Saturday, October 8, 2016

Lady Kluck



One of my favorite Milt Kahl characters, and I am not alone in this regard. Eric Larson kept a framed montage of Lady Kluck rough drawings on one of his office walls.
The 1970s at Disney might not go down in history as great storytelling years, but the level of character design as well as acting remained very, very high. Lady Kluck's main shape is basically a triangle. Narrow at the head and wide at her feet. Milt animated her as your fun loving aunt. She speaks her mind, while maintaining a cheerful attitude toward life.
The badminton sequence with Maid Marion is priceless. There is some fun dialogue as Lady Kluck is anticipating Maid Marion's next move: "As your Lady in Waiting....I'm waiting!"
I think I mentioned before how much I admire the way Milt articulates her wings as hands. The fingers remain feather thin as she is holding her badminton racket or her dress. And she moves with utterly believable weight. Another Kahl masterpiece!