A Wednesday with Walt Holiday

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The “Wednesdsys with Walt” Annual Passholder Event continues at Disneyland, and they’ve switched to holiday mode. Disney historian and artist Stacia Martin was on hand to introduce the four classic holiday shorts we were going to see: “Mickey’s Good Deed” in black and white from 1932, “Santa’s Workshop” in full Technicolor also from 1932, “Donald’s Snow Fight” from 1942, and “Winter Storage” from 1949.
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“Mickey’s Good Deed” features Mickey as a street performer, and Pluto who accompanies him during his performances. Mickey plays “O Come All Ye Faithful” on the cello, while Pluto howls along. A few people drop coins into Mickey’s cup, only to find out after that they actually threw in bolts, nuts, and nails. Mickey and Pluto, of course, are disappointed. Mickey, however, doesn’t give up, and ends up passing by a rich family’s home. Mickey stops there, and plays his cello once again. A kid playing inside the house notices Pluto, and crys because he wants the doggy. The butler goes out to make Mickey an offer for Pluto. Mickey refuses, and continues on his way. He then sees the home of a poor cat family. The mother is crying, while the children are sleeping. Mickey can’t help but decide to do a good deed for the family. So Mickey returns to the rich family, and sells Pluto. Mickey then returns to the cat family dressed as Santa and delivers toys and food. He’s happy seeing how happy he made Christmas for the cat family, and continues on his way. He stops by the rich family home, and sees the kid tortruing Pluto. The dad eventually has the butler throw out Pluto with a chicken attached to his tail. Mickey is sad sitting by a fire in front of a snow sculpture of Pluto. Pluto sees him, and crawls through the snow to be reunited with Mickey. They both end up sharing the chicken that was still attached to Pluto’s tail, and Mickey wishes Pluto a Merry Christmas. “Mickey’s Good Deed” is one short that many in the Opera House don’t remember seeing, but it was delightful.

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“Santa’s Workshop” is a part of the Silly Symphony series of cartoons. While “Mickey’s Good Deed” and “Santa’s Workshop” were both released in 1932, Walt had the chance to make the latter in Technicolor. Production had already finished on ‘Deed,’ and production had just started on ‘Workshop,’ so Walt took advantage. In “Santa’s Workshop,” you get a ‘behind the scenes’ look at what happens as the elves and Santa prepare for Christmas. The naughty and nice list is checked, toys are made and prepared for delivery, and the reindeer are prepped as well. It was nice to see this short, as it is not seen very often.

 

 

 

 

“Winter Storage” features Donald Duck and Chip and Dale. Chip and Dale have less than two months to prepare for winter, and are way behind on their acorn storage. The chipmunks then see Donald, who is working as a park ranger, begin to seed the forest with acorns. Chip and Dale have a plan that doesn’t start off well, as Dale replants the acorn that Chip just removed. This, of course, frustrates Chip and they have to come up with another plan. However, Donald has a plan of his own, which backfired as Chip and Dale are able to escape. They then see a bag of acorns laying around, and conceive a plan to get the acorns into their tree. A game of hockey ensues as the chipmunks are able to get enough acorns into the tree. Chip and Dale, of course, have the last laugh as Donald gets hit by the last acorn that overflows out of their tree.

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The last of the holiday shorts shown is one of my favorites – “Donald’s Snow Fight!” This short features Donald and his three nephews, Huey, Duey and Louie. (Fun fact: Clarence “Ducky” Nash voiced the nephews, and his voice was over dubbed three times to make it sound as if all three nephews were talking at the same time.) In this short, Donald is excited that snow has fallen. Naturally, he wants to go outside and enjoy it. He steps outside, and is immediately taken back by the cold. He then puts on his oversized bell-shaped fur coat, grabs his sled, and out the door and up the mountain he goes. He sees his nephews building a snowman when he reaches the top of the mountain. Donald then sleds down the mountain, and crashes into the snowman, as a separate part of the snowman lands on each of the nephews. They then come up with a plan to get back at their uncle, and boy do they succeed! They build another snowman, but this time, it’s on a boulder. Donald once again sleds down the mountain and runs into the boulder. Most of the fur from his overcoat falls off, except for one. He pulls it out and takes off his coat. Donald then chases after his nephews, but they get away. Donald and his newphews are later seen in snow/ice built battleships. The nephews do everything they can to torture Donald, and Donald does the same. In the end, the nephews win the battle, but it was all in fun for everyone!

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After the shorts were seen, Stacia had a special surprise. She said that one lucky guest would receive a special drawing. So who won? The person sitting in seat 107 inside the Opera House. 107 is a reference from “Winter Storage.” It’s the date (October 7, 10-7) that Chip and Dale begin to collect acorns. Stacia invited the lucky winner to come up to the stage after for a photo. Upon exiting, all guests received a special red or green Annual Passholder ornament.

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Once again, if you are a Disneyland Resort Annual Passholder, you can see “Wednesdays with Walt” happening every Wednesday through July 22, 2015 (except Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.) All you need to do is make sure you have a valid Disneyland Resort Annual Pass, and receive a wristband for your selected show. Show topic and show times are announced every Tuesday on the Disneyland Annual Passholders Facebook page, so be sure to “like” them on Facebook. Each of the presentations has been fun, and I encourage you to check it out for yourself. You never know what surprises are in store for you!
Jeremiah Good
Our main correspondent for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area and a heck of a paleontologist if he does say so himself.