Even then, they didn’t ride the wave, they MADE the wave.
Remember I mentioned how JFK’s death was in our protoplasm? After 11/63, every child seemed to require Disney in order to breathe and brush their teeth.
First, as always the movies: The Lady and The Tramp, 101 Dalmations, Sword and the Stone, Jungle Book, and of course, the massive Mary Poppins.
But the movies only come every couple years. So how do we keep the music playing? (ahem)
Well, after the film hits, you put out comic books on the characters. For instance, there were comic books that had Mad Madam Mimm from Sword and the Stone.
Disney started running a weekly comic in newspapers! As the run up to a movie premiere started, the strip would serialize the movie. So you, the child, are reading this comic and drooling for this wonderful film that will change your life.
And every Sunday, Uncle Walt was on TV. Even if the “Wonderful World” show was some crappy live action show like Gallagher, Thomasina, or Kilroy, there were commercials for the movies. Ooooo, mom, didja see THIS?
And of course, Walt would regularly throw in tidbits about Anaheim’s Disneyland. Even my father wanted to see the place, which we did late in the decade.
In between the cartoons, there were the lesser features–Moonspinners, Babes in Toyland, That Darn Cat, etc. Do you think there were trailers for future Disney cartoons cartoons that played as well?
What media is left?
Records!
I had a crappy little phonograph. Mom bought lp records for the movies (past and present). These records would be narrated by a character from the film, like one of the Dalmatians in ‘101’. There was a gatefold, and inside pages with pictures and explained the plot. All the movie songs were there to enjoy again and again..
I had Sword and the Stone, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Jungle Book, and–yes–The Song of the South. Narrated by Uncle Remus. I don’t know how racist daddy felt about that last one, but I thought Remus was a pretty cool dude. He didn’t raise his voice, yell, or get angry eyes when a child spoke. (Mary Poppins had a non-narrated soundtrack album that sold millions.).
I knew all those lyrics by heart. Even Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. (try to spell that without auto-correct, I dare ya!). I was the ideal Disney consumer–middle class boy who could beg his mom to buy him Disney swag. And you weren’t?
So let’s summarize:
The TV Show hypes the park and the movies. The newspaper hypes the next movie. Comic books feed the films and past movies. The Park hypes the movies and the show. The records keep the movies and the songs in your subconscious, so when the film is re-released, the next generation of youngsters want to see it. A well-oiled machine, even in the sixties.
And I’m not even mentioning Miles covering Disney….