The History of Aladdin Part 4: Somber News (Finale Part 1)

(Before we begin this episode, I would like to apologize for the longer than planned hiatus. I have been moving to a new location and have been attempting to get settled in before working on this episode. I must warn all of you readers, this episode will contain mentions of some sensitive topics, so viewer discretion is advised.)

Picking up from the conclusion of the previous episode, Howard revealed a large bombshell to Ron Clements and John Musker over the phone.

Howard said over the phone, "I just want to let you know before you come out here… I’ve been ill".
Musker replied, trying to keep his composure, "how ill?"
Howard paused for a moment and then answered, "pretty ill..."

Musker's heart sank as he heard the news of Howard's illness. He asked with a hint of shakiness if they were working on a cure for his condition, or some sort of vaccine. Unfortunately, Howard replied in the negative, and told Howard to speak to his friend Nancy Parent, who knew more of the situation. Despite this, Howard was still as sharp as an X-Acto knife and was ready to get deeper into work on Aladdin.

As production began to progress even further, new developments to the music and plot were made, one of which remains in the final film in a form truncated from Howard's original idea. The former was various attempts at making a song for the villain, Jafar. One of the earlier versions was simply known as The Wazir's Song, and can be found in an early 1990 draft of the film's script. The song was to take place during the scene in which Aladdin is about to marry Princess Jasmine, but Jafar uses the power of the Genie to expose him for the "street rat" he is. The song was also used as the basis for the sequence known as Humiliate the Boy, which followed a similar series of events.

The song that made it into the finalized film (albeit in a truncated form and fully restored for the later stage adaptation) was a song to be performed after Aladdin uses his first wish to become a prince and woo the heart of Princess Jasmine, and it happens to be my favorite one that was actually in the film, a song known as Prince Ali.

Another change to come was the slow increase in age of the film's titular character. As mentioned in previous entries of the retrospective, Aladdin's age was originally around twelve years of age. However, Jasmine's age remained around sixteen since the beginning of production. To paraphrase Jeffrey Katzenberg in a scene from the documentaries A Diamond in the Rough: The Making of Aladdin and Waking Sleeping Beauty, they did not want "Julia Roberts and Michael J. Fox", they wanted "Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts". In the draft in which Prince Ali and Humiliate the Boy were both introduced, it can be speculated Aladdin's age would have been around fourteen or fifteen
.
Unfortunately, as production began to progress, Howard's health had been worsening. He revealed to Menken, Musker, and Clements in March of 1990 during the Academy Awards that he had recently discovered he was HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)  positive, which would unfortunately worsen to AIDS. His movement began to become gingerly and careful, similar to a seventy year old man, and his voice began to fade from the deep voice heard in his demo recordings of songs such as Poor Unfortunate Souls, Friend Like Me, and Arabian Nights. His fading voice could be the reason why Alan Menken sings the demo of Prince Ali in The Music Behind the Magic and Howard Sings Ashman. 

(Blogger's Note: Bear with me on this next section, even I could not write this post without tearing up.)  

On March 14th of 1991 after a press presentation in New York to promote the upcoming Disney film, Beauty and the Beast (which at the time of this post being written, has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and has a remake scheduled for release in 2017, retaining the entirety of Alan and Howard's music from 1991's original), Disney executives and people involved with promoting the film such as Alan Menken took a cab over to St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan to visit Howard. According to Waking Sleeping Beauty,  upon arrival, Howard pulled back his hospital bed to reveal a Beauty and the Beast sweatshirt. As Peter Schneider said in the aforementioned documentary, "he was eighty pounds, had lost his sight, and barely had a whisper of a voice. [They] shared with him what had happened that day, how amazing it was, and how Howard was there in every way. Then it was time to leave, and we had said our goodbyes. Before we left, he bent over and whispered 'Beauty and the Beast is going to be a great success. Who would have thought it, he said.' Howard lit up and whispered, 'I did.'" Howard passed away shortly afterward, and unfortunately was unable to see the completion of Beauty and the Beast and his passion project, Aladdin. Though this post is not the finale of this retrospective on Aladdin's history, it is where Howard's journey and involvement with production ends, and production would take a sharp turn in the months to come, but that is best saved for the next part which will cover the final leg of production on the film.

(To conclude this episode, I would like to say a few words to honor him for his hard work and thank him for the beautiful music he has written, as it is one of the purposes of this retrospective. I have always been a fan of his work, especially the music and lyrics he made for Little Shop of Horrors and its 1985 film adaptation, Beauty and the Beast, and of course, Aladdin. People who know me may think it was the song Proud of Your Boy which lead me to making this retrospective. It was not the song, but it was the man behind the song that inspired me to do so. Howard, if you are watching me type this from up above, this is for you. Thank you for your work, thank you for your contributions, and thank you for the inspiration. You will never be forgotten, and we have never had a friend like you!)

{In loving memory of Howard Ashman, 1950-1991}

The End of Ash Ketchum's Journey?

(Warning: This post will contain massive spoilers about the current arc of the Pokemon anime. Please read at your own risk and enjoy!)

As many fans of Pokemon may know, protagonist Ash Ketchum has at last made it to the final round of a Pokemon League tournament as of the current arc in the anime. His opponent being his rival in the Kalos league, Alain. For almost twenty years, he has fought in various league tournaments and the farthest he has gone before was the Semi-finals in Sinnoh. Though fictional, I am proud of this kid and am rooting for him as I look at Serebii and Bulbapedia as I wake up tomorrow. I have been a huge fan of this character since I was a small child and have been wanting him to win a league tournament and wanted him to become a Pokemon Master.

Go Ash, and godspeed! Kick Alain to the ground!

Update: Unfortunately Ash did not win, however second place is better than not winning at all. It is certainly a huge milestone nonetheless.

A Tribute to Robin Williams, Two Years Later...

As many of you who frequent this blog may know, my favorite actor of all time will always be the late Robin Williams. I first became exposed to the actor through a certain animated film that will always be one of my favorites (which is also the reason I am writing a multi-part retrospective), Aladdin. For those who are surprisingly unaware, Robin portrayed The Genie of the Lamp in the film and performed the showstopper number Friend Like Me, a role that even though he did not reprise it for the animated series and the first sequel, he did return for the final chapter Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Over the years, I became exposed to more of Robin's films such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Night at the Museum 1 and 2, Ferngully, Robots, and fairly recently, Good Will Hunting. This actor at the top of the men on what I would like to call the "actors I would like to meet" bucket list, next to actors and actresses such as Tara Strong, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg, and the entire original cast of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Unfortunately, that dream shall never come to fruition any time soon, as Robin sadly took his own life on August 11th of 2014. For the first time, when I heard the news from my mother, I was truly saddened to the point of tears falling down my eyes over the passing of an actor.
Robin, if you are watching me type this from up above, then I want to say some things to you through this post. Thank you for everything. Thank you for the laughs and the charm you put into every film you were involved in. Thank you for giving me a reason to laugh when I was unable to do so for one reason or another, and thank you for being such an inspiration to me as a blogger, animator, and graphic designer. I will never forget all that you have given to the world, and I promise you, I will keep your teachings and the laughs close to my heart. While typing this, I am watching the story of how you began your career through the role of Mork.

Nanu-Nanu,
We ain't Never Had a Friend Like You!

(In Loving Memory of Robin Williams, 1951-2014)

The History of Aladdin Part 3: Dawn of Production!

As mentioned in the previous episode, while the executives at Disney loved reading Howard's treatment for Aladdin, it was ultimately shelved for a short period of time. The reason is unknown, whether it was due to a large amount of films in production, or due to budgeting concerns on the film. However in late 1989, Linda Woolverton was tasked with converting Howard's draft into a screenplay, and production on Aladdin began. Fortunately and unfortunately in Woolverton's initial draft of the screenplay, some significant changes were made from Howard's treatment.
To start on the list of Woolverton's changes, the sidekick characters of Babkak, Omar, and Kassim were consolidated into one aged sidekick character, (who was also a retired thief) named Abu. The film's tone was changed from being similar to a Hope/Crosby road film in which the music told the story to a film that was essentially an animated remake of The Thief of Baghdad, and unfortunately did not have any songs, having no room and no reason for Howard's. The Wazir was also named "Jaf'far" for the first time in this draft, and was similar to the villain of the same name from The Thief of Baghdad. Jasmine was also given a sidekick of her own, a handmaiden, and her personality began to change in personality from vain and spoiled to somewhat more benevolent. While Woolverton's initial draft was a solid start to what the film would ultimately become, there were many problems throughout.
The first and primary problem was the over-abundance of human characters and a lack of animal characters. The second problem was the idea to discard Howard's score and songs from the original draft. Luckily, Ron Clements and Jon Musker would rectify these problems in their version of the film as well as adding some ideas of their own.
Clements and Musker had decided to do Aladdin initially as a follow-up to The Little Mermaid, and as mentioned before, brought some changes of their own to the table, such as making the elderly Abu and the handmaiden into a monkey and tiger, respectively. They also decided to bring back what they could salvage of Howard's songs in his original treatment, as well as reviving Jafar's parrot with the new name of Iago (contrary to popular belief, the parrot was not named after the villain of Othello that was also named Iago, but he was named after the parrot in a TinTin comic). Also, Genie's character was changed from a slave portrayed by a black actor to a character that was a shapeshifter that could do impersonations of celebrities that were popular at the time.
The change in Genie's character proved to be a slight problem for Howard, as he feared the change would cause Friend Like Me to be cut from the film. Luckily, as John Musker stated in an interview with Howard Ashman's sister, "I explained to Howard that our approach to the Genie could accommodate his ability to shift into a number of personas, one of whom could be a jazzy showman". Musker stated that he believed only one man would be perfect for the role; Robin Williams. According to Howard's sister (Sarah Ashman-Gillespie) and Musker, Howard personally knew Robin, as Howard had a good friendship with his first wife while attending the same college in Vermont. While arranging to visit Howard in New York to discuss production of the film, Howard dropped a bombshell...

TO BE CONTINUED... 

The History of Aladdin Part 2: The Original 1988 Treatment

As mentioned in concluding sentences of the previous episode, while Howard and Alan were working on finishing The Little Mermaid's score and beginning preliminary work on the score of Beauty and the Beast, Howard was working on a project of his own to pitch to Disney chairman, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney. His pitch consisted of a forty-page treatment detailing characters, preliminary song lyrics, and a plot about a young twelve year old boy with a simple motivation, to make his mother proud by any means possible. Along his journey, he is accompanied by three friends, falls for a vain and self-centered princess, and encounters two magical spirits (a spirit of a ring and a spirit of an oil lamp, the former serving as the narrator of the story), all while combating against an unnamed wazir and his parrot sidekick, Sinbad. The project he planned to pitch was an adaptation of and early version of what would be come Aladdin, based on the Arabian Nights tale of the same name. While Howard's initial draft of the film would contain a few similarities and similar elements to the film released in 1992, his initial draft was significantly different in terms of plot, characters, and the musical score.
The first set of these major differences from the initial draft lies in the film's title character, Aladdin. Unlike the final film in which Aladdin is an adult voiced by Scott "Steve from Full House" Weinger accompanied by a monkey voiced by Frank Welker, Aladdin in the initial treatment was a twelve year old boy with three human friends named Babkak, Omar, and Kassim, along with another lost character named Abbi/Abby (whom unfortunately was not restored for the stage adaptation). Also unlike the final film in which Aladdin was orphaned by his adulthood, Aladdin's mother is still alive in the original draft and is the main source of motivation. The original Aladdin, unlike his finalized counterpart, did not only want a better life for himself, he wanted to make his mother proud and atone for his thieving ways. While this portion of the original motivation did not make it into the final film, it was thankfully restored for the stage adaptation, along with a song that better explains this goal (and it happens to be my favorite Disney song of all time), Proud of Your Boy, which will be discussed in further detail later on when the plot elements are compared between final film and draft.
The second set of major differences lie in the characters of Princess Jasmine, and the wazir and parrot that would later on become Jafar and Iago, respectively. Jasmine was originally not the benevolent and kindhearted princess that she was in the final film. Matter of fact, she was a bit of a "spoiled brat" and did not begin to change and develop until after she met Aladdin in the guise of a prince, better known as "Prince Ali" in the final film. According to Lost MediaWiki's article on the initial treatment, the initial version of Jasmine was "a purely comic creation; the ultimate in pampered spoiled brattiness". She would not be the only character living in the palace to have significant character changes, as the characters that would become Jafar and Iago in later drafts also were different from their final counterparts.
To start, Jafar's initial version was nameless; simply referred to in the treatment as "The Wazir". Like in the final film, he was a combination of the royal vizier, the vizier's son, and the magician from the original Arabian Nights story. However, his personality and temperament were similar to the finalized version of his parrot sidekick, known as Sinbad in the original treatment (a reference to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor in the Arabian Nights). Like how The Wazir's personality was similar to the final version of Sinbad (later named Iago), Sinbad's initial personality was similar to the final version of The Wazir (later given the name of Jafar as production progressed). Despite their personalities being switched, their motivation and goals were essentially the same, retrieval of the magic lamp and become ruler of Baghdad (later named Agrabah). Unfortunately, not much is known about the original version of Jasmine's father, the Sultan, aside from the fact of him being called "Sultan Hamed" in the initial draft (the first name of the sultan was later restored for the stage adaptation of the film). Before moving on to the differences in plot and score, there is one more character that needs to be covered, and a mention of a similar character that was cut from the film.
If those reading this have seen the stage adaptation of the movie and wondered, "the guy playing Genie is nothing like how the late Robin Williams or Dan "Homer Simpson" Castellaneta portrayed him", then you would be surprised to hear this fact; James Monroe Iglehart's version of Genie is portrayed more similarly to Howard's original concept of the character rather than the portrayal by Robin Williams. Originally, Genie was inspired by jazz musicians such as Cab Calloway and Fats Waller, and granted unlimited wishes to Aladdin and The Wazir instead of three wishes like in the final film. There was also a Genie of the Ring, who served as the first incarnation of what would later become the peddler in the final film, appearing at points in the story to provide commentary through song, one of the various plot differences from the film we all know.
Compared to what was ultimately released to the movie-going audience, the plot and score not only have significant differences between the two, the two versions of the film almost feel like entirely different movies with similar scenes and songs. According to John Musker, the film's setting was a "Hollywood-ized Baghdad" in which a young Aladdin and his friends, Babkak, Omar, Kassim, and Abby would roam. Currently, it is unknown if Aladdin still stole for him and his mother to survive, but if that was the case like in the final film, it was also because Aladdin refused to work (as evidenced in the song Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim, a prototype of the final film's One Jump Ahead).
Like in the finalized version, the opening number was Arabian Nights, albeit with significant differences in length, lyrics and what character is singing the song. Also unlike the released film, Arabian Nights had four reprises throughout the story, in which the Genie of the Ring would appear and either introduce a character (which was the reason for Reprise one), provide commentary on a situation (Reprises two and three), or serve as an early version of the finale (Reprise four, which finally saw the light of day when it served as the closing number for not only Aladdin and the King of Thieves, but the entirety of the Aladdin saga, as well as being restored in its proper position for the stage adaptation). After Aladdin and his friends are introduced as well as the theorized early version of the "One Jump", we are treated to the first reprise of Arabian Nights, which introduces The Wazir, The Sultan, Sinbad the Parrot, and Princess Jasmine. Succeeding the reprise was originally going to be a song named Call Me a Princess, but the song was cut before Howard finished the treatment, as it proved to be unpopular with himself and Alan (and those who saw the initial versions of the stage musical before Broadway, though I found it interesting as it shows how far Jasmine has evolved as a character).
When cutting back to Aladdin, we are introduced to his "uncle", which is actually The Wazir in disguise, leading in to Arabian Nights Reprise Two, sung as Aladdin and his "uncle" are searching for both The Cave of Wonders as well as the magic lamp inside of it, and Aladdin is presumably given a magic ring with a Genie inside, a nod to the original story that inspired the film. Like in the final film, Aladdin would somehow be trapped in the cave and forced to release Genie from the lamp. The release of Genie would lead into a jazzier and somewhat sinister early version of the popular Friend Like Me. After Aladdin returns home to his friends and his mother, it is here where Aladdin's motivations are revealed through the beautiful song, Proud of Your Boy. Unfortunately, as Aladdin plans to win the heart of Princess Jasmine by masquerading as a prince, he begins to grow cold and distant towards his friends, presumably leading into the song How Quick They Forget, where Babkak, Omar, and Kassim lament on losing the friendship of Aladdin to the princess. However, friendships would presumably be regained either before or after the third reprise of Arabian Nights, which showed either Aladdin or Jasmine being imprisoned, and served as a lead-in to High Adventure in which Aladdin enlists the assistance of Babkak, Omar, Kassim, and The Genie of the Ring (I guess he did have some role in the story aside from narrating, but like the rest of the original plot, the extent of his role is mostly unknown). On his adventure to save Jasmine, he begins to realize his feelings for Abby as well as the feelings she reciprocated for him, and ultimately chooses her instead of Jasmine upon saving the city of Baghdad. The Wazir's fate in the initial treatment is unfortunately unknown.
Unfortunately, though Roy Disney and the higher-ups at Disney enjoyed Ashman's treatment, it was unfortunately passed on and shelved. Howard had considered getting the rights back and creating the film independently without Disney's involvement, but ultimately decided not to follow through with the plan and the treatment remained in the Disney archives.
If one wishes to view the original treatment, a copy is available for viewing at The Library of Congress as part of a series of works known as The Howard Ashman Papers, and another copy presumably exists in the Disney Animation Research Library. In the next episode, we will jump forward to late 1989-early 1990, when production on Aladdin resumed, and detailing the trials and tribulations rose throughout.

Special Thanks/Sources:

Mrs. Sarah Ashman-Gillepsie (sister of the late Howard Ashman) for taking the time to answer my questions about Howard's early years at Disney and giving her blessing on pursuing this ambitious project

 "Aladdin (Howard Ashman Original Treatment)." Lost Media Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://lostmediawiki.com/Aladdin_(Howard_Ashman's_original_film_treatment;_1988)>. 

 Ashman, Sarah, and John Musker. "Da Doo Blog: John Musker Question Countdown #9." Da Doo Blog Part of His World Sarah Ashman Gillespie. N.p., 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 06 Aug. 2016. <http://howardashman.com/blog/john-musker-question-countdown-number-9/>. 

 Ashman, Howard, Alan Menken, Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Menken, and Marvin Hamlisch. Howard Sings Ashman. PS Classics, 2008. MP3. 

 Menken, Alan, Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice. The Music Behind the Magic. Walt Disney Records, 1994. CD. Discs 3 and 4

 Aladdin. Dir. John Musker and Ron Clements. Prod. John Musker and Ron Clements. By John Musker, Ron Clements, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, and Linda Larkin. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1992. DVD.