Vault Disney ~ August 29

This Day In Disney History

August 29, 1964

The general release of Disney's well loved classic, "Mary Poppins."

Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by the Sherman Brothers. It was shot at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Julie Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mary Poppins and the film also won Oscars for Best Film Editing, Original Music Score, Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and Best Visual Effects, and received a total of 13 nominations.

At the premier

 

 

 

 

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo

August 28, 1978 - Devo released their "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo" LP



Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut album by the American new wave music band Devo. Produced by Brian Eno, it was recorded primarily in Cologne, Germany and released in the U.S. by Warner Bros. Records company in 1978.

The album received somewhat mixed reviews from critics and peaked at number 12 on the UK album charts and number 78 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Recent reviews of the album have been more uniformly positive, with the album charting on several retrospective "best of" lists from publications including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork Media and Spin.

On May 6, 2009 Devo performed the album live in its entirety for the first time as part of the Don't Look Back concert series curated by All Tomorrow's Parties. On September 16, 2009, Warner Bros. and Devo announced a re-release of Q: Are We Not Men? and Freedom of Choice, with a tour performing both albums

Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and US Naval Aviator.  He was the first person to walk on the Moon.  Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was a US Navy officer and had served in the Korean War.  After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center where he logged over 900 flights. He graduated from Purdue University and University of Southern California.  
A participant in the US Air Force's Man In Sace Soonest and X-20 Dyna-Soar human spaceflight programs, Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first spaceflight was the NASA Gemini 8 mission in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming one of the first U.S. civilians in space. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft with pilot David Scott.  
Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2½ hours exploring, while Michael Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module. Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon along with Collins and Aldrin, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.
On August 25, 2012, Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 82 due to complications from blocked coronary arteries.  

"Armstrong" ~ written and recorded by John Stewart after the moon landing.  If you listen carefully at the end of the song, you will hear Armstong's famous words.

Phyllis Diller ~ RIP

Comedian Phyllis Diller has died, manager says

Comedian Phyllis Diller, known for her self-deprecating humor, died "peacefully in her sleep" at her Los Angeles home Monday morning, her manager told CNN. Diller was 95.

"Her son, Perry, found her with a smile on her face," Milt Suchin said.

Diller , who paved the way for female comedians, began her legendary stand-up comedy career at the age of 37.

"We lost a comedy legend today," comedian Ellen DeGeneres tweeted. "Phyllis Diller was the queen of the one-liners. She was a pioneer."

Diller's career as a stand-up comic skyrocketed in the 1960s, partly because of her many appearances with Bob Hope on his television specials and USO tours. Diller remained good friends with Hope until his death.

She became a pop culture icon for her disparaging jokes about her looks, her cooking and her husband "Fang."

"She was a true pioneer," said talent agent Fred Wostbrock. "She was the first lady of stand-up comedy. She paved the way for everybody. She paved the way for Joan Rivers, Chelsea Handler, Roseanne Barr, Ellen Degeneres, and all the women stand-up comics. She was the first and the best."

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg tweeted that she was said the world lost a funny, classy and smart woman like Diller.

"A true original has died," Goldberg tweeted, adding that there was nobody who looked or sounded like her.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/20/comedian-phyllis-diller-has-died-manager-says/comment-page-2/

Vault Disney ~ August 17

On This Day in Disney History

August 17 1986:

Luxo Jr., the first film produced in 1986 by Pixar Animation Studios (following its establishment as an independent film studio) premieres in Dallas. A computer-animated short film (just two and a half minutes, including credits) it is John Lasseter's second short and the first film from Steve Jobs' newly formed company Pixar.

The success of Luxo, Jr. will be followed by a series of shorts (Red's Dream, Tin Toy and Knick Knack) in which the Pixar artists explore and develop their medium, much as Disney had used the Silly Symphonies as stepping stones to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Today Luxo is the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.

Ron Palillo, Horshack on Welcome Back Kotter, Dies

Welcome Back, Kotter Actor Ron Palillo Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman
08/14/2012 at 01:15 PM EDT

Ron Palillo, the boyish actor who played Arnold Horshack, the remedial-class loser on Welcome Back, Kotter, died Tuesday morning at his home near Palm Beach, Fla., TMZ reports. He was 63.

He suffered an apparent heart attack and was found by his longtime companion, Joseph Gramm, according to the report. Rushed to the hospital, Palillo, a heavy smoker, was pronounced dead upon arrival.

According to a 1977 PEOPLE profile, Palillo's most-famous role cast him against type – he had been an overachiever from his childhood in Cheshire, Conn.

His dad died when Ron, the youngest of four children, was 9. His mother managed to support them working for a furrier and as a waitress.
He skipped two grades and co-founded a community theater by 14. But in high school the then 4'6" Palillo suffered – "I know more about Arnold Horshack than people think I do," he said – "did what Horshack could never do," he told PEOPLE. "I left the group and chose the theater."

At 19 (and 5'7") he graduated from college with a 3.6 grade average.
After six months of rep in Miami he snagged the role of the mentally challenged boy in The Hot I Baltimore off-Broadway. Despite his $3,000 income and fifth-floor walk-up on New York's Lower East Side, Palillo felt he was successful. "I was doing what I wanted to do," he recalled with a laugh. "The day after I got one job I started hunting for the next."

It came when he heard ABC was searching for high school reprobates. Palillo auditioned and on the spot improvised his trademarked nervous "aawwk" laugh.

The sitcom, on which Palillo appeared with John Travolta from 1975-79, allowed him to live the Hollywood good life in a hilltop house. But in the years that followed he developed a crippling depression that left him in near seclusion, he told PEOPLE in 1992. His turnaround came thanks to stage work.

TMZ also said he was attached to G-Star School of the Arts, a West Palm Beach academy that, on its website, calls itself "the largest film, acting and digital media high school in the nation."

His goal, Palillo told PEOPLE 20 years ago, was to state, "I finally have something more to say than 'I played Arnold Horshack.' "
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20621008,00.html

Vault Disney ~ August 14

On This Day in Disney History ~ August 14, 1958:



Disneyland, Fantasyland poster

Official dedication of Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland dark ride takes place with a ceremony hosted by Walt Disney himself and Mouseketeer Karen Pendleton - dressed as Alice.

Alice in Wonderland is a dark ride in Fantasyland at Disneyland park. Based on the animated Disney adaptation of the same name, the attraction resides next to a second ride, the Mad Tea Party, based on a scene in that same adaptation. The presence of two rides based on the film is unusual in that Walt Disney said he regretted making it because it lacked a connection to the audience's hearts.

The ride follows the path of the movie, as the riders (as Alice) follow the White Rabbit down the Rabbit Hole into Wonderland. They spin through scenes in a madcap fashion, dodging absurd creatures in the Tulgey Wood with some questionable guidance from the Cheshire Cat. When the Queen of Hearts loses to Alice at croquet, she threatens to chop off the innocent girl's head as she (and the ride vehicles) push their way through brigades of playing cards.

The vehicles then leave the ride building's second floor (a rare occurrence in a non-thrill ride at a Disney park) and descends by people waiting in line on a winding giant vine, before heading to the climactic scene at the Mad Tea Party. The White Rabbit quivers as a giant unbirthday cake with a dynamite candle on top of it explodes and the ride vehicles escape back to where they began.

Alice herself is only seen in the singing flower garden, hidden behind a leaf to the visitors' right.
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(Disneyland_attraction)

 

Pappyland

Pappyland was a live action children's television show broadcast on TLC from September 30, 1996 to December 1999. Then, after cancellation, aired reruns until February 24, 2003. The show starred acclaimed cartoonist-artist Michael Cariglio (born in Whitesboro, New York) as Pappy Drewitt. 

Pappy had a magical cabin in an enchanted land called Pencil Point, that he drew himself. 

Did you ever want to paint?
Did you ever want to draw?
Did you ever want to re-create anything at all?
Well now you can in Pappyland
That's where you are today.
Where anything can happen,
'Cause Pappy drew it that way.


Pappy, Pappy Drew-It,
He drew Pappyland.
And you too, can do it,
When you're in Pappyland.


In a land where there's colors
Of each and every kind.
Where trees can sing and bears can talk
And speak what's on their mind.


Where you can use your markers,
Your pencil or your crayons.
Where you can learn to use a brush
Or just use your hands.


Pappy, Pappy Drew-It,
He drew Pappyland.
And you too, can do it,
When you're in Pappyland.
And you too, can do it,
When you're in Pappyland.


Pappy and other characters danced, sang, taught life lessons and other children's television fare but the main focus of the show was watching Pappy draw pictures.




The purpose was for children viewers to be able to follow along with Pappy and create the same image as he did. Viewers who sent in their work, had their drawing shown during the closing credits and will forever be on display in the Hall of Frames.

 

 

 "I want to knock on a child's heart and open that door," Cariglio told New Times writer Alis Wintle-Sefick for "In Living Color," a cover story that appeared March 12, 1997. "I want Pappyland to be a place where kids feel safe, where they can draw and color with someone who's a friend." He described Pappy Drewitt as "sort of like Gabby Hayes, but with better moves."

 

List of Characters:

Pappy Drewitt (Michael Cariglio) is an artist who loves to draw, He was dressed in a hat, suspenders, glasses, and a bandana. The theme song suggests that he created Pappyland; although the season 2 episode "Grandpappy's Day for Drawing", which aired in 1997, suggests that Pappy's father (or possibly Grandfather), Grandpappy Drewitt who was also played by Cariglio created Pappyland rather than Pappy himself. He lives in Pappyland Convalescent Home and has many friends who live there. A running gag in the series was that whenever he coloured the picture he drew earlier in the episode he would break one of his crayons. This was done so Pappy could teach kids that you don't have to throw away a crayon just because it breaks. On occasion, when he colored in the picture, he also went outside the lines, thus teaching kids that it's all right to go outside the lines when coloring.

Elmer (Joe Cariglio) is an old, wisecracking man who sits in a rocking chair in front of Pappy's desk. He tells a lot of jokes to Pappy. At the beginning and end of mostly every episode, he would shout "Hey, sonny! Don't you know what time it is?", indicating that it was time to say hello to everyone, and that it was time to leave. He smoked a pipe in the original VHS.
 
 
 

 Binky is a talking paintbrush that lives in Pappy's cabin. He likes to paint pictures. 

 
Lily (Puppeteer Marilyn Arnone) is a talking flower who originally lived in a flower field, but later lived in Pappy's Cabin.
 

Belle (Puppeteer Marilyn Arnone) is a talking telephone who lives in Pappy's cabin. She speaks with a southern accent and sometimes delivers news to Pappy, usually when someone is in trouble. 

Mailbird (Ted Long) is a bird who appeared in later seasons of the show. He speaks with an English accent and deliveres Pappy's mail and often crashes into his cabin when doing so. He was very disorganized, but Pappy later helped him get organized. 




Sing-a-Song Sam (Michael Curley, born in Syracuse, New York) is a singer who in most episodes sang a song about the lesson learned in the episode.

Buddy Bear (Ted Long) is a bear who loves honey. He lives in a cave in Pencil Point. Like Pappy, he likes to draw, and would sometimes draw for the home viewers in situations where Pappy encountered a problem he couldn't get out of. He has a pen pal named Elizabeth who is hearing impaired. 

Chucky Woodchuckles (Puppeteer Verny Grom) is a beaver who wore glasses and a propeller hat though in the intro and early episodes, he is seen without them. He lives in a dam. He is very friendly but tended to lose things he borrowed from others, such as Pappy's crayons. Pappy taught him about responsibility. 

Tree-O are a group of three trees that lived in a forest. They didn't appear in later seasons, as they were replaced by Woody.

Woody is a tree that lived at the entrance of Pappyland. He once thought he had no friends, but Pappy cheered him up by drawing a picture of him. He appeared in the original VHS, and sang the song "Did you ever Wanna be". He is the only character besides Pappy, Elmer, and Grandpappy to appear in the actual show, but he didn't appear until later episodes.

Pumpkin Pop and Pumpkid are father and son pumpkins that lived on a cart next to Woody.

Turtle Lou (Gabriel Velez) is an Italian anthropomorphic turtle who lives by a river on the path to pencil point. He likes to fish. He originally appeared to look like a non-anthropomorphized regular turtle. Pappy called him "Turtle Louie"

Doodle Bug (Puppeteer Marilyn Arnone) is a bug who was introduced in later seasons. He tries to stump Pappy by doodling something for Pappy to finish. Pappy, however, always wins. 

Duggan is a small parrot who appeared in a few episodes. He is usually unjustifiably angry and sometimes violent towards the other residents of Pappyland. A drawing or soothing talk from Pappy often placates him, but more often he uses it as an excuse to criticize Pappy.

Grandpappy Drewitt is a painting of either Pappy's father or grandfather and Snacker Jack's uncle. He also appeared in the original VHS.

Fur Bear was a skinny bear who lived in Pappyland in the original VHS. He spent his whole hibernation riding an elephant.

McBride was a pirate who lived in a ship in a bottle in the original VHS. He is currently searching for his pirate captain, Captain Jack.

Fishface was a mean-spirited fish that Pappy eventually won over with his kindness and drawing. He lived in the lake near Turtle Lou and did appear in later episodes.

Snacker Jack Drewitt is Pappy's cousin and Grandpappy's nephew who appeared in the season 2 episode "Snacker Jack and the Snack Attack". At first all he eats is junk food, but Pappy talks him into eating healthy food.

Uncle Tony is Turtle Lou's uncle that appears in the season 1 episode "Turtle Lou visits Italy".

Donkey Dan is a donkey that lives in a stable.





Today, Michael stars in, "Mike's Inspiration Station," webcast at Smile of a Child:  http://smileofachildtv.org/alphabetic_programs.php?t=r&r=M-N#program_nav 

Mel Stuart ~ RIP

He gave us an Everlasting Gobstopper of a movie.... 


Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory director Mel Stuart has died, aged 83.

The filmmaker passed away from cancer at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, his daughter Madeline Stuart tells the Associated Press.
He began his career in the 1960s making documentaries, winning an Emmy Award for The Making of the President 1960 and landing an Oscar nomination for Four Days in November, about the assassination of U.S. leader John F. Kennedy.


He took on the 1971 big screen adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for his daughter Madeline, who was 11 years old when she shot her cameo role as a student in a classroom scene.
The musical, starring Gene Wilder as the madcap candy factory boss, has become a classic family favourite.
Stuart is survived by his daughter, as well as sons Andrew and Peter, who is also a filmmaker.

Rest in Peace, Mel

Can You Guess?

Can you guess the name of the movie that used this location for filming some important scenes over 40 years ago?

One more view:

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Vault Disney ~ August 9

~ On This Day in Disney History ~

August 9, 1969:

The Haunted Mansion attraction opens in New Orleans Square at Disneyland.

1969:

The grand opening of the attraction is heralded by a promotional blitz that include the "I Scream" Sundaes sold at Disneyland's Carnation Plaza.

Madame Leota, the medium in the séance room and the tiny talking figure at the end of the ride, is modeled after Imagineer Leota Toombs (also known as Leota Thomas).

The Haunted Mansion continues to frighten and delight thousands of park guests everyday.

"Hurry back... be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We've been ‘dying’ to have you…”