Yesterday was Splash Mountain’s 21st birthday. It was July 17, 1989 the popular attraction officially opened for business in Disneyland, Anaheim, CA (though a soft opening had occurred a few weeks earlier). Despite the fact that Song of the South was on the verge of being locked in the Disney “Vault” indefinitely, and Joel Chandler Harris’s original books were being branded as too politically incorrect for a modern audience, Splash Mountain would serve to introduce and immortalize Brer Rabbit in the public’s conscience anyways.

It is because Splash Mountain that I am writing this entry; that this site exists. Splash Mountain introduced me to Brer Rabbit. And even though today I realize how watered down and out of line with the original stories the ride is (frankly, I’d like to see them open a version with Miss Meadow and the Girls), it will always hold a special place in my heart. To date, I don’t think I would even want to visit a Disney park if Splash were closed for refurbishment.

Happy 21st Birthday, Splash Mountain.

Hopefully in the coming days  I will be able to work on getting my collection page up. I’ve begun taking pictures, but still have plenty more to go. I’m going to try to at least get some of it up before my move, but we’ll see.

In the meantime, don’t forget about the new WDCC Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox figurine coming out this month!

Right now I’m watching Cats on Ovation. (Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of the channel. I had never heard of it before today.) At any rate, I had to reach for my computer to write this quick entry because I realized something: Cats probably wouldn’t exist without Brer Rabbit.

“Courtney,” you might be thinking right now, “What are you talking about? And who cares?” Well I can’t really answer that last question (except to say that clearly I do), but I CAN tell you what I’m talking about.

The author of the book Cats is based on, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, was a big fan of the Brer Rabbit tales. In fact, T.S. Eliot and fellow poet Ezra Pound were so enthralled by these stories that in their letters to each other, in which they wrote in the same dialect found in the stories, they referred to each other by nicknames: Old Possum and Brer Rabbit.

So it just makes sense that these tales of talking animals living along the big road influenced the creation of Eliot’s own book of anthropomorphic animals.

It always amazes me when I learn of a way Brer Rabbit has influenced the world that I had been previously unaware of. This is just a prime example of why I started this site. One day soon I really should write about why I think the Walt Disney Company itself might not have existed without him. Can you imagine what the world today would have been like without Disney? So much technology came from the Imagineers’ development.

The world would have been a different place without Brer Rabbit.

I was thinking about the figures I mentioned in my last post, when I realized that this wasn’t the first time they had featured Brer Rabbit and his, um, “friends” in their line up. The last time was in 1995-1996, for the 50th anniversary of Song of the South.

They used to have this available at a store at the local mall when I was a kid. Every time I would go to the mall, I would always spend a few moments drooling over it. Dreaming that one day I might be able to get it.

And it still hasn’t happened. Ah, well. (Though I did get the Brer Rabbit watch for sale at the Disney Store at the time.) It’s still on eBay quite a bit, so one day I’m sure I’ll be able to make my dreams come true. Brer Fox and Brer Bear were also available, I remember, but you can probably guess I’ve never been quite as interested in them. Though I won’t deny I still get excited whenever I spot them anywhere. A Brer character is a Brer character.

Anyways, it’s nice to see Disney still pays attention to these characters once in a while. Both pieces seem beautiful.

Image courtesy The Duckman’s Inside Report

Though I have to say that Brer Rabbit looks way too friendly. About to be roasted by my arch nemisis? No problem! Maybe I could offer him some tips on how to do it. Think up a ploy to get myself out of this situation, and possibly have a good laugh at him at the same time? I would never!

Regardless, this piece looks rather awesome. If I weren’t using the money for other things, like food and rent, I would snatch it up the second it came out. Instead, I suppose it’ll have to wait for Christmas or my birthday. Regardless, it’s about time, Disney.

I got these images from this site. Click on that link, and there are more images of it at different angles. Likewise, this post has similar images, only during the production and design stage. It also features some images of the development of the characters for Splash Mountain back in the 80’s/90’s, so definitely take a look.

Speaking of Splash Mountain, it apparently is down for refurbishment at Disneyland (California) starting yesterday. Brer Rabbit himself was kind enough for once to let all guests know:

Image courtesy LaughingPlace.com

Then again, he is supposed to be a Southern Gentleman, and he does have a tendency to go around beating up those who have bad manners. So I suppose it makes perfect sense he would see fit to let everyone know when he won’t be available. Still, what’s even the point of visiting the place if you can’t ride Splash?

I would love feedback, if you don’t mind. You can leave comments by clicking the little circle button at the bottom of this and all posts. The one that has the voice cloud on it. I’m not sure it’s clear that’s what that does, so I think I’m going to look into a way to rework that. But you can let me know if it is!

You can also e-mail me, or even contact me on our Twitter if you’d like. I’m eager to hear back from you.

Whenever they start up, I immediately look to see how my rabbit, Noelle, reacts. Rabbits, I’ve learned, really don’t like loud and/or sudden noises. Can you blame them? Look at the size of those ears. Not only that, but they are prey animals, so it’s probably programmed into them to be wary of any such noise. But despite all this, Noelle seems to completely ignore their ruckus. Maybe she’s just heard them too often at this point for her to really care.

Still, I like to observe her during these times. Rabbits are different from dogs and cats; something about them seems a little more “wild animal” to me, and so I guess this is what causes my interest in how she reacts to animals that really are wild.

But of course, I wouldn’t be writing about this here if I wasn’t also making a connection to Brer Rabbit. You see, there’s a story that explains how the animals came to Earth – Brer Rabbit ticks off Sis Moon, and convinces the other animals to move to Earth. Thinking about it now, I suppose there could have been numerous animals of the same species, but for some reason this story has always left me with the impression that all animals today are supposed to be descended from the critters in these stories. Which means, under these pretenses, that my Noelle would in fact be a relation of Brer Rabbit herself.

Now, in these same past few weeks, I was poking around the blog for The Wren’s Nest, when I happened upon a site that they are linked to: The Moonlit Road. It’s a site dedicated to Southern folklore. Naturally, I went looking for Brer Rabbit.

I came across the story of How Brer Coon Gets His Meat. The story is included with a nice piece of background information which includes how the story originally was published by Joel Chandler Harris under the title "Crazy Sue’s Story." In it, Crazy Sue explains to two children that the reason the frogs in a nearby swamp are making so much noise is because they are "mad wid Mr. Rabbit," and want to drive him out of their swamp. Crazy Sue of course then tells the children the story of why the frogs are so upset with Brer Rabbit. Apparently he tricked them into literally digging themselves into a hole they couldn’t get out of so that Brer Coon might eat them.

So they’re apparently holding a grudge against him over this ‘til this day. I guess I was justified in wondering about the connection between their ruckus and my own rabbit. But there we have it, folks: a feud the likes of the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s, and it’s still being waged to this day.

I would be okay if they wouldn’t wage it outside my bedroom window, though.

Huckleberry Finn has been one of my favorite books since I first read it as a teenager. I have always been attracted to a good satire, and this book fits the bill and then some. But there is also the fact that characters at the end refer to each other as ‘Brer’ and ‘Sister’ – a fact that, as you can guess, caught my attention from the first time I read it.

I found out later that Mark Twain and Joel Chandler Harris were not only contemporaries, but friends as well. These days of Wikipedia, it’s easy enough to find that yes, Harris and Brer Rabbit did impact Twain’s works, but at the time just the idea that this widely studied and regarded book was  referencing stories society seems so intent on forgetting ever even existed was amazing to me.

Then again, Huckleberry Finn also has drawn its own line of fire through the years,consistently being put on lists of banned books. But the best satire does draw controversy. Huckleberry Finn, though, is still considered an important piece of work today. So why can’t we treat Brer Rabbit the same way?

It all started one fateful trip to Disneyland, when my mother had left me in the care of my sister and her friend. I don’t know why. I think she wanted to ride Star Tours. I, on the other hand, wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean again. However, my sister and her friend wanted to ride Splash Mountain.

Now, I was at the tender age of 6 (or was it 7?), and had not quite conquered my fear of the Big Kid Rides. I had Thunder Mountain under my belt, but everything else was just too scary. Especially Splash Mountain, with that huge drop that seemed to go straight down. I don’t know exactly what else I imagined happening on it, but it likely was just dark caverns in which the logs zipped up and down equally scary hills. I would have none of that.

However, my caretakers were determined, and tried to convince me to give it a try. At last, after my persistent denial, they seemed to concede, and told me that instead we would go ride a different Pirates of the Caribbean. Curious, I agreed to this.

It was not until we were well in line that I realized I had been tricked, and were actually about to board Splash Mountain. In retrospect, I see how appropriate this is, considering the ride is centered around the King of Tricksters. I attempted to protest, but my sister convinced me to just suck it up and give it a try.

Of course, I loved it. You can imagine my surprise when we first entered the ride building, and there were singing animals. Singing animals! And it was bright and colorful! Nothing like I had envisioned at all. Not only that, but the dreaded drop really wasn’t that scary at all. In fact, it was actually… fun. I loved it so much, I dragged my mother back on it later that night. The second time around was when I finally noticed it revolved around a particular rabbit.

After I went home, I dug out the Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah Sing-A-Long tape I had, since I recognized the song on the attraction as being from it. I noticed, too, that the same rabbit was there at the end. My mother explained to me it all had come from a movie, Song of the South – but unfortunately, it wasn’t available. I was disappointed, but hoped they would release it soon.

Later, I would discover The Wonderful Tar Baby Story in a copy of Disney’s Story Land. I would also find the other songs on two other Sing-A-Long compilations. Slowly, I was beginning to piece things together. In another Disney book, I found De Wull-er-de-Wust, my first exposure to the idea of there being stories beyond what I saw on Splash Mountain.

By fourth grade, infatuation had given way to full blown love. Another trip to Disneyland that year I had gotten the Brer Rabbit plush that would soon become the Hobbes to my Calvin. In my school library, I would finally discover the original tales as adapted by Margaret Wise Brown. Though I still held hope for Song of the South’s release, I could hold myself over with these.

I grew older, but never grew out of my love for Brer Rabbit and his stories. In my early teens, I started the first version of this website, Brer Rabbit Stew. I have often wondered why I never out-grew these stories, but I think the answer is simply that they’re so multi-layered, they’re enjoyable for any age. The older I get, the more I understand the symbolism contained in them; they also somehow became even funnier as an adult.

But I think Uncle Remus himself puts it best: “Ef dez yer tales wuz des fun, fun, fun, en giggle, giggle, giggle, I’d a-done drapt um long ago.” As I’ve grown older, I’ve understood that there is so much depth to these stories. They deserve to be preserved and studied; most of all, they still deserve to be appreciated.

As you can guess, I was more than happy to volunteer.