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Why For was Michael Clarke Duncan’s Grizz character cut out of Disney’s “Brother Bear” ?

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Danielle F. wrote in yesterday to say:

I really enjoyed today’s story about Luigi’s Flying Tires
and like the idea of you turning Why For into a daily feature at your site. I
just hope you get sent  enough questions
to actually make this happen.

And speaking of questions: I was sorry to hear that Michael
Clarke Duncan died today
. I don’t suppose that you have any Disney-related
stories that you can tell about him?


Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in “The Green Mile.” Copyright 1999 Warner
Bros. / Castle Rock Entertainment. All rights reserved

First off, I just wanted to say — to the friends &
extended family of this Oscar-nominated performer — that the staff &
readers of JHM are genuinely sorry for your loss. Michael was literally &
figuratively a huge talent. And to lose someone like this at just 54 years of
age is … Well, tragic.

But that said … Yeah, I do have a Disney-related story or
two to share about Mr. Duncan. And these have to do with Walt Disney Animation
Studio
‘s 2003 release, “Brother Bear.”

If I’m remembering correctly, it was back in 1997 when I
first heard that Michael Eisner had suggested to the powers-that-be at
WDAS that they put a movie about bears in development. To be specific, Michael
wanted the animators there to use Shakespeare’s Macbeth as their inspiration
for a film which should be set in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.


(L to R) Director Bob Walker, Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas [The ‘SCTV” vets who
voiced moose brothers Rutt & Tuke in “Brother Bear”], producer Chuck Williams
and director Aaron Blaise. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Which — I know — at first glance, seems kind of like a
nutty idea But you gotta remember that “The Lion King” had been a
huge hit for the Company back in 1994. And given that that animated feature —
over the course of its very troubled production — had kind of backed into
“borrowing” the story structure of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (i.e. The
brother of the King first engineers his demise and then assumes the throne. And
it’s up to the King’s hesitant son to set things right / restore the kingdom)
… Well, given that WDAS was hoping that history would repeat itself with its
next animal-based, full-length animated feature, “borrowing” from the
Bard when it came to possible story ideas for “Bears” (FYI: That was
the original title of this movie. Just plain “Bears”) only made
sense.

So Aaron Blaise was tapped to be this project’s first
director. And over time, Aaron was joined by Bob  Walker (who eventually became Blaise’s
co-director on “Bears”) and Chuck Williams (who WDAS vet Pam Coats
had recruited to become this film’s producer).

And for the next three years or so, whenever Nancy and I
visited with friends who worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation – Florida, as the
two of us walked through that studio, we’d see these amazing pieces of “Bears”
concept art (many of which drew their inspiration from Albert Bierstadt’s
landscape paintings of the American West). But then when we’d go out to lunch
with friends who worked at WDFAF and ask them how work was going on “Bears,”
we’d hear these painful & protracted tales about how Blaise, Walker and
Williams were still struggling. How Aaron, Bob and Chuck had come up with these
memorable characters and a colorful, evocative setting for their film. But what
this trio hadn’t yet found was a story.


Paul Felix’s concept art for “Brother Bear” ‘s northern lights / transformation sequence.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Which sounds kind of weird, I know. But as Don Hahn (i.e. the
producer of “Beauty and the Beast
,” “The Lion King” and Tim
Burton’s soon-to-be-released stop-motion animated feature,
“Frankenweenie”) is fond of saying: “Sometimes you have to be right
in the middle of making a brand-new animated film before you then discover what
your story is actually about.”

But starting in 2000 or thereabouts, I began hearing that
“Brother Bear” had finally found its footing, That — thanks to
Michael Clarke Duncan (who had just come on board this project as the voice of
Grizz, this older male Grizzly that Kenai reluctantly befriends after he
undergoes his man-to-bear transformation) — this animated feature now had a
solid emotional center. That Duncan’s deep booming voice, his natural warmth
and good humor had made Grizz this character that audiences could immediately
relate to. And that — thanks to Grizz’s Falstaff-like physique and joie de
vivre (not to mention  Michael’s terrific
vocal performance) — “Brother Bear” was going great guns now. That
WDAS seemed to have  another
sure-to-be-“Lion-King”-sized hit on its hands.

But then a year or so later, I began to hear that
“Brother Bear” was being radically retooled. Again. More importantly,
that Grizz was now out as Kenai’s mentor & companion. And that — in the
latest version of the storyline for this Walt Disney Feature Animation –
Feature production — it was Kenai who was now going to be the reluctant mentor
/ father figure for Koda,  this brand-new
character that the filmmakers had just come up with. Koda was this precocious,
motor-mouthed bear cub who was going to be voiced by Jeremy Suarez from
The Bernie Mac Show.”


A storyboard for a scene from “Brother Bear” where Grizz was supposed to have
interacted with Rutt &Tuke. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

“So what happened here?,” you ask. “If Grizz
was such a great character and everyone had been so in love with Michael Clarke
Duncan’s vocal performance, why then was Grizz cut out of ‘Brother Bear’ only
to then be replaced by cute little Koda?” To be blunt, Blaise, Walker and
Williams learned a hard lesson very late in the game during the production of
this animated feature. Which was that they had accidentally built their movie  around the wrong character. That — when you
got right down to it — “Brother Bear” was about Kenai’s
transformation both inside & out. How this troubled teen finally grew up, learned
to be a better man by becoming a bear. And as long as Grizz was still in this
picture, with that oversized character serving as Kenai’s mentor (rather than
having Kenai learning about kindness, compassion & responsibility by
becoming Koda’s reluctant father figure), “Brother Bear” just wasn’t
going to work. At least as a truly satisfying piece of cinematic storytelling.

So Aaron, Bob and Chuck now had to call Michael and let him
know that he was no longer the big bear that this new Walt Disney Animation
Studios production was built around. Mind you, Duncan wasn’t completely out of
the picture. Blaise, Walker & Williams had so enjoyed Duncan’s vocal
performance as Grizz that they immediately found him a brand-new character to
voice in their film: Tug, the oversized Grizzly who’s the defacto leader of all
the bears at the salmon run.

And the way I hear it, Michael was very gracious to Aaron,
Bob and Chuck when he heard that the character of Grizz had been cut out of
“Brother Bear.” Even though this former body guard had only been in
show business for six years or so at that point, Duncan was enough of an
entertainment industry vet by then to know that these things happen. More
importantly, that it wasn’t personal. That WDAS was making these changes not
because they hadn’t liked his vocal performance. But — rather — because the Disney
Studio was just trying to make a movie that (they hoped) would eventually
connect with a very broad audience.


Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

And Michael clearly enjoyed doing voice work for animation.
Given that — on the heels of his “Brother Bear” experience — Duncan
would then go on to voice characters for feature-length theatrical releases
like “Dogs & Cats” & “Kung Fu Panda
” as well as
home premieres like “George of the Jungle 2” and “Air
Buddies
.” Not to mention animated series for television like “Spider-Man,”
“The Proud Family,” “King of the Hill,” “Family
Guy
,” “Static Shock,” “Teen Titans” and “Green
Lantern.”

So while it’s sad to think that Duncan’s basso-profundo voice
has now been silenced … At least we still have Michael’s previous work . The
obvious enjoyment that he got from performing, the real skill & craft that
Michael would draw from whenever he stepped in front of a camera or a
microphone.

And just so you know: Duncan isn’t the only performer who
found themselves — after months & months of standing in a recording booth,
voicing a character for a new Disney animated feature — who suddenly find
themselves out of the picture entirely and/or cast in a new role after that project’s
storyline had suddenly been retooled. Just ask Reese Witherspoon about all of the
voice work that she did on the character which was originally supposed to be
the lead in Disney’s “Rapunzel.” Likewise Holly Hunter about the
months she spent behind a mike, voicing the title character for Disney’s
Chicken Little.”


The title treatment & concept art for Disney’s
“Chicken Little” from back when this film’s
title character was supposed to have been
a girl. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved

When I recently asked Penn Jillette about this (He was the
voice of Wolf-in-Sheep’s-Clothing, the original villain for Disney’s
“Chicken Little.” This character wound up being cut out of that animated
feature entirely when WDFA dropped this picture’s original sleepaway-camp-based
plot  and opted to go with an aliens-fron-outer-space-invading
storyline instead), he was fairly philosophical about the whole matter:

“Look, I had a lot of fun working on that project. But
Disney’s been doing this for a long time. So you have to trust their judgment
when they say ‘This isn’t working. We’re going to take things in a different
direction and your character’s no longer part of the story that we’re trying to
tell here. So sorry about that. Bye.’ It’s nothing
personal. They liked my work and I liked working with them. It’s just show biz.
These things happen sometime.”

But even so … Well, I keep hoping that — what with all of
these loaded-with-extra-features Blu-rays that Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment has been releasing lately (Take — for example — that “Pocahontas”
Two-Movie Special Edition

that hit store shelves back on August 21st. This
Blu-ray actually includes a Special Feature where animation master Eric
Goldberg
walks you through a lot of the storyboards & concept art that was
originally created for Disney’s aborted animated version of
“Hiawatha” from the late 1940s / early 1950s) — that the Studio will
eventually open up its vault and actually let us see what a “Chicken
Little” that was to have been built around Holly Hunter’s vocal
performance would have looked like. Likewise Reese Witherspoon’s take on
“Rapunzel.” And — of course — give us a glimpse of what Michael
Clarke Duncan’s performance as Grizz in “Brother Bear” (which — back
around 2000 — I heard was as much fun as watching Phil Harris‘ work as Baloo
in Disney’s “The Jungle Book” was) would have been like.


Concept art for Grizz, the character that the late Michael Clarke Duncan
was originally supposed to have voiced in Disney’s “Brother Bear.”
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

EDITOR’S NOTE: So far, we’ve been getting a very nice response to this week’s experiment of running Why For as a daily, rather than a weekly feature. If you’d like to see your Disney, animation or theme park-related questions answered on this website, please send them along to whyfor@jimhillmedia.com.

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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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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