Q : I was just wondering who were the artists who first drew Donald Duck and Goofy? Obviously, Walt was the first to draw Mickey. Sometimes I feel he’s credited as coming up with Donald and Goofy because they’re “Disney characters,” but was he really the one who came up with them and the first to draw them for their first cartoons The Wise Little Hen and Goofy and Wilbur?
Dean, Nampa, Idaho
A: The names of the first artists to draw the characters are unknown, but we can tell you the first animators to actually animate them in their debut cartoons: It was Tom Palmer doing Goofy in Mickey’s Revue, and Art Babbitt and Dick Huemer doing Donald in The Wise Little Hen.
Q : I have seen a few sources attribute the authorship of “Jesusita en Chihuahua” (featured in The Three Caballeros) to Manuel Esperon and Ernesto Cortazar. According to most sources though, the piece was composed by Quirino Mendoza y Cortes. Can you confirm who actually wrote the song, and if it was Cortes (I assume that it was), do you have any guesses as to why it has been misattributed to Esperon and Cortazar? I know that they had some ties to The Three Caballeros, so could it be that they did an arrangement of the piece for the film?
Jeremiah, Fairfax, Virginia
A: The official music source at Disney simply lists this song as “traditional,” developed by Ed Plumb. Plumb was credited with the English lyrics on the published sheet music.
Q : I am a fan of the Disney films from the 1960s and 1970s. After watching The Love Bug series, I noticed that Dean Jones starred in The Love Bug and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, the third film in the series, but not in Herbie Rides Again. Was there any specific reason why Helen Hayes starred in Herbie Rides Again instead of Jones?
Andrew, St. James, New York
A: Dean Jones once said in an interview that he didn’t think the script was up to the quality of that of the first film. It is explained in the film, which starred Helen Hayes as Herbie’s new owner, that Herbie’s former owner, Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), had gone to Europe.
Q : Wikipedia states that Walt Disney has 59 Academy Award nominations (including 22 wins). But according to the list provided, I keep tallying 60, 59 of them being in the short subject and documentary categories. Is Best Picture nominee Mary Poppins not officially counted among the 59 or 60 nominations? Besides those, I know he also has four honorary awards.
Michael, Irvine, California
A: There were actually 115 Academy Award nominations given for Disney films during Walt Disney’s lifetime, plus honorary and technical awards. I count 59 of those nominations being to Walt Disney personally, which includes the Mary Poppins Best Picture nomination. Walt personally won a total of 32 Academy Awards (one of those, for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, being presented posthumously).
Q : With the newest Oz feature about to be released, I’m interested in an older feature—I think it was Return to Oz starring Annette Funicello. Was this film ever completed? I’m guessing it would have been around the time she made Babes in Toyland.
Barbara, Mountain Home, Idaho
A: Return to Oz, made by Disney in 1985, starred Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. When she was on the Mickey Mouse Club, three decades earlier, Annette Funicello performed in a segment on The Fourth Anniversary Show, one of the Disney television shows from 1957, introducing an upcoming film to be called The Rainbow Road to Oz. That film was never made.
Q : Is there a copy of the song “It Won’t be Long ‘Til Christmas” from the movie The Happiest Millionaire, sung by Greer Garson and Fred MacMurray? The song on the soundtrack as well as the Sherman Brothers’ Songbook have others singing this song. I just want the original song by the original actors. The song has so much heart, I hope there is a way to find the original.
Rebecca, Chesapeake, Virginia
A: Greer Garson and Fred MacMurray sang the song on the soundtrack, but it was cut from the film before release. It is on the Restored Roadshow Version, put out by Disney on DVD in 2003.
Q : Why is Trenchcoat still not branded as a Disney film when it is tame in comparison to current Disney films like The Avengers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and John Carter. Has it ever seen a DVD release?
Andrew, Smyrna, Georgia
A: The film was released on VHS in 1983 and on DVD in 2012. It was released originally without the Disney name during a period before Disney had come up with its Touchstone label for more adult-themed fare. Normally for later releases, changes are not made on how a film is labeled.