A couple weeks ago I dropped a post about Davy Crockett in honor of my dad, who is a big Fess Parker fan. Seeing as how last Sunday was Father’s Day, I thought it might be fun to revisit ol’ Fess in my latest Thoughts While Watching post. (Bonus: it works for Juneteenth tomorrow too!)
Turns out, in addition to hijacking a disproportionate amount of the Disneyland opening broadcast, Fess Parker had his own episode of “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” (/”Wonderful World of Color”/”Wonderful World of Disney”/etc.). How could he not? The children demanded it!
FESS PARKER IS DAVY CROCKETT BUT HE WAS OCCASIONALLY OTHER PEOPLE TOO
Part of the fun of rewatching old Disney media is reflecting on how Disney has evolved. Sometimes this means reckoning with some less than savory elements of those infamous “different times.” This is another way of saying: hold on, kids, because we’re wading into ’50s Civil War discourse!
In “Behind the Scenes with Fess Parker,” the man himself – at Walt Disney’s behest – walks us through the process of filming his/Disney’s new movie, The Great Locomotive Chase. The film follows Fess Parker as Union spy James J. Andrews as he attempts to hijack a Confederate locomotive and use it to destroy the enemy’s supply lines. Needless to say, some of the rhetoric gets… interesting, but luckily not TOO interesting. Although unfortunately Walt does wear a Confederate cap. Like I said: different times.
I’m not gonna lie – portions of this one are, um, not entirely magnetic. However, I very much encourage you to tough it out. Not only does it get better the longer with you stick with it, the ’50s era sponsor commercials get progressively more insane. I’m going to be thinking about that Kelvinator ad for a WHILE aka the rest of my life.
Who doesn’t want to be haunted by mid-century marketing copy and Fess Parker-led singalongs? And Uncle Walt is there?! It’s a can’t-miss event! So click play as we dive into…
22 THOUGHTS I HAD WHILE WATCHING “BEHIND THE SCENES WITH FESS PARKER” (1956)
1. A sponsorship from Swift’s Premium Canned Meats?! We’re off to a rip-roaring retro start!
2. Rambler, Nash, Hudson, and Kelvinator all sound like Cars characters.
3. Uncle Walt does a good “Oh, I didn’t see you there!”
4. I think modern Disney could beat the wokeness allegations real quick if they played this clip of Walt talking about listening to Civil War soldiers’ stories…
5. I don’t know, Fess, I think you should’ve looked at the book a few seconds longer before you noticed us.
6. They got their movie train from Baltimore?! Hoist the Maryland flag, baby!
7. “People everywhere love to kid their own railroad” is exactly the sort of unexpected, delightful nonsense that keeps this series going.
8. Oh, c’mon, Fess; you don’t expect me to believe you personally went location scouting, do you?
9. I bet this sorghum syrup-making demonstration is exactly the sort of thing that made the ’50s children raving Fess fans.
10. YOU LEAVE THAT RACCOON ALONE, PARKER!!!
11. And just… take the Confederate hat off, Walt. Please?
12. I don’t believe for a second Fess is actually in that room interviewing this Civil War expert. Who, incidentally, seems to want nothing more than to go home.
13. If I’m understanding correctly, the matte artist traveled to the set with his canvas strapped to the roof of his car???
14. “…as a sort of thank you to Walt Disney for making movies in good taste.” Try thanking the Hays code.
15. Did they cast any real actors in this movie aside from Fess? Did his salary use up the entire budget?
16. Seeing all these other actors (real ones) around Fess, I am suddenly struck by how tall he is. I just looked it up and the internet claims he was 6’5″, although his Wikipedia page says 6’6″. Either way: dang!
17. I feel ya, Jeff Hunter; I do a lot of running too.
18. Ah, a commercial for milk. Time really is a flat circle.
19. Fess Parker would like to remind you that his many LPs are available at your local record store. Buy one today!
20. Bake cupcakes in 30 seconds?! This Kelvinator commercial feels like the opening of a retrofuturistic horror movie. I hope it shows up in season two of “Fallout.”
21. Dangit, this song is admittedly kinda catchy. I stole a locomotive just to take a ride, ’cause my pappy was a railroad man!!!
22. They just gave away an awful lot of plot for a movie that hadn’t come out yet.
I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH SOME BONUS DISNEY HISTORY
You know me and my ADHD tendencies – I fell down quite a few Wikipedia rabbit holes in the writing of this blog post. This included a quick perusal of the biography of Jeffrey Hunter, who plays William A. Fuller in The Great Locomotive Chase (and Captain Christopher Pike in the “Star Trek” pilot for my fellow Trekkies!). In so doing, I came across this curious tidbit:
“Disney borrowed him to play William Allen Fuller in the Civil War action movie The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), opposite Fess Parker. Ironically, according to Parker’s Archive of American Television interview, Ford had originally wanted to cast Parker in Hunter’s role in The Searchers, but Disney refused to lend him out, something Parker did not hear about until years later; Parker referred to this lost opportunity as his single biggest career setback.”
Which, I assume, is why Fess Parker wines are heavily featured across Disney parks. Gotta make it up to the man somehow. It’s no Congressional Medal of Honor, but it’s a start.
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