WEIRDLAND: The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, The Beatles

Friday, May 08, 2020

The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, The Beatles

The Beatles' 12th and final album -- the making of which is the subject of Peter Jackson's forthcoming documentary, titled Get Back -- is as suited for the unsettling moment we found ourselves in now as it was for the transition from 1969 to a new decade. Iger raved that the Get Back film (distributed by Disney) would revisit the creation of Let It Be by giving audiences a "front-row seat to the inner workings of these genius creators at a seminal moment in music history, with spectacularly restored footage that looks like it was shot yesterday." When you ask Beatles fans today to name a favorite song from the group, chances are you're going to hear at least one title from Let It Be. The reason why is the same reason that, when McCartney resumes his touring schedule post-coronavirus, his concert setlist will almost certainly include the same four songs from the Let It Be album that have been staples of his live show for years now. Because Let It Be, for whatever its flaws, tidily wraps up the Beatles' legacy in one 12-song capsule. The Walt Disney Studios will release Peter Jackson's documentary "Get Back" in theaters nationwide on September 4, 2020. Source: www.popmatters.com

ABC is bringing back “The Wonderful World of Disney” so you can watch some of your favorite Disney movies at home this summer. The network announced Thursday it will air “Moana,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Up” and “Big Hero 6” over four consecutive Wednesdays starting May 20. These titles are currently available to stream on Disney+. Here are the summer movie lineups for ABC and CBS; all show times are Pacific. Kicking off “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Wednesday, May 20 will be Moana, the animated adventure about a spirited teen who sets sail on a daring mission to fulfill her ancestors’ unfinished quest. On June 3, things are looking Up with the Academy Award-winning animated feature about a retired balloon salesman. Then on June 10, Big Hero 6 tells the animated tale of Baymax, a lovable personal companion robot who forms a special bond with robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada. Source: www.latimes.com

Snow White had had a salutary effect on Walt’s immediate family too. His years of obsession with the film, the days and nights and weekends spent at the studio, had taken their toll on his relationship with Lillian, who had never been especially interested in Walt’s work to begin with and who once called herself her husband’s “severest critic” and “I can’t stand the sight of dwarfs.” Lillian certainly seemed to resent her husband’s preoccupation with work and the avalanche of attention he received, but she was no silent, long-suffering helpmate. Lillian would erupt. Diane remembered coming down for breakfast one morning and seeing a large brown stain on the wall. She later learned that her mother had hurled a cup of coffee at Walt. “Mother was a well contained, poised person who never lost her temper with us children,” Diane would say, “but also she would not let herself be put upon.” Things seemed to improve with Lillian after she suffered her third miscarriage and the couple, at Walt’s instigation, decided to adopt. On December 31, 1936, just as Snow White was reaching its most manic stage, Walt and Lillian received their new six-week-old daughter, Sharon Mae, though a bout of pneumonia sent her back to the hospital for a month’s recuperation. Both parents were devoted to her. They made no distinction between her and Diane, and Walt would always bristle at any mention of her being adopted.

Lillian had never been one to accept Walt’s decisions meekly or his status unquestioningly, and she admitted that he was always telling people “how henpecked he is.” “Heavens, Mother had quarrels with him!” Diane recalled. “Good healthy ones. Nothing was ever under the surface in our family. If there were any irritations felt, there was an explosion.” And Lillian was usually the one to explode. She was unimpressed by him. Speaking of a negative magazine profile of himself, Walt told Hedda Hopper that Lillian didn’t care what reporters said about him. “In fact, she usually agrees with anybody who writes things like that,” he continued. “I keep reporters away from her. She’d give them the lowdown.” When Harry Tytle’s wife mentioned to Lillian that Walt was a genius, she cracked, “But how would you like being married to one?” “She was sort of unconscious, oblivious,” Diane said. “She moved in her own circle of beauty parlor appointments, reducing exercises, dressmaker appointments, and occasional shopping sprees…. Always had to redecorate the corner of some room. That was her life.” Walt called her “Madam Queen.” -Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (2006) by Neal Gabler

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