Greetings from sunny, windy Southern California. Or as our one and only “DizBiz” — and “OnTheGround” columnist — C.W. Oberleitner, likes to call it: the Left Coast.
Speaking of C.W. … if you’ve already read today’s installment of “OnTheGround,” you might have gotten the impression that I was going to be away from the site today. That was in fact the plan until I proofed C.W.’s column. His P.T. Barnum impression made me just a bit anxious.
Honestly, Chuck’s heart really is in the right place. It’s just that … well, he wants this weekend’s tour and meet and greet events to be a big success. Which is why he’s out there today — thumping on his tub — crying “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Come and see the dancing bear!”
Which is all well and good. Unless — of course — you actually happen to be the dancing bear.
Me? I’m just hoping that this weekend’s tours go well. That the weather’s nice enough (and the crowds are light enough) that we can all move about the theme parks fairly easily. More importantly, that people aren’t disappointed with the stories I chose to tell. Or — for that matter — aren’t disappointed with me in general.
After all, I’m just this schlubby guy from the woods of New Hampshire who knows WAY too many stories about the Walt Disney Company. What do I look like? Picture a bearded version of Jay Sherman, the title character from “The Critic.”
Speaking of “The Critic” … Lindsay M. (and our own David Gasior) gave me a heads up earlier this week about something interesting that’s going on over at sonypictures.com. It seems that Columbia/Tristar Home Entertainment is currently conducting a poll to find out which classic TV shows we’d all like to see come out of DVD sometime soon.
Among the series that we vote for is the bitter but brilliant “Action,” camp classics like “Bewitched,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” and “The Flying Nun,” and to my absolute excitement … “The Critic!”
So could you please do me a favor and head over to the Sony Pictures site and let the nice folks at Columbia/Tristar Home Entertainment know that releasing full season sets of “The Critic” would be a very cool thing.
Of course, if you DON’T want to do this, I may be forced to pull a Jay Sherman on you. As in — “borrowing” a gag from “The Critic”‘s infamous “Miserable” episode (where there was this really annoying Jay Sherman bookstore standee which repeatedly said “BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!”) — repeatedly pesters JHM readers to “BOOK MY TOUR! BOOK MY TOUR! BOOK MY TOUR! …” (sound of gun being cocked) “… I’ll be quiet.”
Of course, talking about Jay Sherman makes me think about movies. And — speaking of movies — I guess it’s time to come clean. Admit that I screwed up somewhat with last Friday’s answer to Roger’s “Why For” question about why the Walt Disney Company doesn’t allow movies to be shot in their theme parks.
What did I get wrong? Well, as Ken H., Yahnigh, and Benny so graciously pointed out to me earlier this week, it wasn’t Giovanni Ribisi’s character in Tom Hank’s “That Thing You Do” who ran off with the Marines to spend a day at Disneyland. Ribisi’s character (who was named Chad, by the way) was the drummer who breaks his arm. Which is the Wonders is forced to recruit Guy (the character that Tom Everett Scott plays in the picture)to be their replacement drummer.
So who was the character that blew off the Wonders’ network television debut just so he could ride the Matterhorn? According to the film’s credits, he was known as “T.B. Player.” As in: “The Bass Player.”
According to Ken H., this is:
“… a perfectly played riff on the old cliché that the bass player is often the one with the least musical skill and is almost always marginalized. One of many wonderful winks (that Tom Hanks deliberately put in “That Thing You Do”) at (the) people who played in bands and lived through some of the same things (that) the Wonders lived through.”
Ken H. went on to praise the other ways that Hanks and his production team got the look and feel of this earl 1960s period picture just right:
“Big kudos are also due (to) the (“That Thing You Do”) production designer, who placed period-appropriate instruments and amplifiers in the characters’ hands. Jimmy, the spoiled rich kid, plays a shiny new Gibson from the outset. The other guys play Montgomery Ward and Sears-sold Silvertones and Danelectros. Later, when they become more successful, a Fender Jazzmaster and a Rickenbacker (the Official Guitar of the British Invasion) appear.
Brilliant attention to detail. A nearly perfect little movie in every way, I think.”
I’d have to agree, Ken. “That Thing You Do” really is a great little film. Well worth a rental if you haven’t already seen it.
That said, Hanks and his production team did get one period detail wrong. If you’ll closely watch the film’s brief shot-on-location-at-Disneyland sequence, you’ll see that they’ve got the wrong Mickey Mouse. The costume that the Disneyland cast member who is riding with T.B. Player (who is played by Ethan Embry, by the way) is clearly a modern: a version of the Mickey walk-around character that was used in the Parks in the 1990s.
Mind you, Tom Hanks wanted to get this detail right. That’s why he reportedly asked Disneyland’s costume department to go dig out an old Mickey Mouse outfit to use in this particular sequence in “That Thing You Do.” Which is exactly what those DL staffers did. Digging ‘way in the back until they found one of those old Mouse costumes. You know, the ones where Mickey wore an enormous black tie and had white mesh over his eyes.
Hanks reportedly took one look at the authentic 1960s era Mickey Mouse costume (which — to be fair, after years and years of wear — was looking rather ratty) then decided to go with the more modern, nicer looking character costume.
So that’s why you’ve got a 1990s era Mickey Mouse appears in a 1960s era Disneyland. But — beyond that one teeny, tiny glitch (which — and let’s be honest here, folks — only the most hardcore of Disney dweebs would ever notice this small discrepancy … or for that matter, care about) — “That Thing You Do” really is a great little picture. If you ever get the chance, be sure and check it out, okay?
Alright. That’s enough from the dancing bear for today. Again, my apologies if it seems like we’ve been hectoring you guys about this coming weekend’s JHM tours. That’s honestly not our intent.
If you don’t have the bucks to spend right now … don’t worry; it’s okay. Just show up Saturday night for the JHM meet-n-greet. (See Chuck’s “OnTheGround” column today for time and location.) And I’ll be happy to chat and/or answer whatever Disney-related questions you might have then.
That’s it for today, okay? Talk to you later,
jrh