Song of the South - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Song of the South or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Song of the South

[ava]

When "Splash Mountain", an amusement ride based on this film, opened in Disneyland in 1989, the local NAACP and others protested.

[toni]

Notwithstanding the criticisms he received for accepting such a "demeaning" role, James Baskett's performance as Uncle Remus was almost universally praised by critics and audiences alike. Columnist Hedda Hopper and actor/then-President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Jean Hersholt were among the many journalists and supporters who declared that Baskett should receive an Academy Award for his performance. Some time later, at the 20th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1948, the Academy Board of Governors unanimously voted to bestow an Honorary Academy Award to Baskett "for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world in Walt Disney's Song of the South."

[jeffrey]

This is the first motion picture that the legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland worked on that was filmed in Technicolor. All of the films Toland had worked on prior to this film were filmed in black and white, including Citizen Kane (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Long Voyage Home (1940).

[chris]

The movie was mentioned in a Saturday Night Live (1975) "TV Funhouse" animated sequence called "Journey to the Disney Vault".

[bryan]

Contrary to popular belief, the film takes place after the U.S. Civil War, during the period known as "Reconstruction."

[carl]

Br'er Rabbit's laughter heard during the "Laughing Place" sequence of this film was reused in The Jungle Book (1967) when Baloo tickles King Louie before Baloo, Bagheera, and Mowgli make their escape from King Louie's palace.

[darrell]

On May 8, 2007, the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, which includes representatives from the Los Angeles Civil Rights Association, the NAACP National Board, and the Youth Advocacy Coalition, sent out a press release denouncing Disney's rumors to re-release the film again.

[wallace]

Widely regarded as the "black sheep" of the Walt Disney Company, "Song of the South" has been primarily disowned by the company since the early 1990s out of fear for the controversy surrounding the film's racist undertones. The classic music, however, can still often be heard throughout the Disney theme parks and other various outlets -- unknown to most younger generations, who have no association with it.

[eli]

Walt Disney had long wanted to make a film based on the Joel Chandler Harris stories of "Uncle Remus", but it was not until the mid-1940s that he had found a way to give the stories an adequate film equivalent in scope and fidelity. "I always felt that Uncle Remus should be played by a living person", Disney commented, "as should also the young boy to whom Harris' old Negro philosopher relates his vivid stories of the Briar Patch. Several tests in previous pictures, especially in The Three Caballeros (1944), were encouraging in the way living action and animation could be dovetailed. Finally, months ago, we 'took our foot in hand,' in the words of Uncle Remus, and jumped into our most venturesome but also more pleasurable undertaking." The film represented Disney's first foray into live-action filmmaking with story, drama, depth, and heart, although it features animated sequences of the adventures of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear. Treasure Island (1950), four years later, would be Disney's first all live-action motion picture. For Song of the South, Disney pulled out all the stops to hire the best and well accomplished in Hollywood to work on the film's live-action sequences, including the legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland (The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Citizen Kane (1941), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Long Voyage Home (1940), Wuthering Heights (1939)).

[ella]

Bob Iger, the current CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, stated that he can: ride Space Mountain as many times as he wants, dig out the still unreleased-on-home-video "Song of the South" and give it a spin if he feels like it, get a reservation at Club 33 without problems, and watch Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) a few times before its Christmas 2015 release. He said that "I have that right" as CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

[jeffrey]

The only project by Disney that was not released on their Disney+ streaming service alongside their other films and shows.

[oscar]

Upon receiving an Academy Honorary Award for his performance in this film, James Baskett became the first African-American male performer to receive an Academy Award. Seven years earlier, Hattie McDaniel, who also appeared in Song of the South, became the first African-American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress, Gone with the Wind (1939)). It wouldn't be until 1964 when an African-American male performer would win the Academy Award for Best Actor: Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field (1963)).

[gerald]

Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten were the first actors to enter into a contract with Walt Disney Productions after when they were cast in their respective roles for this film.

[nina]

On the final day of shooting, animation director Wilfred Jackson discovered that the scene in which Uncle Remus sings the film's signature song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", had not been properly blocked. According to Jackson, "We all sat there in a circle with the dollars running out, and nobody came up with anything. Then Walt suggested that they shoot Baskett in close-up, cover the lights with cardboard save for a sliver of blue sky behind his head, and then remove the cardboard from the lights when he began singing so that he would seem to be entering a bright new world of animation. Like Walt's idea for Bambi on ice in Bambi (1942), it made for one of the most memorable scenes in the film."

[darrell]

Despite the fact that the story takes in place in Georgia following the conclusion of the U.S. Civil War, most of the outdoor live-action scenes were filmed in Phoenix, Arizona, while some additional live-action scenes were filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood, California.

[camila]

James Baskett is the first actor to win an Academy Award (although an honorary one) for his performance in a Walt Disney film. Seventeen years later, at the 37th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1965, Julie Andrews became the first actor to win an Academy Award for competitive acting for her performance in a Walt Disney film: Mary Poppins (1964).

[norma]

Nicknamed by the American press as Walt Disney's "Sweetheart Team", Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten, following their great success in this film, appeared in two more films together: Melody Time (1948) and So Dear to My Heart (1948).

[scarlett]

The movie is based on the tales of African-Americans as recorded by historian Joel Chandler Harris. He wrote the stories in the dialect spoken by African Americans in Reconstruction era Georgia.

[oscar]

"The Hedda Hopper' Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30-minute radio adaptation on February 1, 1947, with James Baskett reprising his film role.