The Jungle Book (Disney) (1967)

Versatile Vocal Talent Of Disney’s “The Jungle Book” Inspires Characters The long standing and accepted way animated characters are created in movie cartooning circles is to have a set of story sketches on the cast, then record the picture’s dialogue with the best vocal talent around and move on to the big job of drawing the preconceived figures. This was the tried and true start for Walt Disney’s cartoon musical, “The Jungle Book,’ but somewhere along the line six indomitable vocal personalities took over, influencing the style and development of the movie’s characters, as in no other Disney picture. It’s understandable when the stars in vocal department are such wellknown performers as Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway and J. Pat O’Malley. The mannerisms of Phil Harris, long one of radio, television and night club’s top entertainers, dominate the picture’s easygoing character of Baloo, the bear, a kind of jungle ne’erdo-well who knows where to find the bear necessities of life with the minimum amount of work. Popular character actor Sebastian Cabot gives voice to the pompous, stern, but dedicated panther, Bagheera, who is determined, come what may, to get his mancub charge, Mowgli, back to the man village. Cabot, who portrays the butler in the “Family Affair’ TV series, has narrated many Disney nature adventures, along with the cartoon, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.” His was the voice of bombastic Sir Ector in the Studio’s previous animated feature, “The Sword in the Stone.” Showman Louis Prima, he of the gravel-throat and, hot trumpet who has been a long-standing favorite of the recording-buying public anu night club audiences, is the model and voice of King Louie the Most, the addled ape potentate of “The Jungle Book.” The sophisticated tiger heavy of the piece, one Shere Khan, has been styled after George Sanders whose polished performances in films have fascinated moviegoers since the 30’s in some of Hollywood’s top pictures, like ‘All About Eve,” for which the Russian-born Englishman received an Academy Award. The wistful personality of Sterling Holloway infuses the character Kaa, the sneaky python, with his distinct delivery. A veteran of numerous radio shows, movies and television programs, Holloway has provided the voice for many Disney animated characters in pictures from “Dumbo” to ‘Winnie the Pooh.” A very British Indian elephant, Colonel Hathi, formerly of the maharaja’s pachyderm brigade, who delights in drilling his fellow trunk swingers in dawn patrol exercises, is voiced by master mimic, J. Pat O’Malley, not to be confused with the late actor, Pat O’Malley. English-born Pat has performed in hundreds of radio and television shows and in some 20 pictures, and did voice work in Disney’s “Wind in the Willows” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Other vocal contributors are Bruce Reitherman, as Mowgli the jungle boy; Verna Felton as Colonel Hathi’s long-suffering wife Winifred; young Clint Howard as a baby elephant; popular folk singing artist Chad Stuart of the team of Chad and Jeremy; and disc jockey Lord Tim Hudson as a couple of Beatle looking vultures; veteran actors John Abbott and Ben Wright as wolves; and Darleen Carr as a limpid-eyed Indian maiden. In Technicolor, “The Jungle Book” was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and was written for the screen by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson and Vance Gerry. The Oscar-winning, songwriting team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman composed five songs for the picture and Terry Gilkyson has contributed an additional song. George Bruns composed the background score. Buena Vista releases. © 1967 Walt Disney Productions Mat JB 2-H (Standard 2 column width and coarse screen) Shere Khan, tiger terror of the jungle who is bent on devouring Mowgli, gets a bit of rough treatment from Flaps, the vulture who has come to the mancub’s aid in Walt Disney’s animated musical, “The Jungle Book,” in Technicolor. Mat JB 2-G (Standard 2 column width and coarse screen) © 1967 Walt Disney Productions Meet King Louie the Most, the addled ruler of the jungle vine swingers, whose greatest ambition, next to cornering the banana market, is to learn man’s secret for making fire in Walt Disney’s all-cartoon comedy adventure, “The Jungle Book,” with the voice talents of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, J. Pat O’Malley and Bruce Reitherman. Filmed in Technicolor, “The Jungle Book” was inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s “Mowgli” stories. Louis Prima Goes Ape For Walt Disney’s New Comedy “The Jungle Book” Jazz king Louis Prima was in a reminiscent mood when he sat in on a roughcut screening of Walt Disney’s last personally produced animated musical feature, ‘‘The Jungle Book.” “When I got involved to voice the part of an orangutan, King Louie the Most, at Walt’s invitation in 1965, I had no idea what was going to develop,” he said. “T remember one time I went up to see Walt ’cause we were supposed to have some pictures taken together, and the first thing he says to me is, ‘I guess we’re making a monkey out of you.’ “Only he wasn’t kidding. This cat really rocks the jungle. In fact, the whole monkey tribe in the picture really swings. And they look a lot like me and Sam Butera and the Witnesses, my musical group. “The bunch of us flew in from Lake Tahoe to play for the animators so they could study the way we perform and get a feeling of us in action. We spent the entire afternoon in an empty sound stage laying down number after number. They kept asking us to play different things and wouldn’t let us stop.” The Disney animators were so inspired by the showmanship of Louis and the Witnesses that they infused the excitement of the group into the cartoon figures in “The Jungle Book.” Prima is so impressed with the results that he is going to have himself billed as “King Louie the Most” during his future club dates in Las Vegas and elsewhere. “The Jungle Book” also features the voice talents of Phil Harris as Baloo, the happy-go-lucky bear; Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera, the stern panther; George Sanders as Shere Khan, a sophisticated tiger heavy; Sterling Holloway as Kaa, the sneaky snake; J. Pat O’Malley as the pompous elephant Colonel Hathi; and Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli, the mancub. In Technicolor, the picture was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and was written for the screen by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson and Vance Gerry. The Oscar-winning, songwriting team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman composed five songs for the picture and Terry Gilkyson has contributed an additional song. George Bruns composed the background score. Buena Vista releases. “The Jungle Book’ is being screened locally on an all-Disney program with the animal-adventure film, “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar.”’ Filmed in the breathtaking mountain country of the Pacific Northwest, “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar” tells the story of a playful cougar kitten which grows up to work side by side with loggers on the world’s last major river drive. Both pictures, in Technicolor, are being released by Buena Vista. © 1967 Walt Disney Productions Mat JB 1-A (Standard width and coarse screen) Page7