on...THAT...Disney Movie...

[acroyear]

MR. FUN:

It was an unofficial experiment but the experience proved insightful. I set up a special screening for a church group in downtown Los Angeles back in the sixties. The motion picture I chose to screen was Walt Disney’s “Song of the South.”

You see, before the heady days of Blue Ray DVDs and video tape the only way one could watch a Disney movie was in the theaters. Should your favorite Disney film not be in release you were out of luck. There was absolutely no other way to enjoy one of Walt’s delightful feature films. There was one exception. Should you happen to be an employee of the Disney Company you could check out a full length feature on 16mm motion picture film. You probably already know where this is going. My audience was African American, and all were gathered together to enjoy this “controversial” Disney movie on a pleasant Saturday evening.

As expected there were laughs, tears and the usual emotions one would expect at a Disney screening. Applause filled the auditorium as the film ended with the on screen logo, “a Walt Disney production.”

Wait a minute! You might ask. Isn’t this the insensitive, offensive racist movie that black people are suppose to hate? Isn’t this the reason the Disney Company continues to keep this delightful tale of the old south under lock and key never to be released? Apparently, my African American audience of the nineteen sixties had gotten beyond that.

I wonder how long it’ll take the Walt Disney Company to do the same?

"Mr. Fun" is Floyd Norman, Disney animator and story man (today, an occasional consultant for Pixar), was named a Disney Legend in 2007, and was the first African-American animator in the Disney studios.

Comments

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I loved that movie when I was a kid, though the "tar baby" story scared me.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

My mom was raised in the south by a nanny who was an immigrant from Germany. Mom & my uncle used to beg for her to read Brer Rabbit stories, especially The Tar Baby since the poor woman had no idea what she was reading and just sounded it out with her accent. Joel Chandler Harris should be celebrated for cherishing the stories and sharing them.

*sigh*

[kiltboy]

I might have a copy of that around on VOB, I'm just saying. Possibly from a Laser Disc. Maybe. If you're interested. Maybe.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

i'm good on that front.

[sunnidae]

You know, I realize it's not available NOW. I'm pretty sure there are others that you couldn't buy new on DVD right now either. But I've got two legitimate DVD's of it -- one is mine, the other is my mom's -- in my house, that we bought when they *released* it.

No point, really, except that the "never to be released" bit always gets on my nerves.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Song of the South was released on VHS and Laserdisc in other countries, usually only in PAL format (European standard).

It has never *legally* been released on Home Video (VHS, Laserdisc, or DVD) in "Region 1" (US, Canada, Mexico) in any form.

There are several bootleg versions going around, some appearing very professionally produced, most taken from a conversion of a Laserdisc master from a foreign copy (the most common being a Dutch Laserdisc). To the Japanese, the movie is out of copyright, so they freely distribute it all the time, but only on a master they generated from a print.