The Grand Canyon National Park turned 100 years old this year, and this past week, I finally fulfilled a lifetime ambition to hike all the way down to the Colorado River and stay overnight at Teddy Roosevelt’s old hunting camp, where he hunted lions.
Sky Danley hiking in the Grand Canyon, December 2019
During the hike, I couldn’t help but think about this Disney cartoon, Grand Canyonscope, which is one of my favorites.
For next week’s blog, I’m posting the second half of the October 22, 1934 Snow White Tentative Outline, which mostly deals with soliciting gags from studio employees.
I love to laugh and I’m a very visual person, so I love cartoon gags, and Disney’s old story department gags are top notch in my opinion.
To prepare for next weeks post, I thought we’d go through some of the 1954 Grand Canyonscope gags. As with most things old-Disney, they are visually self evident. Enjoy!
This gag is referencing that the cartoon was shot in a very wide-screen format.While a child, my mother once told me I wasn’t allowed to take a rock as a souvenir from Pike’s Peak, because if everyone did, there wouldn’t be a Pike’s Peak anymore — so I can relate to this gag!Donald puts on a Rain Dance costume, only to get rained on. The “Echo Cliff” sign echos. The actual trail is quite scary — one slight misstep and you can easily fall 1000 feet or more. They still have the mules to ride, but I hiked down and back on foot — important point, hiking further down down into the canyon is optional but coming back up is mandatory.Walking down and up vertical walls is impossible, so it’s funny.…which you don’t want to do on the dangerous trails.Park Ranger thinks he’s pulling a mule’s tail, but it reveals itself to be a lion tail.…and so the lion pulls out and puts on a Civil War cap.Camera flash as an X-Ray.Donald and Lion stop running and walk until Ranger passes, then start running again.Very old gag.Donald tries to get away from lion by pulling up the stepping stones, but Ranger makes him put stones back.Elaborately set up gag.The “firetruck” chase swings and knocks down all the rock formations and fills in canyon.As it fills, all the inhabitants run for their safety out of the canyon, including a dinosaur. Cartoon ends with how it was set up in the beginning, with the “do not throw rocks into canyon or there won’t be a canyon” — and park rules state it must be returned to original state.
It’s a great cartoon, a great story, and some really funny gags. Of course, if you want to see it and have the opportunity, try to watch the wide-screen CinemaScope version.
A bit of trivia, the Disney Park Ranger’s voice is the same voice actor that did MGM’s Droopy.
