DHI 258 - Screenwriting with Walt - Part Eight

Disney History Institute Podcast

Todd James Pierce

Tv & Film, Arts, Performing Arts

4.7 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode Description: The story of Larry Watkin, the main live action screenwriter at the Disney Studio during Walt's lifetime. Part Eight - Finishing and Promoting Darby O'Gill.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the podcast, we're continuing our story of Walt Disney, Larry Watkin, and the initial wave of Disney live-action films in the 1950s.
0:10.5	We are now up to the point where the studio is finishing and getting ready to market, Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
0:18.0	This film represents a departure from nearly all of the Disney live action
0:22.2	projects that came before it. Today we think of Disney live action films as being focused on
0:29.0	superheroes or fantasy adventures or contemporary dramas focused typically on children or teenagers.
0:36.4	But back in the late 1950s, if you were a fan of
0:39.6	Disney films, you would have thought of live-action Disney films as either historical dramas like
0:45.1	Robin Hood or The Great Locomotive Chase or Animal Adventures. The only Disney live-action film
0:52.4	that existed outside of these categories at that time was 20,000
0:57.3	leagues under the sea, a science fiction epic. So not only was Disney in 1958 and 1959 beginning
1:06.4	to change what a Disney live-action feature was, it also was creating a situation where its marketing
1:13.8	and public relations team needed to change how its audiences understood what a Disney live action
1:20.8	production was. With Darbyo Gil, the Disney live Action projects now included fantasy adventures, special effects,
1:30.3	showcases, and projects that gestured toward musicals, as Darby would include both musical
1:36.7	numbers and down in the Kingdom of the Leprechauns, a highly choreographed dance number. So that's where we are with today's episode. We've talked
1:48.2	about a number of other Disney film projects in this series. A while ago I suggested that if you
1:54.4	were to only watch or re-watch two or three of these films to understand how Disney moved
2:00.6	through the decade, Treasure Island
2:02.4	should be on that list, but another one should be Darby O'Gill, which is the film whose production
2:08.4	will continue to explore in just a moment. But before we jump back into the world of 1958,
2:14.9	I need to thank a few more Bandcamp subscribers. We're an ad-free, listener-supported
2:21.0	podcast. I am deeply grateful for each and every person who supports us over on Bandcamp,
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