Disney's Longest Unsolved Adult Easter Egg

Sources/References

The Rescuers

Walt Disney & The Hidden Naked Woman Myth

  • Walt Disney and the Naked Woman Frame (Snopes - 1996)
  • What Hath Charlie Shows Wrought? (Yowp Blogspot - 2010)
  • Walt: Backstage Adventures with Walt Disney by Charles Shows (1980)

    • Page 1 / Page 2

    • He asked what the hell a picture of a naked woman was doing in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Since nobody could think of a more inventive answer, we just told Walt the truth — that we wanted to see if he could really spot a mistake on a single frame of running film.

      Walt looked pleased. He had succeeded in catching the mistake, and he was proud of his keen eye. So instead of firing us all, Walt laughed off the incident by remarking, "If that gal had had any clothes on, I wouldn't have paid any attention to her."

    • Images of this book kindly contributed by Didier Ghez from DisneyBooks Blogspot

  • The Mystery of Charles Shows (Mouse Planet - 2011)

    • Shows has always been mentioned in connection with the early development of the first Disney television space show, but never received an official credit and there has been considerable confusion about what he actually did.

      While Shows had many significant accomplishments as a writer for a variety of studios over the decades, his tendency to overstate his contribution to many projects diminished the validity of all of his claims.

      It was not uncommon, especially at that time, for a performer or writer to enhance their involvement in a project on their resume, because there simply wasn't the resources that exist today for a reporter or potential employer to check closely. Of course, the nature of assigning credit, especially writing credit, in the entertainment industry has always been problematic, especially on projects that are highly collaborative.

    • Frederick Ordway, who has written several books about the early U.S. space program and specifically the work of von Braun, contacted Kimball, who is officially credited with co-writing, directing and producing the trilogy of space shows in 1986. Kimball responded to Ordway’s question about Shows' involvement in the first space show in a letter dated June 24, 1986:

      "If it's OK with you, I would like to delete any mention of Charles Shows in connection with our space programs as his contribution was absolutely zilch. Shows had a local TV amateurish kid-vid program when I first got the idea of doing something about outer space for our Tomorrowland slot in the Disney hour. I invited him to come in early-on when many other different Tomorrowland ideas were being kicked around—before we settled down to the serious, ‘science-factual’ approach. Shows proved to have absolutely no affinity for this type of thinking and embarrassingly for me, I had to terminate his relationship with the project.”

Roger Rabbit

Projectionists

  • Porren inför lagen: Två fallstudier angående den officiella attityden till offentligt visad pornografisk film 1921 och 1971 (Academia - 2009)

    • In Swedish language, but translates to:

    • Describing the impression that the new film made on the decent and tidy part of the audience is not possible. For this new film was an accumulation of the most horrific pornographic scenes imaginable, such as one could hardly believe that any human being would lower himself to record. The audience was gripped by an incredible excitement. The orchestra immediately stopped playing. Shouts sounded that the show had to stop. Hysterical screams echoed from a box. The outraged crowd crowded towards the exits. However, many ladies remained seated and thus provoked indignant protests from the decent part of the audience through their shameless behavior.

  • The untrustworthy transnational origin of illicit porn films in the interwar and war years (Taylor & Francis Online - 2021)

    • This article mentions the above example, and implies it’s entirely fictional or exaggerated as an ongoing effort by Swedish media at the time with a bias against pornography. In the above case, the fact that the adult movie was readily available in the projector room indicates it was part of “unannounced ‘midnight’ shows after regular screenings”, something that was criminalised in Sweden at the time.

The Little Mermaid

  • Was a Phallus Purposely Added to the Artwork for 'The Little Mermaid' VHS Cover? (Snopes - 1998)
  • Does the Minister in 'Little Mermaid' Get an Erection? (Snopes - 1996)
  • Mermaid’s Tower Is Kettle Of Fish (St Louis Post-Dispatch - 1992)

    • “Here’s how I heard the story,” Janet said, “This disgruntled Disney artist hid a male organ in ‘The Little Mermaid’ video cover. Disney didn’t catch it until after the tape was released. They had to pull the Mermaid covers and put out a whole new edition. Naturally I wanted to know if I had the first edition. It could be worth some bucks.”

    • At the time of the VHS’s release, the artwork was not amended following this controversy. According to this article, there were only about a dozen complaints. The consensus was there’s nothing there and it’s people’s imagination doing the work. There has been subsequent re-releases of the film with different artwork.

  • Phallic symbol in ‘The Little Mermaid’ artwork was approved by execs, Disney artist says (Inquirer.net - 2019)

    • This article claims that the artist who made the artwork (and is named) actually did place the phallic image on purpose after being made to work so late, but when he tried to backtrack what he did, it was too late.

    • This cites an Instagram post by Disney animator Dave Woodman. However the post is no longer on his Instagram feed. This led me to contacting Dave Woodman directly about this Instagram post and he said:

      • “After hearing that [the artist’s] family was unhappy with my post, I took it down. In the long run, it looks like some prick just lied to me about that whole story, just for attention.......trying to sound important.”

    • So it’s worth understanding that this article is based on misinformation. With this in mind, and the upset it caused the family, I’ve chosen to not repeat the artist’s name to avoid further misinformation. The article is there for you to view if you wish, but as confirmed directly by the source, it is not true.

  • Dave Woodman’s Instagram Post (2019)

    • In a panic, I said something like, "If someone is going to get blamed for putting an erection in that scene, it's going to be me!"

    • The plain truth is obvious, related to this following scene. It's his knee! I always thought so, but had not looked in to it.

    • Sean Platter helped jar my memory about this recently, when he told me how very upset Annie Gunther was when THE RESCUERS "woman in the window" scandal surfaced and I felt so bad for her.

  • Gilmer v. Walt Disney Co., 915 F. Supp. 1001 (Justia US Law - 1996)

    • The factual underpinnings of *1011 plaintiff's claims are that the video cassettes of the "The Lion King" and "The Little Mermaid" contain drawings and animated scenes depicting sexual messages or other sexually related material unsuitable for young children and/or family videos.

  • Mouse Trapped: How Disney Became the Latest Casualty in America's Culture Wars (LA Magazine - 2022)

    • In 1995, the American Life League, in Virginia, launched a much-covered boycott against the company, mailing out nearly a million cards to supporters claiming that Disney was planting subliminal sex messages in its animated films. They saw an erection in The Little Mermaid, the word “sex” spelled out in a cloud of dust in The Lion King, and a hidden verbal message in Aladdin: Just before the hero whisks Princess Jasmine onto his magic carpet, he supposedly mumbles, “Good teenagers, take off your clothes.” Most people simply heard the words, “Scat, good tiger, take off and go,” but whatever.

      The point here is, the culture war currently embroiling Disney, with all its weird accusations of secret sexual messaging to kids, goes way back.

The Lion King

Aladdin

Strange World

Other Examples

Ann Guenther

  • Dave Woodman’s Instagram Post (2019)

    • Sean Platter helped jar my memory about this recently, when he told me how very upset Annie Gunther was when THE RESCUERS "woman in the window" scandal surfaced and I felt so bad for her.

  • Ann Guenther May 22, 1937 - January 24, 2017 (Animation Insider)
  • Ann Guenther (The Animation Guild)

    • Includes a 2-part podcast interview about her career, including not being promoted to head of background at Disney.

  • Tom Sito Facebook Post (2017)

    • While the Facebook post was shared with me for the benefit of this video, given it’s personal post expressing their grief at the death of a beloved friend, I am choosing not to share this post publicly. We recreated the post for the video for the quote needed but the original post goes into greater detail about the personal impact she had on Tom Sito and I don’t believe it’s my place to share any more of it than I need to. I appreciate it’s strange for a list of sources to intentionally omit some, but I hope you can understand my reasoning and respect the privacy of others.

    • Here is a partial quote from this post.

    • Annie was a background artist at Disney, Hanna Barbera, Filmation and Warner Bros. The projects she worked on are too numerous to mention. Rescuers, Ferngully, Iron Giant, Space Jam. Member of the Academy, Guild Exec Board Member. She painted the background with the notorious Playboy centerfold in the Rescuers (1977)

  • Tom’s Blog (TomSito.com - 2023)

    • 2003- In 1977, when Walt Disney's the Rescuers was being completed, the artists for a joke added a Playboy picture into a pan shot. Going by at 1/24th a second, they were confident nobody would ever spot it. Later in the 1990s, when Rescuers went to VHS video, they edited out the controversial frame. But when it was time in 2003 to rerelease on DVD, the Studio apparatchik’s went to the original 1977 negative, without ever bothering to consult any of the artists. We could have warned them, but noooo. So on May 20, 2003, nine million copies of the Rescuers DVD hit the stores, with the ensuing out cry, firestorm, and embarrassed apologies you can imagine..

    • The details of this are incorrect. The naked image was removed in the 1992 VHS release but included by mistake (based on an older reel of the film) in the 1999 VHS re-release. From my research, the woman in the window never appeared on any DVD release of this movie.

  • Who’s Idea Was It?

    • There is conflicting reports on who actually suggested to Ann Guenther to add in the topless woman (it appears it probably wasn’t her idea). Tom Sito has said “the art director” in the past, but when I asked him, he didn’t want to commit to that answer. Speculation is also on the head of the background department or producer or fellow background artists. No-one has ever said a name, just a vague authority figure. But according to some, Ann Guenther had said someone had told her to do it (“stick it in, it’ll be funny”) secure in the knowledge it would never and could never be spotted.

  • Ann Guenther - Oscars In Memoriam 2018 (Oscars/archive.org - 2018)

    • Ann Guenther was honoured on the Oscars website, but not during the televised ceremony.

  • Ann Guenther Daytime Emmy Award 1993 (Emmys.com)
  • Ann Guenther Art (Facebook)
  • American Animation Artist “Ann Guenther” Exhibit (Osceola Mills Commuity Historical Foundation)
  • Ann Guenther (IMDB)
  • Tom Sito Email (2023)

    • 1) Was "the woman in the window" in the original 1977 reel that went out publicly to cinemas?

      YES. IT WAS REMOVED FROM THE FIRST ISSUE ON VIDEO. 

      2) Was this was just meant to be an in-joke with the team, or an act of spite by a "disgruntled artist" (a speculative narrative I've heard a lot!)

      JUST AN IN JOKE. ANIMATORS HAVE BEEN PUTTING THINGS LIKE THIS IN CARTOONS SINCE THE 1930S. 

      3) Was it intended to go out publicly? (either the theater showings or the home releases) Or was that a mistake by the studio using the wrong reel?

      IT ALWAYS WAS. IT WAS GOING AT ONE 24TH OF A SECOND. NOBODY IN 1977 THOUGHT  45 YEARS IN THE FUTURE PEOPLE WOULD BE STUDYING THESE CARTOONS FRAME BY FRAME WITH ADVANCED COMPUTERS.

      4) Could you confirm that, as per your post, Annie Guenther was the one who put the infamous image into the film?

      YES. ANNIE TOLD ME HERSELF. AS I DESCRIBED IT.

      5) Was in fact under the direction of [name removed to avoid spreading speculation/misinformation] that the image was to be added in?

      I CANNOT CONFIRM THAT.

      6) Was the woman in the window indeed a Playboy model? This was my assumption but I've also heard wild rumours that the woman was an ex of a jilted boyfriend who put her image into the film to shame her.

      ITS JUST A RANDOM PHOTO CLIPPED OUT OF A PLAYBOY MAGAZINE.

    • 1) I wondered if Annie's motivation to put the woman in the window was purely just a joke. I understand she was deeply upset to not be promoted to the head of the background department at Disney after being told they would never promote a woman and instead promoted an artist that she herself had trained. With that in mind, combined with Rescuers being her last Disney film before joining Hanna-Barbera & WB, I wonder if there may have been an element of spite in there too. So an element of the "disgruntled artist" narrative being slightly true? 

       THAT'S A NICE THEORY BUT NOT TRUE. 

       I appreciate this is heavily speculative, but do you think there's any truth to that idea? NO.

       2) Did Annie ever regret putting in the woman in the window? Particularly after its discovery? Or was it still just as funny to her? 

      NO. SHE NEVER HAD A COMPUTER, AND WASN'T INTERESTED IN ANALYZING HER OLD FILMS.

       3) I realise this is a question you probably don't have an answer for, but did she buy the copy of Playboy used in the film, or would there have been copies of it laying around the studios. It was a boys club after all. Although I have a very funny mental picture of her going all the way to the store to buy a Playboy just for the sake of an elaborate prank!

      REMEMBER, OLD ANIMATION STUDIOS, EVEN DISNEY,WERE NOT KINDERGARTENS OR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. THE OLD GUYS KEPT BOOZE AND CIGARS AT THEIR DESKS.  AND PROBABLY SOME NAUGHTY MAGAZINES. IT WAS VERY MUCH A BOYS CLUB BACK THEN. 

Adult Magazines

  • Playboy

    • Thanks to this Reddit thread we were able access every past issue of Playboy. We checked every single issue from December 1953 to December 1977. There was no issue published on March 1955. There were a few instances where archive had duplicates instead of that month’s issue (such as April 1957 and April 1961), so I had to find alternate sources to check those respective issues. This was by far the publication we searched the most thoroughly. We can confidently say she is not in Playboy (US). Every issue is also available on Playboy’s own website.

  • Hustler

    • Hustler began publication in July 1974, so this had far fewer magazines to review. The historic archive for these were found on Hustler’s own website and we checked every issue from July 1974 to December 1977.

    • Side note, the Hustler website would often replace entire pages with advertisements for the website and online gambling. Presumably this is covering up the adverts from those past issues but this means there’s multiple pages we could not see or review, making this publication technically incomplete. It’s unlikely the topless image came from an advert but not impossible. 

  • Penthouse

    • We checked far fewer of these magazines. It began publication in March 1965 in the UK but the US edition began in September 1969. We focussed on the US edition. There’s many issues available on archive.org but it’s far from a complete collection. Of those available, we checked, however many of them had images missing due to the model being underage at the time of the specific issue’s publication. The Penthouse website also offers a historic archive, like Hustler, however due to time restraints I didn’t sign up to their site and I wasn’t able to review all the issues they had available. There will be definitely issues there that weren’t already on archive.org. One major problem is that the official Penthouse archive is also not a complete collection. In some cases, magazines would be months apart with everything in between unavailable. We hypothesised this may be partly related to the underage issues.

    • The issues we reviewed (based on its availability) were:

      • 1969 September to December

      • 1970 January to December

      • 1971 January to December

      • 1972 December

      • 1973 January

      • 1974 March and May

      • 1975 NONE

      • 1976 March and July

      • 1977 January, March to December

    • It’s worth noting, aside from the censored images, not every issue on archive.org is complete.

  • Other Magazines

    • There were many adult magazines in the 1970s such as Swank, Club, Homen, High Society, Cheri etc. However, from our search there’s very little effort made by these publications to preserve their historical archives. Bankruptcies and buy-outs have left these issues to become close to lost media outside of private vintage magazine collectors. Beyond the extremely few magazines found on sites like archive.org, there’s nothing we have found available online.

    • As mentioned in the video, Disney had a lot of employees from all over the world, so there’s nothing to rule out international adult magazines too. Playboy alone has versions in French, German, Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican etc.

    • Our theory is that when people, like Tom Sito, say “it came from Playboy” the term “Playboy” is acting like a catch-all term for all adult magazines, in the same way “Hoover” is a catch-all term for vacuum cleaners. So if the image really did come from one of these magazines, it could be anywhere.

  • NOT From A Magazine?

    • A comment on this reddit thread suggests it could be an example of revenge porn, to humiliate the woman in question. Given the image lacks the gloss and soft focus of a Playboy shoot (or similar publications) it is possible this is a more amateur photo. But I do not believe this was Ann Guenther’s intention.

    • I’ve seen some people suggest this is actually a photo of Ann Guenther herself, which is why it cannot be found in the magazines so far. There’s nothing to support this theory and I didn’t want to entertain the idea in the video as, without rock-solid concrete evidence, it would be extremely disrespectful.

    • It’s also possible the image was taken from an adult movie, which might explain the more blurry nature of the image with motion blur. Playboy did have a TV show that ran from 1969 to 1970 called “Playboy After Dark”, but it was more of a variety show with celebrity guests and music performances. There wasn’t any actual nudity in it.

    • It’s worth noting the photo could have been flipped in the process of putting into the movie.

  • The Photo (Censored)

    • Our theory is that the woman in this photo isn’t the focus of the image in question. In that, it might be a wider photo, such as a party or a stageshow and her presence is part of a larger ensemble. The photo lacks the gloss, soft focus and blown out lighting that centerfold models would have, so it looks more candid. The photo is oddly framed with her not being centred, which is why we think it might be a small part of a larger photo. She appears to be stepping out of a golden tinsel curtain, like seen on a stage, as her right arm seems obscured by it. She appears to have something around the waistline, possibly clothing, but could be a piece of furniture in the foreground or even an inflatable water ring around her waist, meaning it could be from a pool scene.

Additional Material