Editing Song of the South (section)

== Development ==
In the aftermath of World War II, Walt Disney Studios faced financial difficulties due to a lack of foreign markets for animated films during wartime. The studio produced few theatrical animated shorts then, focusing instead on military training films that broke even, but produced no profit. The studio only profited in 1945 and 1946 by reissuing ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' and ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'', and still had to lay off half of its employees in 1946. With additional financial difficulties due to a [[Disney animators' strike|union strike]] in 1941, Disney sought to produce live-action films to generate additional revenue. While Disney's contract with RKO was for animated films, films that mixed live-action with animation fell under the contract, allowing the studio to lower production costs on ''[[Saludos Amigos]]'' and ''[[The Three Caballeros]]''. Additionally, Disney owned the rights to several properties purchased after the success of ''Snow White'', which could be made into family films.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=21–6}}

In 1938, Walt Disney became interested in the Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus storybook, claiming to remember hearing the stories as a child, and prepared two research reports to determine if it was possible to film the stories, dated April 8 and 11, 1938. He purchased the rights to the stories in 1939, paying Harris's family $10,000 ({{Inflation|US|10000|1938|r=-3|fmt=eq}}). By 1986, the film based on the stories, ''Song of the South'', had earned $300 million.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=21–6}}

Beginning in 1939, Disney began developing ''Uncle Remus'' as an entirely animated feature. The stories were also considered as two-reel animated shorts. Stories considered for the production included "Br'er Rabbit Rides the Fox", in which [[Br'er Rabbit]] tricks [[Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear|Br'er Fox]] into riding him like a horse to a party, and "De Wuller-De-Wust", in which Br'er Rabbit pretends to be a ghost to scare Br'er Bear. In another treatment, [[Uncle Remus]] gathers the critters together for a prayer meeting and to encourage them to build a church that would bring peace between predators and prey. Also proposed was a storyline in which Br'er Rabbit's addiction to gambling would be at the root of the troubles that led to the film's adventures.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=21–6}}

Disney first began to negotiate with Harris's family for the rights in 1939, and by late summer of that year he already had one of his storyboard artists summarize the more promising tales and draw up four boards' worth of story sketches. In November 1940, Disney visited the Harris's home in Atlanta. He told ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' that he wanted to "get an authentic feeling of Uncle Remus country so we can do as faithful a job as possible to these stories."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}} Disney's brother [[Roy O. Disney|Roy]] had misgivings about the project, doubting that it was "big enough in caliber and natural draft" to warrant a budget over $1 million and more than twenty-five minutes of animation. Disney planned to produce a series of Uncle Remus films if the first one was successful, each with the same live-action cast but different animated shorts. Ultimately, the studio decided that only a third of the film would be animated and the rest would be live-action.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=21–6}}

Disney was initially going to have the screenplay written by the studio animators, but later sought professional writers.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=21–6}} In June 1944, Disney hired Southern-born writer [[Dalton S. Reymond|Dalton Reymond]] to write the screenplay, and he met frequently with [[King Vidor]], whom he was trying to interest in directing the live-action sequences.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}}

Dalton Reymond delivered a 51-page outline on May 15, 1944.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}} [[Motion Picture Production Code|The Hays Office]] reviewed Reymond's outline, and demanded that some terminology, such as characters referring to Remus as an "old darkie" be removed from Reymond's treatment.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=67–74}}<ref>"It might be well, from the standpoint of our negro patrons, to eliminate the expression 'darkey' wherever it appears in your dialogue." Joseph I. Breen to Walt Disney, 1 August 1944. Production Code Administration Records, Motion Picture Association of America (Margaret Herrick Library): https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/collection/p15759coll30/id/14031/rec/37</ref>

Disney hired African-American performer and writer [[Clarence Muse]] to be consulted on the screenplay, but Muse quit when Reymond ignored Muse's suggestions to portray African-American characters in a way that would be perceived as being dignified and more than Southern stereotypes.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}} Muse subsequently wrote letters to the editors of black publications to criticize the depiction of African-Americans in Reymond's script. Disney claimed that Muse attacked the film because Disney did not choose Muse to play the part of Uncle Remus, which Muse had lobbied for.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=67–74}}

In addition to concerns about his racial stereotyping, Reymond had never written a screenplay before (nor would he write another). [[Maurice Rapf]], who had been writing live-action features at the time, was asked by [[the Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Productions]] to work with Reymond and co-writer Callum Webb to turn the treatment into a shootable screenplay.<ref name="Cohen">{{Cite book | last = Cohen | first = Karl F. | title = Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America | publisher = [[McFarland & Company]], Inc. | year = 1997 | location = [[Jefferson, North Carolina]] | page = 64 | isbn = 0-7864-2032-4}}</ref> According to [[Neal Gabler]], one of the reasons Disney had hired Rapf to work with Reymond was to temper what Disney feared would be Reymond's "white Southern slant".{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=434}}

Reymond's treatment included the phrases "massa", in reference to white characters, and "darkey", in reference to plantation workers, prominently.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}} Rapf removed the offending phrase and added dialogue to make it clear that the film was set after slavery had ended; one character in Rapf's script states, in reference to the Black plantation workers, "We gotta pay these people. They're not slaves." Uncle Remus also states, after being told that he cannot read any more stories to Johnny, "I'm a free man; I don't have to take this."{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}}

Rapf saw the animal stories as metaphors for slave resistance, and intended to portray Br'er Rabbit as a smaller, less powerful Black man, and in place of the oppressive whites would be Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear and the deleted character Br'er Coon.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}}
{{blockquote|Rapf was a minority, a Jew, and an outspoken [[Left-wing politics|left-winger]], and he himself feared that the film would inevitably be [[Uncle Tom#Epithet|Uncle-Tomish]]. "That's exactly why I want you to work on it," Walt told him, "because I know that you don't think I should make the movie. You're against Uncle Tomism, and you're a radical."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=434}}}}

Rapf initially hesitated, but when he found out that most of the film would be live-action and that he could make extensive changes, he accepted the offer. Rapf worked on ''Uncle Remus'' for about seven weeks. When he got into a personal dispute with Reymond, Rapf was taken off the project.<ref name="Cohen" /> According to Rapf, Disney "ended every conference by saying 'Well, I think we've really licked it now.' Then he'd call you the next morning and say, 'I've got a new idea.' And he'd have one. Sometimes the ideas were good, sometimes they were terrible, but you could never really satisfy him."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}} Morton Grant was assigned to the project.<ref name="Cohen" /> Disney sent out the script for comment both within the studio and outside the studio.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=434–5}}

On May 10, 1944, the title was changed from ''Uncle Remus'' to ''Song of the South''.{{sfn|Korkis|2012|pp=27–34}}