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Huffington Post -- Mickey Mouse gets a retro makeover for the Disney Channel's new series of 2D animated shorts In Hollywood, it's customary for stars of a certain age to periodically go under the knife. Freshen up their look every now and then, if you will. In Mickey Mouse 's case, when...

As I sat at my drawing board wildly sketching away on a new feature film idea, I suddenly glanced up to see two visitors in the room. It seems they were scrutinizing the sketches, models and story boards in my cluttered office. The two older gentleman were wearing the pastel colored garb usually sported...

I have to admit that It's been kind of amusing to watch the reaction (both here and elsewhere around the Web) that Tuesday's "What's really behind the sudden change in Disney Parks & Resorts' facial hair policy" story has been getting. With all sorts of would-be Disney scholars...

You're going to read a lot today about how - by revising their long-standing policy on facial hair - Disney Parks and Resorts is now turning its back on nearly 60 years of tradition. Which isn't entirely true. I mean, if Walt Disney himself really insisted that no one with a beard or a mustache...

"Disney Studios is stiIl struggling with controversial cartoon characters from its past" A buck-toothed, squinty-eyed Chinese cook. A pickaninny centaurette who shines hooves. A tar baby. A red-faced Indian Chief who says "Ugh" and "How." Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc...

Fans of the Disney California Adventure (yes, they do exist) have known for some time that the impending Buena Vista Street project would bring changes to the entrance to the theme park. As the Golden Gate Bridge makeover is well underway, the next phase of this project starts to take shape on Monday...

They're the films that The Walt Disney Company was actually founded on. Those animated shorts which wowed moviegoers back in the 1930s & 1940s that then paved the way for the Studio's success in feature-length cartoons. But with the rise of television in the 1950s, America's movie-going...

I am not nearly old enough to have attended Disneyland in the 1950s. The first time I went to the park, I was five years old. This was the 1970s. But I have long been interested in the park as it existed in those early years: how art directors and set designers used their cinematic skills to recreate...

Back in the late 1950s, when Corky Wilds was working for Mitchell Camera Corporation , he'd make the trek from his home in North Hollywood out to Glendale. "This was before the highway got built. So the only way to get to Mitchell Camera's offices in Glendale was to drive up Riverside Drive...

It never occurred to me at the moment. I guess I was too busy being enthralled by all the amazing artwork on the walls. Yet, there was something different about the animation unit, and it took me a while before I realized what it was. It turns out the entire unit was unique. It was comprised of animation...

Though I must admit that back in January, when the D23 Anniversary event at Disneyland was first announced, I was skeptical as to how Disney would put together a three-hour party on a Wednesday that was worth a three-hour drive to the park.Three hours, each way, I might add. Having just attended the...

It was late summer 1958 and things had been going well. The mad rush to wrap the animated feature film, “ Sleeping Beauty ” was finally succeeding, and the film was well on its way to completion. Taking a break from the drawing board, I headed up to the second floor of the Animation Building...

If you ask Pam Burns-Clair to describe her mother, she’ll tell you that Disney Legend Harriet Burns was not your typical 1950s housewife. “When I was a girl, the shows on TV were Ozzie & Harriet , Leave It to Beaver and I Love Lucy . These women were very much stay-at-home moms with the chocolate...

Last year, after Disney Legend Harriet Burns passed away, Pam Burns-Clair decided to put together a book about her mother. Mind you, what Ms. Burns-Clair had in mind wasn't a traditional biography. But -- rather -- a gathering of memories. Which is why -- in partnership with noted Disney historian Don...

You probably already know the story. A group of young guys move into the establishment and begin to shake things up. The old guard naturally has issues with the young punks, and they begin to push back. It’s a story we’ve all heard before, and I find it amazing that it remains a story that never really...

A group of young guys and gals gathered in the office of a Disney veteran on the third floor of the Animation Building. “Boy, you missed it,” the old timer rhapsodized as he spoke about the good old days of the late 1930s and early 1940s. “This used to be a great place to work, but the strike ended all...

You'll find all sorts of tributes to the late John Hughes around the Web today. Stories where people talk about their favorite lines and/or sequences from " Sixteen Candles ," " Pretty in Pink " and " Ferris Bueller's Day Off ." But I wonder how many of these articles will bother to mention the role...

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in Disney’s old Animation Building recently. A visit to the second floor always provokes a flood of memories. The structure has been renovated, and yet things look pretty much the same. At least enough remains to remind this Disney veteran of a time long gone...

I hope that you’ll allow me to indulge myself here with a new series that I’m going to call “The Disney Artists You Never Knew.” Only this time, it’s personal. Because I’m now going to write about my old pal & colleague, Jim Fletcher . James Lawrence Fletcher was born in Des Plains, Illinois, and...

There's a popular television show called " Survivor ." I've never been able to watch this show or even take it seriously. It's difficult to consider the consequences of surviving on a desert island when craft services is located nearby. However, I did see some real survivors a few weeks ago as I walked...