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Walt’s Nine Old Men, Part 2
Hey everyone, I’m Mike, and she’s Sophie, and We’re on the Road with Mickey! This is Season 2, Episode 5 for February 1, 2021, and our feature topic today is Walt’s Nine Old Men, Part 2! This week, we’re joined again by friend of the show Brenda from Pixie Vacations, and this is week two of a three week look at Walt’s Nine Old Men! Grab a drink, relax, and join us as we talk about all the things that we came up with! Here’s our rundown of what we talked about:
- Cheddar from the Big Cheese
- Mike: Filming for Season 3 of The Mandalorian to begin on April 5th!
- Sophie: Coming to Theaters and Disney+ March 5th: Raya and the Last Dragon! Here’s an exclusive trailer that premiered on GMA:
New trailer for Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’: Exclusive l GMA Digital – YouTube - Sophie: Exciting! Reported over at the Magic Kingdom, The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover is now being tested! Perhaps it will be reopening soon?
- Mike: Announced last week, Disney is making MAJOR changes to its iconic attraction the Jungle Cruise! The story is being built out some, with new adventures being added to the attraction at both Disneyland Park and the Magic Kingdom.
- Brenda: Over at the Magic Kingdom, the Rivers of America has now been completely refilled! The Disney Refurbishment schedule lists Liberty Square Riverboat as reopening in February!
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- Email: info@ontheroadwithmickey.com
- Phone Voicemail: 919-799-8390
- Feature Topic: Walt’s Nine Old Men, Part 2
- Sophie’s Next Selection: Les Clark
- Born November 17, 1907. Born in Ogden, Utah. Oldest of 12.
- By 1930, his large family had moved between Salt Lake City, Twin Falls in Idaho, and Los Angeles where he went to high school. There, he worked a summer job at an ice cream shop near Disney Studios. It’s there that he probably met Walt, who complimented the young Clark on the lettering of the menus, which eventually led him to have the courage to ask Walt for a Job.
- The Monday after his High school graduation, Clark reported to Disney Studios for a temporary position in 1927.
- He started work as a camera operator and in the ink and paint department, before moving to work under the guidance Ub Iwerks. He was the only one of the Nine Old Men to work with Iwerks on the Origins of Mickey Mouse. And during the famous character’s development, Clark was promoted to the position of Inbetweener, where he worked on a scene in ‘Steamboat Willie’.
- When Iwerks left Disney, Clark was made Lead Animator on Mickey Mouse. He also helped to animate the classic scene where Snow White dances with the Seven Dwarfs.
- He’s also credited for characters like Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice, and Tinkerbell.
- Les Clark unfortunately died of cancer in Santa Barbara, on September 12th, 1979. He had a wife, Miriam, and their two children, Richard and Miriam.
- Brenda’s Next Selection: Ollie Johnston
- Born: October 31, 1912 Birthplace: Palo Alto, CA
- Died: April 14, 2008
- Ollie was the last surviving member of Walt’s Nine Old Men
- College: Majored in Art at Stanford University – worked on the campus humor magazine, Stanford Chaparral, with fellow future animator Frank Thomas.
- Transferred to Chouinard Art Institute in his senior year (he and Frank both went to Chouinard)
- After Chouinard, Frank went to work at the Walt Disney Company and a month later he called Ollie to tell him he had a job too.
- As the 7th hire of Walt’s Nine Old Men he worked for the Walt Disney Company from 1935 until his retirement on January 31, 1978 (the same day Frank retired).
- Animation Career
- He was known for combining artistry and acting
- He and Ollie Johnston were a great team – Frank and Ollie
- Ollie always wanted to know what his character was thinking and feeling
- Popular characters and scenes he animated:
- Mr. Smee (Peter Pan)
- The stepsisters from Cinderella, and sometimes the stepmother (Drizella, Anastasia and Tremaine)
- Prince John and Sir Hiss (Robinhood)
- The District Attorney and Ichabod Crane (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)
- Animation Supervisor for:
- The Pastoral Symphony in Fantasia
- Bambi (Bambi and Thumper)
- Other professional accomplishments:
- Co-authored with Frank Thomas the book “Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life” THE TEXTBOOK for Animation courses still today. The book is known as “the bible” among character animators.
- Last professional work before his death in 2004 was The Incredibles. He wasn’t an animator, though, he was a voice character. You may remember the scene with the 2 old men saying “That’s old school…” (Frank) and “Yeah, no school like the old school.” (Ollie)
- Hobbies:
- Ollie’s lifelong hobby was live steam trains. In 1949, he built a miniature backyard railroad, La Canada Valley Railroad. It had 3 1:12 scale locomotives. This railroad was one of the inspirations for Walt Disney to build his own backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which inspired he building of the railroad in Disneyland.
- Ollie was a founding Governor of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society along with his fellow Disney animator and railfan, Ward Kimball.
- The 1:4 scale Victorian depot from Ollie’s backyard was restored and moved to a location near Walt Disney’s Carolwood Barn within the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
- In the 1960s, Ollie acquired and restored a full-size, 3 ft narrow gauge Porter steam locomotive originally built in 1901, which he named after his wife, the Marie E. It was kept at his vacation estate.
- Around 2002, Ollie sold the vacation estate and the narrow gauge train to John Lasseter (of Pixar Studios fame). On May 10, 2005, it ran on the Disneyland Railroad during a private early morning event organized by Lasseter to honor Johnston, who was able to take the throttle of the Marie E. one last time. This was the first time that the Walt Disney Company permitted outside railroad equipment to run at any Disney Resort.
- In the 1980s and 90s, Ollie served on the Advisory Board of the National Student Film Institute and often was a presenter at the annual film festival’s award ceremonies.
- Recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005, presented to him by then President George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
- Family life:
- Ollie married Marie E. Johnston, a fellow Disney employee – an ink and paint artist
- Ollie and his family lived right next door to Frank Thomas and his family. They were like extended family. Their kids were even the same age:
- Ollie’s son Rick was the same age as Gregg Thomas and his son Ken was the same age as Ted Thomas (only 4 months apart)
- Ollie’s kids thought every family had a train. Their birthday parties consisted of train rides and Disney movies on Ollie’s projector.
- Ollie was very structured, according to his boys. He would go out and start the car 20 minutes before it was time to leave. The boys would trickle out 5-10 minutes later. Then Marie would come out right on time. He would give her “the look”. To Ollie leaving on time was late.
- He drove a big station wagon.
- Ollie was a very hands-on dad. Often his kids got illustrated bedtime stories. Ollie used his lunch hours doing all the watercolors and at night he had a story he had made up and a picture for each scene. WHO DOES THAT? REALLY!
- They also did Chalk Talks where 1 kid might be a rabbit and 1 a do and hey would be in character.
- He sometimes had lunch with his kids and then walk them around the studio.
- Personal:
- People described Ollie Johnston as a combination of outer gentleness and inner strength.
- About Walt:
- When hearing about the death of Walt Disney, Ollie said he cried in his wife’s lap.
- “People know his work. They know his characters. They’ve seen him act without realizing it. He was one of the pillars, one of the key contributors to the golden age of Disney animation.” – film historian Leonard Maltin of Ollie
- “When Frank and Ollie retired from production on the same Friday I was the next animator on Ollie’s desk the following Monday; the very desk he had used for decades to create so many indelible animated moments. I was properly awed as I sat down in Ollie’s chair, at his desk. As I was checking it out and getting the feel of it I noticed the pencil sharpener was full of shavings. Instead of throwing them out I poured them into a glass jar, labeled it and set it atop the desk. Good luck shavings … a simple reminder of the hard work required to create magic. My own jar of real Disney dust. The last jar.” -Brad Bird
- Mike’s Next Selection: Milt Kahl
- Born March 22, 1909. Originally from San Francisco.
- Was inspired to seek Disney employment after seeing The Three Little Pigs
- Hired by Disney and started work on June 25, 1934.
- Among his earliest work was Mickey’s Service Station and Mickey’s Fire Brigade.
- Like the others, he also worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (he was assigned to animate the forest animals.)
- He also worked on the Disney short film, Ferdinand the Bull (and he even lent his voice towards the project).
- Often considered to be the finest draftsman and the best at drawing human figures of all the animators, he was known as The Master Draftsman.
- Milt Kahl later became directing animator for Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty.
- Retired on April 30, 1976, his last work prior to retirement was as key animator for The Rescuers.
- Career Highlights:
- – Pinocchio
- – Bambi
- – Saludos Amigos
- – Pecos Bill
- – Song of the South
- – Cinderella
- – Peter Pan
- – Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
- “Milt Kahl’s contribution to the art of Disney animation is immeasurable, and his work will continue to delight millions for years to come. If indeed, animators could be considered royalty, there’s no doubt Milt Kahl would be king.” -animator Floyd Norman
- “He had really crisp timing. He did one of the most complicated scenes I have ever seen – Jiminy Cricket putting on his coat because he’s late and he’s running. It’s done like in a three-quarters perspective. He had a dancer’s feel for animation.” -director John Musker
- Sophie’s Next Selection: Les Clark
- Disney Who’s Who Character: Miss Bianca
- Walt Disney Quote
- From the section on Films and Animation, page 10
- Coming Next Week: We wrap up our discussion on the Nine Old Men with Brenda! She’ll be talking about John Lounsbery, Sophie will be talking about Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, and I’ll be talking about Eric Larson!
- Sponsorship
- On the Road with Mickey is sponsored by Pixie Vacations by Mike Ellis and Tech Solutions NC.
As always, thank you for listening. We are having a lot of fun talking Disney, and I’m glad you are enjoying it as well! Remember, you can reach us in many ways — by email to info@ontheroadwithmickey.com. You can also talk to us on our Facebook Page, On the Road with Mickey or in our On the Road with Mickey Group. Feel free to join us! Have a great week, and we’ll be back to talk with you again next week!
