Friday, June 19, 2020

Pheaturing Donnie Donagan From "Bambi"


Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Friday. How are you? Well, it's almost summer in 2020, and boy, things have sure changed in the 21st century. We're doing this new thing called "social distancing." Nobody is allowed to leave their house, you can't find toilet paper anywhere, and people are wearing diapers as masks. Yessirre, we sure have come a long way. You know who I wish would do an even better job of "social distancing'? Uncle Orville, that's who! Hehehe. What do you think? They need to update the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom.
The influx of global Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery has inspired a lot of companies and brands to release statements of support for the movement, with some even donating to the cause or making promises to promote racial equality in the workplace. However, not all companies have jumped onto the solidarity train, and some have even gone so far as to punish employees for wearing Black Lives Matter clothing. Last week Starbucks faced blow back and boycotts after banning their employees from wearing Black Lives Matter apparel, which prompted them to quickly release a statement and reverse that policy. Now, Taco Bell is facing similar backlash on the heels of a viral video that shows an employee getting fired for wearing a Black Lives Matter mask. The video, posted by Twitter user Brother Tyrone, shows him calling out his manager for firing him for standing up against racism. It shows a man named Denzel Skinner, who originally posted his experience on Facebook, as he gets fired from the Taco Bell in Youngstown Ohio. "You just told me I gotta go home because I have a Black Lives Matter mask on," he said. His manager replied, "You could just take if off." "I'm not taking, because I'm standing up for what's right. They said I could wear whatever mask," he replied. "They said it had to be plain. You can't bring politics into the building," she chided. "Bro, I'm not bringing politics in. This is what I'm standing for, how is this considered politics?" "How is it not, Denzel?" she responded. "I'm not taking it off," he replied. "Well, there's nothing I can do for you. I'm just doing my job," she said. "I'm doing my job too, and I'm standing up for my people too," he replied. "You don't get it," she said, to which he replied, "You don't get it either, if you did, this wouldn't be a problem." "It's not that it's a problem with me Denzel, it's a company thing," she stated. The video quickly went viral, with a lot of people condemning Taco Bell for firing him despite the fact that his mask follows company policy. Others pointed out the fact that stating that Black Lives Matter, a basic statement saying that black people should be able to live freely, should be a given, and not considered political. Still, others argued that the mask was deeply political and it was reasonable for Taco Bell to fire him. Others focused their anger on moving business away from Taco Bell. At the time of writing this, there is still a raging debate between people who side with Taco Bell and people who side with Denzel, the question left at hand is: who do you side with?
A New Jersey woman has been charged with felony kidnapping after allegedly trying her boyfriend up during sex and then stealing his guns and cellphone. Twenty-eight-year-old Ann Marie Bessie Eller of Buckeye Lake, New Jersey was arrested and charged with one count of felony kidnapping for her sexual ruse. The robbery itself, however, allegedly took place on November 5th. Newark police responded to a reported robbery at a home on the 200 block of South Sixth Street in Newark. It was there that the victim told police that he’d invited Eller, his girlfriend of a few months, over to have sex. According to the victim, Eller tied him to his futon and then, instead of having sex with him, stole three guns and his cellphone (and his bank card, which was stored in the phone’s protective case). The victim was tied up for roughly 40 to 45 minutes before he was eventually able to get free by grabbing a lighter and using it to burn through the ropes. He called police after his bank informed him that his card was being used by someone else. That someone else, however, was not Eller. The person using the card was a man who said he had been given the bank card by another woman who claimed that Eller invited her over to the victim’s home, where she saw the victim tied up and naked on the futon. It was there that Eller gave this woman the victim’s bank card before she ultimately passed it along to the man Newark police tracked down. The Licking County Prosecutor’s Office plans to request that Eller be held on a $100,000 bond. A grand jury is set to review the case and potentially levy additional charges against Eller. If convicted of just felony kidnapping Eller can face up to 11 years in jail and a $20,000 fine.
A father and stepmother in Colorado turned themselves into authorities after being accused of killing their 11-year-old son by forcing him to drink large amounts of water. Forty-one-year-old Ryan Sabin and 42-year-old Tara Sabin, from Black Forest located northeast of Colorado Springs, have been charged with child abuse, first-degree murder charges, and child abuse resulting in death over the killing of their son Zachary. Zach, unfortunately, died on March 11th from forced water intoxication. According to the coroner’s report, the boy had been told to drink four 24-ounce bottles of water over four hours without eating. The pair allegedly required Zach to drink two bottles of water a day, believing he had a bed-wetting problem and that his “urine smells strong.” The couple also stated Zach had a urinary problem which required him to wear diapers to bed. According to El Paso County Sherriff’s Office, Zachary’s father told authorities that on the evening of March 10th, he had received a message from his wife telling him that their son hadn’t drunk his water so she was making him do it. When he arrived home, the boy was in the kitchen taking sips of water and throwing them back up. Ryan told his son that he was throwing the water up because he was drinking it slowly and allowing the air into the stomach, telling him to shove the water. That’s when Zachary continued to drink the water in the kitchen while the rest of the family ate dinner without him. After the Sabins’ other children went to bed, the father told authorities that Stack was throwing a fit while he was lying on the floor, telling his dad that he couldn’t drink the water and that his legs were hurting. That’s when he fathered/kicked the son twice while warning him that if he didn’t get up he would “kick him harder,” according to the affidavit. Ryan told authorities that Zack was repeatedly throwing himself on the ground and at one point Ryan picked him up. When he let go, Zachary hit his head on the ground and continued to throw the tantrum. When he took his son outside to calm down, after a few minutes he brought Zachary inside, and he fell asleep on the floor. When the parents woke him up to go to bed at 11:15 p.m. Zachary was “grunting and making other unintelligible noises” before they put the boy to bed. When the father decided to go wake up Zachary at 6:15, the boy was unresponsive and authorities arrived on the scene declared him dead. Drinking too much, also known as water intoxication, can disturb a person’s electrolyte balance which can lead to a rapid increase in sodium levels and possible death. Symptoms in children usually include a change in behavior. According to the Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, children can become confused, inattentive, or drowsy. They also noted, children “may suffer from blurred vision, muscle cramps and twitching, poor coordination, nausea and vomiting, irregular breathing and weakness.” According to his obituary, little Zac was in 5th grade at Explorer Elementary School in Colorado Springs and loved to play with the sisters and brothers. His obituary reads, “He is loved by many and remembered by his unique and contagious laugh, continuous smile, goofy spirit, obsession with chicken nuggets, love of books and reading, and love for animals. He talked and dreamed of being a zoo keeper or veterinarian and loved his birds, turtles, and dogs. He was always a gentle guardian to those littler than him.”
The dudes who chug breastmilk after working out call it liquid gold, which is fitting, because if every single person who lifts regularly has anything in common it’s that they value protein like it’s going to be the only currency that matters after society collapses. And if the post-apocalyptic world is a gladiatorial wasteland where one must prove themselves in Thunderdome, they’re right. Breastmilk is, apparently, a super drink. It’s packed with 'teen, boosts the immune system, and helps digestive health from your stomach all the down to your sphincter. It really might be all these people crack it up to be according to Fatherly. Reaching an anabolic state, where the muscle is actively being repaired and built, is the holy grail of bodybuilding... hence the popularity of anabolic steroids. Human colostrum does contain a growth hormone thought to help muscle recovery. More importantly, it contains human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which is the gold in “liquid gold.” Some people get breastmilk from their partners when their nursing the couple’s children, but most people who lift aren’t a new dad, so where do they get their boob juice fix? The Internet, of course. The website Only the Breast has a section called Willing to Sell to Men and they do not differentiate whether the breast milk is used to get swole or get… off. A paycheck is a paycheck. There’s a fair amount of dudes who get turned on by breastmilk as well, apparently. Which… fine. Whatever. No kink-shaming here. Maybe a raised eyebrow, but who the hell am I? The actual science on whether breast milk helps get you, medically speaking, “yolked AF” is pretty inconclusive but when has a lack of hard evidence ever stopped anyone? Chug away, bros. Don’t let some squid twink infant hog all that liquid gold.
Earlier this week, several accusations were made against comic book writer and artist Cameron Stewart. He has reportedly been grooming underage girls or women much younger than him in general, abusing his position as a well known comic book creator. Now, following those misconduct claims, Stewart has been removed from an upcoming DC project. Bleeding Cool recently reported that DC Comics has withdrawn an unannounced project that Stewart has been working on from their schedule. Stewart’s planned variant cover for Image Comics’ Ice Cream Man #20 has been canceled too, with the commission cost of the cover to be donated to Safe Horizon. Stewart is best known of late for drawing Dark Horse Comics’ Fight Club 2 and Fight Club 3 as well as writing the Batgirl Burnside era and drawing Catwoman for DC Comics. He also co-created Image Comics’ Motor Crush and drew recently drew a short story recently for the Catwoman 80th Anniversary edition. Writer and columnist Evelyn Hollow is one of the women who shared her story. Artist and model Aviva Maï, as well as cartoonist and writer Kate Leth, have shared stories about Stewart’s misconduct as well. Actress Natasha Negovanlis also said she had a similar experience but doesn’t “feel comfortable” to share it publicly yet. Since the allegations were posted, Stewart has removed himself from social media. He has yet to comment on the situation, setting his accounts to private.
Ever freeze a Disney movie on Blu-ray or Disney+? You should.


Hahahahaha. So, I was thinking of getting another tattoo but someone had the same idea I had...


Haha. Today's guest is Donnie Donagan and he was the voice of Bambi in the animated movie. If Bambi was real I wonder what he'd be doing right now...


Oh, man. What a shame. Do you know Bambi was not the original title for the movie? Here's the original poster for it...


Bang! ...Mommy! Hahaha. When I did stand-up back in the day I said what about if Bambi's mother wasn't really shot and killed? You didn't see her die. Maybe she took off... Marie Osmond style after she had the baby deer. Look at this new pic of the princesses. Poor Mulan, I guess they are just being safe though.


Could that pic be anymore blurry by the way? Ugh. Did you see the new movie coming out on Disney+? I have the pic of it here...


Oh, guess it comes out on Valentine's Day next year. And not on Disney+. Trump went back over to St. John's church again, I wonder what he's holding his time...


Makes sense. Large crowds all over the world have gathered to protest police brutality and stand with Black Lives Matter. People are standing up for the safety and dignity of black people whether or not its popular in their town. Anti-racist demonstrators are hosting their own protests in small towns and cities. While they may be the only people standing, they're not standing alone. Like this guy in
Northbrook, Illinois.


Some celebrities are tone-deaf when it comes to posting about the Black Lives Matter protests.
Like Shameik Moore sounded off against the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott and said that Rosa Parks should have taken a cab.


If I had a TARDIS I would go and try to meet Walt Disney in the 1940s but knowing my luck he'd be playing with a deer...


Hey, future kids, this was Joe Rohde.


Hahahaha. I wonder how many of you got that reference. Well, you know I live in Florida, right? Some stuff happens in this state that happens no where else...


Julie Edwards, a Florida woman more closely resembling human waste with a mouth and some teeth than an actual person, was arrested for drunk driving in Deland, Florida by a black police officer and, because the woman is trash, she decided that this was not okay, racially speaking. He, a black man who puts his life on the line to protect, serve, and better the community dared to arrest her, a drunk driving wet sack of pubes that happens to technically be a white woman? “I think not,” thought she it. So the dumpster with a blond wig hanging from one of its corners threatened the black police officer with visits and violence from the Ku Klux Klan. All for committing the offense of doing his job and protecting the community. By preventing her from existing in her then-current state around them. All of this was caught on video by the officer’s body camera. Let’s break down the best quotes from Edwards, whose voice sounds like it’s coming from a sphincter that smokes a pack a day, shall we? “I’m suing the fuck outta you and you know what? I’ll buy me a house because of you.” You know what they say, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land extra charges.” “Keep it up, boy.” Spoiler alert: “It” is in reference to the officer arresting and booking her so he does, in fact, keep it up. “I won’t find ya. My KKK people will.” Is it wrong that I kind of love that she refers to people she knows in the Klan the way you or I would refer to a lawyer or car dealer we know? “Oh, you’re looking to buy a new car? Lemme hook you up with my guy.” She has people for racist vengeance. Peak trash. You fuckin’ with the wrong white people. All due respect ma’am (note: no respect is due) but you’re inland Florida swamp trash. If the many Burger King managers I’m sure you’ve threatened with a rubber flip flop you pulled off your foot haven’t taken you seriously then no one else is going to at this point. “Hey, there ain’t a damn thing wrong with burning crosses in your yard, is there?” There is something wrong with that! That’s why we’re here making fun of you. “You fucked up.” Unless there’s a mirror she’s speaking into that we can’t see in the footage, this is an inaccurate statement. “I hope you don’t have no kids.” I would pay money to watch this lady watch this video in court when she’s sober, try to act like “that’s not the real me,” and then listen to her get reamed by the judge. Please sell tickets to this, City of Deland. “Your eyes’ll be poked out you know.” She’s really just throwing Hail Marys at this point. What does she expect to happen? Does she think one of these threats are going to actually land and the cop is going to be like, “Oh… oh my God. I’m so sorry. Please tell your powerful white friends, such as the man at your trailer park who makes twelve thousand dollars a year stealing satellite TV and selling the illegal stream to park residents, that I’m sorry.” “I got a nigger and a white nigger.” Wellllllll that was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? “KKK’s got your ass, boy.” She’s going to have a really fun time explaining what she’s in for to her fellow residents at the county jail. “Send all you fuckers back [to Africa]. Burn the rest of ya.” Can we send you back? Into the septic tank you crawled out of? “My KKK friends will burn your family.” Lady. You know he arrested you because you’re a piece of shit and he’s a cop, not because he’s black and you’re white, right? Oh you don’t? Cool. Again, I’d loooooooove to have tickets to her hearing. “Ever been whipped on a whipping post?” Lady, nothing you’re threatening this guy with is worse than existing as you so it all your threats come off as pretty impotent and sad. Easily my favorite part of this video, however, is the end when you can clearly hear the cop singing along to a Luke Combs song to get the sound of shrieking dog shit out of his ears. Keep on keepin’ on officer.




If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York, here is...


Top Phive Petitions Created By Disney Fans
5. Reopen at a later date
4. Decrease price of mandatory $49.00 face masks
3. Offer Cast Members "Hazard Pay" (whatever that is?!)
2. Revert sneeze catchers back to sneeze guards
And the number one petition created by Disney fans is...
1. Never reopen



AMNESIA
Condition that enables a woman who has gone through labor to have sex again.


“DO NOT TOUCH” would probably be a really unsettling thing to read in braille.


This online dater who needs to improve their pickup lines. And also their whole existence.


Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jeff, shall we?


Nothing really going on. Oh, well.



Guess no one likes Takis. I don't think I ever ate Takis. Maybe I have. I should try it, right?


The 129th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...


Natasha will be the guest on the Phile on Wednesday.


Phact 1: Our fingerprints are developed while we’re still in the womb and are unique based on our movement, location in the womb and composition of our mother’s amniotic fluid.

Phact 2: Franz Stigler was a German ace fighter pilot who risked his life to spare and then save the lives of nine Americans by escorting their injured B-17 bomber out of Germany. The incident would later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.”

Phact 3: Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates, who demanded 20 talents of silver for his freedom, however, Caesar told them to ask for 50. When the ransom was paid and he was released, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and eventually captured the pirates and had them crucified.

Phact 4: The first native American to meet the Pilgrims walked into the Plymouth settlement and welcomed them in English and asked them for a beer.

Phact 5: Occasionally, people who have aphakia (a condition where eyes lack a lens), have reported seeing ultra-violet spectrum of the light.



Today's guest is an American former child actor and retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor. He is best known as providing the voice of young Bambi in Bambi. Please welcome to the Phile... Donnie Donagan.


Me: Hello, sir, welcome to the Phile. How are you?

Donnie: Hello, Jason, thanks for having me. I'm doing pretty good. I've done interviews like this a few times for different reasons.

Me: That's good. So, when you voiced Bambi in 1942 you were just a kid. I have to show this pic of you then...


Me: What a cute kid. Haha. What were you like as a kid?

Donnie: I have a very acute recall. I have a very short memory. I don't subscribe to education or practice. I think that it's just DNA RNA luck. But I can remember vividly my fourth birthday. I certainly remember most things sufficiently after that. Here's some trivia: people remember when they were a child things that were exciting, different and surprises. My memory is very strong going back to four and a half. This is for the majority of your audience that is not 86-years-old like me. This is in the apex, it's in a mathematic, clinic, audited apex of the Depression. That Depression would make any of our economic downturns look like a Mary Poppins picnic. They were really bad, okay. We moved to San Antonio where there was no work, where I was born to Memphis, Tennessee because my father had written long hand letters and sent them all over the place desperate to find and get a job training horses, or teaching golf. He was 26 then or 27 and played golf very well and knew how to teach it in basics. Anyway, he got a job in Memphis, Tennessee and we moved there at four and a half. And we took a little flat as we would call it in New York or somewhere, two rooms on top of a combination drugstore and hardware store. There was no supermarkets, that would surprise young people today. The stairwell to the room upstairs was on the outside like in the western cowboy movies you'd see. We came out of a one room place in San Antonio.

Me: Did your mom work?

Donnie: My mother got a job, she needed a job desperately. Now my mother was a blue eyed, blonde, first generation Irish lass. She got a job because a black lady handled well with other ladies cleaning wealthy homes in the Memphis area. We loved a block and a half or two from which was called the Black Area which was well defined. I mean it was like a line in the street those days. And somehow she met this lady who helped her get a job by helping clean houses. My mom was obviously very willing to do.

Me: When did you start to get into entertainment?

Donnie: They were just getting by on a Saturday afternoon about two ding dings away, I measured distance in those days by sub-signs. The sign would come down and go ding ding ding and the sign would go red then it'll go up and go ding ding ding. It's not like now where you're standing on a corner and someone will ask where are you and you'd say, "I'm at the walk and don't walk." About two dings away, a black man was dancing on a street corner and the street corner was very wide in front of another pseudo drugstore that was very popular. It was a very wide corner with a ding ding on it. There was a black man that danced there on Saturday afternoon for pennies and some nickels. He had great audiences, about twenty or thirty people would gather and some would leave and some would come. At lunch he would always have a circle of people for about two hours. His folks later, including his cousin which I met a couple of years later, was a famous vaudevillian in New York City at the time called the Cotton Club. This fellow in Memphis, this black man, whose name was Sam danced there to help support his family. I watched him in barefoot, I had no shoes. I started mimicking him and this guy Sam could make the wonderful, wonderful Ray Bolger dancing look like a tin soldier. The guy had no bones, it looked like he had surgery to remove all his bones. At that age I had not seen any contrast. I mimic him, move my arms around, having a great time. He spots this and bows and I've never seen anybody bow before. He took me by my hand and I went out in front with him and we started doing a duet. The crowd loved it and we started to get nickels and dimes, Sam made a big thing about it at the end of the day that we were getting dimes. During the Depression people were making 16 to 18 cents an hour.

Me: How often did you perform then and what was it like? Was it fun?

Donnie: I think this is a guess but I think we did that for three or four Saturdays and a big black limousine came up to the ding ding, I'd never seen anything like it. Two ladies were in the back and one of them rolled down the window and motioned for Sam to come over. I went with him and they chatted a bit and apparently had seen Sam before and she reached down to get something, folded it, put it in our hand and bid good-bye and the driver drove off. We went back inside the semi-circle, Sam opened it up and a man in the crowd said right away, "Ten spot, a ten spot." They used those terms then, a five dollar bill was a five spot. He held it up proud and the crowd was cheering, he had tap shoes on and he immediately takes off. He runs around the crowd and takes off down the street. He was running and it sounded like a machine gun with his tap shoes. Some of the people in the crowd didn't know him apparently and said a few things that were too pleasant. Most of the crowd stayed there and I started singing having a great time. Pretty soon Sam comes back, he went somewhere to have that ten spot divided. He then handed my mother who was there a five. That really made an impression on me big time.

Me: That's a great story. So, did you continue performing after that?

Donnie: Well, we did that for a couple of weeks later and there was noise that there was going to be a big talent show at a theater in Memphis. It was a movie house theater of the 20s and 30s era. Your younger audience, or folks at 15 and 16 might be surprised at this but this was 1938, folks, and people went to talent contests. People loaded their theaters up with spelling bees and talent contests. This was before television, very few people afforded a radio, folks were broke. There were good hard working folks looking for jobs desperate. I kept hearing a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars, whoever was going to win this thing would get a hundred dollars. I had the impression then, approaching age 5, whoever won that hundred dollars the world would be okay forever. That's how desperate I was. A dollar was a big deal. A hundred dollars! So they prepped me for this contest. I didn't have shoes and one of the black ladies found me some tap shoes, about three quarters of an inch longer than my foot at the time. Everybody was worried about that, they put paper in the toe. We went to the theater which must of been six or seven ding dings, we had about eight or nine people, my dad had took off work for me. We went down to this theater and Sam and his wife and two daughters were with us and we got to the door and they wouldn't Sam and his family in. I've never seen anything like this. I wasn't reading yet, I started reading at five and a half but this aggravated me. I went into this theater with my mom angry which is not the way I should have went into this contest. They had a top age of 14 for the contest but no bottom age and I wasn't five yet. I'm in the wings of the theater and looking out at the stage and saw big bright lights called stage lights and I'm watching these contestants. There was a gal in front of me doing a ballet, I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was an unbelievable performance. I wanted to tell my mother, but I had no guts, I had no business being there. It was my turn and they put the song on "A-tisket a-tasket," I had a top hat made out of a grocery bag and a branch from a tree that was shaped like a cane and these flipping tap shoes and I went out and I won the bloody thing. I think I was the youngest kid and got the sympathy vote, but I won a hundred dollars. 

Me: Okay, so, you got a hundred dollars... and poor Sam got nothing?

Donnie: What we did not know until two days later was that in the audience of that theater, which was packed to the gills, was a bonafide tenet scout from RKO Studios. He didn't normally come up that far but his mom was in hospital and he was off, had no entertainment and was bored so he went to the talent thing. After the contest my mom and dad were sitting at their little table and they were talking about money and budgets, I wasn't paying attention to this. The next day, on Sunday, my dad took my hand and my mom and we walked about there for four ding dings to Sam's house. My dad knocked on the door, Sam came to the door, his wife and two daughters came right behind him and Sam with a big expression on his face asked what's the matter. My dad said a couple of things which I did not hear clearly, he was soft spoken manned he had made an envelope out of a piece of pipe paper or something. He had put in it fifty dollars. Somehow he had gotten that hundred split. He handed it to Sam and said something nice and we walk off. We're not five steps away and we hear this loud positive yell from Sam behind us, he had opened it up. We were dead broke and we thought Sam had split that ten and gave me five and my dad gave him fifty.

Me: Very nice. Okay, so, you said an RKO talent scout was at the show. Was he the one that got you into the movies?

Donnie: A couple of days later we had all of our belongings in one square suitcase and this man hosting us we got on a train and a couple of days later we were at Grand Central Station in Los Angeles. Less than a week later I'm auditioning for a wonderful director named Rowland V. Lee for a classic movie called Mother Carey's Chickens. It had all kind of well known stars in it at the time. I must've been in every third scene in that thing and it was the very first movie in all of Hollywood where they let a little kid do the closing scene.

Me: How many movies did you make, sir?

Donnie: Mother Carey's Chickens was the first of eight films and I was a contract player with RKO. They leant me out to Universal and then later to Disney.

Me: Wasn't Bambi one of the first animated movies where they let children voice the roles? 

Donnie: Yes. Bambi was my last film and I was six and a quarter when I first started and I learned then it was the first studio in America that did animated cartoons use children for the actual voices. Previously they used, including Disney, adults that replicated a child's voice. I wasn't jaded, then or now, I had a fun experience by age six. I was six maybe going on seventeen.

Me: What did you like about Bambi?

Donnie: Well, I remember and not quite understanding, Walt's insistence about using oils for the foregrounds. Like Rembrandt oil paintings. I later learned that Mr. Disney wanted Bambi and all the characters and movements to be done with actual oils, and it was certainly worth it. The static backgrounds were in watercolor. Bambi was the first attempt at visual depth perception in entertainment in the country. People don't realize that.

Me: So, what was your experience like with Walt?

Donnie: Oh, golly. You're only the third guy to interview me and ask me that question. A couple of my other films were boring for kids, I did a lot of scenes, I had my lines memorized, the adults did not, it drove me crazy. But now I was at Disney and having a great time. I've seen executives and executives and producers and directors and bananas and apples, I've seen it all. I've met some pompous potatoes and some phony ones. I've seen people get ready for a scene all day and some executive would walk out his office and the actors would say, "Oh, gosh, here comes so so." Everyone would clutch up. Not with Disney. From the very beginning he was zero pompous, zero pretentious. When I first met him he had his sleeves rolled up and drying his hands because he helped somebody wash something. I knew the Disney name was there but I wasn't into the corporate structure or censorship but this was his place and he was Disney. He was a delight!

Me: When you got hired to play Bambi what was that like?

Donnie: They hired me first to be the facial model, not the voice. I spent a lot of time with the artists looking right and looking left. Halfway through the production I didn't know what the storyline was. I was like what is this, what is the storyline in this? What's this deer and all this stuff? I'm surreal this point I was pestering people, and I asked "what a deer?" I've never seen a deer. They showed me one in black and white in a book and I asked what do deers do. They took me down to a zoo in Los Angeles in 1941 early. In the zoo park, down in a depression area, was a deer. A single deer, a doe with no antlers. I called to it and it didn't move. I probably said "doggy doggy" or something. I remember saying to my mom, "I don't want to be a deer, that deer is boring." My mom was a wonderful lady but a bit nervous and said, "Don't say that when you get back." The next day we're in the hallway going into some prerecording booth or something and here came Mr. Disney, this time had a suit on, with another man who I saw him with often. It may have been his brother but I never knew who it was. Mr. Disney greeted me, put his hand up and he said, "Donnie, I hear that you went and saw a deer." "Yes, sir." "I promise you, Bambi will not be boring." I'll be darned my nanny ratted me out to my mom.

Me: You worked with Boris Karloff on Son of Frankenstein. What was it like working with Boris Karloff?

Donnie: On the Frankenstein set, a year and half before Bambi at Christmas in 1939 Boris Karloff, who I loved to death, he was a great guy and really funny. I could never be scared again, he was a riot. Boris Karloff gave me a water pistol for Christmas. This wasn't a Mickey Mouse plastic thing, this was all metal, made in Germany, pre-war water pistol. It shot spiffy, it took me two fingers to do it, but it shot spiffy. I remember hiding that from my mother, I should have never done that.

Me: Haha. Okay, back to Bambi. What was it like with the artists drawing you?

Donnie: Oh, it was my first experience like that, I've never done anything like that before. I was sitting on a stool, it was a very pleasant experience. It felt like extra work sometimes because I had patience of nothing. I wanted to go and play ball. Around this time I had the feeling I was losing my childhood. It was films, films, films, practice, practice, practice, audition, audition, I had no childhood. I kept hearing from other children how their dads took them to the zoo or they went here and did that. I did not do any of that, it was all work, work, work, work, work. I was on a stool working, I was six and a quarter or something in a semi circle of artists with a million pencils. They would say, "Look left. Look right. Look afraid. Look happy. Donnie, look like something terrible had happened to you!" I was having the time of my life and didn't know how to do that. Then Mr. Disney comes in and one of the artists says, "Donnie, have you had any bad times or bad experiences lately? At school?" I didn't go to school, I was home schooled. I had tutors. "Have you had any bad medicines?" I remembered that two weeks before my mother gave me a double dose castor oil, that stuff was made by a committee in Hades. The guy looked at me and said, "Donnie, this is important. You just had two doses of castor oil. What do you think?" And I went "ooh." They said hold it, and I did the "ooh" facial expression for twenty darn minutes. To a child that's hard to do.

Me: Hahahaha. That's funny. Thanks for being on the Phile, sir. I hope this was a fun interview. Please come back again and stay well.

Donnie: Thank you, Jason. Have fun with this thing.





That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Donnie Donagan for a great interview. The Phile will be back on Monday kicking of summer on the Phile with Huey Lewis! Spread the word, not the turd... or the virus. 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

1 comment:

Alex Cooks said...

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