March 19 - The Shaggy Dog

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On this day, in 1959, Disney's first live action comedy, The Shaggy Dog, debuted in theaters. Made for less than a million dollars, it grossed over $9 million in its initial run, making it a more profitable movie than Ben Hur which was released the same year. This fact wasn't lost on Walt and his executive team and the formula of The Shaggy Dog was used over and over again for the next couple of decades: put a supernatural element in a light hearted comedy, preferably involving some kind of animal, using the same sets on the backlot and starring recognizable, but not too pricey, actors. If you think about it, that describes most of the films the studio made throughout the Sixties and Seventies. Sure, most of them would never be called masterpieces, but they created more than sufficient cash flow to subsidize everything else the company was doing.

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The Shaggy Dog is also notable for being the first Disney movie to star Fred MacMurray. Fred had already been a staple around Hollywood for years, but mostly in Westerns and film noir. This picture would start a string of comedic roles for the company that would stretch over the next fourteen years and include classics like The Absent-Minded Professor and The Happiest Millionaire (it would also be instrumental in landing Fred his long running sitcom gig on television, My Three Sons). The rest of the cast was filled out with Mickey Mouse Club regulars like Annette Funicello, Tommy Kirk, Tim Considine and Kevin Corcoran. Even the film's director, Charles Barton, came from the show (he'd directed the Spin and Marty series). Paul Frees, the veteran voice actor, makes a rare live appearance in The Shaggy Dog as the psychiatrist, but interestingly doesn't receive credit for it.

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Not only did The Shaggy Dog create a formula for comedy success, it was the start of a mini franchise. In 1976, Disney released The Shaggy D.A. starring another company staple, Dean Jones. The sequel took place about 30 years after the original, but if you're wondering what happened during that time, you are in luck. The Return of the Shaggy Dog aired in two parts on the Disney Sunday Movie in 1987, starring Gary Kroeger. Two remakes have been produced as well, one for The Wonderful World of Disney in 1994 and a theatrical release starring Tim Allen in 2006, but, for my money, just stick with the original.

December 14 - Babes In Toyland

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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.

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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.