The working title for "Song of the South" was "Uncle Remus".
Not only did James Baskett play Uncle Remus, but after Johnny Lee was called away to do promotion for the picture, he also played Brer Rabbit for the "Laughing Place" scene and sang the "Laughing Place" song, as well as the butterfly he originally auditioned to play.
Most of the outdoor live action scenes were filmed in Phoenix, Arizona.
All but five minutes of this film contains music.
When "Splash Mountain", an amusement ride based on the film, "Song of the South" opened in Disneyland in the '90's, the local NAACP and others protested the ride.
Contrary to misconception, the film takes place after the U.S. Civil War, during the period known as, "Reconstruction".
According to James Snead's book, "White screens/black images", p. 93: "At the film's New York premiere in Times Square, dozens of black and white pickets chanted, 'We fought for Uncle Sam, not Uncle Tom,' while the NAACP called for a total boycott of the film, and the National Negro Congress called on black people to 'run the picture out of the area.'"
In an article titled, "Disney's Laughin' Place" by Frank Stephenson, we read that, "Following its debut, the NAACP registered its official displeasure of what it called the film's 'racial stereotyping' a charge echoed by the National Urban League."
The film was first released in 1946. Disney re-released the film in 1956, but in 1970 Disney announced in Variety that "Song of the South" had been "permanently" retired, but the studio eventually changed its mind and re-released the film in 1972, 1981, and again in 1986 for a 40th anniversary celebration.
On May 8, 2007, the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, which includes representatives from the Los Angeles Civil Rights Assn., the NAACP National Board, and the Youth Advocacy Coalition, sent out a press release denouncing Disney's contemplation to re-release "Song of the South".