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Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks If you were browsing news sites yesterday, you may have come across Meryl Streep’s rant about what a racist Nazi anti-semite that Walt Disney was and what an amazing human being Emma Thompson is.It’s easy to take shots at a dead man, but Walt Disney’s character was framed by angry left-wing union members in a town where mildly conservative politics led to cries of “Fascist”.The evidence that Walt Disney ever supported the Third Reich is flimsy and hearsay. There’s far more evidence that his critics supported the USSR.And the evidence for...

Meryl Streep had some choice words to say about Walt Disney during remarks she made Tuesday at an awards gala where she was honoring "Saving Mr. Banks" star Emma Thompson. The "August: Osage County" star called out Disney as both sexist and anti-Semitic while presenting the best actress prize to Thompson at the National Board of Review awards in New York.

No wonder Mary Poppins needed a spoonful of sugar. The forthcoming Saving Mr. Banks is a dark film that tells the heart-breaking true story behind one of the great characters in children’s movie history. P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the nanny’s formidable creator, is pitted against Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), who promised his daughters that he’d bring Poppins to the big screen. The thing is, that pledge goes against the author’s wishes. Saving Mr. Banks goes behind the scenes of the ferocious battle to make what was to become the famous 1964 musical adaptation. For 20 years, Travers refused to grant...

Philanthropist Diane Disney Miller, who was the daughter of Walt Disney, died Tuesday at her home in Napa, Calif. She had suffered a fall in September from which she never recovered. Disney Miller, the eldest and only biological daughter of Lillian and Walt Disney, helped shepherd the development of Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall ...

Walt & Lillian Disney with Richard Nixon and his family at Disneyland, 1959 We tend to think of Hollywood as a bastion of leftism, and rightly so. Books like Ron Radosh’s Red Star Over Hollywood demonstrate the deep-seated left-wing dominance of the entertainment industry. Even with the leftism prevalent in Hollywood’s Golden Age, many unabashed conservatives found success without compromising their principles, including one of the most creative minds in the business — Walt Disney.Several biographers and writers that I’ve read have tried to declare that Walt Disney was apolitical, but I find this conclusion not to be true....

The Walt Disney Co. is expected to begin layoffs in the coming weeks, with the cuts centering on the company's movie studio, a source with knowledge of the matter has confirmed. The cuts, first reported by trade publication Variety, are said to be the result of an internal corporate review. Layoffs are expected to affect the studio's marketing and home entertainment divisions, and possibly other areas, according to a source. Variety reported that the cuts would also be made in the production department. It's not clear how many reductions there will be at the company. Reuters reported Thursday that cuts...

If you have never heeded my posts, I ask you to heed this one.... Years ago Walt Disney produced this great movie explaining liberty, and in the newly released DVD it includes special segments where uncle Walt himself explained liberty, what it means, why it is important and why it must be defended.... Not only you, but your children will understand it's lessons, and if many of us will die fighting this criminal bama, then it will fall to our children to understand why he is wrong and we and the founders where right.... Take this gift from Walt Disney...

The absolutely disastrous past week America had prompts the pick for this week's feature. For a little levity(in both senses of the word), the film that introduced flubber(flying rubber) to our popular culture, the Disney sci-fi comedy classic, "The Absent-Minded Professor". One of the best of the Disney studio's live action films made when Walt was still with us. Absolutely the best part of the film can be found at 1:32:16-1:33:06, especially 1:32:44 to 1:32:55.

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read Back in 1983, approximately 0 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States. Today, ownership of the news media has been concentrated in the hands of just six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many of our favorite websites. Sadly, most Americans don't even stop to think about who...

Back in the day, Mickey Mouse attempted suicide and fought opium smugglers Intrepid readers will remember that one time Mickey Mouse and Goofy espoused the salubrious effects of amphetamine-laced soft drinks. The truth is, that helium-voiced cartoon rodent weathered many a dubiously family-friendly moment during his early years. Let's look at those occasions Mickey tried to kill himself and extolled the virtues of gigolos. Perhaps the most bizarrely bleak Mickey adventure was the story arc that ran from October 8 to October 20, 1930. According to cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson, Walt Disney was inspired by the 1920 Harold Lloyd comedy Haunted...

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that the Motion Picture Association Of America representing the Hollywood movie studios will be co-hosting a tribute to Ronald Reagan’s film career on November 14th in Washington DC. The other host will be the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, which is the year-long commemoration of Reagan’s 100th birthday in 2011. All the movie studios are obtaining old footage of Reagan’s 53-movie legacy from 1937 to 1965 and are putting together around 5 cinematic profiles of the former Screen Actors Guild president for the bipartisan event. But I suspect the real reason behind this Reagan tribute is to remind...

The soundtrack to the 1979 Disney space epic has been remastered, expanded, and now available from Disney and Intrada records. The music was composed by the late English movie music master John Barry, who is widely known for his work on the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987. Here is a suite of the OST on youtube

As the interest in counter-terrorism soars, the Walt Disney Company is attempting to trademark the name Navy “Seal Team 6,” the unit responsible for taking down Osama Bin Laden. Counter-terrorism is becoming a big market since the death of Osama Bin Laden and it appears the Walt Disney Company is ready to cash in. Disney is currently trying to trademark the name Navy “Seal Team 6,” the unit responsible for killing Bin Laden. On May 3, just one day after the news was out about the death of Bin Laden, Disney applied to trademark the name “Seal Team 6.” The...

Ban Ki-moon, the normally buttoned-up Secretary General of the United Nations, swept into Los Angeles during Oscar week playing the role of Hollywood pitchman. His message: Make global warming a Hot issue. "I need your support," he told entertainment industry insiders during a daylong forum Tuesday that focused on recent heat waves, floods, fires and drought, which scientists link to human-induced climate change. ....about 400 writers, directors, producers, agents and network executives attended the outreach events. ....To coordinate with Hollywood, the U.N. has set up an office, the "Creative Community Outreach Initiative" in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, funded...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney whose powerful behind-the-scenes influence on The Walt Disney Co. led to the departure of former chief Michael Eisner, has died. He was 79. The company announced that Disney died Wednesday in Newport Beach, Calif., after a yearlong bout with stomach cancer. Company president and chief executive Bob Iger said Disney was much more than a valued 56-year company veteran. "Roy's commitment to the art of animation was unparalleled and will always remain his personal legacy and one of his greatest contributions to Disney's past, present and future," Iger...

Insanity: electing the same kind of politician and expecting a different result. http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein Albert Einstein said it. In California, we're living it. The map of California's district ten is an amoeba-shaped tribute to gerrymandering. Proof that when it is in their interest our legislators can put their heads down and color outside the lines. And in district ten they created a masterpiece, invading four separate counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano and Sacramento to gather a voter population with an 18% advantage of registered Democrats to...