G.the Aristocats, the super Disney classic which has just turned fifty is the best choice on TV if you stay at home for New Year’s Eve. Just turn it on Rai2 at 21.25.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, the 1970 animated film tells the story of a lovely “aristocratic” family of cats, kidnapped by a greedy butler but saved by the stray Romeo. Who also manages to win the hearts of the noble mother Duchess.
But if we know almost all the lines of the film by heart, as well as legendary side characters such as the twins Bla Bla and the lawyer George, maybe there are some little secrets yet to be revealed.
Like the presence, in the first version of the screenplay, of a fourth son of Duchess by the name of Waterloo.
The Aristocats: 10 curiosities that (maybe) you don’t know
1. A true story
The film seems to have been inspired, even if there are no official sources, by true story of a Parisian cat family. That around 1910 he would inherit a fabulous fortune.
2. The latest Walt Disney movie
The Aristocats is the latest animated film approved by Walt Disney shortly before his death. Initially the tale of Duchess and Romeo was supposed to be part of an attraction at an amusement park, but good Walt sensed the potential of the story and asked his writers to get to work.
3. Louis Armstrong
4. The names of the kittens
The names of the cats in the original version of the film are a little different from the Italian dubbing. Matisse, a kitten with a passion for painting and whose name recalls Henri Matisse, in the original version is Toulouse, not because of the French city but because of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Also Bizet the cat has an artistic name that refers to the musician Georges Bizet, but in the American version it is Berlioz, like Hector Berlioz, in any case always a composer. Minou, on the other hand, is Marie, like Marie Antoinette.
5. John Lennon
In addition to the wild Scat Cat, he stands out in the group of musician cats Hit Cat, a blatant caricature of the former Beatles.
6. The rejection of a sequel
For years there has been talk of a possible Aristocats 2. Until John Lasseter became Disney’s new creative director in 2006 categorically prohibited the production of sequels to the great classics. Which, according to him, would have lost credibility with respect to the originals.
7. A fourth kitten
The original script featured another little brother for Minou, Matisse and Bizet: Waterloo; but it was removed because the writers thought four kittens were too many.
8. The Bla Bla twins
The funny ones geese Adelina and Guendalina are based on the mythical Pigeon sisters of the theatrical classic The strange couple, successfully brought to theaters in a film with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The original voice actresses Carole Shelley and Monica Evans are the same ones who played the Pigeon sisters in the 1968 film.
9. Romeo, er mejo cat of the Colosseum
The character, who in the original version is Irish, is a fusion of real and fictional people. It looks a bit like the Baloo’s The Jungle Book and its physical appearance is modeled on the voice actor who plays both Romeo and Baloo: the great Phil Harris. Hers is Little John’s voice in Robin Hood, also a Disney classic, from 1973.
10. The racist controversy
Politically correct has also hit The Aristocats. Specifically on a meter of the jazz band, Scat Cat. Who has a yellow face and plays the piano with chopsticks to eat. A stereotypical portrait of the film oriental whose removal was requested.
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