Roll up your sleeves and prepare to get dirty because in honor of August's film of the month--The Absent-Minded Professor--we're going to teach you how to make your very own homemade Flubber!
In observance of National Aviation Day, here is the soaring tale of how a filmmaker and a flyer formed an unlikely partnership as storytellers: Walt Disney and Roald Dahl.
Today marks the 225th birthday of David "Davy" Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836), a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo. In 1955, Walt Disney’s television serial based upon Crockett’s legendary exploits created the first national television “craze.”
On Saturday afternoon, Disney historians J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt presented a program in our state-of-the-art digital theater on the subject of Comedic Influences and Walt Disney.
In September, The Walt Disney Family Museum will celebrate the family. Our Film of the Month will be a favorite of Walt's, the 1948 family classic So Dear to My Heart, and our programming and Storyboard entries will focus around families, and all those around us who are so dear to our hearts.
As Walt Disney was growing up, he saw and absorbed the movies of the great comedians. Learn from Disney authors and historians J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt about how great comedians of the silent screen such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, among others, influenced Walt Disney's works...
Throughout August, Walt Disney's 1962 live-action comedy The Absent-Minded Professor, starring Fred MacMurray, will be screened in the Museum’s state-of-the-art digital theatre at 1:00pm and 4:00pm daily, except Tuesdays, and Saturday August 13. Guest blogger and friend of The Walt Disney Family Museum Jim Korkis contributes this profile of the Golden Globe-nominated star of the film.
Each month, we ask a museum staff member to answer five questions about their position at The Walt Disney Family Museum, their fondest Disney memories, and personal tidbits. Without this month's "What Do YOU Do?" spotlight, it'd be really hard to publish this post as we would have no computer or Internet access. So, Larry Arndt, tell us... what do YOU do?
The impact of silent film comedy on Walt Disney is inarguable. Throughout his career, the inspiration of Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, and their films can be seen over and over again. In turn, there were influences on Walt’s filmmaking that not only elevated the art, and added appeal top his characters, but brought new vernaculars to motion picture storytelling.
When you ask people about Walt Disney’s works, Mickey Mouse and Walt’s great animated films typically come first, then Disneyland, and for the older of us, the ritual of Walt’s weekly TV visit. Seldom, though, is Walt mentioned as a maker of live-action films, nor as the maker of a particular type of funny film—the “family comedy.”