The Mouse Castle Lounge 03-16-2016 - Walt Disney Family Museum Director of Collections Michael Labrie

By Tim Callaway

Tyrus Wong's "Chinese Jesus."

A few weeks ago, it was my pleasure to have filmmaker Pamela Tom in the Lounge to talk about her documentary Tyrus, the story of Chinese-American artist and Disney Legend Tyrus Wong. Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to finally see Tyrus on the big screen. The film opened CAAMFest, an annual film festival in the San Francisco Bay Area that supports and celebrates Asian art and culture.

It was a delightful evening, with the screening held at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre. It was followed by a gala at the Asian Art Museum. On display at the event was an 80-year old watercolor masterpiece by Tyrus Wong called "Chinese Jesus." It depicts an ethereal Christ-like figure floating in a partially clouded sky. For decades, the painting was thought to have been lost, only to be rediscovered a few years ago stashed away in a San Francisco church. The painting came full circle on March 9, when, during a ceremony designating the day as “Tyrus Wong Day” in San Francisco, Tyrus Wong, at 105-years old, signed the painting.

Last Friday, since I was in the neighborhood, I dropped by the Walt Disney Family Museum and spent time with Michael Labrie, the museum’s director of collections. In 2013, Michael curated Water to Paper, Paint to Sky an exhibition of Tyrus Wong’s work. In our conversation, Michael and I talked about Tyrus, as well as a contemporary of Tyrus’s at Disney, Mel Shaw. Mel is the subject of a current retrospective at the Museum, Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback.

Tyrus Wong

After talking with Michael, imagine my surprise to run into none other than Tyrus Wong at the Museum. He was the guest of honor at a member event later that evening, but he had arrived early to take in the Mel Shaw exhibition. We only chatted briefly, but as always, Tyrus was charming, good humored and an absolute pleasure to talk with.

CAAMFest runs through March 20, so if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area this week, I highly recommend seeing one of the many fascinating films screening during the festival. In fact, the Walt Disney Family Museum, in celebration of Tyrus Wong, is showing Bambi this Saturday and Sunday. Plus, you can catch an encore showing of Tyrus at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland also on Sunday. For times and ticket information, visit caamfest.com/2016/schedule.

Michael Labrie is my guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge. Enjoy!

Michael Labrie and Tyrus Wong at the Walt Disney Family Museum in 2013.

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/themousecastle/TheMouseCastleLounge03-16-2016.mp3

Listen and subscribe to The Mouse Castle Lounge on 
Google Play Music, iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://themousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

 

The Mouse Castle Lounge 03-05-2016 - Walt Disney Family Foundation Film Archivist Scott Zone

Film Archivist Scott Zone.

I first learned about Scott Zone from a recent article in the Orange County Register detailing his 20-year association with the Walt Disney Family Foundation and the Disney family. Through Scott’s work as a film archivist, he has restored and preserved 18 hours of home movies shot during Walt Disney’s lifetime--footage that can be seen at the Walt Disney Family Museum and in various documentaries including the recent American Experience film Walt Disney. That in itself is an interesting topic of conversation. But, when I finally sat down to talk with Scott, I quickly learned that his Disney connection is just a small part of a successful career in the motion picture industry, a career that Scott began as a special effects cameraman on The Empire Strikes Back and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Scott also has close ties to the Golden Age of Hollywood. His Aunt, Beryl Wallace, was the headline performer at the Earl Carroll Theatre, a renowned supper club on Sunset Boulevard in the 1930s and 40s. It was a Hollywood landmark with a 20-foot high neon portrait of Beryl proclaiming, “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world.”

Hollywood's Off Vine Restaurant celebrates the career of entertainer Beryl Wallace.

Scott and I met at the Off Vine Restaurant, not far from where the Earl Carroll Theatre used to be. This converted craftsman-style home also has a connection to Beryl Wallace and Earl Carroll, but I’ll let Scott explain that story.

It’s Walt Disney, Star Wars and Old Hollywood with my guest Scott Zone in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

Scott's film restoration work is on display in this clip from American Experience: Walt Disney.

To learn more about Scott Zone Media, visit www.scottzonemedia.com.

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/themousecastle/TheMouseCastleLounge03-05-2016.mp3

Listen and subscribe to The Mouse Castle Lounge on 
Google Play Music, iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://themousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

By Tim Callaway

Inside The Mouse Castle 01-12-2016 - Disneyland's Rivers of America, 'Black Panther' and the Golden Globes

By Tim Callaway

Concept art of the new Rivers of America at Disneyland.

Anthony and I dropped by Disneyland last week to get our last looks at the Rivers of America, the Disneyland Railroad and Big Thunder Ranch/Trail/BBQ before they close. We report back from our visits in today's Inside The Mouse Castle and look ahead to the changes coming to the northwest corner of Walt's original park (a rerouted river and a Star Wars something or other).

We also chat about a few other items:

• Actor John Boyega likes the look of the Star Wars VIII script, calling it "much darker" than The Force Awakens. Should we expect The First Order Strikes Back?
• Ryan Coogler (Creed) has been tapped to direct Marvel's Black Panther. The movie will star Chadwick Boseman and Andy Serkis and is scheduled for a February 2018 release.

• Pixar's Inside Out took the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film on Sunday night, but how will it fare with the Oscars? We'll find out Thursday at 5:30 a.m. PT when the Academy Award nominations are announced.
• A retrospective of Disney artist Mel Shaw's work will open at the Walt Disney Family Museum on January 13 and run through September 12. It will be curated by film producer (and friend of The Mouse Castle) Don Hahn.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle01-12-2016.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Inside The Mouse Castle 12-14-2015 - "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Premieres and Dick Van Dyke Turns 90

By Tim Callaway

We can finally say it. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens this week. Wow!

It's been a little over a year since the first teaser trailer dropped and we all went bonkers watching the Millennium Falcon go loop-de-loop into those TIE Fighters. Now, we are poised just days from the movie's wide release and the anticipation is staggering. Will J.J. Abrams deliver the film Star Wars fans have been clamoring for? Our wildest hopes and dreams say, "He better."

In today's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle, Anthony and I take our final preview look at The Force Awakens and try to get a handle on all the madness. We also discuss a few other items.

Dick Van Dyke celebrates his 90th birthday at Disneyland.

• Everyone's favorite chimney sweep, Dick Van Dyke, turned 90 on Sunday and was feted all weekend long by flash mobs in Los Angeles and park guests at Disneyland. It was quite the jolly holiday for ole' Bert.

Salvador Dali and Walt Disney.

• I finally had the pleasure to see in person Disney and Dalí: Architects of the Imagination, the special exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum that celebrates the unique friendship and artistic collaboration between these two men. The exhibition runs through January 3, 2016, so if you're in the San Francisco area, I highly recommend visiting.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle12-14-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Inside The Mouse Castle 10-05-2015 - The Vanishing Rivers of America and Disneyland's Annual Pass Price Increase

By Tim Callaway

Hey, did you hear? Disneyland Annual Passport prices went up.

Click to watch the prices enlarge.

The news was breaking over the weekend just as Anthony and I were about to record this week's show. While we didn't have all the info as we fired up the mikes (believe me, we do now), we certainly got the gist of things. One thousand dollar top level Annual Passports. That's pretty much all anyone needs to know.

Do you think the new prices are worth it? Or is outrage more your style? Anthony and I offer our takes in this week's edition of Inside The Mouse Castle.

• Then there's that Rivers of America thing at Disneyland. Seems a chunk of the river and the north part of Tom Sawyer Island are going to get chopped off to make room for the new Star Wars Land expansion. That also means a rerouting of the Disneyland Railroad. MiceChat posted a rough sketch of what they believe will be the new layout. Disneyland has confirmed that RoA will change, but they haven't confirmed exactly how much yet.
• The Children's Hospital of Orange County partners with Disneyland this weekend for the 25th annual CHOC Walk in the Park. Want to help support the health and well-being of children? Visit www.chocwalk.org.
• The Walt Disney Family Museum will honor songwriter and Disney Legend Richard Sherman at a fundraising gala on November 3rd. Sherman will be the first recipient of the Diane Disney Miller Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Good Dinosaur

• Sneak previews of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur will begin screening at Disney California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios on October 16th. The film opens in the U.S. on November 25th.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle10-05-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

The Mouse Castle Lounge 07-24-2015 - Disney, Dali and 'Destino' with Ted Nicolaou

By Tim Callaway

Salvador Dali and Walt Disney, 1957.
Photo courtesy Walt Disney Family Museum.

It was inevitable—call it destiny if you will--that the creative paths of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali would one day cross. Both men were born in the early 1900s, and although they were continents apart, they shared similar upbringings. Both had artistic ambitions, and both would eventually become the standard-bearers of their respective mediums: Walt in animation and visual storytelling, Dali in fine art and the surrealist movement.

Their personalities could not have been more different. Dali was the flamboyant eccentric, Walt the more reserved, but no-less driven, filmmaker. Each saw the other as a kindred spirit, though. And what began as a distant mutual admiration, evolved into a creative collaboration and later a lifetime friendship.

In the late 1940s, Dali would come to the Disney Studios to help craft Destino, a surreal short film intended to push the limits of animation and storytelling. It was not to be, however, What Dali called “a magical exposition of life in the labyrinth of time,” Walt called “a simple love story—boy meets girl.” It was there the two artists remained at odds. After less than a year’s work on the project, Destino was shelved. Decades later, the Walt Disney Studios would resurrect the film from more than 150 surviving story sketches by Dali and Disney artist John Hench. The resulting film would be released in 2003 to critical acclaim, winning numerous film festival awards and being nominated for an Academy Award.

Ted Nicolaou

The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco is hosting an exhibition about the two friends and showmen. Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination explores the artistic collaboration between the two men, showcasing not only original works of Dali, but also that of Disney artists Mary Blair, John Hench, Eyvind Earle and Kay Nielsen. ,

Ted Nicolaou is curator of the exhibition. As a filmmaker, Ted has directed a number of horror films including cult favorites Terrorvision and Subspecies. He’s also created a number of DVD and Blu-ray bonus documentaries for Walt Disney Home Entertainment, most notably Dali & Disney: A Date with Destino, which was included on the 2010 Blu-ray release of Fantasia 2000. 

Ted Nicolaou is my guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge. Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/themousecastle/TheMouseCastleLounge07-24-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to The Mouse Castle Lounge on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://themousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Inside The Mouse Castle 07-06-2015 - Remembering Blaine Gibson, Changes at Disney's Hollywood Studios and New Exhibitions at the Walt Disney Family Museum

By Tim Callaway

The "Partners" statue created by Blaine Gibson.

In this week's episode on Inside The Mouse Castle, we pay tribute to the late Blaine Gibson, the animator, sculptor and Disney Legend who passed away Sunday at the age of 97.

Blaine began his career at Disney in 1939 as an in-betweener and assistant animator. His feature animation credits include Fantasia, Bambi, Song of the South, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians.

He considered himself an animator first, but he also had a gift for sculpting. Aware of Blaine's talent, Walt Disney assigned the artist to WED Enterprises (later Walt Disney Imagineering) to create character forms that would transform into Audio-Animatronics. Blaine made significant design contributions to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Arguably, his most impressive accomplishment in Imagineering was overseeing the design of every president up to George W. Bush in the Magic Kingdom's Hall of Presidents.

Even though Blaine retired in 1983, he continued to consult on projects with Disney. The "Partners" statue that depicts Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse standing hand-in-hand at Disney theme parks remains one of Blaine's lasting creations.

All of us at The Mouse Castle send our condolences to Blaine Gibson's friends and family. Rest in peace.

Also in this week's episode:

• Pixar's Inside Out and Universal's Jurassic World ended the July of 4th weekend box office battle in a virtual tie for first place. They were aided by poor debuts from Terminator: Genisys and Magic Mike XXL.

Inside Out.

• Inside Out's solid performance helped Disney's stable of 2015 film releases (including Avengers: Age of Ultron and Cinderella) pass $3 billion in international box office. It's the sixth year in a row that Disney has passed the $3 billion mark.
• Marvel's high-tech entertainment roadshow, The Marvel Experience, is closing up shop after finishing its stint in Philadelphia over the weekend. Upcoming appearances in Chicago, New York and St. Louis this summer have been cancelled and tickets are being refunded. Complaints about technical issues, overpriced tickets and poor crowd management have been rampant on Yelp and other social media sites for months.

Paul Rudd at the Ant-Man premiere.

• Ant-Man premiered in Hollywood last week. I'm looking forward to seeing MCU's latest entry when it debuts on July 17th. Anthony has concerns after being unimpressed by the film's sneak preview at Disney California Adventure.
• It's not just selfie sticks that have gone away at Walt Disney World. Poop candy has exited Animal Kingdom and DisneyQuest is closing at Downtown Disney to make way for the NBA Experience.
• In business news (Anthony's least favorite kind of news), Christine McCarthy has been named the new Disney CFO, replacing the departing Jay Rasulo. Also, Disney Interactive and Disney Consumer Products, once independent divisions, will now operate under the same umbrella.
• There are two new exhibitions getting ready to open at the Walt Disney Family Museum. Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination will open on July 10th and will feature an audio tour narrated by Sigourney Weaver. Tomorrowland: Walt's Vision for Today opens on July 22nd and will be curated by filmmaker Brad Bird.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle07-06-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Inside The Mouse Castle 04-14-2015 - 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Premiere, 'Star Wars' Celebration and Selfie Sticks

By Tim Callaway

Avengers assemble!

The Avengers assembled at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood Monday night for the world premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Go on the red carpet to hear from the film's stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evens, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader and director Joss Whedon with a cameo (of course) by Stan Lee.

Tim and Anthony don their super suits and discuss the high expectations attached to the newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how Age of Ultron could make as much as $2 billion worldwide, placing it in the rarefied air of Avatar and Titanic. They also talk about a few other things in this super long, super entertaining episode of Inside The Mouse Castle. 

• 'Star Wars' Celebration, the massive gathering of Lucasfilm uberfans, gets underway this week at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy will hold court at the first panel of the event Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Fans can line up to see the presentation beginning at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday night. Wednesday night?!? (NOTE: after we finished recording this episode, 'Star Wars' Celebration announced that the Abrams/Kennedy panel--along with 30-plus hours of content--will be streamed live online at StarWars.com).

• It's official! The legendary Hatbox Ghost is finally returning to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in May. We anticipate he'll (dis)appear in the area behind the "window" that mysteriously showed up recently in the attic across from the Bride. 
• In other Mansion news, Guillermo del Toro's new Haunted Mansion film is moving forward and will star Ryan Gosling.
• Steven Spielberg will direct his first Disney film, The BFG, co-produced by Disney, Dreamworks and Walden Media, is based on a story by Roald Dahl and is scheduled for release in July 2016.
• Ian McKellen will play Cogsworth in Disney's new live-action Beauty and the Beast. With a cast that already includes Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad and Audra McDonald, can expectations for this film get any higher?
• Disney is developing a new live-action retelling of Pinocchio, which naturally makes us nostalgic for the 2000 made-for-TV movie Geppetto starring Drew Carey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
• Brad Bird is working on a script for The Incredibles 2. It's about time.
• Theme park guests can get a sneak peek at Bird's newest film, Tomorrowland, starting this Friday at Disneyland and Saturday at Epcot.
• The Matterhorn and Peter Pan are both getting upgrades for Disneyland's 60th. Down for refurb now, the attractions will reopen sometime in May.
• A fatal crash at the Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World took the life of racing instructor Gary Terry over the weekend. Our condolences to his family and friends.
• Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination, a new exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum, opens on July 10th. It will explore the longtime friendship and artistic collaboration between Walt and the surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

The Boathouse

• The upscale restaurant The Boathouse opened at Downtown Disney (Disney Springs) at Walt Disney World this week. Who wants to share a $115 steak with us?
• Selfie sticks have been outlawed at Walt Disney World. Or not. Or maybe just on attractions. Who knows? Actually, we do.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle04-14-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Inside The Mouse Castle 02-16-2015 - Spider-Man Returns to Marvel, Cinderella's Waist Shrinks and Mad T Party Comes Back to DCA

By Tim Callaway

Will Captain America meet
Spider-Man in Civil War?

Spider-Man is finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we couldn't be happier. Last week, Marvel and Sony announced an agreement to jointly produce films featuring the web-slinger. Sony will retain creative control of the character in a stand-alone film (with more to follow, we're sure) set for release on July 18th, 2017. Marvel, meanwhile, will be able to use Spider-Man in MCU films, which will be critical to the story line in next year's Captain America: Civil War. Anthony and I have the word on how this will affect other upcoming Marvel releases in this week's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle. We also chime in on these tasty tidbits:

• Big Hero 6 has quietly moved into the third place on the list of Disney's highest grossing animated films in the U.S. It now trails only The Lion King and Frozen in domestic box office.
• Is Cinderella looking a little too thin around the waistline to be believed? The latest trailer for Disney's new live-action film has people wondering whether, like mice morphing into horses, the little cinder girl's tiny tummy is a CG effect as well (check 1:11 and 1:54 in the video).

• Will Hermione Granger and Professor Trelawney reunite in Beauty and the Beast? We already know Emma Watson is on board to play Belle, but now Emma Thompson is rumored to be talking with Disney about playing Mrs. Potts in the live-action reboot of the classic animated film. 
• Will Pixar's "Day of the Dead" movie be the studio's first musical? Songwriter Randy Newman let slip a bit of information that has us thinking this is the case for the Lee Unkrich-directed project.
• Pete's Dragon has started shooting in New Zealand. Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Shelley Winters and Helen Reddy aren't in it. [sigh]
• We already knew that Frozen was headed to Broadway, but now we've confirmed that the movie's songwriting team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez will be penning additional tunes for the stage adaptation.
• Star Wars is headed out to sea. In 2016, select Disney Fantasy cruises will feature a Star Wars Day at Sea with character meet and greets and special activities for adults and kids.

• Arrivederci, Luigi's Flying Tires. The Cars Land attraction in Disney California Adventure closed for good on Monday. We'll miss it, but even we admit it wasn't that great a ride.
  
• Freeze the Night will do what nighttime entertainment does in summer: make way for the return of Mad T Party at DCA on May 22nd. Any chance we'll ever get ElecTRONica back? Any chance the Hollywood Land "backlot" will be anything else in the daytime other than cluttered access to Mike & Sulley to the Rescue? Hey, who misses Superstar Limo?

• The Walt Disney World Speedway along with the Richard Petty Driving Experience is going away. Buh bye.
• Now open at the Walt Disney Family Museum is Lights! Camera! Glamour! The Photography of George Hurrell. The exhibition runs through June 29th and includes over 50 prints and items from the renowned celebrity photographer and artist.

Walt Disney in 1940. Photograph by George Hurrell.

Enjoy!

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/insidethemousecastle/InsideTheMouseCastle02-16-2015.mp3

Listen and subscribe to Inside The Mouse Castle on iTunes, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

RSS Feed: http://insidethemousecastle.libsyn.com/rss

Annie Awards: 'How to Train Your Dragon 2,' 'Disney Mickey Mouse' and the Walt Disney Family Museum Honored

By Tim Callaway

Dear ASIFA-Hollywood: Please allow Garfunkel and Oates to host the Annie Awards again, preferably the whole show and not just the first portion of it. The comedy-folk music duo of Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates) were quirky and funny and rescued a show that started 20 minutes late and experienced wonky teleprompters. Garfunkel: "I want to thank God and my parents for the teleprompter."

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Saturday night's awards, presented at UCLA's Royce Hall, honored the best in animation and were dominated by How to Train Your Dragon 2. Dreamworks Animation's successful sequel took home six Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature and Outstanding Directing for Dean DeBlois. DeBlois, noting the recent layoff of 500 employees at Dreamworks Animation, said in his acceptance speech, "We've had kind of a tough week at Dreamworks, but I think it's moments like this where we get to celebrate the incredible work that goes into these projects and makes a lot of us look really good."

On the television side, Disney Mickey Mouse also landed six awards including nods for director Aaron Springer and veteran voice actor Bill Farmer. Disney claimed additional awards for their films Feast (Best Animated Short Subject) and Big Hero 6 (Animated Effects) and for the TV series Wander Over Yonder (Character Animation and Character Design) and Gravity Falls (Best Children's Production). Gravity Falls series creator Alex Hirsch was surprised and admittedly inebriated when he accepted his Annie. Brandishing an alcohol flask, he said, "Nothing sobers you up like looking at hundreds of people at once."

Former Disney animator, 101-year old Don Lusk, was a recipient of the Winsor McCay Award. This lifetime achievement award is presented to noteworthy artists for their "career contributions to the art of animation." Lusk spent nearly 30 years at Disney, working on such notable animated films as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. In the 1960s, he left Disney to work for other studios including Hanna-Barbera.

Ron Miller accepts a special Annie Award
for the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Among the highlights of the evening was a Special Achievement Award presented to the Walt Disney Family Museum in recognition of their "unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation." Disney Legend Richard Sherman and filmmaker Leslie Iwerks presented the award to Ron Miller, husband of the museum's late founder, Diane Disney Miller, and himself the former president and CEO of Walt Disney Productions. Of Diane, Ron Miller said, "She was on a mission: to tell the fascinating and inspiring story of her father, Walt Disney. Through this, she hoped the museum would be a center for inspiration and creativity for present and future generations of animators, artists and innovators. Receiving this special achievement accolade here at the Annie Awards pays testament to the determination, hard work and talent of Diane and our team at the Walt Disney Family Museum."

For the complete list of this year's Annie Award winners and nominees, visit http://annieawards.org/nominees.

The Mouse Castle Lounge 11-17-2014 - Walt Disney's Trains

A dapper Michael Campbell celebrates Walt's trains.

Michael Campbell showed up at the presentation in a train conductor's uniform. Being president of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, I suspect he's done this before. 

He came to the Walt Disney Family Museum to talk about Walt Disney, trains and the museum's new exhibition he curated, All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Trains. It contains over 200 artifacts from Walt's railroad loving past. 

Michael, along with the museum's executive director Kirsten Komoroske, are my guests in The Mouse Castle Lounge. They talk at length about how the exhibition came together and the many unique items that make it up, Michael also shares a delightful and touching story of how Disney animation legend Ollie Johnston--who shared Walt's passion for trains--had the train ride of his life at Disneyland with the help of John Lasseter. 

Enjoy!

Michael Campbell looks on while Kirsten Komoroske speaks at
the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/themousecastle/TheMouseCastleLounge11-17-2014.mp3

Subscribe to The Mouse Castle Lounge on iTunes and Stitcher.

Celebrating Walt's Trains at the Walt Disney Family Museum

Mickey's Choo-Choo (1929).

The Walt Disney Family Museum shines the spotlight on Walt's lifelong fascination with trains in their new exhibition, All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Trains, running now through February 9th. Over 200 artifacts document the influence railroading had on Walt's life and work and its importance to the Walt Disney Company even today.

This is a different kind of special exhibition for the museum. While past shows have focused on a specific artist (Mary Blair, Tyrus Wong) or film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Walt's Trains covers a broader spectrum of history and ideas. We not only learn about Walt's early experiences with trains (he was a news butcher in his youth, selling magazines and snacks on the trains traveling in and around Kansas City), but we also see how trains worked their way into the cartoons and films Walt produced (Dumbo, The Great Locomotive Chase). Naturally, Walt's beloved Carolwood Pacific, the scale model train layout he operated in his Holmby Hills backyard, is represented as are the many trains of Disneyland including the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad, the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland and the Casey Jr. Circus Train. Also included in the exhibition are train-related items belonging to Disney Legends Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston, who also shared Walt's passion for railroading.

Walt taking the Carolwood Pacific for a test run at the studio in 1951.

Design drawing for the Lilly Belle, named for Walt's wife.

Crossover track from the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

Casey Jr. story sketch from Dumbo (1941).

Side panel from the Ernest S. Marsh locomotive that once circled Disneyland.

Walt Disney's coveralls. He wore them on occasions when he
piloted a train on the Grand Circle Tour of Disneyland. Guests rarely
knew that Walt was behind the throttle.

Disneyland Railroad attraction poster.

Walt aboard the E.P. Ripley at Disneyland in 1955.

Rainbow Caverns attraction poster surrounded by concept art for
the Mine Train and the Casey Jr. Circus Train.

This mini Yosemite Valley is one of several train dioramas on display
at the Walt Disney Family Museum.

"...The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a Grand Circle Tour..."

Walt's Trains at the Walt Disney Family Museum.

This weekend, Kirsten Komoroske, executive director of the Walt Disney Family Museum, and guest curator Michael Campbell will be my guests in The Mouse Castle Lounge as we talk about Walt's Trains.

For more information, visit www.waltdisney.org/trains.