Walt Disney's Disneyland - A Tribute to Joel Chander Harris (1956)

1956 marked the first rerelease of Song of the South. The Academy Award winning film had been first released in 1946 and the characters were a beloved Walt Disney property. The Uncle Remus comic strip had been running since 1945 and would run until 1972. Walt had included animated segments from the film on his two Christmas special in the early 1950’s as well as his debut Disneyland episode. The Song of the South characters were a major part of Walt Disney’s stable of stars just like Pinocchio, the 7 Dwarfs, and the 3 Little Pigs.

For the 1956 rerelease, the film campaign revolved around Uncle Remus and his characters. It was a major campaign where a contest was held to send a few lucky families to the recently opened Disneyland. Due to war time shortages, far more merchandise was produced for this reissue than the film’s original release.

For his TV show, Walt produced a segment suggested by the childhood of author Joel Chandler Harris to advertise the film. Walt would produce similar segments on his show about authors Hans Christian Andersen, Washington Irving, composer Peter Tchaikovsky, and others. These types of segments interested children into reading more about the real figures’ lives and share a little bit on where these stories originally came from.

Here we present the Joel Chandler Harris episode as it originally aired commercials and all.

Starring

Jonathan Hale as J.A. Turner
Sam McDaniel as Herbert
Harry Shannon as Mr. Wilson
David Stollery as Young Joel
Barbara Wooddell as Mrs. Harris (as Barbara Woodell)

Original air date January 18, 1956

Celebrate stolen history by nominating a classic film, Song of the South, to the National Film Registry as Woke Disney is purging every aspect of it from existence. In theory, that's why the National Film Registry exists.

Walt Disney's Song of the South is the first Technicolor feature film made that blended live action with animation throughout the film.

The popular song Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah won the Oscar for Best Song. Woke Disney has purged this song from the theme parks and elsewhere.

Actor James Baskett is the first black actor to win an Oscar and it was for this film! He was honored with an eternal Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus in Song of the South.

Actor Nick Stewart played Br'er Bear, started the Ebony Showcase Theater with the earnings from this film. He returned to play Br'er Bear again in Splash Mountain and remodeled the theater. He was a Civil Rights pioneer and said "Walt Disney treated us like kings."

Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel plays a major character in this film. She's the first black actress to win an Oscar for Gone with the Wind.

The characters from this film were a major part of Walt Disney's stable of stars and he frequently revisited them again and again in his television, commercial, theme park ventures and more. The Uncle Remus stories were very special to Walt and so was this film inspired by them.

Don't let Woke Disney erase important black, American, and cinematic history!

Please nominate this historic film to the National Film Registry as Woke Disney purges every aspect of this special film from pop culture.

The form is below.

https://www.research.net/r/national-fim-registry-nomination-form

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.