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Song of the South: Walt Disney
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Bobby Driscoll, who played Johnny in Song Of The South, was born on March 3, 1937 in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Thanks largely to the efforts of his mother, Driscoll made his film debut in Lost Angel 1944, Roy Rowland). After appearances in movies including The Sullivans (1944, Lloyd Bacon), Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944, Lloyd Bacon), The Big Bonanza (1944, George Archainbaud), Identity Unknown (1945) and Miss Susie Slagle’s (1946, John Berry), Driscoll became the first contract player signed by Walt Disney.
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Song of the South has always been something of a blemish on the Disney name, due to its racist undertones. However, it can't be denied that the film is a piece of film history. It's got a reputation not unlike The Birth of a Nation, the 1915 film school staple that is widely hailed as one of the most important films of all time on one hand...but could be taken as a recruiting film for the Ku Klux Klan on the other. Song has taken a lot of flack over the years, due to its portrayal of Southern plantation blacks. The film has never been released on video in the United States, and this is from a company that releases, and re-releases, and re-re-releases everything. That may soon change, though.
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Orlando, Fla. | Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film Song of the South was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs - the Oscar-winning Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah. It ... carries the story line of the Splash Mountain rides at its theme parks.
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Previously, the only footage of Song of the South available on a Disney DVD was on the Disney Treasures: Disneyland USA DVD released back in December 2001. It contains the animated "Laughing Place" sequence in black-and-white, just as it was originally broadcast on ABC's "Disneyland" TV show back in the 1950's.
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The fact that Song of the South fans have Roy E. Disney in their corner means a lot. Disney is the son of Roy Oliver Disney, who founded the company alongside his better-known brother, Walt Disney. Roy E. Disney, as a long-time member of the company's board of directors, still wields a great deal of influence, even though he is now a non-voting Director Emeritus.
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Walt Disney should be praised for having made Song of the South, for helping to break down the color barriers. I truly do not understand why many people of color revile those who took the hard knocks before them in the entertainment industry, such as Hattie McDaniel (who famously said “I’d rather play a maid than be one”), James Baskett, Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams (who took over the characters of Amos n’ Andy when the series moved to television), and especially Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Perry -- and how is he any less of a stereotype than Snoop Dogg?). Without their efforts, there would be no Sidney Portier, Angela Bassett, Bill Cosby, or Denzel Washington.
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