Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff, he's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, willy nilly silly old bear...
Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Friday... from Walt Disney World! How are you? Oh look, a little girl is wearing a Cinderella costume! And wearing it better than Cinderella! And being escorted out by Security! Please DO NOT livestream the drunken fight happening in front of Pecos Bill's even though it's awesome and hilarious and you'll get a million views and become a YouTube superstar and can probably quit your job. Cast Members, many theme park bloggers and podcasters are visiting today. Please be generous and give them lots of things to hate. I have bad news... Due to a rare kitchen problem, all of our ice cream is melted and all of our hot chocolate is frozen. Now hiring a new park Princess! Must have a very sparkly wand if you know what I mean. So, do you have Disney's new streaming service called Disney+? On it you can watch Movies (system may crash), TV shows (not uploaded yet) , Documentaries (no longer have the rights), Original series (aren't good). Move over Netflix and chill. Disney+ and thrust is coming in hot.
If you're a millennial and/or childless person, make sure to go to Disney World this weekend if you possibly can. Mostly just to spite this deranged mom whose rant about "immature" and "slutty" childless millennials at Disney World has become the laughingstock of Twitter. In one of the wildest mom rants I've seen in a while, an anonymous mom ranted about how it "pisses me off to NO END!!!!!!" when she sees "CHILDLESS COUPLES" at Disney World, a "FAMILY" amusement park. She then backs up her argument by explaining that a childless woman in "slutty" shorts ate a pretzel, which apparently caused her 3-year-old to "cry" because the line was too long for him to get one. In conclusion, she thinks everyone except mothers and their children should be "banned" from the popular theme park. Oh, and also, moms should be able to "skip the lines." Huh. The post, which was shared on Twitter by @JenKatWrites, reads...
The post went viral, and many people are responding to this crazy (and clearly very unhappy) mom by pointing out how wildly off-base she is. Here are some of the key points taking down her "argument": 1) Bringing a 3-year-old to Disney is actually a pretty bad idea. 2) Yes, the lines are long. It's DISNEY WORLD. That's the whole point: waiting in lines. 3) Having moms skip lines would create an entirely different kind of nightmare: epic lines that are ONLY moms and kids. Also if only moms and kids are allowed, having moms skip the lines makes no sense. 4) Lines at Disney, especially for food, actually move pretty quickly. 5) Banning childless people would lead to a huge drop in attendance, which in turn would make prices soar. 6) This woman's declaration about the "joy" of parenting actually seems like a pretty obvious cry for help. Poor kid. 7) Her "hatred" of millennials and childless women is pretty transparent. 8) Important point: MICKEY AND MINNIE ARE CHILDLESS. This woman's rant has definitely had a ripple effect through the millennial community online. It's making them even more excited to go to Disney! In conclusion: DISNEY IS FOR EVERYONE. Except for the woman who posted this rant. She is definitely the antithesis of what Disney is supposed to be about (joy, fun, long lines) and should probably stay home, shaking her cane and creaming at people her own age, "get off my lawn!!!!!"
Remember when Taylor Swift went to war with manager Scooter Braun for the rights to her old songs? Yeah, she still doesn't own those recordings of the songs and probably never will... and now Scooter Braun is flexing his power by allegedly attempting to block her from performing the songs on TV. "The message being sent to me is very clear," Taylor said in her statement about the issue. "Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished." Taylor is being honored with an Artist of the Decade award at the American Music Awards on November 25th. At the show, she of course wants to sing some of her biggest hits from the past decade. But according to a statement released by Taylor last night, Braun and his partner, Scott Borchetta, aren't allowing her to do that. Taylor tweeted a lengthy statement, with a bleak "Don't know what else to do" accompanying three screenshots. The jist of it is that Taylor has been barred from performing her old songs on television because she's not allowed to record new versions of the songs until next year. Braun and Borchetta don't want her to record those new studio versions of her old music, because it could lessen the profits they'll receive for those recordings over time. So they're blocking her from performing the songs on TV, probably in hopes that she'll acquiesce and agree not to record the new masters next year. "I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show," Taylor writes in the statement. "Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I’m allowed to next year." Re-recording the music would give Taylor rights to those recordings, which is what Braun and Borchetta don't want. Still, it's unlikely that the old recordings would sell fewer copies because of a live performance of a medley of the songs. That's why it looks like Braun and Borchetta are just being dicks and trying to ruin Taylor's performance out of spite. Taylor also says a Netflix documentary about her is hanging in the balance because of Braun and Borchetta's ownership of the music. None of this is that out of the ordinary for the music industry. Taylor and her fans are framing it as an example of the male-dominated music industry patriarchy exerting its influence over a female artist. Some people agree with this characterization, while others say this is just the way the recording business works. Taylor also name-checked Braun's parent company, the Carlyle Group, a conglomerate that has its hands in pretty much everything. Just like the last time Taylor brought this up in public, celebrities are taking sides... but Perez Hilton points out that not many celebs have come out in support of Taylor. This might be because Scooter Braun, who's also the manager of Justin Bieber and a few other A-listers, is such a powerful player in the music industry. Still, some are saying the issue is more complicated than it looks. All in all, it's a big old mess no matter whose side you're on. At least she'll always have Cats?
Disney's new streaming service, Disney+, is a treasure trove of content from the 96-year-old company's history. Some of that content contains culturally offensive and outright racist depictions of minorities and people of color. Disney has tried to get in front of the issue by posting a warning in the descriptions of some potentially offensive content and editing or withholding other movies, but people are having mixed reactions. Disney has added a trigger warning of sorts to the descriptions of movies that contain outdated tropes. The last two sentences of each description say that the film is being presented as it was originally created, followed by a warning that it "may contain outdated cultural depictions." For example, the description of The Lady and the Tramp reads, "Fall in love with this Disney classic. Experience the adventures of Lady, a pampered cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a mutt with a heart of gold. Now, this heartwarming tale charms a new generation of families. This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." The description of Fantasia is "Walt Disney's timeless masterpiece is an extraordinary blend of classical music with innovative animation. Featuring eight sequences... see the music come to life and hear the pictures burst into song in this groundbreaking film. This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." Some are praising the content warnings, patting Disney on the back for holding itself accountable and welcoming the historical context. A select few are chalking this up to PC culture. But others are pointing out that Disney seems to be operating from different sets of standards based on how offensive the depictions are. For example, the movie Song of the South, widely considered one of Disney's most racist pieces of work, isn't available on the streaming service at all. Some people are accusing the company of "sanitizing" its past with the omission. This isn't the only example of Disney moving its own goal posts when it comes to outdated and stereotypical depictions of minorities on the platform. The Disney+ version of Fantasia reportedly isn't the same as the original version... even though the content warning says it is. There was a centaur character named Sunflower in the 1941 version of the film, whose entire job was to cater to lighter-skinned centaurs... yikes. This character doesn't appear in the Disney+ version of the film. It's interesting that Aladdin doesn't have a content warning when some would say it's stereotypical from start to finish. Disney isn't the first media company to release old content with a warning. In fact, people are saying Warner Bros. did it better. When Warner Bros. re-released old episodes of "Looney Tunes," they came with a longer and more comprehensive warning. The Warner Bros. warning reads, "The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While these cartoons do not represent today's society, they are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed." The key difference is the admission that "these depictions were wrong then and are wrong today." Disney's statement only says the content "may contain outdated cultural depictions." Some are accepting Disney's past for what it is: unfortunately, pretty typical. Meanwhile, others are chagrinned that Disney would refer to something with racist tropes as a "timeless masterpiece." And some are wondering why more three-dimensional, non-racist depictions of black people are seemingly being left off the platform.
There’s only roughly a month from now until the release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. And while fans are excited to witness how the Skywalker Saga ends and are already buying tickets to watch the upcoming movie, Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill has a different suggestion. Brent Ashcroft, a local Michigan reporter and Star Wars fan, took to Twitter to share that he has bought 32 tickets to The Rise of Skywalker premiere. Along with the photo of tickets is a caption saying that he hopes buying those tickets would be worth it, the fan even went ahead and tagged Hamill in his tweet. To his surprise, the actor actually responded, but it isn’t what a fan would expect. Hamill seems to be suggesting that the fan shouldn’t have bought many tickets and he could have just waited to watch the movie on cable. This could be shocking to some fans since the Star Wars alum is literally considered as an icon of the film but is urging fans to not spend money on buying tickets. As to what Hamill really meant by his tweet, there’s no definite explanation until... he just recently provided us with some context regarding his reply to the fan. Although we know Hamill for his spot-on jokes, the actor still points out that his response was, indeed, only a joke. According to him, "No self-respecting Star Wars fan" would wait for the movie on cable. Of course, we all know you're joking, Mark! However, it is worth noting that prior to its debut, the movie is already divisive amongst the fans. In fact, it was recently revealed that Lucasfilm’s test screenings for The Rise of Skywalker were allegedly a disaster and that George Lucas was brought in to create a cut for the film as well. I cannot wait to see the movie myself.
The Miami Dolphins are so bad, they can’t even get tanking right. The team headed into this season with the intentions of essentially trading as many good players away as possible in order to accumulate the highest amount of draft picks heading into the upcoming drafts. The icing on the cake would be the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, but it looks like that may be out of reach at this point thanks to the horrid Cincinnati Bengals. Beating the Jets and Colts, the ‘Phins are coming off two straight wins, the longest winning streak in the AFC East, (a division that yes, includes the Patriots) on the back of quality Ryan Fitzpatrick starts in place of Josh Rosen. The 2-7 record not only is an improvement on the winless season that it appeared as if the Dolphins were headed towards, Miami is in fact only two games out of a Wild Card spot. Granted, the Dolphins would have to keep on winning, and would need a few teams to lose to help out Miami’s cause, but that fact that the Dolphins have gone from contenders to rivaling the 2008 Detroit Lions only 0-16 season in league history to contending for a playoff spot is nothing short of hilarious.
So, when Disney+ first started streaming on Tuesday some people, myself included had problems logging in for a bit. Some of the graphics that appeared were, let's say, kinda odd...
See what I mean? Ever freeze a Disney movie on DVD, Blu-ray or Disney+? It's kinda fun to do... take a look...
Hahahaha. Do you remember this show?
So, they're planning on rebooting Winnie the Pooh... here is a preview...
What happened to the Hundred Acre Woods? Speaking of Pooh, when A.A. Milne was writing the original stories I think he got confused on who his demographic was supposed to be...
Ahhh... that's what happened to the woods... hahahahahaha. I'm a genius! Did you like Toy Story 4? Well, they had a different idea for the movie at first...
Oh, boy. Toy Story almost had a different name...
Well, at least Toy Story 3 did and you know what? Those Disney bastards were right! I cried like a baby. If you are wondering what Woody and Bo Peep got up to after the last Toy Story film? I'll show you...
They seem to be doing good. Have you see the last Maleficent movie? She's a lot more casual in this film...
So, I was thinking, if I had a TARDIS I would like to go back to Walt Disney World in the 70s and see Winnie the Pooh back then. Knowing my luck though he'd be too busy chatting up two little girls.
Hahahaha. That's so dumb. Is there anything better than a relaxing vacation that's free from screaming children? While it’s great to take family holidays too, adults need time to unwind sans the rugrats every once in a while, right? Well, not according to Phile readers sister-in-law, who’ flipped her lid over his banning of her 6-week-old baby from their upcoming adults-only Disney vacation. The baby-banning woman in question emailed me to ask whether or not he was being unreasonable by banning his girlfriend’s sister and the sister’s newborn baby from their adults-only Disney trip.
"For the past two years, a group of friends and I have been planning a weeklong trip to Orlando to visit Disney World and Universal Studios in three weeks. The first rule we made when we started to plan this trip is that it would be childfree. The two people in our group that have children agreed that their children were young enough not to be traumatized from not going to Disney at 3-years-old. For personal reasons, one of my buddies had to drop out of the trip last minute. Since everything has been paid for, he said that if I could find someone to take his place he wouldn’t expect to be reimbursed in any way, except for sweets from Honeydukes and mouse ears."Basically, he and his friends have been planning this trip for nearly two years, but unfortunately, one of them had to drop out recently. "I managed to find someone, but before I could say anything to the group. My girlfriend (hopefully soon to be fiancée, I plan to purpose on the trip) told me her sister wanted to take the empty spot. I asked how, because her sister just had a baby and at the time of the trip she will be 6 or 7 weeks. She said that her sister would just bring her daughter and we would make it work." Everything had already been paid for so the friend who dropped out offered to give her space to someone else for free, and her girlfriend’s sister decided she wanted in. The issue is that she’'s just had a baby and this trip was supposed to be childfree from its inception a few years back. He let his girlfriend’'s sister know this as politely as possible and she didn’'t take it well. “"My girlfriend is a huge pushover when it comes to her sister and has never said no to her before. I called her sister and tried to politely tell her that everyone going on this trip is either in their late 20s or early to mid-’30s. She wouldn’t listen and started rambling about her daughter getting pictures with Mickey and Elsa (she also named her daughter Elsa by the way) and how much fun she’ll have. I interrupted her and said that the trip was adults only and her newborn was not allowed. I then pointed out that a lot of the places we’ll be going to after the parks are adults only and no one would want to stay behind with her and the baby. Plus I don’t think an unvaccinated newborn should be taken to Disney." But things only got worse from there. “"I was called a dick and how dare I tell her how to parent her child and it was creepy that a bunch of adults wanted to go to Disney without children. The last thing I told her before I hung up was that the empty spot had already been taken by someone, so sadly she cannot come, but we’ll take plenty of pics in our coordinated Disney-bound outfits and wizard robes to show her later. I think she cussed me out before I ended the call.”" His girlfriend thinks he’'s in the wrong. I will say this briefly... You have plenty of time to take your kid to Disney when they’re old enough to remember it, lady. This time, you’'re staying home. Was that harsh? Hahaha.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, it's time to talk football with my good friend Jeff.
Me: Hey, Jeff, welcome back to the Phile, but this time from Walt Disney World. How are you?
Jeff: Hey, Jason. Always good to be back here on The Phile. Back in my old stomping grounds, I see? So much has changed since I left here!
Me: So, what is your favorite attraction here?
Jeff: For me, my favorite attraction is probably Rock-N-Rollercoaster. I'm not a big coaster guy but I am a big Aerosmith fan. That's how my old roommate got me to go on it. I told him I don't like going upside down. "Well if you're going to die, you might as well die listening to Aerosmith." It was logic I couldn't argue with.
Me: Maybe one day I'll have a member of Aerosmith on the Phile. How many years ago did we meet working at Disney?
Jeff: We met roughly 20 years ago. I came to work at Disney in 2000. Can you believe it? Half my life ago!
Me: That's crazy. Do you have a favorite moment working at WDW?
Jeff: Favorite moment? No. I don't think so. For me it's all about the people I met while working there. I've met some of the most amazing people at Disney. Not all of them are winners though. A few people come to mind... but I'll focus on the positive instead!
Me: Okay, let's talk about football... did you hear that Scam... I mean Cam Newton is thinking of going to the Bears next season? Is that a good idea for him?
Jeff: Scam? What's your issue with Newton? I honestly don't think that would be a bad move for him. Clearly he's lost the starting job in Carolina. There's a few teams I could see him going to. Tampa perhaps. But the Bears seem like a good fit. Mitch hasn't been a consistent QB for them.
Me: The "Scam" name goes back to Newton's father, Cecil Newton, and ex-Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers sought from $120,000 to $180,000 for the quarterback to sign with the Bulldogs out of junior college but didn't ask any other school for money... back when Cam was at Auburn. As I mentioned in the monologue the Miami Dolphins are three games out from making the playoffs. Can you believe it?
Jeff: Yeah, the Dolphins have looked good the last 2 weeks, but come on... it's more about how bad some teams are than how good the Dolphins are. To quote Vince McMahon's theme song, the Dolphins have "no chance... no chance in hell" to make the playoffs. Just glad to see them totally not tanking the season.
Me: What do you think of NFL officiating? Blatant errors by the referees has been a pressing topic this season, just like every other year, and Monday night’s game may be the egregious of them all. During the overtime coin toss of Seahawks-49ers, Seattle backup QB Geno Smith was sent out to call the toss, to which he proclaimed “tails.” The referee then announced that Smith called “heads,” and the coin landed on such. Despite getting the coin toss wrong, Seattle was awarded the choice of defer or receive to which they received. Is this unusual?
Jeff: It's not just in football that the refs have been terrible in the past few years. It seems to be in every sport. I know there was quite a few bad calls (especially strikes) during the World Series this year. Yeah, refs are only human and they're going to make mistakes. But it seems to be increasing. And after that pass interference call in the NFC Title game last year, you'd think the refs would be working harder to get it right. Nope. It's not the first time I've seen the refs screw up a coin toss. It happened to the Steelers a few years ago. You'd think that would be the easiest part of their job.
Me: What NFL news do you have?
Jeff: There's not a lot of news to discuss. It was just a lot of weird games last weekend. Games you thought you'd know who won. Like the Saints vs Falcons. Falcons, one win all season. Crushed the Saints and Drew Brees. No major injuries to discuss which is always a good thing. No CB's throwing Twitter-fits that get them kicked off the team. But unfortunately someone wants to come back and play. That person is Antonio Clown, I mean Brown. He's meeting with the NFL and looking to get signed before the end of the season. I don't know any team that would want that locker room cancer but I'm sure someone will sign him anyway.
Me: America has once again gotten back another team from England and gave it a more patriotic name and logo...
Me: What do you think?
Jeff: That's one of the best ones. Blending the old logo with the new one!
Me: Okay, so, if you had to pick a prediction for the Super Bowl this year who would you pick?
Jeff: If I had to make a pick for the Super Bowl, I'll say Ravens (UGH) vs 49ers. 49ers were the last team to lose and even then it was in OT. And the Ravens with Lamar Jackson look great. What about you?
Me: I say 49ers vs the Chiefs. Okay, so, I hate to say this, but I am so sad the Giants lost to the Jets. It was a close game though, but... So, how did we do last week? You're kicking my ass being in the lead by 10.
Jeff: I can't believe you lost this week. I keep thinking back to your Owen Wilson joke several weeks ago. Pretty sure you've gone Owen since then. Ha ha. Speaking of Owen, we combined went 0-4 last week. However I gain a point thanks to a Steeler win.
Me: Let's do this week's picks... I say your Steelers by 3 and Bills by 9. What do you say?
Jeff: I'll go with 49ers by 3 and Vikings by 9.
Me: Okay, I will see you back here next Thursday. Have a great week and I will see you here next Thursday.
Jeff: See you then.
The 108th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
K.K. will be on the Phile on Monday. So, we all know who Winnie the Pooh is, right? But did you know he has a brother? It's been a while since he was on the Phile... years actually, but he's here today. Please welcome back to the Phile...
Me: Vinnie!!! Welcome back! How long has it been since you were on the Phile?
Vinnie: Not long enough.
Me: Huh. Okay. so, how are you and your brother Winnie doing?
Vinnie: Well... I'm okay. Winnie should be obese by his much he eats.
Me: What do you mean?
Vinnie: Sigh. In any world aside from Pooh's, the bear of very little brains would also be a bear of very much gut. Look at how much food Pooh eats. It's more than just a smackerel here, or a drop for his rumbly-tumbly there. Pooh gorges himself on honey seemingly all day long, which isn't the keenest of dietary plans.
Me: But isn't honey fat-free?
Vinnie: Sure, honey is fat-free, but it's all sugar and Pooh gobbles down gallons of the sweet shit at a time. And that's not including all the cake, bread, and other high-calorie fatty foods he consumes in between honey pots. Any realistic interpretation of Pooh would conclude he should be absolutely enormous. He doesn't exercise much either, making things far worse.
Me: Doesn't he go on long walks?
Vinnie: Yes, he goes on plenty of walks throughout the Hundred Acre Wood, but they're usually casual, leisurely strolls. It's the kind of walking that doesn't burn calories so much as gives them a pleasantly warm sunbeam to nap in. Pooh should be literally exploding, rather than simply humorously splitting his butt-fur every so often.
Me: Okay, you have a point.
Vinnie: Can I go now?
Me: Sure. Vinnie the Pooh, kids!
Yep, the Phile will be back at Disney on November 25th... surprise! Can you guess who the guest, or guests are gonna be? I will say this, I'm pretty excited. Now for some Disney...
Phact 1. Pumbaa was the first character to fart in a Disney movie
Phact 2. By coincidence, a married couple was photographed at the same place and time at Disney World 15 years before they met. They didn’t even live in the same country when the picture was taken.
Phact 3. Many people at Disney didn’t think The Lion King will be a success. It is now the highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history.
Phact 4. Disney’s Snow White was 14 years old, and Ariel and Aurora were 16.
Phact 5. Disney World has not one, but TWO abandoned parks.
Today's pheatured guest is an American voice actor and singer, who has appeared in almost 400 roles, including Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Please welcome to the Phile... Jim Cummings.
Jim: I'm fine. How are you?
Me: Not that bad. So, you have done voices for so many things, sir. What was your first?
Jim: "Dumbo's Circus," even though I don't remember that much about it.
Me: So, where are you originally from?
Jim: I was born in Youngstown, Ohio.
Me: What kinda kid were you?
Jim: I would often get kicked out of class and I was as obnoxious as hell. I was sitting in the back and making dolphin noises instead of studying and getting kicked out of class. And here I am, I can't recommend it but I can't down play it either.
Me: Did you have a favorite cartoon growing up?
Jim: Yeah, I did. I remember I dug "Calvin and the Colonel," which is an oldie and the Flintstones were happening. I looked Howdy Doody too, he was a marionette but he was cool. And I liked "Colonel Bleep," the first color series made of television. I watched it recently and thought my god, this is awful. It's the cheapest, lousiest animation in the world but at that time I didn't realize. It looks like it was done on an Etch-A-Sketch, or flash cards. We're so spoiled at this point but when I was a kid I thought it was great.
Me: I never heard of it, so have to check it out. Out of all the voices who have done who sounds most like you?
Jim: Oh, wow. Maybe the 7th Dragon. He wasn't around for very long. We did him and he kind of went away. He was a savage dragon and was mean with a little intention.
Me: I never heard of him either. You did some pretty cool odd jobs, Jim, but did you always want to be a voice actor?
Jim: Well, I always knew when I was a kid I'd watch "The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show," I'd remember barely one of my earliest memories was seeing Jack Benny had a show and Mel Blanc was a guest on there and I remember my dad saying, "See that guy right there?" He was pretending to be a Mexican and he had a big sombrero on and Jack Benny said, "Tell me, what is your name?" My dad would say, "See that guy right there. That's Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck." When Mel talked in his regular voice I could hear a little Bugs in the background. I thought that IS him and he's doing stuff that I get in trouble for. Paul Winchell the same way. With the voice-over guys, I always thought these guys were having the best time in the whole entire world. I want to do what they do, I always knew I wanted to do voice over or be a singer. I knew it was something in the arts. Something with no time cards or letters after my name. The two opposite extremes would not be there. It's just one of those things. I knew I'd be an actor, musician, singer or a painter and I've done all those things. But not I'm not a dancer. Sorry. I'm not that artistic. Nobody wants to see that.
Me: You were a painter?
Jim: Yeah, I got to paint a lot of murals on restaurants, It was a lot of fun.
Me: So, did you move to California to be an actor?
Jim: Yeah, I always said I wanted to be a professional actor. Being a voice-over actor I'm an actor, believe me. Nobody is going to pay me like I'm reading a phone book. I have to put some juice in there. I guess I had some sort of a bucket list and voice-actor was on it. Got to make a new list.
Me: So, how did you get involved with "Dumbo's Circus"?
Jim: At the time I just made a demo tape. It was summer 1984 and I was managing a video store in Anaheim Hills. One of our customers back then was Sal Romeo and he did a couple of low budget horror films. I thought oh, gosh, he's in show business, so I gave him my demo tape. He gave to to Don Bluth who did The Secret of NIMH, a great animator and American talent. He listened to it and had this guy call me back who said they are not doing anything right now, but "you don't stink so we'll hold on to the tape and if somebody is hiring casting for this or that we'll let them know." Which was like don't call me we won't call you. But sure enough a couple of weeks later Frank Brandt and Caroline Hay called me up and said, "Hey, kid, you don't stink because I got this tape here and you wanna come up here and audition because we're getting ready to do this show for the Disney Channel." The Disney Channel just started up and they needed programming. So I went up on my day off and auditioned for Q.T. the Orangutan as well as Lionel, Dumbo's right hand man and I got the job. So I went from working full time, 50 hours in the video store to working part time eight hours a week doing "Dumbo's Circus" and I was making two hundred bucks more. So I said, you know, I'm going to do this.
Me: Did you ever end up working with Don Bluth ever in your career?
Jim: I met him for ten seconds once. The Troll of Central Park and of course I was very grateful to him and told him so and he said, "Who are you again?"
Me: So, it's cool you didn't have to go though an agent to get the part or did you?
Jim: Katie Leigh, who did the voice of Dumbo told me to go over to the voice caster because I didn't know anything. I showed up, I didn't have an agent, all I had was a tape everybody else had an agent talking about this and that. "So in other words you didn't have an agent that you got you this?" I was the most naive nimrod in the world. "What do you mean you don't have an agent?" "I don't have an agent." I was like a mutant who walked off the street. I said, "I've been doing these weird voices on my head for years, I didn't know. Agent for what?" Anyway, I got one and here I am.
Me: You were on "DuckTales" playing the villain El Capitain. How did you get that part?
Jim: I told them I'd do it only if they named a theater after my character. Which they did. I'm just kidding. It's a total coincidence but I'll put that rumor out there and hope your readers will go with it.
Me: You were also in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. What was that like?
Jim: Oh, I was amazing in that, I had lines galore... like four. I was originally a couple of the Weasels and we did a few outhouse scenes and they didn't even make it in the movie. I felt really bad for Bob Hoskins, he was wearing this gigantic toon inspired thing. They didn't have any rope to tie him up with so they duct taped him about 6 inches thick with this dict tape suit and he had to walk around wearing it. That poor guy, I think he ended up wearing that thing for four hours straight. He couldn't move his arms, couldn't do anything, and then they cut the entire scene. I was just off camera yelling at him and he was yelling at me where I was supposed to be.
Me: So, who did you play?
Jim: I was Bullet #2. There's an Andy Devine bullet, Walter Brennan bullet and a Pat Buttram bullet which were all famous old western sidekicks, they were the bullets in Yosemite Sam's gun. I played Andy Devine and Jim Gallant was Walter Brennan and Pat Buttram played Buttram, so that was great. Working with him was amazing. Mr. Haney from "Green Acres" and all those Gene Autry movies.
Me: Okay, let's talk about "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers"... you played a few characters in that show. Which one was your favorite?
Jim: I don't know. I kinda liked Fat Cat. He was designed after Zero Mostel from The Producers and Professor Nimnul was the late great Bruce Talkington. It was pretty good good caricature of him too. He was a great writer and a great animator. If you look at Fat Cat you'll see he has the right comb over stripes that simulates Zoero Mostel's hair in The Producers. Little fun facts to know and tell.
Me: How would you compare cartoons nowadays to cartoons back then when you were doing those Disney Afternoon shows?
Jim: Things were a little different then. Nowadays it's more splat and run. Whaaaa! Pull my finger. There's a burp then flatulence and then it's funny. Or is it?
Me: Ha. So, you took over the character of Monterey Jack from Peter Cullen on "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers." Why was that?
Jim: Everybody on the cast, all the men auditioned for the male parts and the women auditioned for the female parts. I can't recall the issue. They tried to get him to do it a certain way, this way or that way and I guess they thought our original auditions we sounded the same. We have a similar vocal quality. They just said, "Peter is doing it this way and that way and Jim is already there so let's have him shipped over." There wasn't a big jarring shift I didn't think. I guess I can call it the "Darrin Stephens"... Dick York and Dick Sargent. There wasn't a heck of a lot between them but there's a joke in there somewhere. They were both dicks. You won't hear it from me. It was just an odd little thing, it was a bit uncomfortable actually. Peter's doing great, he's Optimus Prime, he's the king of the world. You should interview him if you haven't already. I wouldn't want to mess with him, he's a great guy.
Me: I haven't and I'd love to. My favorite Disney Afternoon show was "TaleSpin." I read you did about 40 characters in that. Is that true?
Jim: I don't know. That sounds about right though. I did about 65 episodes. I had my regular guys like Don Karnage and King Louie. Then different ones would pop in and out. There was this character Wart, but I'd also be the mailman or the bank executive or the guard. Some other people are better than keeping tabs than I am. I just do it, go to work and do it. I have a blur collar attitude to a no collar career I guess.
Me: I read that Disney had some legal problems with your portrayal of King Louie... am I right? Maybe I shouldn't mention this...
Jim: I think that was on one episode of "House of Mouse" or something. I think it had something to do with they were characterization Louis Prima, the actual fellow, the man himself. I think it had more to do with the image and something with his estate. He wasn't in Jungle Book 2 which was very odd for me because when I was a kid I gravitated towards Louie. I thought he was the coolest. Baloo was cool, but I was like man, this guy singing "I wanna be like you" is cool as hell. Sure enough it was his whole band... Sam Butera and the Witnesses in The Jungle Book. That was his band, those weren't session guys. In fact when I got married in 2001 I hired Sam Butera to play at my wedding and I told him, "You're not going to believe this but I am the guy who does King Louie for Disney." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah, kid, whatever." I said, "No, I really am. Can I sing a couple of songs with you?" So I sang a couple of songs with him and at the end he offered me a job and I said, "Dude, where were you 25 years ago when I needed you? You can't offer me a job now, I'm hiring you." It was great though, it felt like I was going full circle. He was cool, he had all these great stories. King Louie is way up there amongst my favorites.
Me: Last year I interviewed Will Vinton who created and worked on the California Raisins commercials. You were one of the singers, is that right?
Jim: Yeah, I was actually allowed to sing the way I sound. Boy, I'm never going to sing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" again. I'm done with that song. HAHAHAHA. I often say I'm a stunt singer. A lot of actors can't sing and a lot of singers can't act, and I can't do both. But don't tell anyone.
Me: Okay, so, you are also Winnie the Pooh, and did his voice for the recent live action film. How did you get to be Pooh originally?
Jim: Well, gosh, it was right after I got into the business. My first thing was in September '84 and they cast for Pooh, this was back when ABC and Disney were different entities. In the summer of '87 they sort of casted out the net to see who was out there. It was just a general call.
Me: Where was Sterling Holloway, the guy who originally was Pooh?
Jim: He was basically retired so they said they'd find somebody else and I just ended up getting it. I was very fortunate and blessed and I thank God every day. It was like, "Anybody could do Winnie the Pooh? All right, go on."
Me: Did you have to practice doing the voice?
Jim: Not really. Just on and off. I didn't really concentrate on Winnie the Pooh or Sterling anymore than anybody else. I could have easily been John Wayne, joking around because I tend to break into a voice like all the other obnoxious people do this for a living. So I really didn't have a handle, it was just in the Rolodex back there.
Me: In what year did you become Tigger?
Jim: Well, gosh, it happened in the original series, "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," because Paul Winchell was still active. He was in and out because he had just won a huge lawsuit with Metromedia for them destroying the old Winchell and Mahoney shows. That's a whole another story. He was really an amazing guy, he invented one of the early prototypes of the artificial heart and of course he was Knucklehead Smiff and Tigger, which is a great progression there. He went back to school at the age of 35 to become a doctor.
Me: Okay, so, I have to talk about Darkwing Duck. I like that character but don't remember too much about him. What can you tell us about him?
Jim: Darkwing was an interesting character, he was one of the first breakout characters.
Me: You replaced voice actors, Jim, has anybody replaced you?
Jim: Not that I can think of. There's got to be one. A lot of times someone tried to replace me for a couple of bucks less. I don't support that. They did that with "The Simpsons" when they tried to get a raise and I refused to even audition. I don't care if I did the best Homer and Bart in the world, I'm not going to do that to my buddies. I want them to be as happy and successful as they could be. I want that for me to so why not, right? It's like taking someone else's kid to the park. I'm not going to do that.
Me: You do a voice in Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, right?
Jim: Yeah, Hondo Ohnaka, reprising my role from the “Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” animated television series.
Me: That's cool. Jim, thanks for being on the Phile. Please come back again, I have a lot more questions for you, sir.
Jim: It's been a lot of fun. Thank you. I hope we laid something down here to keep people happy and stayed tuned, say your prayers and eat your vitamins.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Jeff Trelewicz and of course Jim Cummings. The Phile will be back on Monday with K.K. Downing. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon
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