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" ... and then there were none." For over three decades now, animation fans have been quietly counting down. As first John Lounsbury, and then Les Clark slipped away. Followed by Woolie Reitherman, Milt Kahl and Eric Larsen. Then Marc Davis, Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas. And today word came out of Sequim, WA. that Ollie Johnston -- the last of Walt's Nine Old Men -- had passed away...

Christians laud Walt, criticize Disney Co. Religious filmmakers study the innovator's virtues but say his firm forgot family values. From Reuters October 23, 2007 Hundreds of Christian filmmakers gathered in Texas on Monday to study the work of Walt Disney and discuss their belief that his corporate heirs at Walt Disney Co. have strayed from his family-friendly legacy. The Christian Filmmakers Academy, which trains aspiring filmmakers and promotes films with "biblical values," contends that Disney Co. has become "an engine of cultural decline after Walt's death" that exercises an alarmingly vast global influence. The two-day analysis of Disney, the man...

ORLANDO, Fla. - Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film "Song of the South" was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs _ the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." It also carries the story line of the Splash Mountain rides at its theme parks. But the movie remains hidden in the Disney archives _ never released on video in the United States and criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. The film's 60th anniversary passed last year without a whisper of official rerelease, which is unusual for Disney, but President and CEO...

'Song of the South' pits art vs. cultural sensitivity http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=136791&pubDate=3/31/2007 http://tinyurl.com/2w5vty BY RON MENCHACA The Post and Courier Talk of a possible re-release of the 1946 Walt Disney film 'Song of the South,' which is criticized for its plantation-era depictions of blacks as the happy servants of wealthy whites, already is sparking a debate. The film was reshown in theaters as recently as 1986, but it never was released on video in the United States. Its cultural and cinematic significance have been the subject of scholarly debate for decades, and bootlegged copies of the film are popular on the black...

Walt Disney teaches us how to use the Boys AT rifle, in three parts. Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rODm7HF5lFU Part 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9lIO8AL3ds Part 3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsifcQnSv94 And also, Männer gegen Panzer, auf Deutsch: Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STQHH_hJlhM Part 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7SixS9PAw

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday said it took "appropriate action" against employees at its Paris theme park who were caught simulating sex while dressed as Disney characters in a digital video that has received wide attention on the Internet. Disney would not say whether it had dismissed any of the costumed employees featured in the grainy video, which appears to have been shot with a hidden camera at a backstage dressing room at Disneyland Resort Paris. "The behaviour shown on the video is unacceptable and inexcusable," Disney said in a statement. "The video was taken...

With virtually no questions asked, an undercover ABC News team was able to purchase a half ton of one of the world's most dangerous bomb-making materials and move it into a storage shed only a few miles from the White House and the U.S. Capitol. Despite its use in the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, there are still no federal laws restricting the purchase of ammonium nitrate, a chemical fertilizer, widely sold at farm supply stores. The ABC News undercover team made the purchases, in cash, at farm supply stores in North Carolina and Virginia and were never...

An attorney was arrested Thursday on charges of embezzling $150,000 from the trust fund he set up for an elderly woman who once worked as Walt Disney's secretary. Prosecutors say Salvatore Patrick Osio, 68, set up the trust for Alicia Waters and her husband in 2002 and took $150,000 out of it for his personal use. Osio was jailed on $150,000 bail after being arrested at his Palos Verdes home. He was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on one count each of grand theft, theft from an elder, forgery and perjury. It couldn't be immediately determined if Osio has hired...

“PAIN is temporary, film is forever.” That hopeful thought, which found its way into the original script of Peter Jackson's recent re-make of “King Kong”, might be seized upon by today's beleaguered entertainment industry. Media companies are suffering intense pain—and it is starting to seem worryingly permanent. In America shares of “old” media firms such as News Corporation, Comcast and other giants of television, film, radio and print, have fallen 25% behind the S&P 500 in the past two years, despite some heroic financial results. Meanwhile, the market value of Google, which made its debut on the stockmarket in 2004,...

Excerpt - LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Walt Disney Co. is reported to be in serious talks to buy Pixar Animation Studios for slightly more than the $6.7 billion that Pixar already is worth. The deal between Walt Disney Co.(DIS)and Pixar Animation Studios(PIXR)would leave Pixar CEO Steve Jobs as Disney's largest individual stockholder, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources. Jobs also is head of Apple Computer(AAPL). The report said Disney is negotiating to pay a "nominal" premium to Pixar's current $6.7 billion market capitalization. Both sides accept that Pixar's stock price has a takeover premium built in after...

A contestant on ABC's Wife Swap is suing the Walt Disney Company and the show's producer, RDF Media, for $10,225,000 after the person involved in the swap turned out to be a gay man. Jeffrey D. Bedford of Haileyville, OK told the Muskogee Phoenix that he could not comment on the case but provided a copy of his lawsuit in which he claims that the producers told him that if he did not proceed with the filming, they would not tell him his wife's whereabouts and would not pay for her return home; that the gay man invited members of...

LOS ANGELES -- At some of the largest and most influential Christian churches in the country, the lights dim and congregants watch a sneak preview of a new movie -- about golf. The Walt Disney Co. is marketing "The Greatest Game Ever Played" to faith-based groups even though the film, about Francis Ouimet's improbable win in the 1913 U.S. Open, isn't overtly religious.

Mel Gibson had Hollywood insiders scratching their heads when he announced that his film "The Passion of the Christ" would have dialogue only in Latin and Aramaic. Now comes word that the next movie Gibson will direct, "Apocalypto," will be filmed in an obscure Mayan dialect. The movie will star a neophyte cast indigenous to the region of Mexico where Gibson will shoot the film, according to the trade paper Variety, which says it will "presumably" have the "same kind of subtitles Gibson reluctantly added to 'The Passion of the Christ.'" Earlier reports claimed the movie would be set 3,000...

Title: Apocalypto. Log Line: Set in an ancient civilization 3,000 years ago. Writer: Mel Gibson. Agent: Ed Limato of ICM and atty. Tom Hansen of Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren & Richman, LLP. Buyer: Walt Disney Pictures and Icon. Genre: Action. Logged: 7/22/05. More: Icon's Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey will produce. Gibson will also direct. Icon fully financed this script and will also handle all foreign territories, with Disney handling domestic.

ABC Pulls 'Neighborhood' Reality Series LOS ANGELES -- "Welcome to the Neighborhood," an ABC reality series that pushes hot buttons of racism and anti-homosexuality, was pulled by the network before its debut. The program had drawn criticism from groups claiming it risked fostering prejudice.~snip~ ... three families in Austin, Texas, who are given the chance to choose a new neighbor for a house on their street. Each family initially wants someone similar to them _ white and conservative. Instead, they must choose from families that are black, Hispanic and Asian; two gay white men who've adopted a black child; a...

Walt Disney yelled at me. It happened at Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth, at least when you're not getting yelled at by the fellow who built it. Actually, Disney yelled at me a couple of times, and he frowned at me once. In the great man's defense, I had it coming, although kindly Uncle Walt turned out to be as avuncular as Grumpy the dwarf. As a kid growing up in L.A., I forked over much of my allowance and my childhood to the Disney cartel. Our family kept Walt's place solvent in its early years. We were there...

Walt Disney is to promote its $100 million adaptation of C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a "Passion of the Christ for kids" in an attempt to secure worldwide Christian support for the film. Disney executives have organised private meetings with several church groups in America to emphasise the themes of Christian redemption and sacrifice contained in the film, which will open in December with an all-star cast. They have also hired a public relations company to market the film directly to Christian groups to ensure that the powerful evangelical movement, which is particularly strong...

Walt Disney Co.'s board is expected to name President Robert Iger as its new chief executive shortly, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mr. Iger would succeed longtime chief Michael Eisner, who has announced plans to step down. Disney's board met late Saturday to discuss the CEO search and could announce Mr. Iger's promotion as early as Sunday. The leading external contender in the succession battle, EBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman, withdrew her candidacy for the position Friday. Having been stripped of his chairman title after a shareholder revolt last year, Mr. Eisner announced plans to depart...

Walt Disney is to promote its $100 million adaptation of C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a "Passion of the Christ for kids" in an attempt to secure worldwide Christian support for the film. Disney executives have organised private meetings with several church groups in America to emphasise the themes of Christian redemption and sacrifice contained in the film, which will open in December with an all-star cast. They have also hired a public relations company to market the film directly to Christian groups to ensure that the powerful evangelical movement, which is particularly strong...

The Aviator on National Review Online E-mail Author Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version February 25, 2005, 3:14 p.m. Howard Hughes's Last HurrahWhat The Aviator misses. by John Meroney Fifty-three years ago this week, Howard Hughes found himself locked in a battle against powerful political forces he believed were bent on undermining the free-market system. The billionaire industrialist, airplane manufacturer, and filmmaker became so passionate about the fight that he summoned all his emotional and physical strength to overcome a crippling fear of the public so he could make his case for what he saw as...

In a new video to be distributed to 61,000 schools across the nation, homosexual activists are using popular children's TV characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Barney the dinosaur to surreptitiously indoctrinate young children into their lifestyle, a pro-family activist group charges. SpongeBob Squarepants is one of the popular children's TV characters appearing in a new 'tolerance' video. Based on the 1970s hit song "We Are Family," the video will be distributed to public and private elementary schools nationwide March 11, along with lesson plans for teachers, points out the American Family Association. The distribution, sponsored by FedEx, will coincide...

Year In Review: Entertainment Industry (Originally published on May 25, 2004) A Christian activist group has developed a three-point strategy to warn unsuspecting families coming to Orlando, Florida, about the very family-unfriendly homosexual pride festival known as "Gay Days at Walt Disney World." The Christian Action Network (CAN) is engaging in an all-out effort to inform families, school groups, and others of what they can expect from the homosexual event long before they enter the so-called Magic Kingdom. The group plans to use literature, road signs, and even a mobile advertisement to get the word out about the offensive and...

Mommy, have I done something wrong?            Andrea Yates was the mother of five beautiful, innocent children. She drowned them all in a bathtub and we are supposed to feel sorry for her. When her seven year old son saw his baby sister lying lifeless on the floor of the bathroom, he asked if she was all right, to which Andrea answered, “get in the tub”, Noah ran, but not far enough or fast enough. The last words he spoke just before his mother drowned him in the bathtub was: “Mother, have I done something wrong?”          I say we are...

Is anyone else trying to watch the Christmas programming on "ABC Family"? There are several good programs on, many of them are the old Clay-mation Christmas shows that I remember from my childhood. And before I get bashed for not knowing that Jesus is the reason for the season, I do. But I also know that these are good, wholesome classics and are a Christmas tradition in my family. The problem is: nearly every commercial break contains a plug for the "ABC Family" show "Degrassi High", which appears to be aimed at teenagers and has at least one positively-portrayed gay...

The nation's chief media regulator expressed disappointment Wednesday over the steamy locker room opening to ABC's "Monday Night Football" broadcast. AP Photo "I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud," said Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites). ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. The opening, which has generated complaints to ABC and the FCC (news - web sites), featured actress Nicollette Sheridan in the locker room, supposedly dressed only in a white towel. She drops the towel and jumps into the arms of Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens. Sheridan was shown only...

In a deal it hopes will produce a trove of new properties to exploit across various media, Walt Disney Co. has bought the assets of CrossGen Entertainment, a comic book publisher whose fantasy and sci-fi titles include "Abadazad," "Mystic" and "Route 666." Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition of the more than two dozen titles comes as Disney is set to launch a TV series in the United States based on "W.I.T.C.H.," a comic magazine for tween girls that debuted in 2001 in Italy. Disney says "W.I.T.C.H." is now the fourth-largest magazine in the world in terms of international editions....

...[T]he TV networks... say they have revamped the way they collect and analyze polling data, using more sophisticated equipment and better communications. To tone down their competitive instincts in "calling" states for either candidate, some are blocking their news desks from watching rivals' shows. All the networks are also striving to get their respective "decision desks" -- the units that make the calls -- to work more closely with the producers and reporters.... CBS News said the computers VNS used weren't sophisticated enough to compare voting data with historical information and were incapable of raising red flags where they were...

Walt Disney, which refused to distribute Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 9/11, is using the Fourth of July holiday to launch a feelgood feature film about the American people. Borrowing a tactic from the grassroots campaign that made Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ a surprise hit, the media giant has used early screenings for select groups and is encouraging people to "spread the word" about the patriotic film, with invitations, posters, and guidelines for group outings on its website. America's Heart & Soul, which opens today on 100 screens across the US, offers a flag-draped look at the country....

On the June 2 NBC Nightly News, Brokaw announced: "An award- winning film about President Bush and his team, by documentarian and liberal activist Michael Moore, will show up in American theaters after all. The Walt Disney Company at first refused to release the film for political reasons, so a separate partnership was formed headed by the Weinstein brothers of Miramax Films. They began publicizing the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, today with selected clips." NBC viewers were then treated to film excerpts with a fast- paced rock musical background. Bush in black tie at a podium at a dinner: "This is...

(AgapePress) - A Christian activist group has developed a three-point strategy to warn unsuspecting families coming to Orlando, Florida, about the very family-unfriendly homosexual pride festival known as "Gay Days at Walt Disney World." The Christian Action Network (CAN) is engaging in an all-out effort to inform families, school groups, and others of what they can expect from the homosexual event long before they enter the so-called Magic Kingdom. The group plans to use literature, road signs, and even a mobile advertisement to get the word out about the offensive and often X-rated goings on at the Walt Disney World...

The long-dreaded 2004 Olympics in Greece will be the ultimate crossroads for sports and politics in this new and vicious century. The recent photos of cruelty at the Abu Grahaib all-american prison in Baghdad have taken care of that. Yes, sir. We have taken the bull by the horns on this one, sports fans. These horrifying digital snapshots of the American dream in action on foreign soil are worse than anything even I could have expected. I have been in this business a long time and I have seen many staggering things, but this one is over the line. Now...

NewsBlues.com is reporting [no free link] that Sinclair Broadcast Group has ordered its ABC-affiliated stations not to carry tomorrow's "Nightline," which will air the names and photos of soldiers who have been killed in combat in Iraq. Sinclair General Counsel Barry Faber tells the site: "We find it to be contrary to the public interest." The boycott will affect eight ABC-affiliated Sinclair stations.

I saw a commercial for next Friday's edition of 20/20 last night. The ad consisted of something that just left me stunned and unable to form any words, save one. The ad is plugging a story helmed by Barbara Walters. This is the gist of it: Five couples are vying to adopt a single baby. Of course, only one will be able to, and four others will be heartbroken. Who will the mother choose? This was followed by a shot of the four couples standing behind Walters and the mother, holding her baby, and Walters saying something along the lines...

A Los Angeles judge on Monday delivered the first good news Walt Disney has had this year when he dismissed a 13-year-old multimillion-dollar lawsuit over its rights to exploit Winnie the Pooh and his 100-Aker Wood associates. "It is all over," said Disney lawyer Daniel Petrocelli. The ruling appeared to end a colourful struggle over a group of Disney's most profitable film, merchandise and theme park characters that had stirred allegations of skullduggery on both sides. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the entertainment group warned that losing the case would have cost it hundreds of millions...

<p>How to even begin criticizing the idea behind The Swan, Fox's new reality show that finds unhappy women and offers them a combo of plastic surgery, life coaching, therapy and a beauty-pageant finale, as they compete for our entertainment all the while?</p>

Network has produced another show loaded with liberal theologians and permeated with a sense of unbelief. Peter Jennings is at it again. The "ABC World News Tonight" anchor is the driving force behind Monday night's three-hour network special "Jesus and Paul -- the Word and the Witness." Like "The Search for Jesus," a previous ABC special Jennings shepherded, the new show is filled with "expert" analysis from liberal theologians and carries the underlying worldview of unbelief in Scripture and Jesus' divinity. "Jennings repeatedly refers to 'the Jesus movement' as if it were just another political party or faction," Focus on...

I don't do this very often, so forgive me. I was watching the ABC program tonight on Donald Rumsfeld at 8 P.M. EST. Right in the middle of the show, here appears Richard Clarke, and down in the corner is the little ABC logo with the words ABC (SOMETHING) CONSULTANT. (Not sure what TYPE of consultant, but definitely CONSULTANT.

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - Caterpillar and the Walt Disney Co. settled a trademark infringement lawsuit Thursday that claimed a direct-to-DVD comedy released last year taints the heavy equipment maker's image. Terms of the settlement were not revealed in a brief order approved by a federal judge. Caterpillar and Disney, which have been partners in other business projects, issued statements saying the deal was "amicable." Spokesmen for both companies declined further comment. The Peoria, Ill.-based manufacturer sued last fall, alleging that the live-animated sequel "George of the Jungle 2" tarnished Caterpillar's reputation because its trademark yellow earth-moving equipment is linked to...

The events of September 11th, 2001, - tragically, after only two years - have become a joke. We need look no further than jolly old England for one example. In a story from the "This Is London" on-online edition from over the weekend, I read where about a sculpture featuring Mickey Mouse (that's M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E) flying a plane into the World Trade Center. Quoting the article: “Entitled 'Mickey's Taliban Adventures', the sculpture, by Alan Bennie of the Edinburgh College of Art, shows Mickey flying a toy plane into foam-like recreations of the WTC. The buildings have eyes to give them...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A media watchdog group is accusing ABC News of biased coverage about abortion and the March for Life, where more than 100,000 people gathered to mourn the Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion. While ABC on Thursday night gave a few seconds of air time to Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark's clarification of his position in favor of abortion, it blacked out any coverage of the March for Life. Instead, ABC's web site featured two articles with a decidedly pro-abortion viewpoint, notes Jessica Anderson of the Media Research Center. "'Christian Terrorists': Anti-Abortionist Calls for Violence, Says...

The Family Pride Coalition announced it has picked Father's Day weekend, June 17-20, for its first-ever gathering at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. "This official Family Pride event...has been specially designed for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) parents and their families," the group said in a press release. The Family Pride gathering will take place two weeks after "Gay Days" at Disney World -- an annual June event since 1991. Family Pride said its weekend will include a welcome reception, educational workshops presented by the Family Pride Coalition, a family dance, a kids' night out, family brunches, the...

Welcome to Save Disney.com. This website is devoted to those concerned about the welfare of The Walt Disney Company and its future direction. Stan Gold and I plan to use this site as a central information location as we begin to restore Disney to its position as the preeminent entertainment company in the world. We have also provided a mechanism for all interested parties to provide ideas, comments, concerns and input, and we sincerely hope that you will communicate with us. I thank you for your concern about this wonderful Company founded by my father and uncle more than 80...

<p>Walt Disney Co. Vice Chairman Roy E. Disney submitted his resignation from the company board on Sunday and called for Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner to step down from his own positions.</p> <p>Mr. Disney, nephew to the late Walt Disney, sent Mr. Eisner a tough three-page letter severely criticizing his leadership during the past seven years. "It is my sincere belief that it is you who should be leaving and not me," Mr. Disney wrote. "Accordingly, I once again call for your resignation or retirement."</p>

For centuries, people have puzzled over lemmings, the northern rodents whose populations surge and crash so quickly and so regularly that they inspired an enduring myth: that lemmings commit mass suicide when their numbers grow too large, eagerly pitching themselves off cliffs to their death in a foamy sea. Scientists debunked that notion decades ago. But they have never been certain what causes the rapid boom-and-bust cycles that gave rise to it. Now, in a study of collared lemmings in Greenland, being published today in the journal Science, a team of European researchers report that the reason has nothing to...

Just don't let Minnie wear a thong, please07/22/2003 Signs of the times at Disney World: Mickey Mouse can now sport cornrows, and Minnie can wear hoop earrings. The Associated Press reports that Walt Disney Co. is liberalizing dress codes for employees at its theme parks, whether or not Walt is turning over in his freezer (yes, we know it's an urban myth). New park policies allow men to wear braids, just so they're straight, are tied close to the scalp and don't touch the collar. "It is really becoming a mainstream look," said Melissa Valiquette, manager of Costuming, Cast...

I just heard Roger say the "new" Disney Company, (one which Walt would not have had anything to do with) is planning on making a movie called "The Alamo" designed to destroy the memory and image of all the heros who fell in battleTurning them into drunks and "white men" slave owners, the new picture is supposed to undo all the good Walt did with Fess Parker in the 50'sObviously now controled by the dark side, and destined to run the company into bankrupcy, this movie will harm Disney in a way the Bomb damaged HeroshimaYou'd think they would have...

at The "incredible timing" of Osama bin Laden linking his cause with Iraq just as the Bush administration was trying to prove such a tie, is better timing "than Hugh Hefner finding Viagra at 78," Joy Behar quipped on ABC's daytime show The View. Also on the Wednesday edition of that show, Queen Latifah, who was just nominated for an Academy Award, suggested the "whole Cold War thing," in which "they made us scared" of the Soviet Union, was a big ruse. On the February 12 The View, the ABC show created by Barbara Walters, former Good Morning America staffer...

<p>Father Geek here with some tragic uncool news... Long time animator "Tex" Henson has died... I've met TEX many times over the years, listened to his tall-tales for days gone-by in the animation biz, watched as he drew various comic characters for my kids (Harry and Dannie)... he was a great, fun guy full of history and laughs... and a good friend who never turned his back on the fans. As I flip thru my stack of his art that he gave me over the last 30 years I can't help but shed a tear, not only for "TEX", but for the industry he was soooo much a part of... its changed so much...</p>