101 Dalmatians (1961)

Original Release Date: January 25th, 1961

Cast:
Pongo- Rod Taylor
Perdita- Cate Bauer
Cruella De Vil-  Betty Lou Gerson
Roger- Ben Wright
Anita- Lisa Davis
Nanny- Martha Wentworth
Horace- Frederick Worlock
Jasper- J. Pat O'Malley
Captain- Thurl Ravenscroft
Colonel- J. Pat O'Malley
Sgt. Tibbs- David Frankham
Rolly- Barbara Baird
Patch- Mickey Maga
Penny- Sandra Abbott
Lucky- Mimi Gibson
Collie/Quiz Master- Tom Conway
Miss Birdwell- Betty Lou Gerson
Queenie/Lucy-Martha Wentworth
Inspector Craven- Frederick Worlock

My Personal Thoughts/Memories of this film:
-I remember naming my first cat Sgt. Tibbs after the cat in this movie.
-My cousin Melissa is a huge Dalmatian fan, she was my role model when I was a kid. (Now she's one of my best friends/cousins) We bonded over our love of "Dalmatians".
-I was in elementary at the time the live-action version of this film came out. So I fully remember catching the 2nd wind of Dalmatian fever!
-I never thought of how much of a psychopath Cruella is until just now.
-"Kanine Krunchies" is a very catchy song!

Did You Know.....?
-They used the same live-action model that they used for Cinderella and Aurora for Anita.
-This film was made when they were just about to shut the animation studios down. (Sleeping Beauty was too expensive, and they didn't have the funds to keep it running) One of the animators came up with a Xerox process that allowed them to cut out the inking process. Unfortunately, they had to cut the staff from 500 to under 100.
-Walt Disney did not like the way "101 Dalmatians" looked. He thought that the animation had lost its fantasy.
-They purposely cast deeper voices for the dogs, so they would be more powerful than the human characters.
-Barbara Wentworth (Nanny) is also the voice of Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone).
-J. Pat O'Malley (Jasper/Colonel) also performs the voices of Tweedledee,Tweedledum, the Walrus, Carpenter, Mother Oyster (Alice in Wonderland) and Colonel Hathi (The Jungle Book).
-Betty Lou Gerson (Cruella De Vil/Miss Birdwell) did the narration at the beginning of "Cinderella" (1950) but was uncredited.

I could probably think of 101 reasons for you to see this movie! Although, I will let you find those reasons yourself! I'm looking forward to a Blu-Ray release of this movie. :)