I’d
like to say I planned to watch the documentary Walt and El Grupo before watching Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros,
but I’d be lying. I didn’t even realize the three films were related until
after watching the documentary.
Walt
and El Grupo follows the goodwill tour that Walt took of South America, from
which he returned only two months before Pearl Harbor. Walt and a group of
artists, consisting of animators and story Disney people, went on a U.S.
government all-expenses-paid expedition to encourage goodwill towards the U.S.
The Nazi’s were also trying to sway South American governments toward their
side.
I’m really glad I happened to watch
that documentary before the two films that resulted from it. Walt said he didn’t
really know how to do the political stuff, but he’d go down there and talk to
people and make some films about it. At the time, the Disney studio was on
strike. The strike hurt Walt deeply, as his daughter explains in the
documentary. Although this film wasn’t on my list for this project, I’m so glad
I watched it.
Saludos
Amigos was definitely not what I was expecting. A lot of footage I saw on
the documentary was actually in the film. And it wasn’t solely animation; that’s
what surprised me the most. It was like a narrative of the South American trip,
with Walt himself narrating. I’ll admit—listening to Walt talk for most of the
film was incredible. I felt like I was sitting in an easy chair, next to a
roaring fire with snow drifting outside, with Walt sitting across from me and
telling me about this trip, almost as if he were showing me a scrapbook. This
film felt more personal than the others.
Undoubtedly I feel this way because
I love Walt so much, and so hearing his voice for a prolonged period of time has
an effect on me. In reality, I watched a film on my television, with no
fireplace, I was sitting on the couch, it wasn’t snowing (though was certainly
cold enough to), and Walt died over fifty years ago. Yet the film left me
feeling as though I’d spent the evening with a dear friend who had just
returned from an interesting three month journey. Walt’s magic never ceases to
amaze me.
It’s now early November and our
first real snow came and stuck the day before Halloween. It was a little odd,
making a pumpkin cheesecake with snow on the ground. And it was a little odd to
be transported to South America with Walt for an hour when all the snow was
blowing away.
Ah, here’s something about Alaska
you may not know: Chicago is the windy city, but Alaska is the windy state. The
little dusting to one inch of snow we’d received on October 30th was
completely gone by November 2nd. It didn’t melt—no, it blew away. We
had a windstorm for two days that just picked up all our snow and carried it
away. I don’t know where. We live in the Mat-Su Valley, but I work in Eagle
River, which is near Anchorage. It’s about a 50 minute commute. Eagle River
does not have the wind problem to the same degree that the Valley does. There
is still snow on the ground here; they may have even gotten more. I’m terrible
at measuring snow without hearing the amount the meteorologist decrees, so you’ll
have to bear in mind my estimates may be off. Or probably are off.
In any case, I was both excited and
disappointed by the snow. I was excited because, well, it’s snow. I lived in
Florida for over four years and I was excited to see it actively snowing. I love
the seasons and enjoy each one in its time, but I also always look forward to
the change. I like looking at the decorations out for the next holiday, and changing
the wreath on the door and all of that silliness.
So then why was I disappointed? And
what kind of crazy woman am I to be excited and disappointed simultaneously?
Well, I was disappointed because the house we’re buying—and closing on in
roughly three weeks—does not yet have a fenced yard. And it will be much easier
to put up a temporary fence without a foot of snow on the ground. So I was
excited for the change but disappointed for the difficulty this change will add
to our temporary-fence construction. We have three dogs; why yes, we will be
constructing the temporary fence the day we move in. However did you know?
I’m about to explode with excitement
over moving into our first house. That is, the first house we’ll own. I’m also
super excited to not have to deal with crazy woman upstairs (and you know she
must be crazy if I, excited and disappointed at the same time crazy woman
myself, can identify her as crazy).
I’m also excited to watch Three Caballeros and see what’s going on
there. I wonder if it’s the same half-live action, half-animation combination
as Saludos Amigos? Thanks to Netflix
(once again, causing trouble), I will be watching Three Caballeros this evening—before Home on the Range. What, you say? Well, Netflix only had the South
American films on one disc, so I’d have to send off the disc I have, with both Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros, wait for Home
on the Range, then wait for the combined disc of South American animation
to work its way back to me. No, thank you. I’ll just watch them out of order (sadly).
But once again, they will be here in the proper order, not the Netflix-skewed
order.
Adios, Amigos!
This was interesting. I never knew Walt Disney was sent to South America. Happy Disney watching :-)
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