Where did Isabella Rossellini see a puppet of her mother?

August 17, 2020 10:34 AM

Some time in the past I saw, heard, or read an interview with Isabella Rossellini where she was called upon to attend a ribbon-cutting for some Hollywood-themed ride or attraction that featured a large image/puppet of her mother, Ingrid Bergman. As they would ride by the puppet, she would tell her kids to say hello to granny. I absolutely cannot find reference to this anywhere and would appreciate if anyone else remembers this! (Also I'm curious as to how far off I am from what she actually said.)
posted by 41swans to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

I can't tell you anything about the quote, but I can confirm that an Ingrid Bergman animatronic, as Ilsa Lund from Casablanca, was a feature of Disney World's The Great Movie Ride, which closed in 2017.
posted by juniperesque at 10:44 AM on August 17, 2020 [3 favorites]

Argh. I also remember the interview. I can't research this right now because I have a meeting in a few but the ride was The Great Movie Ride at Disney-MGM Studios which was renamed to Disney Hollywood Studios. It was an audio-animatronic figurine of Bergman from Casablanca. Hope this helps someone else answer the question!
posted by kimberussell at 10:45 AM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Google Books is showing that this story appears in some editions of Birnbaum's Walt Disney World but I can't seem to get a better snippet.
posted by jabes at 11:20 AM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Sounds like you might have read about it in the "Walt Disney World Trivia Book": http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2004/06/17/416.aspx
posted by sonofsnark at 12:00 PM on August 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Disney+ has a documentary series (or two, or maybe three) about the parks and I'm ~70% certain that this anecdote made an appearance in one of them, but I don't recall whether Rossellini herself related the anecdote.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 8:57 AM on August 18, 2020 [1 favorite]