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Love Bug Parade: Disney’s Herbie and Sequels

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Walt famously once said “You can’t top pigs with pigs.” Which the world has since interpreted as Walt saying that “… I don’t like sequels.

Which simply isn’t true. In Walt’s lifetime, his studio turned out at least two sets of sequels.

  • “The Absent Minded Professor” — which was released to theaters in March of 1961
  • and its sequel, “Son of Flubber” — which was released to theaters in January of 1963 (less than two years later)

And:

  • “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” — which was released to theaters in March of 1964
  • and its sequel, “The Monkey’s Uncle” — which was released to theaters in August of 1964 (just 17 months later).

Walt was obviously an innovator and a storyteller.

But by the early 1960s, he was also a practical businessman who was always on the lookout for additional revenue streams – which Disney could then funnel into expanding his family fun park in Anaheim, CA.

Likewise underwrite the cost of developing Project Sunshine in Florida (which eventually became The Walt Disney World Resort).

Walt Disney Movies About Dogs

Walt detected a pattern — a certain type of Disney-produced film that audiences then seemed to respond to — he’d then have this Studio lean into that pattern.

Case in point:

  • “Old Yeller” came out in December of 1957 and did big business, Walt made note of that.
  • Then when “The Shaggy Dog” came out in March of 1959 and did even bigger business at the box office

… Walt said “Okay. That’s officially a thing. People like Disney-produced movies about dogs.”

He then had his Studio’s literary acquisition team go out and snatch up the movie rights to a bunch of books about dogs.

And then over the next five years, Walt Disney Productions released:

  • “Nikki: Wild Dog of the North” — in July of 1961
  • “Greyfriars Bobby” — later that same month
  • “Big Red” — in June of 1962
  • “Savage Sam” in — June of 1963
  • “The Incredible Journey” — in November of 1963
  • “The Ugly Dachshund” — in February of 1966

That’s six dog-based movies in just five years time. And every one of these films turned a tidy profit for Walt Disney Studios. Likewise gave Walt a movie that he could eventually turn into a two part episode of his “Wonderful World of Color” anthology series (which aired on NBC on Sunday nights).

Disney Films Starring Fred McMurray

Okay. So this is Walt Disney, the guy with an eye out for a new trend at the box office. So as soon as “The Absent Minded Professor” comes and does big box office, Walt asks himself “Was that because people like movies with Fred McMurray in them or was that because people like movies with flying cars in them?”

Given that Fred had previously starred in “The Shaggy Dog” for Disney Studios (which had also been a huge hit for the Mouse House), Walt hedged his bet. He had his Studio produce a series of new movies that starred McMurray:

  • “Bon Voyage!” — released in May of 1962
  • “Son of Flubber,” the sequel to “Absent Minded Professor” — released in January of 1963
  • “Follow Me, Boys!” — released to theaters in December of 1966
  • and “The Happiest Millionaire” — released to theaters in November of 1967

And since all but one of those movies (i.e., “Son of Flubber”) seriously under-performed at the box office, it was clear that Fred McMurray wasn’t exactly the huge movie star that Walt had hoped he’d be.

Disney Movies About Cars & “Magical Things”

Remember that Walt was hedging his bet here. So — while he was ordering his studio to make a bunch of Fred McMurray movies — Walt was also telling Disney’s literary acquisitions team to “ … find me a bunch of books about cars that do weird & magical things.”

During this time, Disney Studios’ acquired the film rights to Upton Sinclair’s “The Gnomobile” (His 1936 novel which Disney would then release to theaters in July of 1967) as well as … Well, not a book. And not a script really. More of a treatment for a film which Gordon Buford had written called “Car, Boy, Girl.”

“Car, Boy, Girl” – Herbie, The Love Bug Origin Story

This story can out of Buford’s childhood growing up on a farm in Colorado. Where he watched his mother & father regularly fight with the family car. Which — seemingly on a whim — would sometimes run and transport the family into town and back. And sometimes not.

Buford described how “ … Neither my mother’s gentle persuasion nor my father’s cussing could persuade this automobile out of its quiet, stubborn rebellion.” Gordon added fun details like how his mother would always hold her breath as she went to press her foot down on the starter. As if that would somehow placate the car. Convince it to start for her.

Credit: Small World / Geocities

Walt liked the potential he saw in “Car, Boy, Girl.” How a stubborn little car with a mind of its own could eventually bring a couple together. He thought that this sounded like just the sort of story that Walt Disney Productions should make. The sort of movie that his audience would eat right up. So Walt had Disney acquire the film rights to “Car, Boy, Girl.”

But then Walt died in December of 1966. And “Car, Boy, Girl” sat in a slush pile of scripts on Walt’s desk as the studio’s employees mourned and the Company tried to figure out how it would carry on without its founder.

“Car, Boy, Girl” Gets New Life

Luckily Walt has left behind a cadre of loyal creative lieutenant. People like Bill Walsh, the producer of previous Disney hits like “The Shaggy Dog,” “The Absent Minded Professor,” “Son of Flubber,” and — more importantly — Disney Studio’s biggest hit to date, “Mary Poppins.”

At that point, Bill was pretty sure that he had the formula for a successful Disney film down pat. As he said in a 1970 interview:

“I make movies for people between the ages of nine and fourteen. It’s a very intelligent and very honest audience. I don’t make movies to make personal statements. I make movies hoping they’ll make money so I’ll be able to make more movies.”

Bill Walsh
Disney Legend Bill Walsh with Walt Disney

So with this goal in mind, Bill got access to Walt’s office in the Summer of 1967 (The place had been locked up tight since his passing in December of 1966) and started going through that slush pile of scripts on Walt’s desk. With the goal of finding a film that would appeal to nine to 14 year-olds that would also make some money for the Mouse. And there — in the pile — was “Car, Boy, Girl.”

Walsh read through Buford’s script treatment and thought “A stubborn little car that bring a couple together. I can do something with that.”

But the question now was: Which small car should be the star of Walsh’s next project for Disney Studios?

How Herbie Became a Volkswagen Beetle and the Love Bug

To get the answer to that, Bill did something unusual. Early one morning, he had a dozen or so small cars —  a couple of Toyotas, a handful of Volvos, an MG and one pearl white Volkswagen Beetle — parked out in front of the studio commissary. Then Walsh got himself a cup of coffee, sat out on the commissary patio and then watched Disney employees arrived to work that day.

What they’d do when they saw all of these small cars parked out in front of the commissary.

What Bill noticed that morning proved to be significant. For while those Disney employees admired the Volvos & that MG & the Toyotas, the only car that they petted was the Volkswagen.

Credit: Autoblog

So that small car wound up being the star of … Well, this movie had a lot of names as it went into production in the Fall of 1967. At various times, it was called:

  • “Beetlebomb”
  • “Wonderbeetle”
  • “Bugboom”
  • “Thunderbug”
  • “The Magic Volksy”
  • and “The Runaway Wagen”

What made coming up with a title especially difficult was that Volkswagen wouldn’t allow Disney to use the real name of this car in their movie. This is why — when you watch the first Herbie movie — you’ll hear him called “the small car,” “the Douglas special,” and the “compact car.” But they never call him what he actually is. Which is a Volkswagen Bug.

Finally … Well, Walsh needed to call the title character of his new movie something. So — since they started shooting this movie’s racing scenes in the Fall of 1967 and that Summer had supposedly been “The Summer of Love” … Bill took those two ideas and mashed them together, winding up with the name “The Love Bug.”

Disney Releases of “The Love Bug”

By the Summer of 1968 (when Walsh finished shooting all of the scenes for “The Love Bug” with Dean Jones, Michele Lee, Buddy Hackett and David Tomlinson on the Disney Lot and they began roughly assembling that footage), it became apparent that “The Love Bug” was something special. The sort of film that — if promoted properly — could be a huge, huge hit for the Studio.

So Disney’s PR team assembled an elaborate release plan for “The Love Bug.” It would first be released in just 50 cities around the US in late March of 1969. They’d let word-of-mouth build for a few weeks. And then — just as drive-in movie season arrived — make hundreds of other prints of this family comedy available to screen.

But to help make sure that “The Love Bug” stayed front-of-mind in April, May & June, Disney Studios’ PR team staged an amazing stunt. They contacted thousands of Volkswagen owners in Southern California in February of 1969 and invited them to come to Disneyland Park to take part in a “Most Lovable Bug” contest.

Disneyland’s “Most Lovable Bug” Contest – The Love Bug Parade

The idea was that the owners of all of these Volkswagen Bugs would first decorate their cars and then drive them down to Anaheim. Then 1200 of these vehicles would be parked in the Disneyland parking lot on March 23, 1969. 300 entries would be allowed in four different categories:

  • Best Personality
  • Most Toy-Like
  • Most Comical
  • and Most Psychedelic (It was the 1960s after all)

25 finalists would then be selected in each of the four categories. And then those 100 cars would be paraded through Disneyland Park (rolling in from backstage right onto Main Street, U.S.A. Then driving up to the Hub, taking a right onto Matterhorn Way and motoring on through Fantasyland. Eventually exiting backstage to the left of “it’s a small world”).

At the end of the day, the four winners in each category would be parked in front of “it’s a small world.” With the owner / owners of the winning entry in Disneyland’s first-ever “most Lovable Bug” contest then being given the keys to a brand-new 1969 Volkswagen Beetle by Dean Jones himself (the star of “The Love Bug”).

March 23, 1969 started off as a cold grey day but eventually brightened up. That was honestly the only thing that went wrong of “Love Bug Day” at Disneyland. Over a thousand Volkswagen owners showed up to take part in that day’s “Most Lovable Bug” contest. They filled the “X” section in this theme park’s parking lot.

Major media outlets & publications from around the country turned out to cover the event. You can watch a 12 minute-long film taken on that day which shows a wide variety of the entrants as well as covering the actual Love Bug parade through Disneyland Park (footage take from the Skyway shows all of these decorated Volkswagens rolling around the Hub and then drive up Matterhorn Way). Closes up with footage of Dean Jones handing the keys to a new Volkswagen to Morton & Barbara Allen of Studio City, CA.

Hugely successful PR stunt. Did just what Disney hoped it would do. Photos from the event turned up in all sort of national magazines (“Time, “Life,” “Look”) plus footage take on that day aired on TV news shows around the country.

The Success of “The Love Bug” Franchise

The PR helped turn “The Love Bug” into Disney’s largest hit since … Well, “Mary Poppins.” Of all the movies that were released in 1969, only “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” sold more tickets / earned more money than “The Love Bug.”

Which is why the Company — of course — greenlit a sequel (the first of three, actually. Not to mention that “Love Bug” reboot starring Lindsay Lohan — “Herbie: Fully Loaded” — that Disney sent out into theaters in June of 2005). “Herbie Rides Again” arrived in theaters in June of 1974.

Another Disneyland Love Bug Contest

With the hope that lightning might strikes twice, Disneyland Park staged another “Love Bug” -related contest. This time, Southern California VW owners were invited to “Beautify their Bug.” And the cars were judged in three categories, rather than 4:

  • Most Comical
  • Most Nostalgic
  • And Most Patriotic (We were just two years away from the start of American Bicentennial after all. And earlier that same month, “America on Parade” had just premiered at Disneyland Park & WDW’s Magic Kingdom

This contest was held on June 30, 1974. And — once again — almost a thousand VW owners turned up to participate. With the 25 finalists in each category then being allowed to parade through Disneyland.

Herbie The Love Bug in Disneyland Parade (1974) Credit: Hbvideos on YouTube

By the way, the footage that was take at this “Herbie Rides Again” promotional event was then edited together and turned into a syndicated TV special, which then aired on over 80 TV stations around the country.

These “Love Bug” contests became so well known that … Well, if you watch that “Disneyland Showtime” episode of the “Wonderful World of Color” TV show (the one which originally aired on March 22, 1970. where Kurt Russell & the Osmond Brothers visit that theme park to commemorate the grand opening of the Haunted Mansion), E.J. Peaker shows up in that program with a VW Bug that she’s supposedly decorated herself. Only to then be told that Disneyland’s “Most Lovable Bug” contest was held the year previous.

Disney Parks Love Bug Attraction

By the way, it’s worth noting that “Herbie Rides Again” did so well at the box office in the Summer of 1974, that — in early 1975 — the Imagineers were tasked with coming up with a “Love Bug” attraction for the Disney Parks.

There are a few pieces of concept art for this proposed attraction that have popped up online. One shows this “Love Bug” ride recreating that moment from “Herbie Rides Again” where that VW rolls up the support cables of the Golden Gate ‘til he reaches the very top of that bridge. Whereas another piece of concept art shows the proposed finale for this attraction. Which echoes the ending of the original “Love Bug” movie, in that — just before the finish line of a race — this VW-shaped ride vehicle would then split in half. And the Guests seated in the back seat would suddenly find themselves competing with the people in the front seat to see who would get the checkered flag.

Credit: Davelandblog

From what WDI insiders have told me, Disney Company managers thought that the Imagineers’ plans for a “Herbie” ride were cute, but not necessarily strong enough to warrant the construction of an actual attraction.

The Love Bug would eventually find his way into a Disney theme park, though. How many of you remember — as you were experiencing the Backstage Tram Tour at Disney-MGM Studios — how you’d encounter Herbie popping a wheelie and then revving his edge / blowing out clouds of exhaust as he sat in a driveway on Residential Street.

Really tricked out. Lights would flash. Horn would honk. Car doors & hood would open. Passengers on the tram would be squirted with water spraying from Herbie’s windshield wipers.

Credit: Flickr Loren Javier

Herbie was there on display from May of 1989 (when the Tram Tour first opened) ‘til the early 2000s when this tricked-out vehicle suffered an electrical fire and basically burned up in front of hundreds of tourists. It was later replaced with a static prop car from “Herbie: Fully Loaded.” Backstage Tram Tour closed September of 2014.

If you’re at WDW these days and want to see “The Love Bug,” you need to go to the All-Star Movies Resort and seek out Buildings 6 & 7. Those two wings of this hotel are bisected by an oversized Herbie.

This article is based on research for The Disney Dish Podcast “Episode 368”, published on April 4, 2022. The Disney Dish Podcast is part of the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network.

Jim Hill is an entertainment writer who has specialized in covering The Walt Disney Company for nearly 40 years now. Over that time, he has interviewed hundreds of animators, actors, and Imagineers -- many of whom have shared behind-the-scenes stories with Mr. Hill about how the Mouse House really works. In addition to the 4000+ articles Jim has written for the Web, he also co-hosts a trio of popular podcasts: “Disney Dish with Len Testa,” “Fine Tooning with Drew Taylor” and “Marvel US Disney with Aaron Adams.” Mr. Hill makes his home in Southern New Hampshire with his lovely wife Nancy and two obnoxious cats, Ginger & Betty.

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Film & Movies

Before He Was 626: The Surprisingly Dark Origins of Disney’s Stitch

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Hopes are high for Disney’s live-action version of Lilo & Stitch, which opens in theaters next week (on May 23rd to be exact). And – if current box office projections hold – it will sell more than $120 million worth of tickets in North America.

Stitch Before the Live-Action: What Fans Need to Know

But here’s the thing – there wouldn’t have been a hand-drawn version of Stitch to reimagine as a live-action film if it weren’t for Academy Award-winner Chris Sanders. Who – some 40 years ago – had a very different idea in mind for this project. Not an animated film or a live-action movie, for that matter. But – rather – a children’s picture book.

Sanders revealed the true origins of Lilo & Stitch in his self-published book, From Pitch to Stitch: The Origins of Disney’s Most Unusual Classic.

From Picture Book to Pitch Meeting

Chris – after he graduated from CalArts back in 1984 (this was three years before he began working for Disney) – landed a job at Marvel Comics. Which – because Marvel Animation was producing the Muppet Babies TV show – led to an opportunity to design characters for that animated series.

About a year into this gig (we’re now talking 1985), Sanders – in his time away from work – began noodling on a side project. As Chris recalled in From Pitch to Stitch:

“Early in my animation career, I tried writing a picture book that centered around a weird little creature that lived a solitary life in the forest. He was a monster, unsure of where he had come from, or where he belonged. I generated a concept drawing, wrote some pages and started making a sculpted version of him. But I soon abandoned it as the idea seemed too large and vague to fit in thirty pages or so.”

We now jump ahead 12 years or so. Sanders has quickly moved up through the ranks at Walt Disney Animation Studios. So much so that – by 1997 – Chris is now the Head of Story on Disney’s Mulan.

A Monster in the Forest Becomes Stitch on Earth

With Mulan deep in production, Sanders was looking for his next project when an opportunity came his way.

“I had dinner with Tom Schumacher, who was president of Feature Animation at the time. He asked if there was anything I might be interested in directing. After a little reflection, I realized that there was something: That old idea from a decade prior.”

When Sanders told Schumacher about the monster who lived alone in the forest…

“Tom offered the crucial observation that – because the animal world is already alien to us – I should consider relocating the creature to the human world.”

With that in mind, Chris dusted off the story and went to work.

Over the next three months, Sanders created a pitch book for the proposed animated film. What he came up with was very different from the version of Lilo & Stitch that eventually hit theaters in 2002.

The Most Dangerous Creature in the Known Universe

The pitch – first shared with Walt Disney Feature Animation staffers on January 9, 1998 – was titled: Lilo & Stitch: A love story of a girl and what she thinks is a dog.

This early version of Stitch was… not cute. Not cuddly. He was mean, selfish, self-centered – a career criminal. When the story opens, Stitch is in a security pod at an intergalactic trial, found guilty of 12,000 counts of hooliganism and attempted planetary enslavement.

Instead of being created by Jumba, Stitch leads a gang of marauders. His second-in-command? Ramthar, a giant, red shark-like brute.

When Stitch refuses to reveal the gang’s location, he’s sentenced to life on a maximum-security asteroid. But en route, his gang attacks the prison convoy. In the chaos, Stitch escapes in a hijacked pod and crash-lands on Earth.

Earth in Danger, Jumba on the Hunt

Terrified of what Stitch could do to our technologically inferior planet, the Grand Council Woman sends bounty hunter Jumba – along with a rule-abiding Cultural Contamination Control agent named Pleakley – to retrieve (or eliminate) Stitch.

Their mission must be secret, follow Earth laws, and – most importantly – ensure no harm comes to any humans.

Naturally, Stitch ignores all that.

After his crash, Stitch claws out of the wreckage, sees the lights of a nearby town, and screams, “I will destroy you all!” That plan is immediately derailed when he’s run over by a convoy of sugar cane trucks.

Waking up in the local humane society, Stitch sees a news report confirming the Federation is already hot on his trail. He needs to blend in. Fast.

Enter Lilo

Lilo is a lonely little girl, mourning her parents, looking for a pet. Stitch plays the role of a “cute little doggie” because it’s a means to an end. At this point, Lilo is just someone to use while he builds a communications device.

Using parts from her toys and a stolen police radio, Stitch contacts his old gang. But Ramthar, now the leader, isn’t thrilled. Still, Stitch sends a signal.

Then he builds an army.

Stitch Goes Full Skynet

Stitch constructs a small robot, sends it to the junkyard to build bigger robots. Soon, he has an army. When Ramthar and crew arrive, Stitch’s robots surround them. Ramthar is furious, but Stitch regains command.

Next, Stitch sets his robotic horde on a nearby town. Everything goes smoothly until a robot targets the hula studio where Lilo is dancing. As it lifts her in its claw, Stitch has a change of heart. He saves her.

From here, the plot begins to resemble the Lilo & Stitch we know today. Sort of.

The Ending That Never Was

In Sanders’ original version, it’s not Captain Gantu who kidnaps Lilo, but Ramthar. And when the Grand Council Woman comes to collect Stitch, Lilo produces a receipt from the humane society.

“I paid a $4 processing fee to adopt him. If you take Stitch, you’re stealing.”

The Grand Council Woman crumples the receipt and says, “I didn’t see it.”

Nani chimes in: “Well, I saw it.”

Then Jumba. Then one of Stitch’s old crew. Then a hula girl. And finally, Pleakley pulls out his CCC badge and says:

“Well, I am Pleakley Grathor, Cultural Contamination Control Agent No. 444. And I saw it.”

Pleakley saves Stitch.

How Roy E. Disney Made Stitch Cuddly

Ultimately, this version of Lilo & Stitch was streamlined. Roy E. Disney believed Stitch shouldn’t be nasty. Just naughty. And not by choice – he was designed that way.

Which is how Stitch became Experiment 626. A misunderstood creation of Jumba the mad scientist, not a hardened criminal with a vendetta.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Ricardo Montalbán’s Lost Role

Here’s a detail that even hardcore Lilo & Stitch fans may not know: Ricardo Montalbán—best known as Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island and Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan—was originally cast as the voice of Ramthar, Stitch’s second-in-command in this early version of the film. He had already recorded a significant amount of dialogue before the story was reworked following Roy E. Disney’s guidance. When Stitch evolved from a ruthless galactic outlaw to a misunderstood genetic experiment, Montalbán’s character (and much of the original gang concept) was written out entirely.

Which is kind of wild when you think about it. Wrath of Khan is widely considered the gold standard of Star Trek films. So yes, for a time, Khan himself was supposed to be part of Disney’s weirdest sci-fi comedy.

Stitch’s Legacy (and Why It Still Resonates)

Looking back at Stitch’s original story, it’s wild to think how close we came to getting a very different kind of movie. One where our favorite blue alien was less “ohana means family” and more “I’ll destroy you all.” But that transformation—from outlaw to outcast to ohana—is exactly what makes Lilo & Stitch so special.

So as the live-action version prepares to hit theaters, keep in mind that behind all the cuddly merch and tiki mugs lies one of Disney’s strangest, boldest, and most hard-won reinventions. One that started with a forest monster and became a beloved franchise about found family.

June 26th is officially Stitch Day—so mark your calendar. It’s a good excuse to celebrate just how far this little blue alien has come.

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How “An American Tail” Led to Disney’s “Hocus Pocus”

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Over the last week, I’ve been delving into Witches Run Amok, Shannon Carlin’s oral history of the making of Disney’s Hocus Pocus. This book reveals some fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about the 1993 film that initially bombed at the box office but has since become a cult favorite, even spawning a sequel in 2022 that went on to become the most-watched release in Disney+ history.

But what really caught my eye in this 284-page hardcover wasn’t just the tales of Hocus Pocus’s unlikely rise to fame. Rather, it was the unexpected connections between Hocus Pocus and another beloved film—An American Tail. As it turns out, the two films share a curious origin story, one that begins in the mid-1980s, during the early days of the creative rebirth of Walt Disney Studios under Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The Birth of An American Tail

Let’s rewind to late 1984/early 1985, a period when Eisner, Wells, and Katzenberg were just getting settled at Disney and were on the hunt for fresh projects that would signal a new era at the studio. During this time, Katzenberg—tasked with revitalizing Disney Feature Animation—began meeting with talent across Hollywood, hoping to find a project that could breathe life into the struggling division.

One such meeting was with a 29-year-old writer and illustrator named David Kirschner. At the time, Kirschner’s biggest credit was illustrating children’s books featuring Muppets and Sesame Street characters, but he had an idea for a new project: a TV special about a mouse emigrating to America, culminating in the mouse’s arrival in New York Harbor on the same day as the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.

David Kirschner
David Kirschner (IMDb)

Katzenberg saw the patriotic appeal of the concept but ultimately passed on it, as he was focused on finding full-length feature projects for Disney’s animation department. Kirschner, undeterred, took his pitch elsewhere—to none other than Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg’s production partner. Kennedy was intrigued and invited Kirschner to Spielberg’s annual Fourth of July party to pitch the idea directly to the famed director.

Spielberg immediately saw the potential in Kirschner’s idea, but instead of a TV special, he envisioned a full-length animated feature film. This project would eventually become An American Tail, a tribute of sorts to Spielberg’s own grandfather, Philip Posner, who emigrated from Russia to the United States in the late 19th century. The film’s lead character, Fievel, was even named after Spielberg’s grandfather, whose Yiddish name was also Fievel.

Disney’s Loss Becomes Universal’s Gain

An American Tail went on to become a major success for Universal Pictures, which hadn’t been involved in an animated feature since the release of Pinocchio in Outer Space in 1965. Meanwhile, over at Disney, Eisner and Wells weren’t exactly thrilled that Katzenberg had let such a promising project slip through his fingers.

Not wanting to miss out on any future opportunities with Kirschner, Katzenberg quickly scheduled another meeting with him to discuss any other ideas he might have. And as fate would have it, Kirschner had just written a short story for Muppet Magazine called Halloween House, about a boy who is magically transformed into a cat by a trio of witches.

The Pitch That Sealed the Deal

Knowing Katzenberg could be a tough sell, Kirschner went all out to impress during his pitch. He requested access to the Disney lot 30 minutes early to set the stage for his presentation. When Katzenberg and the Disney development team walked into the conference room, they were greeted by a table covered in candy corn, a cauldron of dry ice fog, and a broom, mop, and vacuum cleaner suspended from the ceiling as if they were flying—evoking the magical world of Halloween House.

Katzenberg was reportedly unimpressed by the theatrical setup, muttering, “Oy, show-and-tell time” as he took his seat. But Kirschner knew exactly how to grab his attention. He started his pitch with the fact that Halloween was a billion-dollar business—a figure that made Katzenberg sit up and take notice. He listened attentively to Kirschner’s pitch, and by the time the meeting was over, Katzenberg was convinced. Halloween House would become Hocus Pocus, and Disney had its next big Halloween film.

A Bit of Hollywood Drama

Interestingly, Kirschner’s success with Hocus Pocus didn’t sit well with his old collaborators. About a year after the film’s release, Kirschner ran into Kathleen Kennedy at an Amblin holiday party, and she wasted no time in expressing her disappointment. According to Kirschner, Kennedy said, “You really hurt Steven.” When Kirschner asked how, she explained that Spielberg and Kennedy had given him his big break with An American Tail, but when he came up with the idea for his next film, he brought it to Disney rather than to them.

Hollywood can be a place where loyalty is valued—or, at least, perceived loyalty. At the same time, this was happening just as Katzenberg was leaving Disney and partnering with Spielberg and David Geffen to launch DreamWorks SKG, which only added to the tension. Loyalty, as Kirschner found out, can be an abstract concept in the entertainment industry.

A Halloween Favorite is Born

Despite its rocky start at the box office in 1993, Hocus Pocus has gone on to become a beloved part of Halloween pop culture. And, as Carlin’s book details, its success helped pave the way for more Disney Halloween-themed projects in the years that followed.

As for why Hocus Pocus was released in July of 1993 instead of during Halloween? That’s a story for another time, but it has something to do with another Halloween-themed project Disney was working on that year—Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas—and Katzenberg finding himself in the awkward position of having to choose between keeping Bette Midler or Tim Burton happy.

For more behind-the-scenes stories about Hocus Pocus and other Disney films, be sure to check out Witches Run Amok by Shannon Carlin. It’s a fascinating read for any Disney fan!

And if you love hearing these kinds of behind-the-scenes stories about animation and film history, be sure to check out Fine Tooning with Drew Taylor, where Drew and I dive deep into all things movies, animation, and the creative decisions that shape the films we love. You can find us on your favorite podcast platforms or right here on JimHillMedia.com.

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Film & Movies

How Disney’s “Bambi” led to the creation of Smokey Bear

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When people talk about Disney’s “Bambi,” the scene that they typically cite as being the one from this 1942 film which then scarred them for life is – of course – the moment in this movie where Bambi’s mother gets shot by hunters.

Which is kind of ironic. Given that – if you watch this animated feature today – you’ll see that a lot of this ruined-my-childhood scene actually happens off-camera. I mean, you hear the rifle shot that takes down Bambi’s Mom. But you don’t actually see that Mama Deer get clipped.

Now for the scariest part of that movie that you actually see on-camera … Hands down, that has to be the forest fire sequence in “Bambi.” As the grown-up Bambi & his bride, Faline, desperately race through those woods, trying to find a path to safety as literally everything around them is ablaze … That sequence is literally nightmare fuel.

Source: Economist.com

Mind you, the artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios had lots of inspiration for the forest fire sequence in “Bambi.” You see, in a typical year, the United States experiences – due to either natural phenomenon like lightning strikes or human carelessness – 100 forest fires. Whereas in 1940 (i.e., the year that Disney Studios began working in earnest of a movie version of Felix Salten’s best-selling movie), America found itself battling a record 360 forest fires.

Which greatly concerned the U.S. Forest Service. But not for the reason you might think.

Protecting the Forest for World War II

I mean, yes. Sure. Officials over in the Agricultural Department (That’s the arm of the U.S. government that manages the Forest Service) were obviously concerned about the impact that this record number of forest fires in 1940 had had on citizens. Not to mention all of the wildlife habitat that was now lost.

But to be honest, what really concerned government officials was those hundreds of thousands of acres of raw timber that had been consumed by these blazes. You see, by 1940, the world was on the cusp of the next world war. A conflict that the U.S. would inevitably  be pulled into. And all that now-lost timber? It could have been used to fuel the U.S. war machine.

So with this in mind (and U.S. government officials now seeing an urgent need to preserve & protect this precious resource) … Which is why – in 1942 (just a few months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor) – the U.S. Forest Service rolls out its first-ever forest fire prevention program.

Which – given that this was the early days of World War II – the slogan that the U.S. Forest Service initially chose for its forest fire prevention program is very in that era’s we’re-all-in-this-together / so-let’s-do-what-we-can-to-help-America’s war-effort esthetic – made a direct appeal to all those folks who were taking part in scrap metal drives: “Forest Defense is National Defense.”

Source: Northwestern

And the poster that the U.S. Forest Service had created to support this campaign? … Well, it was well-meaning as well.  It was done in the WPA style and showed men out in the forest, wielding shovels to ditch a ditch. They were trying to construct a fire break, which would then supposedly slow the forest fire that was directly behind them.

But the downside was … That “Forest Defense is National Defense” slogan – along with that poster which the U.S. Forest Service had created to support their new forest fire prevention program didn’t exactly capture America’s attention.

I mean, it was the War Years after all. A lot was going in the country at that time. But long story short: the U.S. Forest Service’s first attempt at launching a successful forest fire prevention program sank without a trace.

So what do you do in a situation like this? You regroup. You try something different.

Disney & Bambi to the Rescue

And within the U.S. government, the thinking now was “Well, what if we got a celebrity to serve as the spokesman for our new forest fire prevention program? Maybe that would then grab the public’s attention.”

The only problem was … Well, again, these are the War Years. And a lot of that era’s A-listers (people like Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, even Mel Brooks) had already enlisted. So there weren’t really a lot of big-name celebrities to choose from.

But then some enterprising official at the U.S. Forest Service came up with an interesting idea. He supposedly said “Hey, have you seen that new Disney movie? You know, the one with the deer? That movie has a forest fire in it. Maybe we should go talk with Walt Disney? Maybe he has some ideas about how we can better capture the public’s attention when it comes to our new forest fire prevention program?”

And it turns Walt did have an idea. Which was to use this government initiative as a way to cross-promote Disney Studio’s latest full-length animated feature, “Bambi.” Which been first released to theaters in August of 1942.

So Walt had artists at Disney Studio work up a poster that featured the grown-up versions of Bambi the Deer, Thumper the Rabbit & Flower the Skunk. As this trio stood in some tall grasses, they looked imploring out at whoever was standing in front of this poster. Above them was a piece of text that read “Please Mister, Don’t Be Careless.” And below these three cartoon characters was an additional line that read “Prevent Forest Fires. Greater Danger Than Ever!”

Source: USDA

According to folks I’ve spoken with at Disney’s Corporate Archives, this “Bambi” -based promotional campaign for the U.S. Forest Service’s forest fire prevention campaign was a huge success. So much so that – as 1943 drew to a close – this division of the Department of Agriculture reportedly reached out to Walt to see if he’d be willing to let the U.S. Forest Service continue to use these cartoon characters to help raise the public’s awareness of fire safety.

Walt – for reasons known only to Mr. Disney – declined. Some have suggested that — because “Bambi” had actually lost money during its initial theatrical release in North America – that Walt was now looking to put that project behind him. And if there were posters plastered all over the place that then used the “Bambi” characters that then promoted the U.S.’s forest fire prevention efforts … Well, it would then be far harder for Mr. Disney to put this particular animated feature in the rear view mirror.

Introducing Smokey Bear

Long story short: Walt said “No” when it came to reusing the “Bambi” characters to promote the U.S. Forest Service’s forest fire prevention program. But given how successful the previous cartoon-based promotional campaign had been … Well, some enterprising employee at the Department of Agriculture reportedly said “Why don’t we come up with a cartoon character of our own?”

So – for the Summer of 1944 – the U.S. Forest Service (with the help of the Ad Council and the National Association of State Foresters) came up with a character to help promote the prevention of forest fires. And his name is Smokey Bear.

Now a lot of thought had gone into Smokey’s creation. Right from the get-go, it was decided that he would be an American black bear (NOT a brown bear or a grizzly). To make this character seem approachable, Smokey was outfitted with a ranger’s hat. He also wore a pair of blue jeans & carried a bucket.

As for his debut poster, Smokey was depicted as pouring water over a still-smoldering campfire. And below this cartoon character was printed Smokey’s initial catchphrase. Which was “Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!”

Source: NPR

Which makes me think that this slogan was written by the very advertising executive who wrote “Four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.”

Anyway … By the Summer of 1947, Smokey got a brand-new slogan. The one that he uses even today. Which is “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”

The Real Smokey Bear

Now where this gets interesting is – in the Summer of 1950 – there was a terrible forest fire up in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. And over the course of this blaze, a bear cub climbed high up into a tree to try & escape those flames.

Firefighters were finally able to rescue that cub. But he was so badly injured in that fire that he was shipped off to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and nursed back to health. And since this bear really couldn’t be released back in the wild at this point, he was then put on exhibit.

And what does this bear’s keepers decide to call him? You guessed it: Smokey.

Source: USDA

And due to all the news coverage that this orphaned bear got, he eventually became the living symbol of the U.S. Forest Service’s forest fire prevention program. Which then meant that this particular Smokey Bear got hit with a ton of fan mail. So much so that the National Zoo in Washington D.C. wound up with its own Zip Code.

“Smokey the Bear” Hit Song

And on the heels of a really-for-real Smokey Bear taking up residence in our nation’s capital, Steve Nelson & Jack Rollins decide to write a song that shined a spotlight on this fire-fightin’ bruin. Here’s the opening stanza:

With a ranger’s hat and shovel and a pair of dungarees,
You will find him in the forest always sniffin’ at the breeze,
People stop and pay attention when he tells them to beware
Because everybody knows that he’s the fire-preventin’ bear

Believe or not, even with lyrics like these, “Smokey the Bear” briefly topped the Country charts in the Summer of 1950. Thanks to a version of this song that was recorded by Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy.

By the way, it was this song that started all of the confusion in regards to Smokey Bear’s now. You see, Nelson & Rollins – because they need the lyrics of their song to scan properly – opted to call this fire-fightin’-bruin Smokey THE Bear. Rather than Smokey Bear. Which has been this cartoon character’s official name since the U.S. Forest Service first introduced him back in 1944.

“The Ballad of Smokey the Bear”

Further complicating this issue was “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear,” which was a stop-motion animated special that debuted on NBC in late November of 1966. Produced by Rankin-Bass as a follow-up to their hugely popular “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (which premiered on the Peacock Network in December of 1964) … This hour-long TV show also put a “THE” in the middle of Smokey Bear’s name because the folks at Rankin-Bass thought his name sounded better that way.

And speaking of animation … Disney’s “Bambi” made a brief return to the promotional campaign for the U.S. Forest Service’s forest fire prevention program in the late 1980s. This was because the Company’s home entertainment division had decided to release this full-length animated feature on VHS.

What’s kind of interesting, though, is the language used on the “Bambi” poster is a wee different than the language that’s used on Smokey’s poster. It reads “Protect Our Forest Friends. Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.” NOT “Forest Fires.”

Anyway, that’s how Disney’s “Bambi” led to the creation of Smokey Bear. Thanks for bearin’ with me as I clawed my way through this grizzly tale.

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