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Ruminations – “Dinner In The Diner”

Changing gears, Roger offers a look back at meals enjoyed during many a fine trip aboard those classic railroad dining cars.

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So, how did we end up here?

It’s all due to the evils of eBay. One of my standard searches is for dining car items in the Railroadiana subsection of the Transportation category of Collectibles. Are you still with me there? Stay close; it’s easy to get lost on eBay…

On any given day, there are a good number of items listed with everything from paper menus to linen table cloths to china plates to all kinds of silver utensils and serving pieces. Heck, if you really want to get serious, there’s even a full sized dining car for sale! (Not that I would recommend this one, there are others out there on the market in better shape…) Over the last few years, I’ve added a few items now and then for use on some of those private railroad car trips.

The most recent treasure I located is dated January 1, 1940. Pocket-sized, it was once a corner-stone tool for it’s owner, Isaac Johnson. Number 189 out of an issued of 500, this is a very special little cloth tape bound book – the Southern Pacific Company – Special Recipes for Guidance of Chefs on Dining Cars – Dining Car, Hotel, Restaurant and News Service Department. 200 plus pages of the secrets of great meals that were enjoyed by travelers all along the routes of the railroad and it’s empire. Consider that at one time, that empire included dining cars, lunch counter cars, hamburger grill cars, ferryboats, steamships, lunch counters and restaurants in stations, crew points and more! Feeding us was one big effort, and the railroad knew how to do it. Do it right, and be as cost effective as possible, too.

I have a genuine respect for the men (and women!) who worked in this kind of service. It took a lot of hard work before, during and after meals to provide what they did. I’ve had my own experience cooking aboard the train, but nothing even close to what they did.

Many of these folks have shared their experiences through oral histories or articles in newspapers and magazines. Some of the better are:

Those Pullman Blues” by David Perata. A great collection of tales of life aboard the train as one of the onboard crew (porter’s, waiter’s, bartenders and more). Honest, informative, funny and poignant stories.

Dining By Rail” by James D. Porterfield. Jim offers a great look at the nuts and bolts of dining car service from the earliest days right up to Amtrak with lots of great recipes from railroads across the country. He also writes a column for Railroad & Railfan Magazine called “On The Menu”.

A local favorite of mine here in the Bay Area is Thomas C. Flemming. Well respected as a journalist, he is a co-founder of the Sun-Reporter, Northern California’s largest weekly African-American newspaper. One of his earlier professions was as a dining car cook with the Southern Pacific out of Oakland between 1927 and 1932. This web link has a series of columns he has written including a look at dining car service. It was no picnic and he doesn’t pull punches. This was a hard life and he tells it like it that.

Chef Melvin Pierson (ctr.), Cannis Elie (l.) and Oliver Medlock

prepare for rush of patrons as the “Daylight” prepares

to pull out of San Francisco for Los Angeles. (1945)

This photo gives you a glimpse of the cramped space in which a the cooks of a dining car worked their magic. It was hot, noisy and busy, busy, busy. Think three meals a day and the serving as many passengers as wanted to eat. In a 48-seat dining car, it was not uncommon to serve 300 passengers for a meal, and then the crew aboard the train as well! That’s at least six seatings, and off of a full menu of choices.

From the passenger perspective, you might make a request from the dining car steward to dine at a particular meal. On the Southern Pacific, Breakfast was served from 7:00 to 9:30 A.M., Luncheon was served from 12:00 to 2:30 P.M., and Dinner was served from 5:30 to 9:00 P.M. If space was available at a table, the steward would seat you. You would be handed a menu and he would place your meal check on the table with a pencil. As waiters were not permitted to take verbal orders, guests would write their meal selections. The waiter would then confirm the selections and then proceed to the pantry to place the order.

What most passengers never saw was the drama that unfolded to get that order completed and back out to the table. In the pantry,

Tempting choices, reasonably priced from this vintage menu on the secondary trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe circa 1954.

And for each one of those choices, the railroad had specific instructions. Not only the recipe, but what kind of plate and garnish was to be used.

Take for example, the following from that Southern Pacific’s 1940 Special Recipes:

“Chicken Pot Pie, Old Fashioned

Boil chicken, skin disjoint and bone. Arrange one-half in deep pie dish, garnish with a slice of hard-boiled egg, some carrots, turnips and celery cut small and cooked in broth. Cover with sauce made of chicken stock. Make a soft dough from biscuit blend, scoop from same a large dumpling, drop in center of dish and steam or bake under cover from ten to fifteen minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.”

Now, in your home kitchen that wouldn’t be too difficult, right? Try this. Imagine a kitchen that is maybe two and a half feet wide, and some fifteen feet long. Instead of a single cook, you would find the chef, a second, third and fourth cook. Each one had his own duties. And if you were unlucky enough to be the fourth cook, you also had to wash all of the dishes used in the dining car as well as the kitchen cooking pots and pans. And the stove you cooked on? For many years, that was a coal fired stove. Another plum job for the fourth cook was to get up before everyone else and be sure that fire was ready to go, and keep it that way all though the day.

Keeping track here? That’s cramped work space, very hot (with no air conditioning) and you’re busy during meal times. When not serving meals, you’re likely to be getting ready by doing all of your prep work for the next one. That could even include baking fresh rolls, breads, pies, cakes and other pastries.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that the train was usually moving? That means moving in all directions. You might go up, down, back and forth; occasionally all at the same time. (I’ve experienced the same cooking on the train to have the pan go one way and the contents go exactly the opposite with the unexpected results.) You were also expected to wear a clean uniform while on duty. So, you can appreciate that this was difficult if sometimes not impossible.

Yet, the men who worked aboard the dining cars did the impossible. Dining aboard the train, you found the same level of service and quality of food equal to many a fine hotel and or restaurant. Trip after trip, miracles continued. For many people, a meal in the dining car was the highlight of their trip. And certain railroads developed specialties for which passengers might go out of their way to be sure to ride just to enjoy that meal.

Remember how Walt Disney and Ward Kimball rode the Santa Fe’s “Super Chief” from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1949 to attend the Railroad Fair? Ward told the tale of how he was looking forward to enjoying the beef stew (which the train was well known for under the Fred Harvey company’s guidance), only to have Walt order a couple of prime steaks instead. Various railroads offered regional favorites. The Denver & Rio Grande Western was known for the Rocky Mountain Rainbow Trout served in their dining cars. A well told tale relates how a passenger asked the steward how fresh the fish was, only to hear that the chef had reeled it in only moments before as the train rolled along the Colorado River.

A typical dining car meal check (For Government Employees Only) from the Sante Fe’s Fred Harvey Dining Car Service! Don’t forget to add dessert to that order!

As much as I can appreciate the effort that went into the final product served to the guest, I was fortunate to experience it a very limited number of times. Specifically, six memorable meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner each way) aboard the Rio Grande Zephyr’s “Silver Banquet” dining car on a round-trip between Salt Lake City and Denver in 1980. (The D&RGW didn’t join Amtrak until the mid-Eighties.)

Before Amtrak took over passenger train operations in 1970, my only train ride of any distance did not have a traditional dining car, but featured an Automatic Dining Car with vending machines, a radar range (a.k.a. microwave) oven and a single attendant to make change and assist as needed. A glimpse of the menu offered aboard that car offers a glimpse into the corporate mind.

An experiment in cost cutting gone awry, the Southern Pacific’s Automat dining cars were genuinely despised by passengers and crews alike.

So to wrap up today, I’ll share a few more recipes from that fine little eBay purchase. I’m certain to be enjoying it for some time to come!

“Combination Special Salad

  • ½ head of lettuce, quartered
  • 1 tomato, peeled and quartered
  • 1 hard-boiled egg, quartered
  • 1 tablespoon of shrimps, marinaded
  • 4 asparagus tips

Arrange lettuce in couple plate with tomatoes between. Fill shrimps in center, garnish with egg and place asparagus tips in star formation. Serve with thousand island dressing.”

“Fritters, Corn

To one cup of canned corn add one teaspoon of sugar, two eggs and a pinch of salt. Beat well, and add one cup of flour mixed with one teaspoonful of baking powder. Fry in shallow grease. When using new corn, crush same well, and add melted butter as shortening.”

“Wiener Schnitzel (Cutlet Vienna)

Slice cutlet from tender part of veal leg (not the fricandeau part), flatten lightly, slat, season with paprika and dredge with flour. Dip into beaten egg and bread with fresh bread crumbs (not cracker meal). Fry in butter slowly on both sides until golden brown. Arrange on platter and surround with tomato sauce. Garnish with a slice of lemon on which is places a fillet of anchovy, ring shaped, with capers in center.”

“Celery, Southern Pacific

Remove outside branches of celery stalks, trim tops, wash thoroughly and boil in consommé until soft. Let cool in consommé until same becomes firm. When serving, quarter stalks, and arrange with some of the jelly in a platter lined with crisp lettuce leaves.”

“Pineapple, Creole

Cook one cupful of rice in one quart of milk. Add half cupful of sugar and one cupful of chopped pineapple. Mix well. Mold in sauce dish, top with slice of pineapple, cover with raspberry syrup. Serve hot.”

That’s only a small sample of some of the magic those dining car wizards used to produce on a daily basis. I’ll be sharing more of these classic recipes, and a few more tales now and then in the coming months.

Oh dear, it’s time for lunch now. Why is it that there’s never a dining car around when you need one?

Don’t forget out first JHM “Night at the Movies” coming to Oakland on August 27. So far, a growing but select group, and always room for more to join in what promises to be an evening of merriment and misadventures…

And as always, thanks to you. Our loyal supporters keep us here doing what we do best. Churning out more infotainment for another week! A buck or two dropped in the JHM Amazon donation box really does generate results!

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Television & Shows

The Untold Story of Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios: How Daytime TV Took Over the Parks

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Super Soap Weekends at Disney-MGM Studios

A long time ago in a galaxy that … Well, to be honest, wasn’t all that far away. This was down in Florida after all. But if you traveled to the WDW Resort, you could then experience “Star Wars Weekends.” Which ran seasonally at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Disney World from 1997 to 2015.

Mind you, what most folks don’t remember is the annual event that effectively plowed the road for “Star Wars Weekends.” Which was “Super Soap Weekend.” That seasonal offering — which allowed ABC soap fans to get up-close with their favorite performers from “All My Children,” “General Hospital,” “One Life to Live” and “Port Charles” — debuted at that same theme park the year previous (1996).

So how did this weekend-long celebration of daytime drama (which drew tens of thousands of people to Orlando every Fall for 15 years straight) come to be? 

Michael Eisner’s Daytime TV Origins and a Theme Park Vision

Super Soap Weekend was the brainchild of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner. His career in media began with short stints at NBC and CBS, but it truly took off in 1964 when he joined ABC as the assistant to Leonard Goldberg, who was the network’s national programming director at the time.

Eisner quickly advanced through the ranks. By 1971, he had become Vice President of Daytime Programming at ABC. That meant he was on the scene when One Life to Live joined the lineup in July 1968 and when All My Children made its debut in January 1970. Even after being promoted to Senior Vice President of Prime Time Programming in 1976, Eisner stayed close to the daytime division and often recruited standout soap talent for ABC’s primetime shows.

Fast forward nearly two decades to July 31, 1995. The Walt Disney Company announced that it would acquire ABC/Cap Cities in a $19 billion deal. Although the acquisition wasn’t finalized until February 1996, Eisner was already thinking ahead. He wanted to use the stars of All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital to draw people to Disney’s theme parks.

He had seen how individual soap stars were drawing huge mall crowds across America since the late 1970s. Now he wanted to bring dozens of them together for something much bigger.

Super Soap Weekend Takes Over Disney-MGM Studios

The very first Super Soap Weekend was announced in June 1996, just a few months after the ABC deal closed. The event was scheduled for October 19 and 20 at Disney-MGM Studios and was a massive success.

The weekend featured panel discussions, autograph sessions, and photo opportunities with the stars of ABC’s daytime dramas. Thousands of fans packed the park for the chance to meet their favorite actors. Due to the overwhelming response, the event became an annual tradition and was eventually moved to Veterans Day weekend each November to better accommodate attendees.

Longtime fans like Nancy Stadler, her mom Mary, and their close friend Angela Ragno returned year after year, making the event a personal tradition and building lifelong memories.

West Coast Events and the ABC Soap Opera Bistro

Disney even tried to recreate the event out west. Two Super Soap Weekends were held at Disneyland Resort, one in April 2002 and another in June 2003.

At Disney’s California Adventure, Eisner also introduced the ABC Soap Opera Bistro, a themed dining experience that opened in February 2001. Guests could dine inside recreated sets from shows like General Hospital and All My Children, including Kelly’s Diner and the Chandler Mansion. The Bistro closed in November 2002, but for fans, it offered a rare opportunity to step into the world of their favorite soaps.

SOAPnet, Port Charles, and the Expansion of Daytime TV at Disney

Eisner’s enthusiasm for soaps extended beyond the parks. In January 2000, he launched SOAPnet, a cable channel dedicated to prime time replays of ABC’s daytime dramas.

During his time at Disney, General Hospital also received a spin-off series titled Port Charles, which aired from June 1997 to October 2003. The show leaned into supernatural plotlines and was another example of Eisner’s commitment to evolving and expanding the soap genre.

The Final Curtain for Super Soap Weekend

In September 2005, Eisner stepped down after 21 years as head of The Walt Disney Company. Bob Iger, who had previously served as President of ABC and Chief Operating Officer of ABC/Cap Cities, took over as CEO. While Iger had deep ABC credentials, he didn’t share Eisner’s passion for daytime television.

In the fall of 2008, Disney hosted the final Super Soap Weekend at what was then still called Disney-MGM Studios. That same year, the park was rebranded as Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney began shifting away from television-focused experiences.

Within the next five years, the rest of Eisner’s soap legacy faded. One Life to Live was canceled in January 2012. SOAPnet was rebranded as Disney Junior in February 2013. Later that year, All My Children ended its 41-year run on ABC.

Only General Hospital remains on the network today, the last standing soap from the golden age of ABC Daytime.

A New Chapter for Daytime TV and Super Soap Fans

The soap genre may have faded from its former glory, but it’s not gone. On February 24, 2025, CBS premiered a brand-new daytime drama called Beyond the Gates, marking the first new soap launch in years.

Meanwhile, All My Children alum Kelly Ripa has been actively working on a revival. In September 2024, she mentioned a holiday-themed movie set in Pine Valley that would bring back many original cast members. The project was in development for Lifetime, though its current status is unclear.

And what about Super Soap? Fans like Nancy and Angela still hope Disney will bring it back. Even if it only featured the cast of General Hospital, it would be a welcome return for longtime viewers who miss that one weekend a year where the magic of Disney collided with the drama of daytime TV.

If you want to hear firsthand what it was like to be part of Super Soap Weekend, be sure to listen to our I Want That Too podcast interview with actor Colin Egglesfield. He shares behind-the-scenes memories from his days as Josh Madden on All My Children and what it meant to be part of one of the most unique fan events in Disney park history.

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History

The Super Bowl & Disney: The Untold Story Behind ‘I’m Going to Disneyland!’

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One of the highlights of the Super Bowl isn’t just the game itself—it’s the moment when the winning quarterback turns to the camera and exclaims, “I’m going to Disney World!” This now-iconic phrase has been a staple of post-game celebrations for decades. But where did this tradition begin? Surprisingly, it didn’t originate in a stadium but at a dinner table in 1987, in a conversation involving Michael Eisner, George Lucas, and aviation pioneers Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager.

Credit: AP News

The Unlikely Beginning of a Marketing Sensation

To understand the origins of this campaign, we have to go back to December 1986, when the Rutan Voyager became the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. Pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the nine-day journey on December 23, 1986, flying over 26,000 miles before landing at Edwards Air Force Base. Their historic achievement earned them national recognition, and just days later, President Ronald Reagan awarded them the Presidential Citizen Medal at the White House.

Meanwhile, Disney was gearing up for the grand opening of Star Tours at Disneyland, set for January 12, 1987. Following its usual playbook of associating major theme park attractions with real-world pioneers, Disney’s PR team invited astronauts Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton to the launch event. But in a twist, they also invited Rutan and Yeager, who were still making headlines.

Credit: Endor Express

A Dinner Conversation That Changed Advertising Forever

After the Star Tours opening ceremony, a private dinner was held with Disney CEO Michael Eisner, George Lucas, and Eisner’s wife, Jane. During the meal, Eisner asked Rutan and Yeager, “You just made history. You traveled non-stop around the planet on a plane without ever refueling. How are you ever going to top that, career-wise? What are you two gonna do next?”

Without hesitation, Jeana Yeager replied, “Well, after being cramped inside that tiny plane for nine days, I’m just glad to be anywhere else. And even though you folks were nice enough to fly us here, invite us to your party… Well, as soon as we finish eating, I’m gonna go over to the Park and ride some rides. I’m going to Disneyland.”

Jane Eisner immediately recognized the power of Yeager’s statement. On the car ride home, she turned to Michael and said, “That’s a great slogan. I think you should use that to promote the theme parks.” Like many husbands, Michael initially dismissed the idea, but Jane persisted. Eventually, Eisner relented and pitched it to his team.

The Super Bowl Connection

With Super Bowl XXI just around the corner, Disney’s PR team saw an opportunity. The game was set for January 25, 1987, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena—just miles from Disney Studios. What if they convinced the winning quarterback to say, “I’m going to Disneyland” live on-air?

Disney quickly struck a deal with both quarterbacks—Phil Simms of the New York Giants and John Elway of the Denver Broncos—offering each $75,000 to deliver the line if their team won. Simms led the Giants to victory, making history as the first athlete to say, “I’m going to Disney World!” on national television.

A Marketing Triumph

That year’s Super Bowl had the second-highest viewership in television history, with 87 million people watching Simms say the famous line. The next day, Disney turned the clip into a national commercial, cementing the phrase as a marketing goldmine.

Since then, “I’m going to Disneyland” (or Disney World, depending on the commercial) has been a staple of championship celebrations, spanning the NFL, NBA, and even the Olympics. What started as a casual remark at dinner became one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.

A Lasting Legacy

Jane Eisner’s keen instinct and Disney’s ability to act quickly on a great idea created a tradition that continues to captivate audiences. The “I’m going to Disneyland” campaign remains a testament to the power of spontaneous inspiration and smart marketing, proving that sometimes, the best ideas come from the most unexpected places.

To learn more about Disney’s ties to the world of sports, check out I Want That Too: A Disney History and Consumer Product Podcast.

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Television & Shows

How the Creators of South Park Tricked A-List Celebrities to Roast Universal – “Your Studio & You”

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Your Studio and You

Universal Studios has a rich and storied history, but few moments are as peculiar—and as hilariously cutting—as the creation of Your Studio & You. This 14-minute parody film, commissioned in 1995 to celebrate Universal’s new ownership under Seagram’s, brings together an all-star cast, biting humor, and the unmistakable comedic fingerprints of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Long before South Park debuted on Comedy Central in 1997, Stone and Parker were already carving out a reputation for their irreverent style, and Your Studio & You perfectly encapsulates their knack for turning even the most corporate project into something delightfully subversive.

Matt Stone & Trey Parker Before South Park

Stone & Parker were already known out in Hollywood as funny guys. Thanks largely to “The Spirit of Christmas,” which was this video greeting card that they’d crafted for a Fox executive – who then distributed this infamously funny thing (which had Our Lord Jesus Christ & Santa Claus literally duking it out for the holiday affections of Cartman, Kenny, Stan & Kyle) to friends & family.

This was the early 1990s. No internet. Each copy of “The Spirit of Christmas” was made on VHS tape and then mailed. Went viral the old-fashioned way. It’s rumored that George Clooney made over 300 copies of “The Spirit of Christmas” and passed these VHS taps along to friends and family.

Things didn’t move as fast as they do today. “The Spirit of Christmas” still became a sensation out West.

Zucker Brothers

Matt & Trey also had other supporters in the entertainment industry. Among them David Zucker, who was one of the members of ZAZ (i.e., Zucker Abrahams Zucker), the talented trio that made “Airplane!” in 1980, “Top Secret!” in 1984 and the three “Naked Gun” movies.

  • The original “Naked Gun” in 1988
  • “Naked Gun 2 & 1/2 : The Smell of Fear” in 1991
  • and “Naked Gun 33 & a 1/3: The Final Insult” in 1994

All five of these parody films had been made for Paramount Pictures. But in the Late Winter / Early Spring of 1995, Universal had persuaded the Zucker Brothers to come over and set up shop in a bungalow on their lower lot. With the hope that – at some point further on down the line – David & his brother Jerry would start making funny films for Universal.

Zucker Brothers featured in "Your Studio and You"

And it’s during this same window of time (We’re now talking April of 1995) that news breaks that Seagrams (Yep, the adult beverage company. Who – at the time – was making an absolute fortune on the sales of wine coolers) was about to buy a majority stake in MCAUniversal. We’re talking control of 80% of that company’s stock. Which would effectively make Seagrams the new owners of Universal Studios.

Edgar Bronfman

And Edgar Bronfman – the owner of Seagrams – knew that Universal had had a tough time with its previous owners – which had been the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Japan. Matsushita had bought MCA back in November of 1990 for $7.5 billion but had never really understood the entertainment industry.

This is why – after repeatedly butting heads with Lew Wasserman & Sidney Sheinberg (i.e., the heads of Universal Studios & the Universal theme park respectively) when it came to creative control of this company – Matsushita decided to wash it hands of the entire enterprise.  Agreeing to sell their holdings in MCA to Seagrams for $5.7 billion (effectively taking a nearly $2 billion loss on this investment).

Edgar M. Bronfman
Credit: NYTimes

And Bronfman … He knew that some bad feeling had developed between Hollywood’s creative community and the Japanese owners of Universal. The thinking was that executives at Matsushita Electric had just not gotten what it took to make movies & TV shows.

And Edgar? Right from the get-go, he wanted to show that Seagrams was NOT going to be Matsushita Electric Redux. Bronfman was looking for a way to send a clear message to Hollywood’s creative community that Universal’s new owners got it. That they were willing to work with Hollywood to make the best possible movies & TV shows at Universal.

And how did Edgar decide to get this message across? By making a funny movie.

Zucker Commissions Trey Parker for “Your Studio & You”

Mind you, Bronfman himself didn’t make this film. The owner of Seagrams reached out to David Zucker. Who – after initially agreeing to produce this introduction-to-Universal film – then farmed out the production of the actual project to Trey Parker. Who – just two days before shooting was supposed to star on the Universal Lot – persuaded Matt Stone to come help him on this project.

Which brings us to “Your Studio and You.” Which is a parody of an educational film from the 1950s, right down to being shot in black & white and featuring a very generic soundtrack.

Now what’s amazing about watching “Your Studio and You” today is that this 14-minute-long film features some of the biggest names working in Hollywood back in the mid-1990s. We’re talking about people like recent Golden Globe winner Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Michael J. Fox and Angela Lansbury. Not to mention two of the most powerful men in all of Hollywood, Steven Spielberg & Jeffrey Katzenberg.

And what’s especially interesting about watch “Your Studio and You” is that – as you watch these performers go through their paces in this motion pictures (which – most of the time – involves doing some innocuous task while holding a Seagram’s wine cooler) – you often get the feeling that this star is not in on the gag.

So how did Matt & Trey get away with this? Simple. There was never actually a script for “Your Studio and You.”

Filming “Your Studio & You” at Universal Studios Hollywood

Mind you, David Zucker would always insist that there was. Especially when he’d phone up celebrities on the Universal Lot and say “Hey, I’m sending over a couple of college kids later today. They’re working with me on a new parody film. It’s something that we’re doing for the new owners of Universal. I need just a half hour of your time. We’re shooting something special for the party we’ll be holding when the Seagrams people first arrive at the Studio. Absolutely. You’ll definitely get an invite to that party. So can I count on you to help these kids out? Beautiful. They’ll be over there later this morning.”

And then Matt & Trey would show up and say “… Dang, Miss Lansbury. We’re sorry. We must have left our copy of the ‘Your Studio and You’ script back in our office. Which is clear on the other side of the Lot. So – rather than waste your time – why don’t we do this instead? Follow us over to the Psycho House. Where we’re then going to get footage of you painting the front porch on Mother Bates’ house while you say ‘Gosh, with all of the wonderful improvements going on around here, everyone is going to want to work at Universal.’ Oh, and can we also get you to wear this button on the front of your blazer which reads ‘Universal is A-OK’ ? “

And over & over again, the biggest names who were working for Universal at that time took part in the production of “Your Studio & You” because A) David Zucker vouched for Matt Stone & Trey Parker and B) this was something that was being made for the new owners of Universal. And it’s just natural to want to get in good with the new boss.

Steven Spielberg, Jeffery Katzenberg, and Jaws

But no one at Universal anticipated that “Your Studio & You” would wind up being as sharp edged as the finished product turned out to be. I mean, it’s one thing to bite the hand that feeds you. But “Your Studio & You” ? It doesn’t just bite the hand. It takes the hand off at the wrist.

It’s a brutally funny film. With one of the meanest moments reserved for Steven Spielberg, who plays a driver on the Universal Studio Tour who’s trying to persuade a tram full of bored tourists (one of whom is played by Jeffery Katzenberg) that the “Shark Attack” scene down by Jaws Lagoon is actually exciting.

Spielberg actually says lines like “ … Whoa, whoa. What is going on here? Ladies and gentlemen, this never happens. Look out! It’s a shark! Whoa, that is one big scary shark.”


Mind you, as footage of this mechanical shark repeatedly coming up out of the water is shown, “Your Studio & You” ‘s off-screen narrator (who is voiced by Trey Parker says):

“But what about tomorrow? If we don’t keep in step with the times, things that were once neat and thrilling can become old and stupid.”

“Your Studio & You” Reception

This film was supposed to be shown only once at the welcoming party for Seagrams executive on the Universal Lot. And I’m told that – when Edgar Bronfman saw the finished product at that party – he reportedly turned to David Zucker and said “ … That’s a little more mean-spirited that I think it needed to be.”

And with that, “Your Studio & You” was supposed to go back into the Universal vault, never to be seen again. But when “South Park” debuted on Comedy Central in August of 1997 and then became a sensation for its biting humor, there was suddenly a lot of interest in what else Matt & Trey had done. Which is why copies of “The Spirit of Christmas” began to circulate. And – over time – copies of “Your Studio & You” began to bubble up.

Which – as Stone & Parker have repeatedly pointed out – was just not supposed to happen. Largely because none of the celebrities who appeared in “Your Studio & You” had never signed releases for Universal’s legal department. Because – again – this was for a movie that was only going to be shown once at a private function on the Universal Lot.

Matt mentioned (as part of a career retrospective at the Paley Center in LA back in 2000) that “ … they wouldn’t even let us keep a copy of the finished film.”

It’s a funny but brutal movie. And worth taking a look at today especially if you’re a theme park history buff because it shows Universal Studios Hollywood’s “Jurassic Park: The Ride” still under construction on the Lower Lot. That attraction would finally open to the public in June of 1996.

“Your Studio & You” became a lot easier to see after Seagrams sold off its share of Universal to Vivendi in 2000. Copies began propagating online after that. Though Universal Legal will periodically make an effort to get the latest copy of “Your Studio & You” taken off the Internet because – again – none of the performers who appear on camera ever signed the proper releases and/or were paid for their efforts.

That said, if you’re up for a mean-spirited laugh, “Your Studio & You” is well worth 14 minutes of your time. That said, once you watch this thing, be warned:

  1. You’re immediately going to be thirsty for a Seagram’s wine cooler
  2. And you’re going to have a sudden desire to go out & buy a porcelain deer.
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