December 14 - Babes In Toyland

Image copyright Disney

On this day, in 1961, Walt Disney Productions' first live action musical, Babes In Toyland, was released in theaters. The film is loosely based on a 1903 operetta by Victor Herbert and was originally conceived of as animated. Walt eventually decided he wanted a movie along the standards of Wizard of Oz and Babes became, in the words of one executive, “a Disney cartoon with live people.” To that end, Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow from Oz, was cast except this time as the villain, Barnaby. The cast is filled out by teen heartthrobs Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello, Disney stalwarts Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran and Ed Wynn in the second of his many appearances with the studio.

Image copyright Disney

For the Disney version of Babes, Walt had most of the lyrics from the operetta rewritten and many of the tempos of the songs changed up as well. It may not have been the best choice. Rather than living up to Oz, Babes opened to mainly negative reviews. Generally regarded as juvenile and clunky, even Tommy Kirk refers to it as an oddity at best, although he isn’t embarrassed about it like some of his other work.

While there were several other versions of Babes before this one (including one starring Laurel and Hardy), Disney’s take was the first one to be shot in Technicolor. It’s longest lasting legacy isn’t its music or any of its performances. It’s the fact that the toy soldiers from the film can still be seen every year in the various holiday parades at Disney parks around the world.