Walt Disney took a small step away from animation in the 1940s with the live-action/animated features "Song of the South" and "So Dear to My Heart," and in 1950 he made his first foray into pure live action, "Treasure Island," in England.
The impetus was financial -- British law required American film companies to use a percentage of the money they made showing films and shorts in England to produce movies there. So Disney financed 80% to 90% of "Treasure Island" with those funds.
The film proved so popular that Disney began churning out more live-action features. Though the first few movies were produced in England, Disney moved his live-action division to the Burbank studio with his 1954 sci-fi extravaganza, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."
Hayley Mills: An article in Friday's Calendar section about the Aero Theatre's celebration of Disney live-action classics misspelled the first name of actress Hayley Mills, who starred in 1961's "The Parent Trap," as Haley.
The American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre celebrates "Disney Live-Action Classics" with a five-day festival beginning July 11.
Opening the series is a screening of the restored 1955 adventure "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier." The historical epic was culled from "Davy Crockett," the phenomenally successful three-part episode from Disney's ABC series "Disneyland," which took the country by storm in late 1954. Lanky Fess Parker became an overnight sensation as the plain-spoken frontiersman, and the toe-tapping theme song performed by Bill Hayes sold 10 million copies. Disney also made oodles from sales of coonskin caps, lunch boxes and even watches. Directed by Norman Foster, the film also stars Buddy Ebsen.
On tap for July 12 is 1961's "The Absent Minded Professor," which was so popular it spawned a sequel, "Son of Flubber," a TV miniseries remake and a feature remake with Robin Williams. Nominated for three Academy Awards, the quirky comedy stars one of Disney's favorites, Fred MacMurray, in the title role as a scatterbrained college chemistry professor who stumbles onto Flubber, a rubbery substance that defies gravity. Nancy Olson, Ed and Keenan Wynn and Tommy Kirk, another member of the Disney stock company, also star.
Rounding out the evening is the 1961 version of "The Parent Trap," which stars Disney golden girl Haley Mills in the dual roles of twin sisters separated at birth by their parents' divorce and reunited at a summer camp. They decide to switch places so they can bring their parents (Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara) back together.
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