first date. One of the servants plays the gypsy violin performer while one of the twins, I don't know which one, is the entertainment. The other interrupts and we get this classic Disney song!



The music and lyrics were done by the Sherman Brothers, who are classic Disney composers. Many of the songs in the parks and some of the movies are done by these brothers. They composed Mary Poppins, WInnie the Pooh, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (not Disney, but Walt allowed them to work on it. It's a good movie, see it sometime), Sword in the Stone, and the Absent Minded professor, along with park songs such as "One Little Spark", "It's a Small World", "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" among others.

The Brothers are named Robert B. and Richard G. and they have written more musical scores then any other team in history.


Sung By Hayley Mills. And I feel like I can't talk about her as much as I did the Sherman Brothers, but I'll give it a shot. She is the daughter of the actor Sir John Mills and Playwright Mary Bell. Her first role was for Disney, in Pollyanna and she won a special Academy Award for that. She has also performed in That Darn Cat and the Love Boat. And other stuff I don't know.



Comment below!

King of the Wild Frontier

Davy, Davy Crockett!

Starting off with an old song, from 1955 it's The Ballad of Davy Crockett. Disney used to have a TV show called the Wonderful World of Disney. It allowed Disney to promote upcoming projects, and for Walt to experiments with different mediums. After Disney switched over to Color (with the help of Dr Ludwig Von Drake) the sale of Color TV's shot up.

Besides promotions, Disney also created miniseries that were shown every week with shows normally rotating with what to be shown. (so it could go Davy Crocket, then The Swamp Fox, then Kit Carson before being Davy Crockett again) (N.B. not a real order)



Davy Crockett was composed by George Bruns, with Lyrics by Tom Blackburn.

The popularity of Davy Crockett took Disney by surprise, and the "Crockett Craze" after it where anything doing with Davy took off like lightning. The Ballad of Davy Crockett was released and has been covered many times. From it's actor, Fess Parker to Tim Curry as his Rocky Horror Picture Show Persona.


Davy Crocket had 2 movies made of it, one was the story told on the Miniseries (3 episodes) ending with his death at the Alamo. And the second was a midquel/sequel that took place during the story about Davy Crockett sailor named Mike Fink and their adventures fighting eachother then fighting River Pirates. Personally I prefer the second one, but I have trouble with my heroes dying.



Sidenote: I am having trouble finding several of the songs I want to show you guys. If you want to help out, let me know in the posts below and I'll give another entry with what I am looking for.

random stuff

This is just some catch up, random notes, and a complaint.

They killed off my two favorite characters in Life on Mars! Chris Skelton, who was so sweet, kind, and timid, and Ray Carling, who had a large mustache, a womanizer, just very funny and very human. To be perfectly honest they still have some time since the teaser had a hospital scene, but I hope they don't die. On the other hand they only have 2 episodes left before it ends....


If I do this once a week I have enough songs for at least 6 months. And I keep on thinking of more! I'll put them up on Sunday, hopefully, Please comment with what you want to see!

Also, I'll try to keep songs from the same movie/ride/TV show away from eachother for variety. Also some days may get songs if it is an occasion for some reason.

See you Sunday!

I'm an idiot

I need to correct some names in my last post.

Sterling Holloway played Winnie the Pooh
Paul Winchester played Tigger.
I said Paul Winchester played Pooh, and I feel so guilty about it.

To make up, I'll give some other famous roles Jim Cummings has taken over.

Taz (Mel Blanc)

King Louie {Tale Spin} (Louie Prima. Disney was actually sued for his rendition. As a result, Louie no longer speaks)

Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd, just for In the Dark of the Night)

Be Prepared

I will probably do this once a week, but this is some more testing. Today's selection is Be Prepared from The Lion King!



It was composed by Tim Rice with Lyrics and Elton John for Music. This is sung by Scar, except for minor bits by the Hyenas through out.

Scar is sung by Jeremy Irons for most of the song up to "Be prepared for the coup of the Century" at which point a Voice actor named Jim Cummings takes over. Jeremy Irons strained his voice, and Jim Cummings had already made a name for himself at Disney and other studies for his ability to mimic other actors and take over famous roles. (He had already taken over Winnie the Pooh when Paul Winchester left. He has since taken over Tigger and Pete among other characters) Anyway, Jim Cummings finished the song and you can hear how Scar has a slightly more pronounced English Accent after that line.

This is one in a new tradition of Villians songs. Other examples are "Oogie Boogie's song", "Gaston", "Poor Unfortunate Souls", "Prince Ali (reprise)", "Hellfire" among others.

Unfortunately, this song was not nominated for an Oscar but "Can you feel the love tonight", "Hakuna Matata" and "Circle of Life".



So, what do you think what do you think?

Intro

Hi! Um, I decided to start a blog... I have no idea if people will read this but what the heck.

I'll try to post Disney music here and comment about it a little. It should be mostly Disney Music, but from both the parks and the movies. Let's see if this works...



If you read this, tell me what you think and what I should do/post.

The selection today is Phantom Manor's Ghost Host English opening, said by Vincent Price. After a few years it was replaced with the French take. While Mr. Price tried to do it in French, he was unable to. After the change, the laugh still remains throughout the ride.

The voice of the bride, Allegedly named Melanie Ravenswood, is voiced by Katherine Lench. It is orchestrated by John Debney.

Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Manor
Ravenswoodmanor: site devoted to Phantom Manor http://www.ravenswood-manor.com/
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