News, Analysis and Reviews of the Disney Entertainment Business
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Showing posts with label Sleeping Beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleeping Beauty. Show all posts
With the Summer Olympics in full swing in Paris, France, we started talking the other evening of the French origin of many of Disney’s films, particularly some of their animated classics. Actually, the conversation began with Disney’s use of IP, rather than original stories for their movies and rides, and the acknowledgement that from the very early days, Disney wasn’t shy about “repurposing” ideas from other places. But I digress…
Here are a few things you might not know about 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, Disney’s 16th animated classic.
- Production on the film started in 1950, but Walt’s ventures into television and theme park design slowed progress until 1956, when it began again in earnest. It was the longest working time ever devoted to one animated film.
- Costs ballooned, in part due to the delays, and at close to $7 million, Sleeping Beauty wound up being the most expensive animated film ever made (a record that lasted for decades.)
- Based upon the Charles Perrault version of Sleeping Beauty - though the story goes all the way back to the 1300s and has been adapted hundreds of times - the film’s exquisite and elaborate look was designed by artist Eyvind Earle, who also created the live action story book that opens the film. It now rests in the Disney Archives and is often sent out for display.
- The music was based on Tchaikovsky’s 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet and was recorded by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Tchaikovsky is the same composer responsible for Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
- George Bruns and Sammy Fain added modern songs and lyrics like “Once Upon A Dream” and “The Skumps.”
- In the ballet the princess is called Aurora, in the fairy tale she’s called Briar Rose. The screenwriters split the difference by using both names. Many people still just call her “Sleeping Beauty.”
- Aurora doesn’t have a spoken line in the film until nineteen minutes in. Her last line comes twenty minutes later. She only has eighteen lines in the whole movie. In total, she is in less than 1/3rd of the story named after her.
- The animators couldn’t decide whether Aurora’s dress should be pink or blue, so they just turned it into a joke in the film.
- Three famous TV “Aunts” were the live action models for the three fairies: Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet from Batman) Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show) and Spring Byington (Aunt Daisy from Laramie). None of their voices were used in the final film.
- Ever the shrewd promoter, Walt named the castle at Disneyland after Sleeping Beauty, even though the movie wasn’t released until four years after the park opened.
- Sleeping Beauty was given a lukewarm reception by audiences and critics and made less than $6 million in its initial release. Not a flop, but not enough to return a profit, either. The biggest hit for Disney that year was actually a live action film, The Shaggy Dog, which cost just a million to make and took in almost ten times that amount.
- Until Mary Poppins came along, Walt considered Sleeping Beauty his studio’s masterpiece. Its lack of success was said to be one of the reasons he began to increasingly show a loss of interest in his studio’s animated films - which often took years to make with little return on profit - while spending more time on live action films and on developing attractions for Disneyland and the 1964 NYC World’s Fair.
- Sleeping Beauty was re-released to theaters in 1970, 1979, and 1986. Each time it was a box office hit. It’s now regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces in animation.
- This was the final classic fairy tale Princess animated film made during Walt’s lifetime. The studio wouldn’t return to the genre until 1989’s The Little Mermaid.
On the PRESS CLUB C Podcast, enjoy Ray’s recent discussion with Chris Lucas about his career as an actor, author and Disney expert. Tune in right here!
Tonight (April 19th) at 8PM eastern time, Turner Classic Movies (TCM on your cable guide) will be running the excellent documentary by Michael Fiore and Erik Sharkey, called “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life.”
It’s about Floyd Norman, a pioneer and groundbreaker, who was the first African-American artist/animator hired - at age 22 no less - by Walt Disney, in a key role.
Photo of Floyd Norman and Christ Lucas.
Courtesy of Chris Lucas.
A certified Disney Legend, Mr. Norman worked on Disney classics like Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Sword In the Stone, Robin Hood and The Jungle Book, before moving on to start his own animation company, handling projects for Sesame Street and Fat Albert, among others. He also worked with Hanna Barbera.
At age 84, Mr. Norman is still working at the Disney Studios (returning even after he was forced into early retirement) assisting in projects, consulting as a story artist, doing what he loves, being a mentor and inspiring a whole new generation of dreamers.
Why was Sleeping Beauty’s father running a restaurant in Cinderella’s castle? It is a question that has perplexed Disney fans for ages.
Source: ThemeParkTourist.com
When my husband and I went on our honeymoon eons ago, we had a lovely, though somewhat uninspiring dinner, culinarily speaking, in the dining room of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom icon. The real draw was being able to eat in the castle, and it was stunning. Colorful banners hung from the arched ceilings, and stained glass windows dappled the room with colored light. Of course, the stellar Disney service was evident as well, and Cinderella and Prince Charming made table-to-table visits in wedding reception style to make guests’ acquaintances.
When I came home, tucked carefully into the suitcase, well wrapped in souvenir tee-shirts, was a glass mug to commemorate the dinner. It was emblazoned “King Stefan’s Banquet Hall.” Wait, what? Back up the horse and carriage… King Stefan? Isn’t that the king from Sleeping Beauty? Yes, indeedy, and he was not Cinderella’s dad, but Aurora/Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty’s dad. (Don’t get me started on that whole name thing… I tried explaining it to my preschool class one day, and it was a very circular discussion.) Doesn’t the castle belong to Cinderella, though? It’s got her name on the deed.
The alleged backstory explanation is that Cinderella’s father is never actually named anything other than “King” in her stories, and they wanted a royal sounding name for the restaurant. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong name – Stefan – which while sounding very regal, was somebody else’s dad. I guess naming it Gus-Gus’s after her mice would have been off-putting, though we soon will have Chef Remy’s haunt, Gusteau’s to look forward to at Epcot’s France pavilion. Different time, different place.
In the modern age, when superheroes cross universes and timelines, and fairy tale characters all come together to live in the same town in StoryBrooke on Once Upon a Time (originally on ABC, now available on Netflix), maybe it doesn’t seem as odd that Cindy’s family and Aurora’s family had gone into business together. After all, in Storybrooke, Snow White, Prince Charming, Captain Hook and Rumpelstiltskin eat lunch at Granny’s Diner all the time. Back when Cinderella Castle opened in 1971, though, it was rare that the characters shared story arcs. Think how novel it was when all the princesses showed up in the same room during Ralph Breaks the Internet (aka Wreck It Ralph 2). So, yeah, it was weird that King Stefan was running the show at Cindy’s place.
Eventually, Disney either got tired of answering the question all the time, or came to the same conclusion that the rest of us did – the name “King Stefan’s Banquet Hall” was a little odd. So, in 1997, the restaurant was renamed “Cinderella’s Royal Table.” The décor remained much the same – soaring ceilings and coats of arms – and the character meet and greet has since been expanded to include some of the other princesses while you encounter the castle owner herself, Cinderella, in the grand foyer of the castle before you climb up to the dining room. Prince Charming was nowhere in sight on our last visit (I understand he and Cindy greet citizens over at Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian, though.)
Raising sons, it’s difficult to convince them to dine in the castle, and to be honest, the prices are a little high for the quality of the food. You really are paying for the experience of dining in the castle, and for the fact that seating is so limited in this particular small restaurant. When we did eat there several visits ago, the kids were much younger, and I convinced them that we were going to eat in the castle – won’t that be exciting! I neglected to mention there would be princesses milling about, and my older son caught on more quickly than the younger, giving me that squinty-eyed look before whispering, “You tricked us. There are princesses here!”
Yup, and I have the mug to prove it. Except this time, the new mug says, “Cinderella’s Royal Table.”
Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.
