August 4 - Don DaGradi

Image courtesy pinterest.com

On this day, in 1991, Don DaGradi passed away in Friday Harbor, Washington. Born on March 1, 1911, on the East Coast in New York City, Don actually spent most of his childhood growing up on the West Coast in San Francisco, California. After graduating from high school, he took his artistic talents south to Los Angeles and the Chouinard Art Institute. He honed his skills for a few years before joining the Walt Disney Studio in the mid-Thirties, at the height of the Great Depression, as a background painter. He was quickly bumped up to the Story Department, where he contributed gags and minor plot points to many of the studio’s shorts produced at the time.

Image copyright Disney

As the studio grew, Don's responsibilities grew as well. By 1940, he was the production designer on Dumbo. Throughout World War II, he was put in charge of layouts for in the Shorts Department (really the only thing the studio was producing in those lean years). His work can be seen in classic films including Der Fuehrer’s Face and Victory Through Air Power. Following the war, Don added features to his plate as the layout artist for The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music and Fun and Fancy Free.  At the end of the Forties, he started designing the color schemes and the overall feel of features. He sharpened the look of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

Image copyright Disney

As successful as all of Don’s endeavors were up to this point, he didn’t really start hitting his stride until he became a senior member of the story department in the mid-Fifties. He has a full story credit on Lady and the Tramp and contributed additional story elements to Sleeping Beauty (as well as being part of that production’s design team). Then, in 1959, he made the leap into live action movies and blossomed like never before.

Don’s Legendary co-workers, the Sherman Brothers, once said that he wrote scripts with a sketch pad and pencil, meaning that Don’s pictures were worth more than a thousand words. He could draw a quick picture of what a scene looked like in his head and everyone else could see it too. Pages of words could flow from each drawing, most of the time with very little effort. Don’s first effort in the live action arena was at Walt’s personal request. He designed and wrote the underground cavern scenes in Darby O’Gill and the Little People. He followed that up by developing sequences in The Absent-Minded Professor, Pollyanna, Kidnapped and The Parent Trap. For the sequel to Professor, Son of Flubber, Don teamed up with the Legendary Bill Walsh, completely writing that film’s script between the two of them. It was a professional match made in heaven that would last until Don’s retirement nearly a decade later.

Image copyright Disney

After Flubber, Don and Bill created the script for what is arguably the Walt Disney Studio’s magnum opus, as far as live action films go. Mary Poppins turned out to be as whimsically delightful as it is because of the two men wrote it. Don is credited with creating the visions of everything from people popping out of chimneys and flying through the air to how a tea party on the ceiling might look. His sense of wonder paid off. Audiences have adored the film since its debut and it was honored with five Academy Awards. Don and Bill’s script had also been nominated for an Oscar but lost out to Beckett.

Image courtesy davelandblog.blogspot.com

The overwhelming success of Mary Poppins basically gave Don and Bill carte blanche as screenwriters. While they would never reach those same heights again, they add several more classic Disney films to their resumes. Over the next seven years, the duo wrote Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Blackbeard’s Ghost, The Love Bug, Scandalous John and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

During his career, Don was also tapped to occasionally do some moonlighting over in Imagineering. He designed costumes for Disneyland cast members including the outfits the resident marching band wore. He also designed the look of the exteriors of attractions, like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, keeping them in line with the looks he helped create for the animated features they were based on. And then, in 1970, after 34 years of making magic on and off the silver screen, the man who often described himself as a misplaced cartoonist retired from Disney.

Image courtesy flckr.com

Don and his wife of many years, Betty, moved north to the state of Washington, enjoying their post-work life away from the hubbub of Hollywood for the next two decades. When Don passed away in August 1991, it was just a few months before his old company would honor him, and his writing partner Bill, as official Disney Legends. He might have been 80 years old at his death, but in his heart he still saw magic everywhere he looked.

October 7 - Bedknobs and Broomsticks

On this day, in 1971, Bedknobs and Broomsticks made its world debut in London, England. Based on two books by British author Mary Norton, some have called Bedknobs little more than Mary Poppins' less talented cousin. In my opinion, that is a totally unfair assessment. As far as the talented part goes. Otherwise it absolutely is Mary's cousin.

The similarities between the two films run deep. In fact, Bedknobs had started production a decade earlier when Walt was having trouble getting the rights to Poppins. Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi co-wrote both scripts. David Tomlinson appears in both. Both movies utilize a mix of animation and live-action. The Sherman Brothers wrote songs for both. And a certain lead actress was wanted for both.

After Poppins, and Walt's death, the Bedknobs project kept getting put on the production schedule, it was a project Walt himself had started after all, and then getting taken back off the production schedule, mainly because executives felt it was too similar to the earlier film. Bill Walsh kept developing it anyways and, when he finally got the green light in 1969, offered the role of Eglantine Price to Julie Andrews. Julie hesitated. By the time she called Bill back about it, he'd already moved on, offered the role to Angela Lansbury and she'd accepted. Ron Moody, who would appear in other Disney productions, was originally to play Professor Emelius Browne, but he decided that the only way he would do the picture was if he got top billing. The studio said no and replaced him with David Tomlinson.

Filming was mostly done on sound stages at the Disney Studio in Burbank, although some scenes were shot in Dorset, England in Corfe Castle. Those beach scenes with the Nazis were actually done in Southern California. Principal filming only took 57 days. The animated parts took five months and the special effects took another five months. The initial length of the finished film was 141 minutes. Because its US debut was going to be at Radio City Music Hall, the film needed to be less than two hours long. Over twenty minutes were cut to satisfy that requirement, including 3 entire songs. My guess is that was not helpful to the film's critical reception.

Upon its release, Bedknobs and Broomsticks got mixed reviews. Critics loved the technical aspects of the film but felt it took too long to get to the end. Audiences liked the movie and made it the 12th highest grossing film of the year. It also earned 5 Oscar nominations and would win for Special Effects. Bedknobs was re-released in 1979, but for some reason with a an additional twenty minutes cut out, which almost turned it into a non-musical. In 1996, Scott MacQueen, a senior manager of Disney's library, wondered why the song "A Step in the Right Direction" was on the movie's soundtrack album but not in the picture. This led him down a rabbit hole that ended with a version of Bedknobs that was restored to 139 minutes, almost its original length, as some bits and pieces were lost to the dustbin of time.

As far as I'm concerned, Bedknobs and Broomsticks stands out as a gem from the hazy time in Disney's history between Walt passing away and the renaissance of the mid eighties. I mean how can you go wrong with Angela Lansbury fighting Nazis with a army full of empty armor? Is it Mary Poppins? Of course not. It's a different movie, silly. And clearly I'm not the only one who likes it. A stage version is reportedly in the works. It will debut in 2019 and I for one, can't wait to see how they stage that epic battle.

Also on this day, in American history: Stamp Act Congress

October 1 - Dame Julie Andrews

On this day, in 1935, Julia Elizabeth Wells was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.Conceived as a result of an affair her mother had, it’s not surprising that her parents divorced before she entered grade school. Both would remarry during World War II. Julie’s father, Ted Wells, helped in the effort to evacuate children to the English countryside. Her mother, Barbara, would partner with her new husband, Ted Andrews, to entertain the troops. Julie would initially stay with her father but, recognizing her talents, he would send her to live with her mother, who he believed would be able to foster Julie’s training better.  Julie’s recollections of her stepfather are mixed at best. He was a violent alcoholic who twice tried to sleep with her, but he also paid for the lessons that made her what she is today.

Julie first attended an independent arts school in London, but it was her time with Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen that really gave her the boost she needed. Madame Lilian became like a mother to Julie and was amazed at her pupil’s voice range and clarity. Julie herself was never quite as confident in her own abilities as her mentor, but obviously enough of the Madame’s enthusiasm rubbed off to begin a long and spectacular career.

Julie’s first big break came in October 1947, when she was barely 12 years old. She sang “Je suis Titania,” an aria from Mignon in a revue called Starlight Roof at the London Hippodrome. She performed so well, she would stay with the show for an entire year. As a side note, one of the other performers in that show was Wally Boag, who would make the Diamond Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland a hit. In November of 1948, Julie became the youngest solo performer ever to be in a Royal Command Variety Performance before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Julie then moved into radio and television. For three years she was part of a BBC radio show, Educating Archie, as the title characters girlfriend. Julie also began appearing on regional and West End stages, mostly in shows based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. In 1952, she did her first film work as the voice of the princess in an English dubbed version of an Italian animated piece, The Singing Princess. It would be 12 more years before her next movie, but she would be too busy to worry about that.

On September 30, 1954, the day before her 19th birthday, Julie would make her Broadway debut as Polly Browne in The Boy Friend. Nearly fifty years later, she would make her directorial debut with the same show. Her success as Polly would lead to an invitation to audition for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (spoiler: she got the part). Richard Rogers was so impressed with Julie’s performance in Lady, he put her in the 1957 live CBS broadcast of Cinderella during her run as Eliza (I suspect like many people, I didn’t know Cinderella was written for television and only later was adapted for the stage). In 1960, Julie starred in Camelot with Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. It was deemed shortly thereafter, that she lacked sufficient star power to reprise the role of Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady and was replaced with Audrey Hepburn. That would be a decision that would actually ensure no one would doubt the star power of Julie Andrews ever again.

Walt Disney had seen Julie perform as Queen Guinevere in Camelot and thought she was perfect for the title role in a project that had been simmering for years, Mary Poppins. At first, Julie said no as she was pregnant. Walt said “We’ll wait.” He waited, she finally agreed and a masterpiece was created. Poppins would give its star an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy and the studio its biggest financial hit ever. The following year saw the release of The Sound of Music, which gave Julie another Golden Globe and 20th Century Fox its biggest hit ever. Two more of her films released in the sixties, Torn Curtain with Paul Newman and Thoroughly Modern Millie would give Universal Studios their two biggest hits ever.

During the seventies, Julie made only a handful of films, two of which were expensive flops. She mostly did television appearances including The Muppet Show and a string of variety specials. When the eighties rolled around, Julie headlined a television special to raise funds for Cambodian Famine Victims. She did her first nude scene in S.O.B., a film directed by her husband, Blake Edwards. In 1982, she starred in Victor/Victoria with James Garner and Robert Preston, earning another Golden Globe.  In 1987, she starred in her own Christmas special that won five Emmy awards.  Julie continued producing albums, starring in movies and making television appearances through the mid-nineties. Then came the project most of her fans would, in retrospect, rather have never happened.

In 1995, Julie appeared on a Broadway stage for the first time in 35 years. The film Victor/Victoria had been turned into a stage show and she reprised the title role. The show was a success and would run for nearly two years. Unfortunately, the show’s success would contribute Julie’s downfall. In mid-1997, Julie would develop severe vocal problems, probably from the lower vocal range the role required of her. She insists that she never had any nodules or cancer form on her vocal cords, it was just muscular striation. Whatever it really was, she went in for surgery and the doctors ended up destroying her singing voice, leaving her with a rasp in even her speaking voice. Julie quipped after the botched surgery that she could now “sing the hell out of Old Man River.”  Four subsequent surgeries have improved her speaking voice, but the singing voice that wowed millions for decades is gone.

Not that Julie has slowed down much since then. She became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She received Kennedy Center Honors. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She, of course, became a Disney Legend in 1991, the same year as the co-writers of Mary Poppins, Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi.  In 2001 she ramped up her association with the Walt Disney Company, starring in The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway and Hector Elizondo. All three would return for the sequel and Julie would even (gasp!) sing. She followed that up by playing Eloise’s nanny in two television movies based on the books by Kay Thompson. In 2005, Julie was named the Official Ambassador for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and hosted and narrated the parks new fireworks show. In 2007, she narrated the Amy Adams movie Enchanted.

Even though she turns 83 this year, Dame Julie continues to work steadily. Whether it’s writing children’s books with her daughter, lending her voice to ever more Shrek and Despicable Me movies or creating television shows for Netflix, she barely shows signs of slowing down. How many more delightful performances does she have in her? Only time will tell, but I, for one, smile every time I recognize her voice in something or see her on screen and I hope I’ll be doing that for years to come.

Also on this date, in American history: the Model T Ford

September 30 - Bill Walsh

On this day, in 1913, Bill Walsh was born in New York, New York. He was a bearcat on an athletic scholarship at the University of Cincinnati. It was in college that he also began writing for shows. After they caught the reviews of a show Bill wrote, Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay hired him to contribute to their 1933 Broadway show Tattle Tales. The show itself flopped but Bill was destined for bigger things.

In 1934, Bill headed west to Hollywood. He started out in publicity, writing not only press releases but sketching advertisements. One of his clients happened to be Edgar Bergen, who used Bill to juice up gags for his ventriloquist act. And one of Edgar's good friends happened to be Walt Disney.

By 1943, Bill was working for The Disney studio, writing gags and stories for the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He happily did that for several years until one day the big boss called him into his office. Bill tells this story: "Walt said he'd decided to go into television and I was the guy who was going to do it. I looked stunned and said 'But I don't know anything about television.' Walt smiled back at me and said, 'That's okay. Nobody does.'"

In 1950, Bill wrote and produced One Hour in Wonderland. It was Disney's first attempt at a television program and was a promo for the soon to be released Alice in Wonderland. It was also a smash hit, at least by the modest standards of early television shows. It was enough of a success that Bill would go on to produce both The Mickey Mouse Club and Davy Crockett programs.

Bill moved from the small screen to the big one in 1956. Over the next two decades, he would be an integral part as both writer and producer of 18 movies for the studio, seven of which appeared on a 1973 list of all-time box office champions. Maybe you've heard of a few of them: The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. His grandest achievement coincided with Walt's. He co-wrote Mary Poppins with Don DaGradi, earning one Oscar nomination and a Writer's Guild of America win, and also produced the film, earning a second Oscar nomination.

Shortly after returning home from the set of his last film, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, Bill suffered a heart attack and passed away on January 27, 1975. In 1991, he would become an official Disney Legend for his 32 years of outstanding work with the Walt Disney Company.