Movie Quote Weekends

 

Flip the Frog

Ub Iwerks had grown tired of working with his friend Walt Disney. As a third owner of the Disney Brothers Studio, he could share in the profits of the enterprise, but Walt would often spend money as fast as the studio would get it and Ub had become anxious to go his own way. He ordered the Disneys to buy him out. It was hard, but Roy Disney found the money, paid off Ub and Ub went out to work for himself. (The payout was thousands of dollars; a third ownership of Disney today would be about $57 Billion.)

Ub took his money and started up a new studio aligned with MGM. His first character was Flip the Frog, a crude character with a human girlfriend. Originally, Ub sought to make the cartoons in color, but MGM sought to economize and decreed that Flip would only be produced in black and white.

 

Despite hiring such future legends as Chuck Jones and Grim Natwick, Ub's studio quickly burned out. Flip the Frog would not prove to be as successful as he had hoped. MGM canceled the series and Ub became a contractor, making films for Warner Brothers and Columbia. He eventually found himself back at Disney, only working on special projects and techniques- not animation.

 

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Zotz? What is Zotz?

Famed movie producer William Castle had originally come to the attention of Columbia Pictures in the 1930's because of his talent for exciting promotions. Despite being one of the rare people that Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn actually liked, he was never trusted with actually producing a picture. Not one to accept rejection, Mr. Castle left Columbia in the late 1950's to strike out on his own. 

 

Castle decided to concentrate on gimmicky B films that could be promoted with bizarre gimmicks. His first film was the chilling Macabre which he promoted as being so scary a life insurance policy was necessary for frightened audiences. This gimmick was hugely successful and he became a B Movie mogul overnight. His low cost and high profit films captured the attention of Hollywood and Columbia Pictures wanted to take advantage of his historic ties to the studio to bring him in house again. Castle agreed and he began producing his cheap films for Columbia, securing a huge percentage of the profits for himself.

 

Enter Zotz, a bargain basement film featuring Tom Poston who would later gain fame on Mork and Mindy. In this film, he stumbles upon a coin that gives him special powers when he says the word 'Zotz'. It was a slight premise and the film was instantly forgettable. The gimmick for this film was that every paying customer would receive an exact plastic replica of the coin from the film. The film also is notable for its inventive Torch Lady beginning.

 

Mr. Castle is depicted sitting in a director's chair. He abruptly jumps out of the chair to shout the film's title. We then hear the Torch Lady speak for the first time ever- "Zotz? What is Zotz?" She speaks again after the film- "Zotz All, Folks!"

The Historic Warner Brothers Studio

Tourists visiting Hollywood often head to the studios to soak in movie history. Unfortunately the only studio that is widely open to tours is Universal Studios. Other studios must be experienced from the sidewalk. In recent years, however, Warner Brothers has offered smaller tours that give tourists an even closer view behind Hollywood's curtain.

 

The strangest thing about this, however, is that the current studio lot in Burbank hasn't always been called the Warner Brothers Studio. In fact, the company has only owned it outright for about twenty years. So where is the historic Warner Brothers Studio? It's actually located miles away on Sunset Boulevard.

 

It was the Sunset lot that hosted most of Warner Brothers' productions, including the hit that put it on the map- Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. Emboldened by its success and flush with cash, the studio sought to increase its assets and it purchased First National Studios, which had a newer, flashier lot in Burbank. Despite relocating various divisions to Burbank, the studio kept its operations mostly at the Sunset lot until World War II. Frustrated by a shrinking market for its films, Warner Brothers decided to sell its older lot for quick cash to stay afloat.

 

Initially, the lot was not used as a studio. Paramount, however, purchased it in the 1950's to accommodate its growing production of television shows. In the late 1960's, Paramount bought the neighboring Desilu Studios and no longer had a need for another lot. This time, Gene Autry would step in, preserving the lot's use as a studio. Today, Warner's historic lot is operated independently as the Sunset Bronson Studios.

Meanwhile, Warner Brothers had continued to have money problems. It would conserve its cash by sharing the Burbank lot with Columbia Pictures. Named "The Burbank Studios", the lot often had to serve two competing masters- Columbia and Warner. Some felt that the studio's physical plant suffered during this time because neither side was truly interested in making things work. When Columbia Pictures was sold to Sony in the 1990's, Sony purchased the old MGM Lot, which was being used by Lorimar-Telepictures at the time. Warner bought out Columbia and renamed its lot The Warner Brothers Studios. Finally it would again have a home to itself.

 

Hollywood's Central Florida Adventure

In the late 1980's, it seemed like Central Florida was the place to be. Disney had finally turned a profit on its Orlando resort and had plans for a third theme park and more resort hotels. Universal Studios, having successfully served as an unofficial second gate to DISNEYLAND in Southern California, sought to expand its theme park empire.

Disney and Universal didn't just want to build theme parks, however, they wanted these theme parks to double as real, working studios. Disney planned to also open an animation studio to provide a second production center for its monstrously successful animation division. Guests would be amazed to visit this new Hollywood out in the Florida swamps.

   

Florida touted this development as a sign that its lower costs and business environment meant that it, not Southern California, would be the future of entertainment. At first, it seemed like this might be true. Disney Channel premiered one of the first television shows to film in Florida- MMC: The Mickey Mouse Club. The show filmed before studio audiences at the Disney-MGM Studios, which Disney hoped would also attract tourists to its Walt Disney World Resort. Universal Studios attracted Nickelodeon, who opened up a sound stage where live programming was beamed around the country each afternoon. When Disney began doing backup animation work in Florida, it seemed as though this new Hollywood would soon overshadow the old one.

 

Soon enough, however, the dream would die out. Central Florida had none of the infrastructure required to produce anything. Disney and Universal had to build up the infrastructure at a huge expense. In Southern California, thousands of smaller companies have sprung up over the years to provide services to the major studios, thus saving them the associated overhead costs. While Disney and Universal cooperated with each other in California when it came to leasing soundstages and facilities, they operated as bitter enemies in Florida. This meant that they duplicated efforts, raising costs even more. Even if productions wanted to move to Florida, it would be much more expensive to do so.

 

A further problem arose due to the reluctance of talent to work in Orlando. The weather was far too humid and there was little chance that an actor could find other work with just two studios in town. In Southern California, an in demand actor could jump from job to job. There were few such opportunities in Florida. After MMC ended production, Disney began the process of shutting down its studio facilities. Vacant soundstages were converted into new attractions. The costuming department started working on employee uniforms instead of costumes. The same transition happened at Universal Studios Florida. Eventually, Disney's studio park would feature no film or television production whatsoever. Universal would eventually just have minimal production facilities catering to in-park productions.

Movie Quote Weekends