12 things you probably didn't know about 'The Little Mermaid'
Marilyn La Jeunesse
- Disney's "The Little Mermaid" was released on November 13, 1989, but even superfans still might not know all these interesting facts.
- The popular song "Part of Your World" was almost cut from the film.
- Iconic characters like Goofy and Mickey Mouse make super-short cameos in "The Little Mermaid."
- Ursula's look was inspired by a famous drag queen, and the villain is not an octopus.
After 31 years, Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is still an animated classic.
But even fans who've seen it dozens of times may not know all the hidden surprises and pieces of trivia that can be found throughout the movie.
Read on for some interesting facts about "The Little Mermaid."
The idea for the film was initially shut down.
Disney was working on a sequel to the popular live-action mermaid comedy "Splash" (1984) when Ron Clements pitched "The Little Mermaid."
Clements told Yahoo in 2016 that then-Disney execs Michael Eisenberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg temporarily nixed his idea because they thought doing two mermaid movies would be too much.
But they later returned to "The Little Mermaid" when they realized it was "a fairy tale [Disney] hadn't done."
Ursula was inspired by a famous drag queen.
Baltimore-based drag queen and actress Divine inspired early sketches of the iconic Disney villain, according to a Hazlitt report by Nicole Pasulka and Brian Ferree.
Unfortunately, Divine died a year before the movie was released and never got to see the character come to life.
Disney wanted Bea Arthur to voice Ursula.
Pat Carroll wasn't the first choice for the voice of Ursula.
The studio wanted "Golden Girls" star Bea Arthur to voice the sea witch, according to Allan Neuwirth's book "Makin' Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies."
But apparently, Arthur's agent wasn't a fan of the idea.
Ursula isn't technically an octopus.
Most fans would probably be quick to call the film's sassy villain an octopus, but Ursula is actually a cecaelia, which is a mythical human-octopus hybrid.
The character doesn't even have eight tentacles. She has six plus her two human arms, reportedly because animating the tentacles cost too much money.
Ariel's cave of treasures has some fun Easter eggs.
When Ariel sings "Part of Your World," there are some fun background details in the treasure trove behind her.
There's a bust of what appears to be Abraham Lincoln on one of the shelves in the cave, and Ariel swims up to the famed painting "Magdalene With the Smoking Flame" by Georges de La Tour.
"Part of Your World" was almost cut from the film.
"Part of Your World" was almost removed from the film after initial test screenings showed audience members weren't loving it, according to the Disney Plus documentary "Howard" about the late Disney lyricist Howard Ashman.
Fortunately, a positive second round of screenings saved the sentimental scene from the chopping block.
Disney reportedly outsourced the animation of the bubbles that appear in the film.
Due to limited resources and the intense amount of animation work required for the film, Disney hired Pacific Rim Productions to hand-painted the bubbles seen throughout "The Little Mermaid," according to "The Political Economy of Disney: The Cultural Capitalism of Hollywood."
The directors were specific about the fact that they wanted each one done by hand, so every bubble throughout the entire film was unique.
Ariel's features are based on actress Alyssa Milano's.
During a 2013 appearance on Wendy Williams' talk show, Alyssa Milano told the host that animator Glen Keane created Ariel in her likeness.
He used photos of the actress from when she was younger to perfect Ariel's facial features, but Milano said she didn't know she was the inspiration behind the character until the company asked her to host "The Making of the Little Mermaid."
Ariel and Hercules are sort of cousins.
Ariel's father, King Triton, is the son of Poseidon.
Given that Poseidon is Zeus' brother, and Zeus is Hercules' father, Ariel and Hercules are first cousins, once removed.
"The Little Mermaid" earned two Oscars for its music.
Considering this was Alan Menken's first time composing a Disney film, it's rather impressive he and Ashman won the awards for best original score and song at the 1990 Academy Awards.
There are a few hidden cameos in the movie.
Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck, Kermit the Frog, Mr. Limpet, and the Duke and King from "Cinderella" all make surprise cameos in the film.
There are also a few hidden Mickeys in the movie.
There are a few hidden Mickeys in "The Little Mermaid," including on Ursula's contract for Ariel and in the background of the scene where Chef Louis tries to cook Sebastian.
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