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WALT RETURNS TO LAUGH-O-GRAM
NEW MURAL ADDED TO BUILDING! |
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On a typical Saturday morning, four unknown artists gathered together at the corner of 31st and Forrest to create some cartoon characters. While this story could have started 87 years ago with some young men named Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising, this story actually takes place on May 2, 2009. Lead by Lon Davis, a Kansas City Art Institute alumni, Josh Zink, Brandon Waltman and Steven Norris all worked together to recreate a mural along the side of the original Laugh-O-gram Studio. In roughly six and a half hours, the once white boards covering the windows, were transformed into a black and white painting influenced by drawings created by Walt Disney himself.
“The design itself was inspired by the self portrait that Walt drew and later used as his logo while working out of this building,” explains Lon. “The image of a frantic cartoonist trying to create the next drawing before the previous one hits the floor. Multiple papers are flying off his drawing table, each with a different cartoon on them. This image has only been seen on a letterhead from the Disney archives and was roughly one inch tall. We enlarged that logo to roughly twelve feet tall, and then expanded the design to the length of the building, approximately ninety feet.”
The painting wasn’t the only project for the day. Betsy Blodgett headed up a small team of volunteers that helped clean up the grounds, and remove weeds from the landscaping. Barry Morris organized all of the media contacts and helped bring awareness not only to the neighborhood, but to the entire Kansas City metro area by getting news coverage of the event on every local station. Brian Price, Project Manager, helped keep everything on task and on schedule. He worked with the neighborhood Home Depot to get wood and supplies to the location to make this event a success.
Dan Viets, TYWD’s President, helped with the news coverage by handling interviews and answering any questions about the building, the organization, and the history of Walt Disney in Kansas City. It was a team effort by so many people dedicating their time and talents.
While this is just the first step in enhancing the exterior of the building, the hope is to show that there is real progress in the revitalization of this historic building. The top floor windows will soon be covered with 18 banners created by nationally known artists thanking Walt Disney in their own unique way.
“Bringing this logo back to its original location seems fitting,” replies Lon. “It’s as if Walt himself is looking over his original animation studio, and making sure everything is done to his liking.” Walt was never one to rest on his laurels, and neither will we. |
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Lon Davis, standing beside the new mural on the side of the Laugh-O-Gram building. |
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A Lifelong Disney Legend |
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VIRGINIA DAVIS (Animation)
Inducted into the "Disney Legends": 1998
In 1923, Virginia Davis became Walt’s first human star, appearing in the first 13 titles of his “Alice Comedies” series, which was an innovative blend of live-action and animation on film. The 5-10 minute low-budget comedies featured simple plots about the adventure of a live girl in Cartoonland. As Virginia later recalled, “It was always a little story where I would get into the cartoon through a dream or I was hit on the head with a baseball and suddenly I’d find myself in a world of cartoon characters.” |
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When Walt Disney was struggling with his first Studio, Laugh-O-gram Films in Kansas City, he remembered a little girl from a local theater, with her long, blond ringlets and a charming smile. So Walt placed a call to her parents and for the next two years, Virginia starred in such Disney shorts as “Alice’s Day at Sea,” “Alice’s Wild West Show” and “Alice’s Spooky Adventure.”
After 13 films, Virginia ended her tenure with Walt, but over the years, Virginia has remained in contact with The Walt Disney Company and is often a special guest at such events as the annual Disneyana Conventions held at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World |
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From Silent Films, to Interactive Web
LAUGH-O-GRAM STUDIOS GETS A WEBSITE OVERHAUL |
For a while now, the website for Thank You Walt Disney was been static. Not much has been updated, and it was difficult to find out what was happening within the organization, or the current status of the building. And while progress has been made, it was hard to see.
A few months ago, a decision was made to bring our website into the 21st century, and make it a living, breathing extension of the Thank You Walt Disney organization. Reactor, a local design firm, is known for creating epic brands through awesome design. They have won 50 awards and honors in the past 5 years. We were thrilled to learn that Reactor agreed to help us with our website re-design.
The new design tries to embody both the creativeness and simplistic design of the 1920’s studio, while encasing it in a 21st century sheen. The result is an easy-to-navigate website, with the functionality of a robust design. |
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Not to be left out, Kevin Sampson of Sampson Design Co. has agreed to handle the programming side of the website. His skills as a programmer have allowed us to have a website that can be easily updated and maintained by multiple Thank You Walt Disney members. What this means for you is that the website will no longer be the static site of yesterday. It will be constantly updated with news, events and general store items. Our goal is to make this website a site you want to visit often. Check back soon as the newly designed website should go “live” in mid to late June.
Reactor:
www.YourReactor.com
Sampson Design Company:
www.SampsonDesignCo.com |
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Losing a Legend
WAYNE ALLWINE (1947-2009) |
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May 18, 2009 is a day that will go down in history for the Disney company. Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse for the past 32 years, passed away due to complications from diabetes. Russi Taylor, his wife of 20 years and the voice of Minnie Mouse, was by his side.
A Southern California native, Allwine joined Disney in 1966 when he took a job in the mail room. He went on to work in the sound effects department and began voicing the company’s main mouse in 1977. He was the third man behind Mickey’s voice. The first being Walt Disney himself, then Jimmy MacDonald, who became Allwine’s mentor and passed him the reins after voicing the mouse for 30 years.
“He said, ‘Just remember kid, you’re only filling in for the boss,’” Allwine once recalled. “And that’s the way he treated doing Mickey for years and years.” |
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Roy E. Disney, director emeritus for The Walt Disney Co., said Allwine did more than give Mickey a voice. He “gave him a heart and soul as well.”
Besides Taylor, Allwine is survived by five children from a previous marriage: Erin, Alison, Peter, Christopher and Joshua. |
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Nowhere To Go But "UP"
A MODERN TAKE ON "DON QUIXOTE" |
Pixar is without a doubt, the most successful movie studio in history. They may be young, but no one can argue with a track record like theirs. On May 29th, Pixar will release its tenth animated film, “Up.” While the film itself is a modern tale about Carl Fredricksen, (Edward Asner) a retired 78-year-old balloon salesman. When Carl was a child, he met and eventually married a girl named Ellie who grew up in a small midwestern town. Ellie always dreamed of visiting South America, but she died before she got a chance. Now, when developers threaten to move him into an assisted living home, Carl decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie. To accomplish this, he uses 10,000 balloons to make the house fly—but unwittingly takes a chubby eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell with him. The two opposites match up for thrilling adventures as they encounter wild terrain, unexpected foes, and all the terrifying creatures that wait in the Venezuelan jungle. |
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When Disney created the original story for, “The Lion King,” there were many people who felt it closely resembled the themes of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” A murdered king by his scheming brother. A sorrowful prince who is haunted by the ghost of the king, etc. Pixar’s newest film is getting some similar comparisons as well. The story itself, in its basic plot, features many similarities to “Don Quixote,” a story which Disney has been trying to adapt to an animated film for decades. Both “Don Quixote” and “Up” feature an older man, well past his prime, who has imagined going on adventures his whole life, but have never actually lived any of them. With the help of a younger companion, they begin these incredible journeys together. Now, I’m not saying that “Up” will feature a scene with Carl fighting windmills or anything like that. It’s merely a comparison to keep in the back of your mind while watching Pixar’s newest hit.
This is also Pixar’s first in a long line of 3-D animated films. Later this year we will also be treated to newly rendered 3-D versions of the original “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.” This will get us all prepared for next summer’s sure-fire hit, “Toy Story 3” opening June 18, 2010. The first trailers for “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” in 3-D should be attached to “Up.” While the first trailer for “Toy Story 3” will debut with its prequels.
As you can see, after nine smash hits for Pixar, and “Up” an almost guaranteed hit, there’s really no where for Pixar to go, but “Up.” |
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Saving The House
Where The Mouse Was Born!
RESTORING
A NATIONAL TREASURE IN THE HEART OF KANSAS CITY |
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Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. has both a
motto and a message. First the motto: "Save the house where
the mouse was born." And then the message: Kansas City and
Walt Disney share a significant piece of history. For it was
in Kansas City that the famous creator of Mickey Mouse
labored in his first cartoon studio. The company Walt called
Laugh-O-Gram was, in fact, located on the second floor of an
all brick building that hugged the corner of 31st and Forest
Avenue in the city’s midtown. Inside their humble walls, the
spirit of creativity was alive and well.
From floorboard corner to filmdom fame may seem like a
long way to travel, but when the imaginative Disney decided
that Mortimer, renamed Mickey, was just the infectious kind
of character he was looking for, a star was born. |
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Join our Laugh-O-gram Club
A one-year membership includes:
- A Laugh-O-gram Club Lapel Pin
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Become a member of Walt’s 100
Club
Walt’s 100 Club membership
includes:
- Recognition at the Grand Opening
of the Laugh-O-gram Studio
- A Laugh-O-gram Sweatshirt
- An original Laugh-O-gram Poster
- A Walt’s 100 specialty Lapel Pin
- A Laugh-O-gram Lapel Pin
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Individual
Annual membership |
$25.00 |
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Family Annual
membership |
$40.00 |
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Business/Corporate Annual membership |
$125.00 |
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Purchase an
original Laugh-O-gram Poster |
$25.00 |
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Lifetime
membership |
$1,000.00 |
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Send your donation
or membership to:
Thank You Walt Disney, Inc.
The Screenland Building
1656 Washington Street
Kansas City, MO 64108 |
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Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. is committed to
being a leader in art animation study, while encouraging
confidence and entrepreneurial individualism.
Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. is a
not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation
and restoration of Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-gram Studios, a
part of our local history that would otherwise disappear. •
www.ThankYouWaltDisney.org |
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