Things You're Just Supposed to Know

Most of the time, Long-Forgotten assumes that readers are already familiar with basic facts
about the Haunted Mansion. If you wanna keep up with the big boys, I suggest you check out
first of all the website, Doombuggies.com. After that, the best place to go is Jason Surrell's book,
The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic (NY: Disney Editions; 2015). That's the
re-named third edition of The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies (NY:
Disney Editions, 2003; 2nd ed. 2009). Also essential reading is Jeff Baham's The Unauthorized
Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion (USA: Theme Park Press, 2014; 2nd ed. 2016).

This site is not affiliated in any way with any Walt Disney company. It is an independent
fan site dedicated to critical examination and historical review of the Haunted Mansions.
All images that are © Disney are posted under commonly understood guidelines of Fair Use.

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Sunday, April 21, 2019

Nine Years (plus: "The Stab")

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It's been a long time since the last post, but we are still here, folks. I just want to celebrate the completion of our NINTH year. Thanks to all of you. A special thanks to the newbies who have discovered our blog by one twisted path or another, even though it has lain dormant for so long.

I am retiring soon (from my job, not this blog) and am in the process of moving. When I break free and have more time to myself, I'll try to keep things livelier around here.

This year is of course the 50th Anniversary of the Haunted Mansion, and many of us plan to be there on the 9th of August. Perhaps I'll run into some of you readers there. I still look exactly like my profile photo, they say. Of course those same people say there are purple spiders coming out of the electric outlets and the Pope is out to get them.

As per our custom, the occasion calls for a Mansionistic tidbit. This year's example I owe to the mysterious Lonesome Ghost, who has supplied so many useful items through the years. Thanks, Lonesome.

One of Marc Davis's concept sketches for a changing portrait that never went anywhere is commonly called "the Stab," for obvious reasons:


Well, as we have seen so often, Marc is here borrowing from a source, in this case a Currier and Ives print:

currier ives

So it's another example of Marc riffing off of a known image, in this case wickedly reading murderous intent in this dear lady's so seemingly innocent eyes. You know, her face does seem to me to have an utter blankness about it, despite the Mona Lisa smile, that allows the viewer to imagine virtually any thought lurking behind it.

The thing that probably inspired Davis, however, is the ambiguity of the object the woman is holding in her right hand. It's probably a folded fan, but it could be a knife, right? And she's sorta holding it where he can't see it, right? All of a sudden the picture is funny, if you have a macabre sense of humor.

Imagineer Chris Merritt is wrapping up work on a major book about Marc Davis, so watch for it. I expect that it will have some interesting new information on his profound contributions to the Mansion. In fact, when it comes to importance, his only real rival is Ken Anderson.

I'll be working on a post or two about the other graveyards to be found inside Disneyland, a sort of subgenre that has developed around here since we did some well-received posts on Frontierland burial sites. And there may be Mansionistic news surrounding the 50th that merits our attention as well.

But for now, I'll disappear back into the shadows . . . I'll see you all a little later.


19 comments:

  1. Do you intend to do anything about the updates to Phantom Manor, albeit short? PM has never been your area of greatest expertise, I know, but it does seem like fairly major Mansion news.

    I'm curious to know your thoughts, beside what you've already voiced on the Thread. After all, a major objection you had to Constance was that we were being forced a storyline in a ride where the fun was that we were exploring on our own and drawing our own conclusions; but you've also repeatedly noted that Phantom Manor, on the other hand, is already all about passively experiencing the storyline.

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    1. No sense in seriously talking about it until it reopens and reports and videos start coming in. There is likely to be more to the overhaul than what has been described to us in brief.

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  2. good to see you posting...
    Have a pleasant day

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  3. Nice to know you are alive and kicking... or at least trying to pry the lid off your coffin!

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  4. Great to see a new post! Happy 9th!

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  5. So happy to see a post from you, no matter how brief.

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  6. Love to see you back and look forward to new posts! I love this blog and re-read the archived posts all the time.

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  7. Great to see you back! It's been forever, and I can't wait to see more from you.

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  8. Congrats on the retirement. I believe I began reading this blog close to its inception, so it's lovely to see you still posting after 9 years. Looking forward to many more.

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  9. Great to see a new post, short as it is! Good to see you still around. I will, indeed, be in the park the morning of August 9th. Hope to see you there!

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  10. Will you do an article on the recently reopened Phantom Manor? I have mixed feelings about it myself.

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  11. As one of those recent discoverers of this fascinating blog, thank you for continuing, HBG2.

    I hope to see a ton of Mansionistas on 9Aug, long trip from TX for us. Pending trip makes us excited enough to be among the living!

    In the spirit of the blog topic, imagine a portrait of a Poe Dameron Disneybounder at the rope drop on 9 Aug, ready to sprint to SW:GE. Transition to portrait of a tongue-wagging, bug-eyed Poe underfoot a stampede of Mom, Daughter and Dad (mi familia), gleefully stampeding to the Mansion to beat y'all to be first ghostly visitors of the day. Don't worry, pure macabre fantasy, but that's what makes us smile.

    Thanks!

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  12. Well, I guess I should check back here more often. Nine years! As Dr. Phibes would say, "Nine! Nine eternities in doom!"

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  13. Made a Haunted Mansion fan-film series in honor of the impending 50th anniversary! Wanted to share with you and all of my fellow Mansion fans! Cheers!

    https://youtu.be/IluM1_ZlpCo

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  14. Hi Uncle Dan! Who knew you were so cool?!! Hahaha! 😉
    💛Joanna

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  15. Commenting from the Future! Lovely post, thanks! This blog is still the best place to learn HM history.

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