Lamp Remains Lit In Walt Disney Apartment @ Disneyland

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

For more than six decades, Disneyland has been a source of joy and inspiration to all the world – particularly during challenging times.

An iconic Victorian-style lamp glows every night from Walt Disney’s apartment in Disneyland park––a tradition spanning from the days Walt Disney himself would visit Disneyland. Whenever the lamp was on, guests and Cast Members knew he was around. The lamp has been on since his passing.

Disneyland President Rebecca Campbell has taken to social media to share this heartwarming photo of Walt’s apartment in Disneyland, which remains lit to this day, despite the unprecedented Disney Parks closures due to COVID-19.

Rebecca Campbell wrote the following caption for her post:

“Inside Walt Disney’s apartment overlooking Town Square at Disneyland, a light has shone through the window above the firehouse for decades. It glows as a source of inspiration to our cast and our guests as a remembrance of the man who once looked out that window to the sights of happy families making memories below.
Tonight, even in a world filled with so much uncertainty, that light still shines, bright as ever. I’m looking forward to the day when families can make memories once again.”

Today, even in a world filled with so much uncertainty, that light still shines, bright as ever.

New Limited Edition Walt Disney MagicBand Now Available

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

This week is a very special week for Disney fans as December 5th marks the birthday of Walt Disney, and we’re always looking for ways to honor and celebrate the man (and mouse) who started it all. Today, a new Limited Release MagicBand has arrived on the shelves, and we’re loving its classic, quirky design.

The all-white band features Walt Disney on one end and another end dotted with vintage Mickey Mouse plush.

 According to D23, the first design was actually created by a seamstress named Charlotte Clark in the early 1930s:

“A successful example of a Mickey Mouse doll had already been created by an enterprising seamstress in Los Angeles, Charlotte Clark (née Carolyn Geis), who in January 1930 had asked her then 16-year-old nephew and aspiring young artist, Bob Clampett, to come up with sketches of Mickey Mouse on which she could base her doll design. Not having any reference material handy, Bob grabbed his sketch pad and went to the Alexander Theater in Glendale, California, to sketch Mickey in action from one of the Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts being screened there. Charlotte and Bob created the first doll, and on the advice of Bob’s father, sought the approval from Walt and Roy to produce and sell their Mickey Mouse doll creations. Not only were the Disney brothers pleased with Charlotte Clark’s doll, they set it as the standard against which all subsequent Mickey Mouse dolls were soon to be measured.”

The band retails for $29.99. 

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Saving Walt Disney’s First Film Studio

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

Dan Viets wants to save Disney history. As president of the non-profit “Thank You Walt Disney,” Dan works to preserve and restore Walt’s first professional headquarters – the Laugh-O-Gram Studios in Kansas City. Currently, the building sits empty and only known by those devotees who seek it out, but, with his organization Dan plans to make it a shining gem of K.C.

Dan chats about how Walt’s creativity blossomed in that studio, how a local amusement park most likely inspired Disneyland, and how Dan’s journey connects with Kansas City now having two Tomorrowland moon-liners!

Learn all about and donate to the restoration plans for the Laugh-O-Gram Studio at thankyouwaltdisney.org.

Credits:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:12 — 46.0MB)

Early Walt Disney Cartoons (Part 2) – The 1921 Laugh-O-Grams

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

Before there was Snow White, Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, or even the Alice comedies, Walt Disney was determined to get into the animation business, so he took a borrowed camera to the shed behind his house and created his first film. Soon, having raised $15,000 from family and friends, Walt hired a minimal staff and incorporated Laugh-O-gram Films.

1921 saw the first 4 of 6 Laugh-O-Grams debut in theaters when Disney sold his animated Laugh-O-grams to the Newman Theatre in Kansas City. They include;

  • A video of Walt Disney sitting at his desk, drawing a picture of a criminal being kicked out of Kansas city.
  • A video of Walt Disney’s hand drawing a picture of a pair of women’s legs in stockings in the middle of the paper with the top halves of two women on either side of her.
  • A video of Disney’s hand drawing a picture of someone driving a car that’s in mid-bounce on a bumpy road.
  • An animation of policemen walking into a police station, then being fired and literally thrown out before someone hangs a “cops wanted” sign on the station.

Like everything made during that time, they were all silent.

Check them out here;

Early Walt Disney Cartoons – Cleaning Up

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

Here is where it all officially began, Cleaning Up was the first film produced by Laugh-O-Gram Studio, as part of demo reel. This film is not really animated, it just consists of Walt drawing a single frame. It’s also the first film directed by Walt Disney.

This is the first of 11 shorts created by Walt Disney under the Newman Laugh-O-Grams for Laugh-O-Gram Studio. Which would eventually inspire the creation of Mickey Mouse and The Walt Disney Company we know today.

This short shows Walt Disney at his desk as he draws a man, who then turns into a criminal being kicked out of Kansas city. It’s not a thrilling watch by any means but to just watch Walt and his drawing skills is to look back at all those years ago of a man in an office and how his drawings turned into the mass company today.

Enjoy!!