Hollywood Studio Magazine (November 1966)

Studio Preparing Screenplay Based On North’s 'Rascar Prominent in the future line-up of things to come in Disney movies Stands a fascinating animal story called Ras¬ cal, based on a highly successful book of the same name by the noted Sterling North, a midwesterner who grew up among the animals and developed a particularly close friendship with one of them, a pet raccoon he named Rascal. North, of course, wrote the poignant story on which Walt’s wonderful fea- ture, So Dear to My Heart, was based. (The screenplay eventually resulted in a full-fledged book). The well-known novelist and drama critic has had phenomenal success with Rascal, which rated high on the New York Times and Herald-Tribune’s best- seller lists for more than 40 weeks. And, it has been translated into nearly every foreign language, including French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and most of the Scandinavian dialects. Nearly a million copies have been sold in the U. S. alone. Earl Hamner Jr. has been signed to write the screenplay for Walt setting up what promises to be one of the most timely combinations of author and screenwriter in the history of the Com¬ pany. Hamner has always been a man with a great interest in the things of nature, too. Author of Spencer’s Moun¬ tain, he was reared in the same type of surroundings as North and lived his boyhood years in much the same way. He became curious and interested in animals at an early age and has re- tained this throughout his life. At this printing, the feature is sched- uled to go into production in early 1967, and if its past is any indication of the future, everyone will know of Rascal by then. Huge 'Bambi’ Success Dramatizes Values Of Studio Film Library The virtually inestimable value of the Studio’s far-famed film library, so graphically presented recently at a his- toric session of the New York Society of Security Analysts, has probably never been more dramatically demon- strated than during the Spring and Summer when Bambi went out for the fourth time to smash all the records for cartoon feature releases. In fact, Bambi not only bettered all its own previous performances, it tripled the original go-around with a figure that, at presstime, looked like an eventual $4,500,000. The original re- lease, in 1942, came within a few green- backs of $1,300,000. Which was as good an answer as any to the oft-asked question in this some- what envious industry: What is the value of Walt Disney’s film library? “The total negative cost of the entire library,” the NYSSA report said pub- licly for the first time, “amounts to $205,000,000, with only about $9,000,- 000 remaining unamortized.” “Aside from the intrinsic and time- less merit of the subjects the Company Sandy Gosnell and Joe Vandagriff check out a can in the film librarif. owns and Controls all the negatives, which puts us in the enviable Position to market the material to best advan- tage. “During the last ten years, fully amortized pictures have contributed after all field expenses, $45,000,000 to general and administration expenses.” So far, the library includes 493 short subjects, 21 cartoon features, 47 live- action motion pictures, 7 True-Life Ad- venture features, 330 hours of Mickey Moüse Club, 78 half-hour Zorro shows and 280 hours of filmed TV shows. “The nature of our animated fea¬ tures,” the report continued, “is such that they may be re-issued periodically and indefinitely. Their performance at the boxoffice has been excellent, and should continue to be so. The ‘snow- balling’ effect we have achieved in the United States because of extensive ex- posure of film clips and trailers on tele- vision is reflected in the rising ticket purchases with each subsequent re- issue. We are presently developing the same technique in overseas markets.” There are a dozen live-action pictures that have a huge potential as re-issues, too. Features like 20,000 Leagues Un- der the Sea and Old Yeller have already shown strength in a second time around, and who knows what Mary Poppins, a $31,000,000 grosser to date in the domestic market alone, will bring in seven years or so hence. All other features, shorts and TV shows in the library represent tremen- dous marketing opportunities, especi- ally in the expanding television syndi- cation field. 17