The World's Funniest Joke

Sorry I've been lax in posting lately...   I took a three week vacation (which I will soon be boring you with pictures from) so I'm a little behind.   While I unpack, enjoy Fozzie Bear telling the World's Funniest Joke...

Recreating "America Sings"

One of my favorite lost attractions at Disneyland was the show "America Sings."  This show, housed in the old Carousel of Progress Building, premiered in 1974 as Disneyland's salute to the country's bicentennial.  The show stayed there until 1988, when it was closed down and most of the characters moved to Splash Mountain.  For you younguns' who don't remember the show, here are video links to the show.

Here's part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

and part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

Now comes along James Lopez, a Disney animator who is an uber-fan of the attraction. In fact, James is such an fan that he is spending most of his free time creating an animated version of the attraction!   Check out the video below of the opening scene... it's obviously a work in progress, but there is some great finished animation in there:
Animated version of Disneyland's 'America Sings' Attraction (Act 1) from James Lopez on Vimeo.

Interesting trivia about the ride:

• Two singing geese were removed from the attraction two years before it was closed.   Their feathers were stripped and they became working droids in the Star Tours pre-show.  One of them was still singing a modified version of "I've been Working on the Railroad," while he worked on the starspeeders.
• This attraction was a Disneyland exclusive, and was never built at any other Disney Park.
• The rock and roll stork from the attraction is now housed at Imagineering, where it is used as a kind of final exam in the training of new programmers.

• There were 114 animated characters on this attraction, the most audio-animatronic characters ever assembled for a Disney attraction.
• Del Monte was the original sponsor.
• For the morbidly curious, yes, someone actually was killed on this ride.   For the details go to http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/amersing.asp   I ain't discussing that here.

"Goodbye, until next post" goes the weasel!

Travels with Joe - Lesson learned

Last year, I took a cruise to Alaska.   When I travel, I try to dress as comfortably as possible.  After all, I wear tie to work every day, so why would I want to dress up while on vacation?   I ignored the advice of everyone I know, who told me to be sure to take at least one nice set of dress clothes, and packed nothing but jeans and t-shirts.  I even called the cruise line, Norwegian, and asked if there was anywhere I couldn't go dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.   "No, you're fine," said the Norwegian who answered the phone.   "We are the Free-Style cruise!"
Well, day three out on the ocean, and I am invited to dine at the captain's table.   Remembering the advice of the Norwegian on the phone, I came dressed in my regular attire (This night, it was a Conneaut Lake Park t-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers).  As you can tell from the photo below, I kinda stood out.  In fact, half way through the meal, one of the ladies asked me if I needed to get back down into the engine room and stoke the boilers.  Lesson learned. 

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Super Chicken

I've ben trying to post a Super Chicken adventure since I started this blog, but it's hard to find a good-looking copy posted on the internet.   I am finally giving up and am posting the best copy I can find of "Wild Ralph Hiccup" first broadcast in 1967.   Super Chicken was a component of the "George of the Jungle" TV show, produced by the legendary Jay Ward.  Ward had previously produced "Rocky and Bullwinkle" with a Mexican animation studio and was never completely satisfied with the sloppy animation of that series.   He produced "George of the Jungle" completely in Hollywood, which caused the entire project to go overbudget.   This ended up being Ward's last television series.   He ended his animation career by producing commercials for Cap'n Crunch and other breakfast cereals.   Pull up a a bowl of Quisp (or Quake, if you prefer) and watch "Wild Ralph Hiccup."   Enjoy!