Son of Flubber (Disney) (1963)

©1962 Walt Disney Productio Borcceswras OOS: Mat SON-1C FLUBBERIZED fullback Leon Tyler is hero of zany football sequence in Walt Disney’s SON OF! FLUBBER, which stars Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn and Tommy Kirk, Robert Stevenson directed the Buena Vista release from a Bill Walsh screenplay. Ed Wynn Marks 60th Year of Career on Set of Disney Comedy Veteran actor-comedian Ed Wynn celebrated his sixtieth year in show business during the filming of Walt Disney’s wacky new comedy, SON OF FLUBBER, in which he portrays a slightly zany agricultural agent, and was feted with a party on the set by members of the cast and crew. It was a happy occasion for this perennial star of stage, screen and television who made his professional bow on August 8, 1902, and has since enjoyed a highly active and rewarding career. Sharing the memorable anniversary with the beloved entertainer were his son, Keenan Wynn, and grandson, Ned Wynn, who are also appearing in the Disney comedy. This marks the second time that three generations of Wynns have worked together professionally, having previously been featured in Disney’s comedy hit, “The Absent Mnided Professor.” In reflecting on his 60-year career, Ed confided, “The world of entertainment has given me a full and happy life. There are no boundaries in this profession. A performer with talent can go in any direction. It’s strictly up to the individual. I know. I’ve been one of the lucky ones. I’ve gone from broad comedy to heavy drama and in every medium, from the stage, to radio, motion pictures and television. I’ve played about every kind of part except a villain.” Wynn added, “I’m even thinking of trying that now.” Mat SON-2L Zany Football Game Highlights Walt Disney’s ‘Son of Flubber’ Moviegoers who rolled in the aisles at the zany antics of the flying basketball team in Walt Disney’s hilarious comedy hit, “The AbsentMinded Professor” will be in for another pleasant surprise when Disney’s laugh-loaded successor, SON OF FLUBBER hits the theatre screens. This one features a mad, mirthful football contest with players whose suits inflate (like the pigskin itself) and send the athletes floating down the field for touchdown after touchdown. Disney has re-assembled the original cast of his earlier success — Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk and Elliott Reid, plus a roster of star players from professional teams around the country for the football sequence. Johnny Olszewski, one-time star quarterback for the University of California, now with the Detroit Lions, heads the impressive lineup. Jim Steffans (Washington Redskins), Glen Wilder (LA Chargers), Al Carmichael (Denver Broncos) and Phil Parslow (LA Chargers) are other professional players who donned greasepaint for this filmmaking interlude under the technical guidance of U.S.C. All-American Jim Sears, who has played for the Cardinals, Chargers and Denver Broncos. This lineup of pro ball players comprise the opposition team of Rutland, while in marked contrast “pro” actors make up the home team of Medfield with Tommy Kirk and Leon Tyler, in particular, getting more bounce to the ounce to everyone’s utter amazement. Probably nothing was more amazing to these star athletes than the filming itself. Due to the special effects and trick shots involved in the sequence, exterior shooting was prohibitive. A section of the stadium and a major part of the field were reproduced on one of the Disney Studio’s largest sound stages, with every detail intact, from the transplanted green sod and gaily bedecked goal posts to the cheering spectators and enthusiastic cheer leaders. “T’ve played in all kinds of weather and in many stadiums around the country but this is my first time indoors,” remarked Johnny O. “As they say in the movie, I’m flubbergassed!” And his team mates were in complete agreement as they played a losing game against some of the most unethical strategy ever devised by coach or movie director. In order to win the big game, the professor, played by MacMurray, and two of his students, Kirk and Tyler, invent a suit that can be inflated with flubbergas (an offshoot of the anti-gravity substance, flubber) that enables the wearer to float up and over the heads of the opposing team. When a player receives the ball, he just pulls a valve and jetisons himself down the field and over the goal line. It is probably the wackiest game ever put on film and will undoubtedly prove to be the hilarious highlight of the production. SON OF FLUBBER stars MacMurray, Miss Olson, Keenan Wynn and Tommy Kirk. Robert Stevenson directed the Bill Walsh screenplay for Buena Vista release. ‘Son of Flubber’ a Disney Laugh-Riot (PREPARED REVIEW) One of the funniest comedies to come out of Hollywood in many a day is Walt Disney’s newest laugh-riot, SON OF FLUBBER, opening AG GO ced i saa tas teins enka cipaatiaws Nicsae a fea Theatre on ) Starring Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson and Keenan Wynn, it is a worthy successor to the producer’s earlier comedy hit, “The AbsentMinded Professor,” in which this same stellar trio combined their talents to bring off the hilarious hi-jinks. MacMurray again plays the absent-minded Professor Brainard whose scientific experiments plunge him into all kinds of hot water. His newest discovery involves an off-shoot of an earlier phenomena, flubber (an anti-gravity substance), which he labels flubbergas. The professor not only uses it to put a football team into orbit but eventually to create a rainstorm that results in a torrent of laughs. Contributing to all the hilarity is one of the greatest assemblage of comedians ever brought together for one motion picture. Co-starred in a variety of roles are such laughmakers as Tommy Kirk, Ed Wynn, Ken Murray, Elliott Reid, William Demarest, Charlie Ruggles, Bob Sweeney, Paul Lynde, Leon Ames, Edward Andrews, Stuart Erwin, Alan Carney, James Westerfield and Forrest Lewis, to name but a few. The attractive Joanna Moore cuts a glamorous figure as MacMurray’s former girl friend who uses her feminine wiles to complicate the plot. SON OF FLUBBER is a guaranteed blues-chaser, with built-in appeal for the entire family. Robert Stevenson directs with his usual comedy flair and keeps the action moving briskly. Bill Walsh, whose screenplay is keyed for a maximum of laughs, is also co-producer. Buena Vista releases the production. Music by MacMurray Fred MacMurray, that versatile star of motion pictures and television, feels he has completed a cycle in his screen career with his current role in Walt Disney’s hilarious new comedy, SON OF FLUBBER. “’m back doing what I did when I first broke into movies,” he remarked recently on the set, before lifting a saxophone to his lips for a fast chorus of an old favorite. In the early thirties, MacMurray was discovered while playing the ©1962 Walt Disney Productions COOPED UP: Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk and football player Leon Tyler land in the chicken soup in Walt Disney's SON OF FLUBBER, starring MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn and Kirk. Robert Stevenson directed from a Bill Walsh screenplay. Buena Vista releases. sax with the California Collegians, a popular dance band of the era, and put under long-term contract to Paramount. ©1962 Walt Disney Productions Mat SON-2K AERIAL PLAY finds fullback in air instead of football in Walt Disney's comedy, SON OF FLUBBER. Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn and Tommy Kirk star in the Buena Vista release. Robert Stevenson directed from a Bill Walsh screenplay. Sets, Costumes and Special Effects Go All Out for Disney’s ‘Son of Flubber’ Art directors Carroll Clark and Bill Tuntke designed the many sets for Walt Disney’s SON OF FLUBBER, which include the professor’s home and garage laboratory, the home of the college president, the elaborate penthouse apartment of Desiree de la Roche, the offices of the Defense Secretary in the Pentagon, a cocktail lounge, a courtroom, the administration offices at the college and the elegant office suite of loan-shark Alonzo Hawk. In addition, they created a whole city block on the back lot representing the downtown business district of the town of Medfield, and a football] field, complete with stadium, in one of the Disney Studio’s largest sound stages. The new Disney laugh-riot ‘stars Fred MacMurray as that preposterous professor, Nancy Olson as his wife, Keenan Wynn as Hawk and Tommy Kirk as Hawk’s son. The set decoration was handled by Emile Kuri and Hal Gausman, whose creative talents were recently seen in Disney’s “The Absent Minded Professor,” “The Parent Trap,” “Babes in Toyland” and “Bon Voyage!” Kuri is a two-time Academy Award winner for set decoration on “The Heiress” and Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Academy Award winning costume designer Bill Thomas created the gowns for Miss Olson and Joanna Moore. Thomas, who won the coveted “Oscar” for his outstanding work on “Spartacus,” recently designed the wardrobe for Kim Novak in “Boys Night Out,” as well as for Ethel Merman and Dorothy Provine in Stanley Kramer’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” His other Disney credits include “Babes in Toyland,” “Moon Pilot” and “The Parent Trap.” The special effects department also had a field day perfecting the visual tricks for this off-beat howler. Under the supervision of Robert Mattey and Eustace Lycett, this group of movie magicians were called on to develop the largest assortment of screen surprises of their careers. No order is ever too tall for these wizards and they came through with such effects as a rainmaking machine that creates thundershowers indoors, even inside a traveling automobile; a football suit that flies its player through the air with the greatest of ease; a glass-breaking device that shatters everything from window panes to milk bottles and cocktail glasses; and many new and startling antics for the professor’s flying Model-T. Robert Stevenson directed the wonderfully wacky comedy from a screenplay by Bill Walsh, who was also associate producer, along with Ron Miller. Buena Vista releases the production. ©1962 Walt Disney Productions Mat SON-2M PYRAMID PLAY is the only way to reach flubberized fullback in Walt Disney's SON OF FLUBBER, starring Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn and Tommy Kirk. The Buena Vista release was directed by Robert Stevenson from a Bill Walsh screenplay.