Disney's Most Notorious Film (45 page)

48
. Hilda See, “There Are Two ‘Oscars’ Among Our Records Unaccompanied Because of Hollywood Bias,”
Chicago Defender
(1 May 1954), 19.

49
. Gabler,
Walt Disney
, 435.

50
. Ibid.

51
. Richard Dyer, “Entertainment and Utopia,” in
The Cultural Studies Reader
, ed. Simon During (New York: Routledge, 1993), 279.

52
. Catherine Gunther Kodat, “Disney’s
Song of the South
and the Birth of the White Negro,” in
American Cold War Culture
, ed. Douglas Field (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), 113.

53
. Victor Burgin,
The Remembered Film
(London: Reaktion, 2004), 67–68.

54
. Bill Vaughn, “My Year in the Dark:
Song of the South
Isn’t the Greatest Film Ever Made, but It’s the One I’ll Never Forget,”
Reports from the Dark Acres
(2006), accessed 16 May 2008,
http://darkacres.com/SongOfSouth_jump.html
.

55
. Brady, “Hollywood Labor Problems,” 1.

CHAPTER 2

1
. “Disney’s ‘
Song of the South
’ Becomes 3-Day Gala in Atlanta Premiere,”
Variety
(13 November 1946), 5.

2
. “
‘Uncle Remus’ Premiere Goes on ‘Vox Pop,’
”
Washington Post
(10 November 1946), S4.

3
. Ibid.

4
.
Song of the South
full-page advertisement,
Variety
(6 November 1946), 8.

5
. “Songs with Largest Radio Audiences,”
Variety
(20 November 1946), 59.

6
. Thomas F. Brady, “Hollywood’s Mr. Disney,”
New York Times
(14 July 1946), 41.

7
. “Top Grossers,”
Variety
(7 January 1948), 63.

8
. According to Neal Gabler,
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
(New York: Knopf, 2006), 437–438.

9
. Ibid., 437.

10
. Lawrence F. LaMar, “
‘Uncle Remus’ Premiers Under New Title,”
Chicago Defender
(2 November 1946), 10.

11
. Ibid.

12
. Douglas Brode,
Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), 53.

13
. Ibid., 54.

14
. “
‘Uncle Remus’ and Supporting Cast in Most Talked About Picture Since ‘Gone with the Wind,’
”
Chicago Defender
(14 December 1946), 10.

15
. Ibid.

16
. Matthew Bernstein, “Nostalgia, Ambivalence, Irony:
Song of the South
and Race Relations in 1946 Atlanta,”
Film History
8.2 (1996): 219–220.

17
. Ibid., 220.

18
. Janet Staiger,
Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 141.

19
. Ibid., 140.

20
. Thomas Cripps,
Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 190.

21
. Bernard Wolfe, “Uncle Remus and the Malevolent Rabbit,”
Commentary
8 (1949): 41.

22
. Cripps,
Making Movies Black
, 190–191.

23
. Ibid., 192.

24
. “Powell Protests Two Movies,”
New York Times
(24 December 1946), 12.

25
. Quoted in “Adam Powell Asks New York Police to Bar ‘
Song of the South
’ and ‘Rose,’
”
Chicago Defender
(4 January 1947), 10.

26
. “Adam Powell Asks New York Police to Bar ‘
Song of the South
’ and ‘Rose,’
” 10.

27
. “News of the Screen,”
New York Times
(11 December 1946), 42.

28
. “Ban ‘
Song of the South
,’
”
Chicago Defender
(18 January 1947), 6.

29
. Anonymous, “Letters to the Editor,”
Washington Post
(7 January 1947), 8.

30
. “White Regrets Film: He Finds the Disney Movie Helps to Perpetuate ‘Idyllic’ Slavery,”
New York Times
(29 November 1946), 45.

31
. Ibid.

32
. Walt Disney, “Walt’s Old Dream Comes True: Disney Film Breathes Life into Uncle Remus,”
Washington Post
(22 December 1946), S8.

33
. “Move Anew to Portray Negro Sensibly in Pix,”
Variety
(27 November 1946), 1.

34
. Ibid., 55.

35
. “Needed: A Negro Legion of Decency,”
Ebony
(February 1947), 36.

36
. Ibid.

37
. Ibid.

38
. Paul Cooke, “
Song of the South
,”
Washington Post
(28 December 1946), 4.

39
. “
‘
Song of the South
’ Hit as Sly Propaganda Movie,”
Chicago Defender
(1 January 1947), 9.

40
. “Films for Young,”
New York Times
(29 November 1946), 43.

41
. R. E. Bowles, “Letter to the Editor: ‘Song of the South,’
”
Washington Post
(31 December 1946), 6.

42
. Ibid.

43
. Jacqueline Griffin, “Letters to the Editor:
Song of the South
,”
Washington Post
(24 January 1947), 6.

44
. Anonymous, “Letters to the Editor,”
Washington Post
(7 January 1947), 8.

45
. Wolfe, “Uncle Remus and the Malevolent Rabbit,” 31.

46
. Bosley Crowther, “Spanking Disney: Walt Is Chastised for ‘
Song of the South
,’
”
New York Times
(8 December 1946), 85.

47
. Ibid.

48
. Ibid.

49
. Manny Farber, “Dixie Corn,”
New Republic
(23 December 1946), 879.

50
. Ibid.

51
. Philip K. Scheuer, “Disney Goes South for New Fantasy,”
Los Angeles Times
(31 January 1947), A2.

52
. Ibid.

53
. Ibid.

54
. LaMar, “
‘Uncle Remus’ Premiers Under New Title,” 10

55
. Lawrence F. LaMar, “
‘
Song of the South
’ Winter Book Favorite for Annual Oscar Award,”
Chicago Defender
(26 July 1947), 10.

56
. “Disney Show Takes Negro Back a Step,”
Chicago Defender
(30 November 1946), 13.

57
. “Jimmie Baskett Triumphs in Walt Disney’s ‘
Song of the South
,’
”
Chicago Defender
(23 November 1946), 10.

58
. Ibid.

59
. “Adam Powell Asks New York Police to Bar ‘
Song of the South
’ and ‘Rose,’
” 10.

60
. “Disney Show Takes Negro Back a Step,” 13.

61
. Ibid.

62
. Ibid.

63
. Anonymous, “
Song of the South
,”
Washington Post
(8 January 1947), 8.

64
. “Jimmie Baskett Triumphs,” 10.

65
. Anonymous, “
Song of the South
,” 8.

66
. Ibid.

67
. Anonymous, “Letters to the Editor:
Song of the South
,”
Washington Post
(18 January 1947), 4.

68
. Ibid.

69
. Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: ‘
Song of the South
,’ Disney Film Combining Cartoons and Life, Opens at the Palace—Abbott and Costello at Loew’s Criterion,”
New York Times
(28 November 1946), 45.

70
. Ibid.

71
. Ibid.

72
. Thomas Pryor, “Seven Disappointments,”
New York Times
(29 December 1946), 43.

73
. Mae Tinee, “Film Treatment of Brer Rabbit on the Heavy Side,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
(23 December 1946), 18.

74
. Ibid.

75
. Ibid.

76
. “
Song of the South
,”
Variety
(6 November 1946), 18.

77
. Louella Parsons, “Bennett Gets Along with ‘Mike,’
”
Washington Post
(1 December 1946), S3.

78
. Nelson Bell, “Uncle Remus Dispels Childhood’s Shadows On-Screen at Keith’s,”
Washington Post
(25 December 1946), 12.

79
. Ibid.

80
. Nelson Bell, “Hollywood Sneaks in 15 Films on ‘25 Best’ List of Arty Britain,”
Washington Post
(15 January 1947), 2.

81
. Disney, “Walt’s Old Dream Comes True,” S8. Disney may not have written the editorial himself, although it would still need his input and approval.

82
. Ibid.

83
. Ibid.

84
. Wolfe, “Uncle Remus and the Malevolent Rabbit,” 32.

85
. Ibid., 35.

CHAPTER 3

1
. Robert Ray,
A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930–1980
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985).

2
. As quoted in Larsen, “
Song of the South
Resurrected, Too Late for Bobby,”
Los Angeles Times
(30 January 1972), V14.

3
. Ron Wise, “Disney Shelves Big Coin Film,”
Variety
(25 February 1970), 20. The
Atlanta Journal
picked up on the content of the
Variety
piece a few weeks later; see Terry Kay, “
Song of the South
Shelved,”
Atlanta Journal
(3 March 1970), A16.

4
. “Big Rental Films of 1972,”
Variety
(3 January 1973), 7. See also “$7 Million Gross Expected from Disney Reissue,”
Los Angeles Times
(17 March 1972), H16.

5
. “50 Top-Grossing Films,”
Variety
(2 February 1972), 9; “50 Top-Grossing Films,”
Variety
(12 April 1972), 13; “50 Top-Grossing Films,”
Variety
(9 February 1972), 11.

6
. “
‘Aristocats,’ ‘Song’ Booked in Multiples,”
Los Angeles Times
(15 June 1973), H18.

7
. According to numbers provided in “All-Time Film Rental Champs,”
Variety
(14 January 1981), 52; “All-Time Film Rental Champs,”
Variety
(13 January 1982), 54; and “All-Time Film Rental Champs,”
Variety
(20 January 1988), 29.

8
. Jonathan Gray,
Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts
(New York: New York University Press, 2010), 38.

9
. Ibid., 3.

10
. Christopher Anderson,
Hollywood TV: The Studio System in the Fifties
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994), 135.

11
. Richard Schickel,
The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968), 276.

12
. Doug McAdam
, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970
, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 159.

13
. Thomas Cripps,
Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.

14
. Ibid., 289.

15
. “Educating Our White Folks,”
Ebony
(March 1952), 98.

16
. Ibid.

17
. Ibid.

18
. Melvin Patrick Ely
, The Adventures of Amos ’n’ Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1991), 6.

19
. Ibid., 7.

20
. “Thousands Attend the Funeral of ‘Uncle Remus,’
”
Chicago Defender
(24 July 1948), 9.

21
. “Jim Baskett, Films’ ‘Uncle Remus’ Dies,”
Chicago Defender
(17 July 1948), 1.

22
. “Thousands Attend the Funeral of ‘Uncle Remus,’
” 9.

23
. Hilda See, “There Are Two ‘Oscars’ Among Our Records Unaccompanied Because of Hollywood Bias,”
Chicago Defender
(1 May 1954), 19.

24
. “
Song of the South
,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
(18 March 1956), K17.

25
. “Regal Theatre Picture Offers James Baskett in ‘Uncle Remus’ Role,”
Chicago Daily Defender
(25 April 1956), 19. A similar article had also appeared two days earlier, “Regal Gets ‘Remus’ Pix on Screen,”
Chicago Daily Defender
(23 April 1956), 18.

26
. “
‘Uncle Remus’ Is Back,”
Chicago Daily Defender
(30 April 1956), 17.

27
. McAdam,
Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency
, 197.

28
. Quoted in Lucchese, “Whites Like ‘South’ Pic, but Do Blacks?”
Variety
(23 February 1972).

29
. Ray,
Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema
.

30
. Quoted in “Turn Stereotypes into ‘Study Course’ Black Cinema Group De-fuses Vaulties,”
Variety
(9 February 1972), 5.

31
. Bill Smallwood, “Untitled,”
Oakland Post
(17 February 1972), 14.

32
. Wayne Warga, “Shattering the Old Images of Negroes,”
Los Angeles Times
(6 February 1972), Y1.

33
. Jacob Smith,
Spoken Word: Postwar American Phonograph Cultures
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 19.

34
. Ibid.

35
. Alan Bryman,
Disney and His Worlds
(New York: Routledge, 1995), 38.

36
. Michael Real,
Mass-Mediated Culture
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977), 81.

37
. Ibid., 84.