Halloween with The Phantom

For Halloween, I am celebrating with “The Phantom of the Opera,” the silent film classic horror film from Universal Studios starring Lon Chaney. One of its most famous scenes is when the heroine, played by Mary Philbin, fails to heed the Phantom’s warning and unwisely removes his mask. Oops.



The Bal Masque sequence of the movie was filmed in two strip Technicolor and still survives today. While the process didn’t record the full spectrum of colors, it was a wise choice for this particular sequence.



Recently I had the pleasure of seeing this movie on the big screen at the Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego.



Cameras were not allowed inside, so my cellphone had to do.



Organist Russ Peck was on hand with a period appropriate musical accompaniment. It was like being transported back to 1925!



Although the film is almost one hundred years old, it is still being celebrated for Chaney’s incredible makeup and performance as well as its spectacular sets and special effects. The Sideshow Toy company released a Premium Format Phantom figure in 1:4 scale:



They also released a smaller version in 1:4 scale; not quite as detailed but still packs a punch!



A separate figure represents Chaney in the Bal Masque sequence:



While some of the acting appears a bit dated and overly dramatic, the movie is definitely worth watching.

See more Phantom of the Opera action figure photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley for Halloween!

Today’s Temple Tuesday celebrates the upcoming “holiday” of Halloween. Although Shirley is typically associated with all things sugar and spice, nobody liked a good scare better than Miss Temple! While there are no specific Halloween sequences in any of Shirley’s films (that I can recall, at least), she does have a few that could qualify for today’s post. In her early Fox film, “The Little Colonel” (1935), Shirley’s character must reach her grandfather at night to enlist his aid in saving her parents. To get to him, she has a terrifying run through a forest and encounters an owl with glowing eyes. Keep in mind this sequence pre-dated similar ones found in Disney’s “Snow White” (1937) and “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). Shirley was always a trailblazer!



In “The Blue Bird” (1940), siblings Tyltyl and Mytyl (Johnny Russell and Shirley) take a frightening journey through the graveyard with their evil cat, Tylette (Gale Sondergaard), just before the stroke of midnight.



Not wanting to return to her feline form, Tylette attempts to trap the little children in the cemetery… FOREVER!



Later in the same movie, Tylette tries to have the children scared off by arranging to have the trees in the forest attack them…



AND THEN BURN THEM! Instead, karma bites Tylette in the ass and she’s the one who gets incinerated. As I often say, don’t mess with Shirley!



In her private life, Shirley also loved to dress up, such as this costume party at Ciro’s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard, with then husband John Agar. Shirley came as Alice in Wonderland.



For this 1948 party, Shirley recycled a movie costume from seven years before (“Kathleen”), but added a period wig for some Marie Antoinette flair.



Agar most likely borrowed his wardrobe from “Fort Apache.” 



In her 1950’s Fairy Tale Anthology series, “Shirley Temple’s Storybook,” there were plenty of witches, but typically they were portrayed by other actresses. The Halloween episode of “Rapunzel” was first broadcast on October 27, 1958. Carol Lynley played the title role and Agnes Moorehead was the witch. This pre-dated her role of Endora in “Bewitched.”



“The Shirley Temple Show” 1960 episode of “Babes in Toyland” allowed Shirley to gleefully play the role of Floretta, the gypsy witch. Shirley relished the opportunity to be almost unrecognizable in her makeup and costume!



I hope you all have a fun Halloween this week!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

The Walt Disney home in Los Feliz

Recently I had the opportunity to tour the Walt Disney home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Even the driveway had a sense of Walt’s showmanship, as I anxiously walked up and around the corner of the brick wall for the big reveal. And it did not disappoint! Behind me was one of those most magnificent views of downtown Los Angeles. You could see the city, but still feel that you were tucked away in a serene spot where people and nature could cohabitate.



Walt and his wife Lillian moved into this F. Scott Crowhurst designed home in 1932, just as Walt was feeling the commercial success from Mickey Mouse. Daughters Diane and Sharon grew up there until 1950 when Walt moved to Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood. Below is an ad from the Architectural Record, December 1933, which Shirley Temple expert supreme Rita Dubas alerted me to. “Ma Bell” gushed over the recently completed Disney home and included the floor plans for readers to see.



The obligatory selfie after I arrived.



A panoramic view of the exterior:



The tour guide turned out to be Dusty Sage. To say that his “Disney Resume” is impressive is truly an understatment:

The founder and CEO of MiceChat.com. When he's not visiting theme parks and writing, editing or speaking about Disney and theme parks worldwide, Dusty is involved in multiple Disney related projects and charities. He helped save and restore the charming Walt Disney Birthplace in Chicago, launched the Dick Van Dyke Foundation, and is the curator of Walt Disney's historic 1930's estate in Los Feliz.

 

I was most impressed that for the most part, this storybook-style mansion appeared untouched. Original front door, light fixtures, and hardware!



The foyer is the type that could take your breath away, and I’m not just talking about the low railings on the staircase or the wide circles that kids could easily fall through…I’m talking about the aesthetics! As Dusty so perfectly put it: “Today, if a kid fell over the railing, the parents would sue. If a kid fell over the railing back in Walt’s day, they’d be laughed at.”



The forced perspective of the second floor ceiling placement makes the foyer tower look much bigger than it actually is.



The current owner of the home has done an incredible job of furnishing the home to look as if you had stepped back into the 1930s.



The living room; oh, the stories that could be told here.



Projection rooms in Hollywood homes were not all that uncommon, so it’s not too surprising that Walt, the head of a film studio, had a pretty room one here on Woking Way.



You can see the hole in the wall for the projector:



The outside metal door was for the room where the films and the projection equipment were kept. Because of the flammability of nitrate film, lead-lined doors were a necessity.



This beautiful pool is one of the few things not original to the house. The original five acres that Walt owned was eventually sub-divided. Walt’s original pool still exists, but at the house next door. The one shown below is a more recent addition.



However, this little Storybook Playhouse IS original. It was built on Christmas Eve, 1937, while the Disney girls were sleeping. Studio craftsman built, plumbed, and electrified this structure all in one night so that Diane and Sharon could be surprised by it when they woke up Christmas morning. There was even a phone inside, which first greeted the sisters with a call from Santa himself!



A vintage shot of Walt (sans shoes!) with his daughters, from the Walt Disney Family Museum collection:



The backyard gave definite Disneyland Haunted Mansion garden vibes!



Original light fixtures; I was in geek heaven.



I don’t have any photos of the actual bedrooms where Diane and Sharon grew up, but I did get to tour them. To walk through the rooms where Walt read to his daughters (Pinocchio in this particular photo) was mind-blowing. The Disney movies “Mary Poppins” and “Winnie the Pooh” were basically begun here, as they were the favorite stories of the girls and the reason why Walt had his studio make them.



While this is a private home and rarely available for tours, when they happen you can find them listed on the Walt Disney’s Storybook Mansion Facebook page.

See more vintage and contemporary Los Angeles photos at my main website.

Pollyanna and the Blue Bayou

The 1960 Disney live-action classic, “Pollyanna” first brought the charms of Hayley Mills to audiences in the U.S. when it premiered in New York City on May 19, 1960.



In one of the sequences, Pollyanna and the townspeople hold a charity bazaar to help build a new orphanage for the town of Harrington.



Notice anything in these screenshots?



In this vintage shot of the Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland, you can see the very same style of Japanese Lanterns hanging overhead.



The Blue Bayou opened six years after the release of “Pollyanna”; is it possible that Disney re-used these beautiful lanterns that still hang overhead today?



I checked with a source at the Disney Archives who responded:

They very well could have been sourced from the same manufacturer or inspired the look/design of the lanterns used in the restaurant since it was only about seven years from film production to the construction of the restaurant space.



You can guess which way I want the answer to go.



In another screenshot from the film, you can see a variety of shapes:



The Bayou only has one style hanging overhead.



Even if they aren’t the same, where the heck can I get something like this for MY backyard?

See more Disneyland Blue Bayou restaurant photos at my main website.