Do you know what I’m thinking? If you were Merlin Jones, you would! That’s because the scientific genius from Medvale College invented a device that can read minds in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, which was released on this day in 1964. Starring Disney Legends Tommy Kirk as Merlin and Annette Funicello as his girlfriend Jennifer, this film, that’s filled with ESP and hypnotism, was intended to be a two-part story for Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Probably not due to ESP, Walt had a prediction that it would be better to release this film theatrically. And right he was! It was so popular that it led to a sequel, The Monkey’s Uncle. Merlin Jones is fun right from the stop-motion animated opening credits by the team of Disney Legends X. Atencio and Bill Justice. The duo worked on similar sequences for other films, such as Noah’s Ark, A Symposium on Popular Songs, The Parent Tra,p and The Shaggy Dog, as well as the tidying the nursery sequence in Mary Poppins. Disney Legends the Sherman Brothers provided the theme song to accompany X and Bill’s animation with lyrics unforgettably sung by stop-motion Annette. “They call him Merlin Jones, the scrambled egghead. Merlin Jones the campus kook. But my heart’s whirlin’, I’m the girl in love with Merlin Jones!”
