My Favorite Disney Voice-Sterling Holloway-

You may be thinking, “Who is that?” I think you would recognize his voice if you watch or have watched Disney classic movies. He has been a voice in such classics as, “The Many Adventures of Winnie-The-Pooh”, ” The Jungle Book“, “Alice In Wonderland“, and in uncredited performances in Bambi, Dumbo and many others.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8pAM4VXvI

Holloway began his acting career in 1926 in a silent short film. His last role was as a narrator in one episode of Moonlighting in 1986. He was born in 1905 and died in 1992 at age 87. His acting career was varied; acting in live action movies and television shows (such classics as The Andy Griffith Show (Burt in one episode), The Life of Riley, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Adventures of Superman and others). He also lent his vocal talents to many shows and movies; Disney and other ventures.

Since I am a huge Disney fanatic, I will tell you a little about his Disney roles. His most famous voice is my favorite Disney character; Winnie-the-Pooh. He played Pooh bear in the three films: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too. These were all compiled into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Winnie-the-Pooh

The crazy Cheshire Cat

Kaa, the snake

Holloway also voiced such Disney classics as Kaa in The Jungle Book, The Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, and uncredited roles as Mr. Stork in Dumbo, and Flower (adult) in Bambi.

Mr. Stork delivers Dumbo to Mrs. Jumbo.

Flower, Bambi, and Thumper.

He appeared in many Disney shorts; many of which are obscure except for the most ardent Disney fans. You might have heard him as the narrator in Mickey and the Beanstalk. He also provided the vocal talents for Professor Holloway in The Three Caballeros, narrator in The Cold-Blooded Penguin (a Disney short), narrator in Peter and the Wolf (segment of Make Mine Music), narrator for The Pelican and the Snipe (Disney short), narrator for Lambert the Sheepish Lion (Disney short), and many others.

You might consider trying to watch all of these if possible. They are all great for Disney fans. We have watched almost all of them; any we could find that is.

 Walt Disney used many of the same actors in both his animated and live-action films. Sterling Holloway was just one of these, but he is my favorite. Listen up the next time you watch the above-mentioned movies and you will hear a beloved voice in each of them.

(I forgot to mention, he also played Roquefort the mouse in The Aristocats!)

Disney DIY: Mickey Head Flower Planter

Here is a DIY project to give you a little Disney cheer at home. We had some left over landscaping “stones” from a larger project and spontaneously arranged them into a Mickey head. We liked it, and it made it into a planter. It brings a smile our faces. Neighbors and some family members may think that it’s a little weird, but we don’t care.

The project is easy, relatively inexpensive, and does not require much space. Here is how you do it.

Materials:
20 rectangular stones or bricks.
2-3 bags of top soil
flowers of your choice
***THAT’S IT!!***

Prep:
Remove sod.
Either loosen soil or dig about 4-6 inches deep to give roots room.
(optional) Lay down a barrier to grass/weeds (a trash bag works well).
Arrange stones in Mickey head shape.
Fill to edge with top soil.
Plant flowers of your choice.

Total time: less than an hour.

Flowers: we use Vinca. They bloom continuously here along the Ohio River from May through the first hard frost. Bambi and his family did not find them tasty last year (we have 8-10 deer in our yard on most days). They will spread and fill in the open spaces as the summer progresses.

Cost: plants and material were purchased at big box Home & Garden store.
stones – 20 x $1.50 = $30
soil – 2 x 2.00 = $4
flowers (2 groups of 9)
2 x 10.00 = $20
TOTAL: $54 (plus tax)

I hope you like this and find it useful.
Pongo.

Mickey and two cardinals (You have to look closely.). Two of our favorite things.
Go Mickey, and
Go CARDS!

Disney doing Live-Action movies of former animated classics-

Recently there has been a plethora of announcements about Disney doing live- action movies based on many animated classics like Dumbo, Bambi, and even Winnie-the-Pooh! These are three of my favorites and I love Disney, but I am perplexed by these choices for movie making. I fail to see how you can make a live-action movie based on a previous animated movie with animals. Are they going to do CGI, or people in animal costumes?

Disney has announced that Tim Burton is going to do Dumbo. This is a tenuous choice at best. My imagination is going wild with what this could yield. For someone who loves the tender scene in Dumbo where Mrs. Jumbo is cradling and swinging Dumbo in her trunk while “Baby of Mine” plays (after the two have been separated with Mrs. Jumbo in quarantine) I don’t see anyone doing this justice in a remake.

Bambi with people? How do they do that? Winnie-the-Pooh? Reports are that the movie will be a depiction as Christopher Robin as a grown man. Obviously Christopher Robin could easily be played by a person, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see how they do Pooh bear and friends.

I love Disney and always have. A big reason is from great memories of all of their wonderful movies. (This was before I even went to Walt Disney World.) My hope is that they continue to create other great movies and memories; not bad ones. I hope my pre-judgement proves me wrong.