Beaver Valley

Beaver Valley & Cameras in Africa Debut on TV

The 1950 Academy Award® winning film Beaver Valley told the whole “tooth” about critters, including their lives in ponds and their interactions with other animals such as moose, deer, raccoons, and frogs. The 32 minute featurette made its debut on the Disneyland TV show on this day in 1954, paired up with Camera in Africa, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Disney Legends Alfred and Elma Milotte filming African wildlife. The Milottes were wildlife photographers, married since 1934. Their first animal pictures were made during their honeymoon in the mountains of southeastern Alaska. In 1955, Elma was asked about how she felt about living in civilization, to which she replied, “It’s nice to feel silks and satins and live luxuriously—for a little while, but it always wears on me as it does on Al, and we can hardly wait to be moving again, after a little while. There’s something about the wilderness, and the animals and the nearness of basic things that’s gotten under our skins I guess.”