Thursday, April 18, 2013

It's Disney and more 6th Anniversary !


It's Disney and more 6th Anniversary, and just like last year and the years before i want to thank all of you, Disney and more readers, for your support. Since its 5th anniversary Disney and more has now a Facebook page which started four months ago and is already a huge success with more than 1200 "like", the website itself having between 3000 and 4000 daily visits.

And to celebrate this 6th anniversary i have for you a great Imagineering document, a rare video of the 1990 Phantom Manor recording sessions with Vincent Price who came to record the newly written ghost-host narration for the ride. 


WDI Imagineer and DLP Frontierland show-designer Jeff Burke - center on the picture below, with the black shirt - recalls how weak Vincent Price looked like when he arrived to record his voice and how he amazed everyone when he started the recording, as the great actor and professional he was, suddenly finding back the needed energy for the recording session.


Above: Left to right: Vincent Price, Ken Lisi, Jeff Burke, Craig Fleming and Greg Meader enjoying a break during the recording sessions.

Lead writer Craig Fleming was directing the recording session with linguistic advice by French writer Thierry Benizeau, as Vincent price had to record the ghost-host text both in english and french. At the mixing desk are audio producer Greg header and audio project manager Ken Lisi with also Jeff Burke and his team members observing the session from the sidelines. 

Vincent Price struggled with the french version of the text and Craig Fleming recalls that they worked on the french script during three and a half hours while the english version was masterfully recorded by Price in two takes, along with a series of his famous evil laughs. Unfortunately shortly after DLP opening it was decided to do a new french recording with a french actor and Vincent Price ghost-host narration is no longer haunting Phantom Manor, but you still can hear in the attraction his trademark evil laughs during the ride! 

So, thanks to David.G. Ravenswood of the great Ravenswood Manor website i share with you today this rare video and once you've watched it jump to David website where you'll learn more about the story and making-of of Phantom Manor a well as Big thunder Mountain and Thunder Mesa!





In addition to this great video and in tribute to Vincent Price i'm adding this two parts video interview which was done in Malibu in July 1986 by a famous french TV show called "Cinema Cinemas". Price is talking about his career and also about life like only someone at the sunset of his life can talk. Although he don't talk about Phantom Manor in it - he didn't recorded yet - watch it, it's a wonderful interview of a great human being!







In the interview Vincent Price talks about a famous picture in which him, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone are sit inside coffins, Vincent Price reading to them the headlines of Variety. I succeeded to find this rare picture for you and here it is.


Again, thanks to all of you to be so faithful to Disney and more, and see you tomorrow for a new DLP pictorial update!

Pictures: copyright Disney

8 comments:

Mark said...

Congratulations, Alain! Your blog is one of my favorites! (As you know!)
Mark
InsightsandSounds.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I was first aware of Vincent Price in the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments. That followed with a large string of horror movies playing on Friday Nights. The Tingler was a great one to see on my Birthday Party at the Movie Theater with my friends. Never could look at a skeleton's spine the same way after that. It was Great to have him working on Thunder Mesa and it's Phantom Manor. We should have gotten some screams for Big Thunder as well, while going through the underwater tunnels.

Carsten said...

Happy Birthday from Denmark:-) My favourite Disney site:-)

Anonymous said...

bon anniversaire et comme Disneyland Paris et ses 20 ans, fêtons le pendant 3 ans ;-)

Jaber said...

happy anniversary, I really love this blog and I wish you all the best with it.
I really think it's time to update the outlook :) I can help you with the design if you want :)

Bob said...

Happy Anniversary! You've been a daily stop each morning for years now...thank you so much!

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

Happy Anniversary Alain! Congratulation! Your blog is the greatest!

About Vincent Price, I really wish they would bring his narration back. It would make this already perfect attraction even better and it would be a great gift for all PM fans.

I really don't know why they have taken it out of the ride in the first place! Probably this decision was taken by the same people who had the brilliant idea to "update" Space Mountain...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting the video of Vincent Price's recording session. It instantly took me back 23 years to a place and time that feels like it was only yesterday. Sincerely, Greg Meader