The Fabulous Disney Babe
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Fab: You have a special Wilhelm page in the site; I remember perking up when I first head it in Titanic and The Phantom Menace! I am now a fully-trained Wilhelm spotter. So, please, teach my readers to astound their friends with their stunning knowledge of Hollywood History and Disney Trivia: How can Normal Human Beings spot the Wilhelm?

SLee: "It's gotten its way into several Disney films, starting with 'Beauty and the Beast.' Although I was on the crew for that film, Mark Mangini and Dave Stone were the guys that made sure it got into that one. It's during the big castle fight when all the objects attack the townspeople. You can hear it right after Chip says 'You guys gotta try this thing' -- it's on an exterior shot of the castle.

It's also in 'Aladdin' when the villagers flee in terror when the Genie is lifting the palace off its foundation.

I put it in 'A Goofy Movie' which I worked on with Dave Stone, and it's also in 'Golden Dreams' which Mark Mangini and I did for California Adventure. Dave got one in the 'Little Mermaid' sequel as well.

Gary Rydstrom at Skywalker Sound, George Lucas' place, stuck it in 'Toy Story' and 'Hercules.' So it's an official Disney sound as well now, I suppose!"

Fab: What are you putting it in now?

"You'll be able to hear it in the upcoming Warner Brothers animated feature 'Osmosis Jones.' And I'm not sure, but I believe Richard Anderson is sticking it in 'Planet of the Apes' as well. We'll have to wait and see!"

Fab: I know of some other familiar sounds, like the whining dog in the Haunted Mansion and the owl in Splash Mountain, that are reused pretty often; like the above-mentioned Castle Thunder...

SLee: "There are many, many sound effects that have gotten re-used like this, and I'll be talking about a few of them in the future on the website. Some of their stories are a lot of fun... it's a true 'Lost and Found' part of Hollywood!

'Castle Thunder' was recorded in 1931 for 'Frankenstein,' but it quickly got traded around to practically every studio, and was pretty much the definitive movie thunderclap for a long, long time. It's of particular interest to Disney fans, because it's heard every day at the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean. It's also, I believe, in Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty walk-through exhibit. Which doesn't surprise me, since it's in the actual movie as well."

Fab: You don't just track down lost sounds, you also find movie props, right? That's why the site's called Lost and Found. That really does strike a chord with people. A friend of mine, when I told him about the site, (and this guy never tells me ANYTHING, it's maddening) told me that a mutual acquaintance is looking for a certain hard-to-find prop for his personal collection. Collectors go nuts over this stuff!

SLee: "Tracking down movie props has been something that I just sort of stumbled into. I've always had a small, informal collection of things from films in my home, but it wasn't until a few friends asked me to track down specific items for them -- and when I was asked to coordinate an exhibit of movie props, models, and memorabilia -- that I thought it would be fun to start seriously tracking down these items, and sharing some of their stories as well. I'm really not a professional movie prop 'archeologist,' but I've been doing more and more of that kind of work, and it's been a lot of fun."

Fab: Can you talk about some of the things you've been sent to find?

SLee: "Items I've tracked down have ranged from specific old movie posters, signed pictures, various specific crew jackets; to things like Lightsabers... and I even found an original Communicator from the original Star Trek series -- which actually, I ended up keeping for myself.

Just the other day, I helped a fan find an item from John Carpenter's remake of 'The Thing' that I actually remembered a friend of mine already had in his collection.

Sometimes, I have to say, 'sorry, I know that such-and-such piece is in a museum or a private collection.' But maybe they'll at least be able to get a glimpse of whatever 'Holy Grail' they're interested in."