Disney Trivia: July 28, 2023
Welcome, Foolish Mortals…To The Haunted Mansion
When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still — that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!
The Ghost Host, The Haunted Mansion
Did anyone stay up late to go see the Haunted Mansion last night?
Walt Disney Pictures’ Haunted Mansion (2023) is the studio’s second attempt on a film based on the iconic Disneyland attraction, The Haunted Mansion.
Plans for the reboot adaptation based on The Haunted Mansion began in July of 2010 when Guillermo del Toro signed on to write and direct the film. Del Toro departed from the project in July 2013, but he made a valuable contribution to the film during early production when he included The Hatbox Ghost in his pitch to the studio.
Two years later in 2015, Guillermo del Toro released his own film about a haunted mansion, a film called Crimson Peak (2015), which was independent of the Disney Studios. Although Crimson Peak has an original storyline, there are some striking similarities between del Toro's film, and several themes and subplots found in The Haunted Mansion attraction…more on this later.
The Screaming Song…
The song Grim Grinning Ghosts, also known as The Screaming Song, is heard throughout the Haunted Mansion attraction. The song was composed by Buddy Baker, with lyrics written by X Atencio, and it can first be heard in the entryway of the Haunted Mansion as a tune played on a distant pipe organ. The song slowly picks up speed and eventually modulates into a grand waltz. Once you enter the ballroom, six ghostly couples can be seen waltzing to music played by a ghost on a pipe organ in the corner of the room.
The happy haunts have received your sympathetic vibrations and are beginning to materialize. They’re assembling for a swinging wake, and they’ll be expecting me… I’ll see you all a little later.
The Ghost Host, The Haunted Mansion
Before finding a new home in the mansion ballroom, the Disneyland pipe organ was previously used in a Walt Disney Studios live action film.
Set dressings and props were costly and often reused in future projects. Disney Imagineers looked through set warehouses and estate sales looking for furnishings fit for the afterlife. When it came time to locate a pipe organ for the ballroom, Disney Imagineers were able to reuse a pipe organ from a recent film.
Walt Disney was known for sparing no expense when it came to production design. He didn’t believe in cutting corners when it came to the quality of his projects, and his film production teams and Imagineers often had to be creative in order to deliver.
In the mid 1960s, Imagineers moved the historic pipe organ to the brand-new Haunted Mansion attraction in Disneyland. The ornate pipes and adornments were reconfigured to fit the ghostly ballroom's ghastly style.
Though the arrangement of its pipes is different, the ornate organ found in the Haunted Mansion's Ballroom at Disneyland in California, is the same one used in the 1954 Walt Disney feature, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).
Due to the success of the film, a 20,000 Leagues walkthrough exhibit was opened at Disneyland. The original movie sets, including the pipe organ, were used in the exhibit, which was open from 1955 to 1966. Budget-wise, it made sense to reuse the pipe organ from 20,000 Leagues in The Haunted Mansion.
Although the pipes, mirror and ornate woodwork have been removed from the Captain Nemo version, the pipe organ's original console, keyboard, buttons and knobs remain recognizable. A few noticeable modifications were made to the pipe organ. The original mirrored headboard was replaced with a bat-shaped headboard. The original pipes were substituted with taller ones, to better accommodate the pepper’s ghosts, and flying banshee effect.
Did you figure out the answer?
In the 1954 Disney classic, Captain Nemo plays a haunting version of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. It is an interesting parallel to watch actor James Mason, as Captain Nemo, play Bach’s haunting music on the same pipe organ.
It’s nice to think Captain Nemo’s exquisite pipe organ got a second chance at life in The Haunted Mansion.
Thank you for joining us! We are in the process of growing our community and we appreciate your readership.
If you haven’t taken the opportunity to do so, hit the subscribe button below to receive magic in your inbox.
Hurry back! Hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate… if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now! We’ve been dying to have you…
Sincerely,
Harper