This Day in Pop Culture for November 12

1946: Controversial ‘Song of the South’ Opens in Theaters

A year before one of Walt Disney’s most controversial film arrived in theaters, Disney produced a Sunday morning comic strip titled, Uncle Remus: His Tales of Br’er Rabbit. Meant to be a short-lived promotion for the film Song of the South, the comic proved so popular that it continued to run through December 31, 1972.

The movie was Disney’s first live action film to feature live action and animated elements and the first to show a few scenes with them combined. Most notable is the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah song with an animated bluebird on Uncle Remus’ shoulder. The movie included about 25 minutes of animation with Uncle Remus telling his tales of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er For and Br’er Bear.

Song of the South starred James Baskett as Uncle Remus whom Disney described as “the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years.” When the movie premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, Baskett was unable to attend the premiere since Atlanta was a racially segregated city at the time. However, Baskett did win an honorary Oscar for his work on the film “for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and storyteller to the children of the world”. The song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” won the Oscar for Best Song.

Though the Disney Company has faced backlash from the film’s portrayals of the African Americans in the movie, it was still re-released in U.S. theaters several times in 1956, 1972, 1973, 1980 and as late as 1986 in promotion of Disneyland’s Splash Mountain. (The ride has since been revamped as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure based on The Princess and the Frog movie.) “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” was used frequently at the Disney parks until recently.

According to songofthesouth.net, some people have been mistakenly believed that the movie depicts slavery and there is a reason for that. In the 1940’s, the NAACP stated that the movie featured “an idyllic master-slave relationship.” But the story takes place after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery.

Disney refuses to air the movie on Disney+ and has yet to release Song of the South in full for home viewing. But that doesn’t mean that people don’t want to see it. During her acceptance as one of Disney’s “Legends” at a ceremony in July of 2017, actress Whoopie Goldberg expressed about how she wished that the movie would be re-released publicly for American audiences. But it might take a while before we can watch it again. It doesn’t enter public domain until 2041. (Image: TVDB)

1939: Bela Lugosi Strikes a Pose

The Walt Disney Company has a long history of using models to help them animate their films. On this day in 1939, actor Bela Lugosi, better known by some as Dracula, modeled for the role of Chernabog in the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence of the film Fantasia. However, head animator Bill Tytla was unhappy with the results and later had director Wilfred Jackson redo the poses.

2018: Stan Lee Passes Away

Comic Book fans mourned on this day when it was reported that Marvel comics’ Stan Lee had passed away at the age of 95. He was the co-creator or such superheroes as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Hulk, Iron Man and more.

When Lee was just 17 years old, he became an assistant at Timely Comics where he wrote stories for artist like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. One year later, Lee became the editor-in-chief. After his service with the army (working on training films and some cartooning) he continued in that role until he became a publisher in 1972.

After DC Comic’s success with their Justice League of America comic books, Lee and Kirby teamed up to create the Fantastic Four which was not only an instant hit, but it helped to pave the way for more masked heroes to come about, often providing social commentary. In many ways, the older the man got, the popular and more well-known he became. He became the face of Marvel appearing in cameo roles in 26 movies including The Trial of the Incredible Hulk in 1989, in animated form for Disney’s Big Hero 6 in 2014 and his last, Venom 2018.

1892: The First Professional Football Player

It is said that the birth of professional football began on this day when William “Pudge” Hefflfinger was paid $500 to play just one game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. And maybe it was money well spent. Heffelfinger picked up a Pittsburgh fumble and ran 35 yards for a touchdown winning the game 4–0.