November 12, 1946: Walt Disney Pictures releases Song of the South. Combining live-action with animation, it is based on the Uncle Remus stories, as adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, and stars James Baskett in his final film role.
A member of the cast of the radio show Amos 'n' Andy, and a versatile actor who had played everything from tribal leaders to gangsters -- pretty much anything that a black actor was allowed to play at the time -- Baskett had diabetes, resulting in heart trouble, and, recognizing this, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an Academy Honorary Award in 1948.
He died later that year, as the 1st black man to receive any kind of "Oscar." Also winning an Oscar, for Best Original Song, was "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gilbert, and sung by Baskett. Hattie McDaniel, the 1st black actor of either gender to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone with the Wind, also appeared in the film.
Of course, the premiere of Song of the South was in Atlanta, as was that of Gone with the Wind, 7 years earlier. And, as with that one, the black actors in the very film being premiered were not permitted to attend, due to segregation laws.
Both films were part of a long-term campaign to glorify the pre-Civil War South, to show that, for the slaves, life wasn't all that bad, and that the North should have left everybody alone, and that the fight to maintain the Southern way of life, "The Lost Cause," was a noble one. It was not. It was an evil cause.
The film takes place in Georgia, during the Reconstruction Era (1865-77). The story follows 7-year-old Johnny (played by Bobby Driscoll), who is visiting the plantation of his grandmother (Lucile Watson). Johnny befriends Uncle Remus, an elderly worker on the plantation, and takes joy in hearing his tales about the adventures of Br'er Rabbit (voiced by Johnny Lee), Br'er Fox (voiced by Baskett) and Br'er Bear (also voiced by Baskett). Johnny learns from the stories how to cope with the challenges he is experiencing while living on the plantation.
It is inaccurate to say that the film is only considered controversial in hindsight: It was attacked immediately. The NAACP commended the movie’s technical wizardry and its blend of animation and live action, but it also issued a statement that it "regrets, however, that in an effort neither to offend audiences in the North or South, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery... [the film] unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship, which is a distortion of the facts."
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the minister elected to Congress from Harlem, branded the film an "insult to American minorities (and) everything that America as a whole stands for." Richard Dier of The Baltimore Afro-American called the film "as vicious a piece of propaganda for white supremacy as Hollywood ever produced."
The National Negro Congress set up picket lines in theaters in the big cities where the film played, with its protesters holding signs that read "Song of the South is an insult to the Negro people," and, lampooning "Jingle Bells", chanted: "Disney tells, Disney tells/lies about the South."
On April 2, 1947, a group of protesters marched around the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California with picket signs reading, "We want films on Democracy not Slavery" and "Don't prejudice children's minds with films like this."
But the black actors stood behind the movie. Baskett said, "I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension than can ever possibly come out of the Song of the South." And McDaniel said, "If I had for one moment considered any part of the picture degrading or harmful to my people, I would not have appeared therein."
Disney frequently re-released its classic movies, and Song of the South got a re-release in 1986, by which point the original Civil Rights Movement had come and gone, and Martin Luther King Day was already celebrated as a national holiday. The film netted more than $17 million when it toured theaters a 2nd time, a decent total for a 40-year-old film, regardless of controversy.
In 1989, Disney opened Splash Mountain, a log flume ride based on Song of the South, at Disneyland in California, with a version at Walt Disney World in Florida opening in 1992.
The film was released internationally on VHS and LaserDisc, but it has never been released on video in the United States, not on VHS, not on DVD, not on Blu-Ray. In 2019, Bob Iger, by then the CEO of Disney, said, "It wouldn't be in the best interest of our shareholders to bring it back, even though there would be some financial gain."
In 2020, following the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, Iger announced that the film would never appear on the streaming service Disney+, not even with a disclaimer with words to the effect of, "This was a perception of the way things were at the time the film took place, and it was wrong when the film was released, and it is wrong now." No mention of "outdated cultural depictions." Iger flat-out said that the film is "not appropriate in today's world."
The same year, the Splash Mountains were rebranded as Tiana's Bayou Adventure, based on the 2009 film The Princess and the Frog, whose protagonist is Tiana, a black girl in 1920s New Orleans.
UPDATE: In 2023, Disney removed all recordings of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from its theme parks, and prohibited the various musical acts performing there from playing it.
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November 12, 1946 was a Tuesday. This was also the day that the 1st drive-up teller windows opened at any bank in the world. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The brand-new Basketball Association of America, later to become the NBA, was in its 1st month of games, and none were scheduled for this day. Nor were any scheduled for the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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