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The old adage is "April Showers bring May Flowers." Image courtesy of S/R Laboratories. All rights reserved Well, Nancy and I are down in Orlando right now. And this year, April Showers seems to be bringing May Downpours. Which suggests that June might be a really good time to go shopping for...

"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...

So when did Don Peri start collecting Mouse-related stories? Over 35 years ago. Back when genuine Disney Legends were still working at the Studios. " Frank and Ollie were still doing animation back then. When I first met them, they were both working on ' The Rescuers ' and were getting started...

Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you film history buff out there. Grim Natwick - the animation legend who many in the industry credit with making the title character in Disney's " Snow White " seem so lifelike ... Snow White and Forest Animals Special Set-up from "Snow White...

You know, I kind of feel sorry for all of you Disneyana fans who live out in the Los Angeles area. Why For? Because starting tomorrow ... There are so many Mouse-related events going on in & around Southern California that it will literally be impossible to attend them all. Want proof? Okay then...

So what exactly is the deal with Boxing Day ? How did December 26 th wind up with this particular moniker? Well, in the U.K., the name supposedly dates back to the tradition of Victorian tradesmen receiving "Christmas boxes" and/or gifts on the day after Christmas in return for goods &...

Greetings from Beantown. Where Nancy and I joined several hundred D23 members at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts yesterday night for a special celebration of "Fantasia" & "Fantasia 2000. " Photo by Nancy Stadler Even before this event officially got underway, attendees could...

Did you catch that terrific profile of Michael Giacchino that " Variety " ran yesterday? I mean, if you thought that this Academy Award-winning composer was busy in 2009 - 2010 (i.e. that's when he composed & conducted the music for " Prep and Landing ," " Day & Night...

Nancy and I were just watching "The Purdum Reel." Which is this Special Feature on the Blu-ray version of the Diamond Edition of Disney's " Beauty and the Beast ." Which hits store shelves yesterday. Concept art from the Richard Purdum version of "Beauty and the Beast."...

I'm a geek - I admit it. Much like a good friend of mine worships Johnny Depp, I have a girl-crush on Felicia Day . I've been playing video games before they were cool, and I still chain-read novels with cover-art featuring pastel horses, medieval defense weapons, and futuristic space vehicles...

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...

Have you seen Disney's new feature version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice ? Although the film has garnered largely favorable reviews, including this one , the Jerry Bruckheimer summer blockbuster hasn't quite stirred up the level of box office magic for which the studio had been hoping. Disney's...

The tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and The Walt Disney Company have been intertwined ever since Walt Disney invited famed conductor Leopold Stokowski to come join him for dinner at Chasen's . Which is where the old Mousetro supposedly asked the Maestro if he'd be interested in working with Disney...

He’s the Disney Legend who’s credited with changing the look of Mickey Mouse. The self-taught artist who took that rubber armed, pie-eyed rodent from the late 1920s / early 1930s and then turned him into the corporate symbol that we know & love today. He’s the man gave the Seven Dwarfs their appeal...

For several generations, Disney’s “ Sorcerer’s Apprentice ” has been best known as one of the most famous sequences in animation and for its iconic image of Mickey Mouse . But Nicolas Cage , director Jon Turteltaub and producer Jerry Bruckheimer may soon change all that, especially among younger movie...

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...

Spring brings many things. April showers. May flowers. As well as the catalog for the Spring S/R Laboratories animation art auction. This time around, there are some absolutely amazing pieces of animation history up for bid. Take -- for example -- this gag drawing that Disney Legend Carl Barks did for...

This past Saturday, film directors and animators gathered to pay tribute to Hungarian-born artist Jules Engel , a man whose work combined a modernist orientation of serious art with the commercial leanings of animated films. This year marks the 100-year anniversary of his birth. A small man, usually...

There are so many movie-based musicals turning up on Broadway these days that the theater community has actually invented a somewhat derogatory term to describe these high profile productions: movsicals. And what with the rather tepid respection that " Young Frankenstein " and " The Little Mermaid "...

Last Tuesday night, I traveled down to one of the cities I most dislike in all of Southern California: I went to Hollywood . Good ol’ Tinsel Town, with its sidewalk hucksters wearing eBay costumes of Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob , with its endless food courts and faux-trendy boutiques. Hollywood, that theme...