Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Fantasyland Theater, November 1969


Happy Windsday! Hey, what's going on over at the old Fantasyland Theater? Well, they are showing the Academy Award winning "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day", that's what. The theater is air conditioned, let's get out of the hot sun and relax for 30 minutes.

"Blustery Day" was the follow-up to the hugely popular "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree", released in 1966. This was the film that introduced Tigger, whose voice was wonderfully performed by Paul Winchell. We also first learn about Hefalumps and Woozles, and discover that Piglet can be a hero in his own way too. One of my favorite things about these films is the use of the books themselves, the way the pages turned, or the way the text on the page washes away in the rain.

Nowadays the park is full of Pooh -- nearly eclipsing Mickey Mouse in popularity -- and it can be easy to forget just how wonderful the original Pooh films were, warm and charming. As a kid, I was always incredibly happy when these were aired on The Wonderful World of Disney. That's how I choose to think of Pooh, no matter what the company does to him these days (and it ain't pretty)!

For merlinsguy, here is a scan of the Matterhorn slide from a couple of days ago, without any Photoshop adjustments.

I would also like to thank all of the folks who have taken the time to leave comments over the last six months or so. There are the frequent contributors (matterhorn1959, daveland, perkypickle, amazon belle, disneydutchman, tangaroa, tinker bell, etc.), and those who show up now and then, but they are all appreciated...it makes the whole blogging experience more fun.

9 comments:

Matterhorn1959 said...

Great post Major. I am a big Winnie the Pooh fan and buy the older Disney and pre-Disney items when I find them. The new Winnie is too Disneyized and not as charming as the silly old bear was.

Merlinsguy said...

Wow, thanks for the pre-photoshop experience. You are some kind of genius. Meanwhile, I'm trying to remember the first cartoon at the Fantasyland theater. It involved Goofy showing the "right way to get on a horse...is left."

Major Pepperidge said...

Isn't there a Goofy cartoon called, "How to Ride a Horse"? And did they show that before the Mickey Mouse Club 3-D Jamboree?

thepicklebarrel said...

nice pic...old fantasyland is always fun to visit...

thanks to you too, major!

the blogging is fun if not a little bit of demanding, hungry child...i'm sure you can relate!

FoxxFur said...

The short you're thinking of is something to the effect of "How to Ride a Horse". It's part of the compliation feature film, "The Reluctant Dragon". The other Goofy short to appear only in a longer feature film is "Guacho Goofy" in "Saludos Amigos", which is excellent.

Chris Merritt said...

The blogging is my unending nightmare - every Friday I start going, "Now what am I going to say next week???"

Thanks for the thanks & for all your nice comments as well.

Stunning shot today!

Adam Hazlett said...

All of you guys have great blogs that I look forward to experiencing daily. Thank you for the great and informative posts!
Keep up the great work......PLEASE!

Merlinsguy said...

Thanks for the info, all. There was another longer cartoon that showed there about how language has rhythm. "The bird and the cricket and willow tree," was the title. Only with caps.

Major Pepperidge said...

merlinsguy, the cartoon you are referring to is called "Melody", part of the "Adventures in Music" series ("Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom" was the other part). It is available on a couple of DVDs, including the "Disney Rarities" discs. It's one of my favorites, directed by Ward Kimball. Oh, and it was originally shown in glorious 3-D!