Toon Talk Trivia:

• Director Ken Annakin also helmed for the Disney Studios the adventure films The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, The Sword and the Rose and Third Man on the Mountain.
• Kevin Corcoran made his Disney debut in Old Yeller, leading to a string of films for the studios, including The Shaggy Dog, Toby Tyler, Pollyanna, Babes in Toyland, Bon Voyage!, Savage Sam and A Tiger Walks. On television, he originated his ‘Moochie’ character on the Mickey Mouse Club serial The New Adventures of Spin and Marty as well as appearing in Daniel Boone, The Mooncussers and Johnny Shiloh.
• “My Heart Is An Island” songwriter Terry Gilkyson also wrote the Oscar-nominated “The Bare Necessities” from The Jungle Book, as well as songs for Savage Sam, The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Moon-Spinners.
• Screenwriter Lowell S. Hawley’s contributed to the television programs Zorro, The Mooncussers, A Boy Called Nothin’ and The Young Loner and the feature films Babes in Toyland, In Search of the Castaways, A Tiger Walks, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin and The One and Only Genuine, Original Family Band.
• Tommy Kirk started on the small screen as Joe Hardy on The Mickey Mouse Club. He then graduated to the big screen with Old Yeller, followed by The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, Babes in Toyland, Moon Pilot, Bon Voyage!, Son of Flubber, Savage Sam, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and The Monkey’s Uncle.
• Sir John Mills won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1970 for Ryan’s Daughter and was recently named a Disney Legend.
• Dorothy McGuire played mother to Kirk and Corcoran previously in Old Yeller and later to Hayley Mills in Summer Magic. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Gentleman’s Agreement (1947).
• Janet Munro starred opposite Sean Connery in Darby O’Gill and the Little People and her Swiss love interest James MacArthur in Third Man on the Mountain. She won a Golden Globe in 1960 for ‘promising newcomer’.
• The Swiss Family Tree House attraction opened in Disneyland in 1962, but was recently redone to feature Tarzan. Similar attractions at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris (where it is known as La Cabane des Robinson) are still open.

Final Word:
“The strength of the picture was that it was actually happening …you could see it was real.”
   -- Sir John Mills in Adventure in the Making.

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

• Travel back in time to a simpler age with Pollyanna, another Vault Disney DVD.