Disney and Warner Bros. were, for much of the 1950's, the only Hollywood studios to embrace, and try to exploit, television, rather than denounce and tremble at the thought of it. More than Warner, Disney saw its immense promotional opportunities, timing episodes of the series to coincide with release dates of such big-budget Disney live-action features as "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" in 1954. Later, a "limited series," as it would be called now, made TV history by starting on the "Wonderful World" show, then proving so popular that it was reconfigured as a theatrical feature: "Davy Crockett," starring Fess Parker as the "king of the Wild Frontier." Not only did the show and it's catchy title tune become gigantic hits, but soon it seemed like every kid in America, and many of their parents, were wearing Davy Crockett "coonskin caps," made of simulated fur and topped off with furry coonskin tails down the back. Disney also came up with an ingenious promotional gambit for its lavish, widescreen animated spectacle "Sleeping Beauty." Theaters showed it in CinemaScope and multi-channel stereophonic sound. For a TV episode plugging the film, Disney studios whipped up a promotional special that viewers could hear in stereo if they followed instructions and used their TV sets for left-channel audio and a local radio station for the right, then positioned the speakers, and themselves, appropriately. TV sound and speakers weren't exactly fabulous then, but TV audio aired on the equivalent to the FM band, so it wasn't shoddy, either. With such wizardry and ballyhoo, Disney helped keep the its "wonderful world" eventful for more than three fairly magical decades, eventually airing it on all three of the national commercial networks, starting on ABC and ending on CBS.
Review of The Magical World of Disney
