Many voices in the theme park industry and across Disneyana are beginning to struggle with what should happen next at Walt Disney World. What should happen now that a life has been tragically and unnecessarily lost? I’m not yet ready to make any suggestions as … Read More »What should Disney change after Monorail Death?
Do you want to know who at the Walt Disney Company is making the decisions that entertain your kids across all the Disney Channel platforms? 47-year old Rich Ross is the man. He’s successfully transformed The Disney Channel into a tween girl magnet and is… Read More »Disney Channel President Rich Ross Profiled
As I reported after seeing Pixar’s animated feature ‘UP’, it is a very adult film with adult concerns (love, loss, anxiety, quests left unfinished) and humor thrown in for the kiddie’s sake. What I failed to see was how this is a trend in Pixar’s… Read More »The Darkness of UP: Anxiety in Pixar’s Films
Despite the first game blowout, I’m still hoping for a competitive series in the NBA Finals “Fairytale” series. It appears that Disney is as well as they’ve just unveiled a special NBA Finals T-shirt collection featuring Mickey and the gang. They’re available just in time… Read More »Disney adds special NBA Finals shirts
Looks like I don’t have to tell many of you to get out and see ‘UP’ from Disney/Pixar. It has brought in an estimated $68.2 million at the box office this weekend. That’s pretty close to the $70 million “The Incredibles” earned on their opening… Read More »Up Soars at the Box Office
Although an ‘official’ Disney fan organization has recently come on the scene there are still plenty of good reasons to get involved with the NFFC, the Disneyana Fan Club. For example, there are plenty of things you can say or do at a fan organized convention that you just can’t do at a company sponsored event.
Registration is now open for this year’s 25th Anniversary NFFC Disneyana Convention and All Disneyana Show and Sale July 14 thru July 19 at the Anaheim Crowne Plaza Resort, which is located in Garden Grove, CA.
The 25th Anniversary Convention is shaping up to be the biggest and best Disneyana bash yet, with such Disney favorites as Don Hahn (Disney producer extraordinaire), Paige O’Hara (the voice of Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), and Jodi Benson (the voice of Princess Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid) scheduled to be part of Celebration Banquet, A Royal Gathering.
Rebecca Cline, manager of the Disney Archives, is scheduled to give a presentation of rarely seen film footage and items from the Mickey Mouse Club Circus. There may even be a few surprises from Disney’s new official fan community D23, which Rebecca is a significant part of.
Of course several of your favorite Imagineers and Disney artists, past and present, are planning on attending the 25th Anniversary NFFC Disneyana Convention and NFFC All Disneyana Show and Sale as well.
Seminars, brunches, banquets, NFFC Disney Legends Luncheon, gigantic NFFC All Disneyana Show and Sale and of course sharing great times with good friends will all be part of this year’s blowout 25th Anniversary event.
Visit NFFC.org to learn more and register.
The NFFC Calendar for the rest of the year is below the cut:
The first time I saw Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor was at Disneyland in the early 90s. They were set up outside of the Plaza Inn doing radio interviews. Although later in life they were much skinnier, at this point they were ‘larger’ than the average person. Wayne had this amazing full beard (which was very out of place in the park). It was a little chilly out and they were dressed in matching plaid outfits. Thinking this was some form of celebrity appearance I hadn’t seen before, I stuck around to see what was going on. A few minutes later I was surprised to hear two very familiar mousey voices coming out of these two large people, it was Mickey Mouse and Minnie.
It was almost a decade before I really got to talk with Wayne and Russi and hear them speak at length. In the meantime they had gotten married (in 1997 to each other in Hawaii) and continued to do amazing work both for the Disney company and other projects. Turns out, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer couple of people then Wayne and Russi. They were always happen to meet with fellow Disney fans and spin a tale or two of their experiences as Mickey and Minnie.
Wayne was trained as a sound effects guy and foley artist by one of the best in the business, Jimmy MacDonald. Along the way he learned to do Mickey’s Voice from Jimmy, who himself took over from Walt. Wayne first did Mickey’s voice in 1977 as a lead in voice over for the New Mickey Mouse Club and had his first feature animated voice work for 1983’s “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.”
I recall one anecdote Wayne told at an NFFC event, he had asked Jimmy MacDonald for some advice about doing Mickey’s voice and Jimmy said “remember, you’re just filling in for the boss.”
In 2008 Wayne and Russi were named Disney Legends in a ceremony at the studios. Recently Wayne had been combating complications related to diabetes and was said to be in need of a kidney transplant. Sadly he passed away May 18th as a result of his illness. Official confirmation was made on his Disney Legend bio.
I like to think that now all three voices of Mickey Mouse are reunited somewhere discussing the affect that one little character had on their lives and on the world. Our lives are all richer for their efforts.
Everyone here at The Disney Blog wishes peace and condolences to Russi and the rest of Wayne’s family.
(below the cut is a video of Wayne and Russi talking about their roles and Mickey and Minnie)
Read More »Wayne Allwine, Voice of Mickey Mouse & Disney Legend, 1947-2009
The countdown to Pixar’s next film ‘UP’ is on. It opened Cannes film festival to much praise, the Hollywood premiere was this weekend, and the reviews are coming in (so far 100% positive on Rotten Tomatoes). Meanwhile, the rest of us wait until May 29th… Read More »Finding Inspiration for Pixar’s ‘UP’