Free Republic

Grammy winner Janelle Monae will contribute new music to the Disney Plus streaming title “Lady and the Tramp,” in addition to her voice role in the live-action reboot. Monae will perform two original songs for the film, led by Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux. Monae’s artist collective Wondaland is also “reinventing” a track from the original 1955 animated movie, individuals close to the project said. That would be “The Siamese Cat Song,” originally recorded by Peggy Lee for the feline duo Si and Am in the animated version. Those characters and their famous refrain — “We are Siamese if you...

GLENDALE, Calif. - Artist and writer Joe Grant, who created such Disney characters as the queen-witch character in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and co-wrote "Dumbo," has died. He was 96. Grant suffered a heart attack on Friday at his Glendale home while working at his drawing board at his studio, according to a statement released by the Walt Disney Co. Born in New York, Grant was the son of a newspaper news editor and moved to Los Angeles with his family as a boy. He was hired to draw cartoons and caricatures of famous figures for the Los...