1.
Fantasia (1940 film)
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Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. With story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, and production supervision by Ben Sharpsteen, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the films Master of Ceremonies, as production costs grew higher than what it could earn, Disney decided to include the short in a feature-length film with other segments set to classical pieces. Fantasia was first released in theatrical roadshow engagements held in thirteen U. S. cities from November 13,1940, the film was subsequently reissued multiple times with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. As of 2012, Fantasia has grossed $76.4 million in revenue and is the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time in the U. S. when adjusted for inflation. Fantasia, as a franchise, has grown to include games, Disneyland attractions, a live concert. Fantasia opens with live action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a background and tuning their instruments in half-light. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage and introduces the program, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. Live-action shots of the orchestra illuminated in blue and gold, backed by superimposed shadows, animated lines, shapes and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music. Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, selections from the ballet suite underscore scenes depicting the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. The Sorcerers Apprentice by Paul Dukas, based on Goethes 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling. Mickey Mouse, the apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his masters magic tricks. Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky, a visual history of the Earths beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign. Intermission/Meet the Soundtrack, The orchestra musicians depart and the Fantasia title card is revealed, after the intermission there is a brief jam session of jazz music led by a clarinettist as the orchestra members return. Then a humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film is shown, an animated sound track character, initially a straight white line, changes into different shapes and colors based on the sounds played. The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, a mythical Greco-Roman world of colorful centaurs and centaurettes, cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology is portrayed to Beethovens music. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus, Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli
2.
Disney's Hollywood Studios
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Disneys Hollywood Studios, originally Disney-MGM Studios, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, based on an idea by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1,1989, and was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. To increase public interest and the variety of representation within the park, Disney entered into a licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The parks current name took effect in 2008, with the removal of the MGM-branding throughout the park, the parks icon was originally the Earffel Tower from the parks opening until 2001 when the Sorcerers Hat—a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia—was erected in the parks central hub. It then served as the icon until its removal in January 2015. The tower was removed in April 2016. Currently, the park remains without an official designated icon, although both the Great Movie Ride and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are represented as such in marketing materials. In 2015, the park hosted approximately 10.8 million guests, ranking it the fifth most-visited theme park in North America and we welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be. A team of Walt Disney Imagineers led by Marty Sklar and Randy Bright had been given an assignment to two new pavilions for Epcots Future World section. The brainstorming sessions led to Wonders of Life and Great Movie Ride pavilions, the latter was to look like a soundstage backdrop, with a movie theater-style entrance in the middle and would have sat between the Land and Journey Into Imagination pavilions. In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the agreement by operating a working movie, when the park first opened, the only two attractions were the Studio Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride. Disney later filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, on October 23,1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. The 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site, on August 9,2007, Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton announced that Disney-MGM Studios would be re-branded as Disneys Hollywood Studios, effective January 7,2008. On March 12,2015, during a shareholders meeting. Disneys Hollywood Studios is divided into six themed areas, the parks original layout featured a large Hidden Mickey, which was visible in aerial photographs of the park and on the parks early guide maps. Construction and other changes have eliminated much of this image. Hollywood Boulevard, inspired by the street in Los Angeles, serves as the main entrance and operates in the same vein as Main Street. It is lined with themed streetscape facades and venues selling Disney merchandise, guests enter through the main entrance gate, which resembles the Pan-Pacific Auditorium
3.
Robin Williams
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Robin McLaurin Williams was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Starting as a comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. After rising to fame as Mork in Mork & Mindy, Williams established a career in both comedy and feature film acting. He was known for his improvisational skills, Doubtfire, Jumanji, The Birdcage, Night at the Museum, and Worlds Greatest Dad. Williams won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as teacher Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting and he also received two Emmy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five Grammy Awards throughout his career. On August 11,2014, Williams committed suicide by hanging at his home in Paradise Cay and his wife attributed his suicide to his struggle with Lewy body dementia. Robin McLaurin Williams was born at St. Lukes Hospital in Chicago and his father Robert Fitzgerald Williams was a senior executive in Ford Motor Companys Lincoln-Mercury Division. His mother Laurie McLaurin was a model from Jackson, Mississippi. Her paternal great-grandfather was Mississippi senator and governor Anselm J. McLaurin, Williams had two elder half-brothers named Robert and McLaurin. He had English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, German, while his mother was a practitioner of Christian Science, Williams was raised in the Episcopal Church, where his father belonged. Williams wrote a list, Top Ten Reasons to be an Episcopalian, during a TV interview on Inside the Actors Studio in 2001, Williams credited his mother as being an important early influence for his sense of humor. He also said that he tried to make her laugh to gain attention, Williams attended public elementary school in Lake Forest at Gorton Elementary School and middle school at Deer Path Junior High School. He described himself as a quiet and shy child who did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his school drama department. His friends recall him as being very funny, in late 1963, when Williams was twelve, his father was transferred to Detroit. The family lived in a 40-room farmhouse on 20 acres in suburban Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and he excelled in school, where he was on the schools soccer team and wrestling team, and was elected as class president. As his father traveled frequently for work and his also worked, Williams was attended to by the familys maid. When Williams was 16, his father took early retirement and the moved to Tiburon. Following their move, Williams attended Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur, at the time of his graduation in 1969, he was voted Most Likely Not to Succeed and Funniest by his classmates
4.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
5.
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
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Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. To become a prince again, Beast must win her love in return, otherwise, he will remain a monster forever. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Walt Disney first attempted unsuccessfully to adapt Beauty and the Beast into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s. Following the success of The Little Mermaid, Walt Disney Pictures decided to adapt the fairy tale, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg eventually dismissed Purdums idea and ordered that the film be a musical similar to The Little Mermaid instead. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with a screenplay by Linda Woolverton story first credited to Roger Allers, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the films songs. Ashman, who served as the films executive producer, died of AIDS-related complications eight months before the films release. The film was a box office success, grossing $425 million worldwide and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title song. In April 1994, Beauty and the Beast became Disneys first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical, the success of the film spawned two direct-to-video follow-ups, Beauty and the Beast, The Enchanted Christmas and Belles Magical World. This was followed by a television series, Sing Me a Story with Belle. An IMAX version was released in 2002 that included Human Again, after the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, the film was reissued in 3D in 2012. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, a live-action remake of the film was released on March 17,2017. Somewhere in France, an enchantress, disguised as an old beggar, offers an enchanted rose to a prince in exchange for shelter in his castle from the bitter cold. For his callousness, the enchantress transforms him into a beast to match his character and she gives him a magic mirror that enables him to view faraway events, along with the rose. To break the spell, the prince must learn to love another, if he fails, he will remain a beast forever. Ten years later, a woman, Belle, is bored of her village life. Because of her nonconformist ideals, she is ridiculed by everyone except her father Maurice, the bookseller. Despite being popular with the townsfolk, Gaston is determined to marry Belle, Maurice and his horse Phillipe get lost in the forest while traveling to a fair to present his newest invention, a wood-chopping machine. When Phillipe abandons Maurice, he comes across the Beasts castle, inside, he meets Lumière the candlestick, Cogsworth the clock, Mrs. Potts the teapot, and her son Chip the teacup
6.
Princess Jasmine
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Princess Jasmine is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios 31st animated feature film Aladdin. Unlike most of Disneys princesses, Jasmine holds the distinction of being a character in her own film. Jasmine has made subsequent appearances in Aladdins sequels The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, as well as its television series, both Larkin and Salonga have been awarded Disney Legends for their contributions to the role. Jasmine is based on the princess who appears in the Middle Eastern folk tale collection One Thousand and One Nights, specifically the story Aladdin, however, Aladdin was finally resurrected as Beauty and the Beast neared completion. While the princess in the tale is named Badroulbadour, the studio decided to rename the character the more familiar Jasmine after actress Jasmine Guy. Additionally, the name was also among the decades most popular at the time, in Ashmans original treatment of the film, Aladdin had two potential love interests, both Jasmine and a Judy Garland-y tomboy whose romantic feelings for Aladdin were not reciprocated by the hero. Thus, Jasmine was developed into a prominent character. Unlike Disneys previous adaptations of fairy tales, the princess is not the main character. This decision made Jasmine the first Disney Princess who does star in the film in which she appears, the decision to make Aladdin a high comedy ultimately eliminated the need to explore some of Jasmines deeper storylines. Although several details of the folk tale were altered for the film adaptation. However, while Badroulbadour initially resents Aladdin, Jasmine on the hand is almost immediately charmed by Aladdin. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio re-wrote Jasmine into a character who actively longs for freedom from her regal confinement. According to Dave Smith of the Disney Archives, the liberated Jasmine primarily seeks to escape her present lifestyle, the casting of American actor and comedian Robin Williams as the Genie inspired the studio to recruit similarly talented voice actors capable of matching his pace. The filmmakers had originally envisioned Jasmines voice as similar to that of actress Lauren Bacall, Jasmines speaking voice is provided by American actress Linda Larkin. Princesses Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora had been favorites of the actress. Larkins first audition was held in a Burbank, California recording studio, the side used for Larkins first audition was the scene in which Jasmine meets Aladdin in the marketplace – their first encounter. Jasmines line Its all so magical helped convince Larkin that she was meant to voice the character, although Larkins voice was significantly different from what the filmmakers had originally envisioned for the character, her interpretation gradually changed their minds. In the form of a series of callbacks, Larkin returned to the studio on several different occasions over the next few months
7.
Disney's Animal Kingdom
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Disneys Animal Kingdom is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division, it is the largest theme park in the world, the park opened on Earth Day, April 22,1998, and was the fourth theme park built at Walt Disney World. The park is dedicated and themed entirely around the environment and animal conservation. The park is represented by the Tree of Life, a 145-foot-tall, in 2015 it had 10.9 million visitors, ranking it the fourth-most visited amusement park in the United States, behind the other three Walt Disney World parks, and seventh-most visited in the world. Welcome to a kingdom of animals, Disneys Animal Kingdom is divided into six themed areas. The Oasis is the main entrance, providing guest services. The main paths lead deeper into the park, and onto Discovery Island, a Rainforest Cafe is located at the entrance prior to entering Oasis and the park proper through the turnstiles. Discovery Island is located at the center of the park, in the middle of the Discovery River waterway and it is the central hub connecting the other sections of the park, with the exception of Rafikis Planet Watch. It was originally called Safari Village, as Discovery Island was the name for the zoological park located in Walt Disney Worlds Bay Lake. The Tree of Life, the sculpted, man-made Baobab tree, is located in this section and is surrounded by trails. Beneath the Tree of Life lies Its Tough to Be a Bug, a 4D film based on the 1998 Disney·Pixar film, A Bugs Life. The parks largest gift shops and two of its restaurants are on Discovery Island. Africa is one of the areas of the park. Set in the fictional east African port village of Harambe, this area contains several animal exhibits, the village is the namesake of the Harambe Wildlife Preserve, the fictional home of Africas main attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris. Guests climb aboard a safari vehicle for an expedition to see African species in savanna, rivers. On the western side of Africa is the Harambe Theater, which is home to the Festival of the Lion King, Rafikis Planet Watch is the only section of the park not connected to Discovery Island, it connects only to Africa. Guests board the 3 ft narrow gauge Wildlife Express Train for the trip to and from the area. Guests first encounter Habitat Habit. where they can see cotton-top tamarins, along the way, guests can also learn how to provide animal habitats in and around their own homes
8.
Pinocchio (1940 film)
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Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the Italian childrens novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It was the animated feature film produced by Disney, made after the success of Snow White. The plot of the film involves an old wood-carver named Geppetto who carves a puppet named Pinocchio. The puppet is brought to life by a fairy, who informs him that he can become a real boy if he proves himself to be brave, truthful. Pinocchios efforts to become a real boy involve encounters with a host of unsavory characters, the film was adapted by Aurelius Battaglia, William Cottrell, Otto Englander, Erdman Penner, Joseph Sabo, Ted Sears, and Webb Smith from Collodis book. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, and the sequences were directed by Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney. Pinocchio was an achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles, machinery and natural elements such as rain, lightning, smoke, shadows. The film was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 7,1940, critical analysis of Pinocchio identifies it as a simple morality tale that teaches children of the benefits of hard work and middle-class values. It eventually made a profit in its 1945 reissue, and is considered one of the greatest animated films ever made, the film and characters are still prevalent in popular culture, featuring at various Disney parks and in other forms of entertainment. In 1994, Pinocchio was added to the United States National Film Registry for being deemed culturally, historically, Jiminy Cricket explains that he is going to tell a story of a wish coming true. His story begins in the workshop of a woodworker named Geppetto, Jiminy watches as Geppetto finishes work on a wooden marionette whom he names Pinocchio. Before falling asleep, Geppetto makes a wish on a star that Pinocchio be a real boy, during the night, a Blue Fairy visits the workshop and brings Pinocchio to life, although he still remains a puppet. She informs him if he proves himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, he will become a real boy. Geppetto discovers that his wish has come true, and is filled with joy. However, on his way to school, Pinocchio is led astray by Honest John the Fox and his companion, Gideon the Cat, Pinocchio becomes Strombolis star attraction as a marionette who can sing and dance without strings. However, when Pinocchio wants to go home for the night, Jiminy arrives to see Pinocchio, and is unable to free him. The Blue Fairy appears, and asks Pinocchio why he was not at school, Jiminy urges Pinocchio to tell the truth, but instead he starts telling lies, which causes his nose to grow longer and longer. Pinocchio vows to be good from now on, and the Blue Fairy returns his nose to its form and sets him free
9.
Song of the South
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Song of the South is a 1946 American live-action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures, based on the Uncle Remus stories collected by Joel Chandler Harris. The film stars James Baskett in a role, Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, Glenn Leedy, Ruth Warrick, Lucile Watson, Hattie McDaniel. It was one of the earliest of Disneys films to live actors. The films song Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Song, is used as part of Disneys montage themes. James Baskett was given an honorary Academy Award in 1948 for his portrayal of Uncle Remus and this marked the first Oscar awarded to a black male actor. The film inspired the Disney theme park attraction Splash Mountain, because of this, the film has never been officially released in its entirety on home video in the United States. The film is set on a plantation in the US state of Georgia, although sometimes interpreted as taking place before the U. S. Civil War while slavery was still in force in the region, the setting is the later Reconstruction Era after slavery was abolished. Harris original Uncle Remus stories were all set after the American Civil War, seven-year-old Johnny is excited about what he believes to be a vacation at his grandmothers Georgia plantation with his parents, John Sr. and Sally. Johnny, distraught because his father has never left him or his mother before, leaves that night under cover of darkness and sets off for Atlanta with only a bindle. As Johnny sneaks away from the plantation, he is attracted by the voice of Uncle Remus telling tales in his way of a character named Brer Rabbit. Curious, Johnny hides behind a tree to spy on the group of people sitting around the fire. By this time, word has gotten out that Johnny is gone and some plantation residents, Uncle Remus replies that hes with him. Shortly afterwards, he catches up with Johnny, who sits crying on a nearby log and he befriends the young boy and offers him some food for the journey, taking him back to his cabin. As Uncle Remus cooks, he mentions Brer Rabbit again and the boy, curious, Johnny makes friends with Toby, a little black boy who lives on the plantation, and Ginny Favers, a poor white girl. However, Ginnys two older brothers Joe and Jake are not friendly at all, they constantly bully Ginny and Johnny, when Ginny gives Johnny a puppy, her brothers want to drown it. A rivalry breaks out among the three boys, heartbroken because his mother refuses to let him take care of the puppy, Johnny takes the dog to Uncle Remus and tells him of his troubles. They go to the plantation and tell Sally, who is upset that Uncle Remus kept the dog despite her order and she orders the old man not to tell any more stories to her son. The day of Johnnys birthday arrives and Johnny picks up Ginny to take her to his party, Ginnys mother has used her wedding dress to make her daughter a beautiful dress for the party
10.
Mary Poppins (film)
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Mary Poppins is a 1964 American musical-fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay is by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, loosely based on P. L. Travers book series Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns are featured in supporting roles. The film was entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Mary Poppins is widely considered to be Walt Disneys crowning achievement, in Edwardian London,1910, Bert entertains a crowd when he senses a change in the wind. Afterwards, he addresses the audience and gives them a tour of Cherry Tree Lane. George Banks returns home from his job at the bank to learn from Winifred that Katie Nanna has left their service after Jane and they are returned shortly after by the local constable, who reveals the children were chasing a lost kite. The children ask their father to build a better kite. Taking it upon himself to hire a nanny, George advertises for a stern, the next day, a queue of elderly, sour-faced nannies appear outside. However, a strong gust of wind blows the nannies away, outside, they meet Bert who now works as a screever, Mary uses her magic to transport the group into one of the drawings. While the children ride on a carousel, Mary Poppins. Mary enchants the carousel horses and participates in a race which she wins. While being asked to describe her victory, Mary announces the nonsense word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, however, the outing is ruined when a thunderstorm demolishes Berts drawings, returning the group back to London. On another outing, the four meet Uncle Albert who has floated up in the air due to his uncontrollable laughter, George becomes increasingly annoyed by the cheery atmosphere of his family and threatens to fire Mary. Instead, Mary inverts his attempt by convincing him to take the children to the bank for a day, George takes Jane and Michael to the bank, where they meet Mr. Dawes Sr. and his son. Dawes aggressively attempts to have Michael invest his tuppence in the bank, Michael demands it back, causing other customers to misinterpret and all demand their money back, causing a bank run. Jane and Michael flee the bank, getting lost in the East End until they run into Bert, Jane and Michael give their father Michael’s tuppence in the hope to make amends. George walks through London to the bank, where he is given a humiliating cashiering and is dismissed, looking to the tuppence for words, he raucously blurts out, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
11.
The Black Cauldron (film)
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The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated dark fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in association with Silver Screen Partners II and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 25th Disney animated feature film, it is based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, a series of five novels that are, in turn. The film is directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich, who had directed Disneys previous animated film The Fox and the Hound in 1981 and it features the voices of Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, Freddie Jones, Nigel Hawthorne, John Byner, and John Hurt. It was the first Disney animated film to receive a PG rating as well as the first Disney animated film to feature computer-generated imagery, the film was released theatrically by Buena Vista Distribution on July 24,1985. Disney released the film for the first time on video in 1998. In the land of Prydain, Taran is an assistant pig-keeper on the farm of Caer Dallben. Dallben learns that the Horned King is searching for a relic known as the Black Cauldron, which is capable of creating an invincible army of undead warriors. Dallben fears the Horned King may try to steal his pig Hen Wen, which has oracular powers, Dallben directs Taran to take Hen Wen to safety, unfortunately, Tarans foolish daydreaming causes Hen Wen to be captured by the Horned Kings forces. Taran follows them to the Horned Kings stronghold, along the way, he encounters the small, pestering companion Gurgi, who joins Taran on his search. Frustrated by Gurgis antics, Taran leaves the former to sneak into the castle and rescues Hen Wen, a fellow captive named Princess Eilonwy frees Taran as she is trying to make her own escape. In the catacombs beneath the castle, Taran and Eilonwy discover the ancient burial chamber of a king and it contains magic that allows him effectively to fight the Horned Kings minions and so to fulfill his dream of heroism. Along with a prisoner, the comical, middle-aged bard Fflewddur Fflam. Upon discovering that Taran has escaped, the Horned King orders his dwarf companion Creeper to send the Gwythaints to follow Taran, following Hen Wens trail, the four stumble into the underground kingdom of the Fair Folk who reveal that Hen Wen is under their protection. When the cheerful, elderly King Eiddileg reveals that he knows where the cauldron is, orddu agrees to trade the cauldron for Tarans sword, and he reluctantly agrees, although he knows that to yield it will cost his chance for heroism. Before vanishing, the reveal that the cauldron is indestructible, and that its power can only be broken by someone who climbs in under his own free will. Although Taran feels foolish for aspiring to destroy the cauldron alone, his companions show their belief in him, suddenly, the celebration is interrupted by the Horned Kings soldiers who have finally reached the marshes themselves. They seize the cauldron and arrest everyone but Gurgi, and take their prisoners back to the castle, the Horned King uses the cauldron to raise the dead and his Cauldron-born army begins to pour out into the world. Gurgi manages to free the captives and Taran decides to cast himself into the cauldron and it consumes the Horned King in a tunnel of fire and blood, as well as destroying the castle, using up all its powers forever
12.
Walter Cronkite
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Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years. During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr. and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his coverage of the U. S. space program. He was the only recipient of a Moon-rock award. Cronkite is well known for his departing catchphrase And thats the way it is, Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was born on November 4,1916, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena, and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite, a dentist. He had remote Dutch ancestry on his fathers side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt, Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri, until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas. He was a member of the Boy Scouts and he attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, entering in the Fall term of 1933, where he worked on the Daily Texan and became a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He also was a member of the Houston chapter of DeMolay, while attending UT, Cronkite had his first taste of performance, appearing in a play with fellow student Eli Wallach. He dropped out in 1935, not returning for the Fall term and he dropped out of college in his junior year, in the fall term of 1935, after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports. He entered broadcasting as an announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City. In 1936, he met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, while working as the sports announcer for KCMO in Kansas City. His broadcast name was Walter Wilcox and he would explain later that radio stations at the time did not want people to use their real names for fear of taking their listeners with them if they left. In Kansas City, he joined the United Press in 1937 and he became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe. With his name now established, he received a job offer from Edward R. Murrow at CBS News to join the Murrow Boys team of war correspondents, CBS offered Cronkite $125 a week along with commercial fees amounting to $25 for almost every time Cronkite reported on air. Up to that point, he had been making $57.50 per week at UP, when he informed his boss Harrison Salisbury, UP countered with a raise of $17.50 per week, Hugh Baillie also offered him an extra $20 per week to stay. Cronkite ultimately accepted the UP offer, a move which angered Murrow and he also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow from 1946 to 1948, in 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, again recruited by Murrow. Cronkite began working at WTOP-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington and he originally served as anchor of the networks 15-minute late-Sunday-evening newscast Up To the Minute, which followed Whats My Line. at 11,00 pm ET from 1951 through 1962
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