I just received an advance copy of the catalogue/book about the Jungle Book exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum. 192 pages. It couldn't have turned out better. I am very thrilled with the printing quality and page layouts.
What can I say...I highly recommend it!!
A while ago I posted about an Ollie Johnston scene featuring the snake Sir Hiss. I find the depiction of a snake acting like a human utterly hilarious. At least when it is done in such a clever way:
https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-snake-gag-ever.html
Frank Thomas did the same with Kaa from The Jungle Book. Mind you, the animator can't get all the credit for the comedy in scenes like these. A story artist will have given the scene some thought long before the animator gets his hands on it. The story sketches already provide the main idea for a personality gag. But the animator of course is responsible for the scene's final comedic acting, timing, staging and draughtsmanship.
At the Jungle Book exhibition we show a few key drawings of Kaa during a conversation with Shere Khan. Suddenly he realizes he said something he shouldn't have. In a case like this a human would raise the shoulders and cover the mouth with one hand. Well... a snake doesn't have any of those human extremities. But Frank turns this moment into a completely believable -and entertaining- piece of character animation.
A beautiful sketchbook page by German illustration genius Wilhelm M. Busch. I would date these drawings to the 1970s, early 1980s. There are a handful of artists whose work I admire to a point where I love everything, and I mean everything they ever created. Busch is one of them. Every new sketch or illustration I discover is a gift, and an adventure to study. Here's to artistic idols that continue to inspire way beyond their lifetime!
When The Jungle Book premiered in Germany in 1968 I had to have the merchandise that came along with the new Disney release.. One of my favorite items was the Jungle Book View Master. I thought those 3-D scenes were produced beautifully. Did you know that the View Master sculptors actually checked their maquettes with director Woolie Reitherman and the animators for approval? A photo of such a meeting is included in the exhibition catalogue/book.
We had originally planed to give the View Master (enlarged) images some space in the exhibit, but we ran out of room.
The Walt Disney Family Museum opened on October 1, 2009. Here is a pic from one of the opening ceremonies. Museum founder Diane Disney Miller greeted every single guest. It was at this event when Diane told me:"We should talk Mickey sometime." A few years later I ended up curating the exhibition: Mickey Mouse, from Walt to the World.
That's Roger Viloria on the left, and photobombing in the back is friend and author Mindy Johnson.
How about this great idea for entering The Jungle Book exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum? I knew we were somehow going to use the image of the book from the film. Then Marina, the exhibit's designer, suggested that we cover one of the front doors. It adds a nice, whimsical touch.
This scene in which King Louie is offering Mowgli "two bananas" was animated vertically on 16 field paper. It makes sense, because the camera moves from a medium close up down to the feet, as they shoot off one and then another banana toward Mowgli.
I love King Louie's facial expressions, You can see on some of the in-between drawings that his eyes used to be a lot smaller, and he was almost bald. As I mentioned before, Walt asked for those changes. According to Dave Michener, who assisted Milt Kahl on Jungle Book, Milt was not in the mood to take care of these alterations. He told Dave:"You do it!"
I also really like the way King Louie's feet squeeze the bananas and turn them into fruity projectiles. The Jungle Book is full of these kinds of personality gags.
Within the exhibition we have a unique series of sheets with animal drawings by Frank Thomas. Frank drew these at the San Diego Zoo before production began on The Jungle Book. He is exploring anatomy and characteristics of bears, vultures and orangutans. These drawings have never been seen by the public before. They give you a rare insight into Frank's observation and how he searches for motion ranges that would benefit his animation. One of many treasures you'll find in Walt Disney's The Jungle Book, Making a Masterpiece.
Tickets are available now! bit.ly/3tXeIwG
We had an amazing panel last Wednesday as part of The Jungle Book exhibition opening at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Lovely Darleen Carr talked about her contract with Disney during the time of The Jungle Book. Walt was looking for a young lady who might walk in the footsteps of Hailey Mills, who had begun filming non Disney projects in the UK.
Floyd Norman talked about his luck being pulled into the story department, after the departure of Bill Peet, who created the original, somewhat dark version of the film. Floyd helped storyboard the sequence where Kaa hypnotizes Mowgli during the song "Trust in Me".
Bruce Reitherman comes from a unique perspective because his father directed The Jungle Book. He talked about working with his dad, but Bruce also put the film into an American historical context. The Vietnam war was still raging, and yet people seemed to be ready for some kind of temporary relief, like The Jungle Book.
Europe, Asia, who is ready to take on this extraordinary exhibition after its San Francisco run?
The last few days have been enchanting, breathtaking and historical. The Walt Disney Family Museum opened Walt Disney's The Jungle Book, Making a Masterpiece to the public. I had the honor of guest curating this extraordinary exhibition.
It is difficult to describe how I felt as I walked through the Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall. You really walk into the movie, you are in the jungle and you spend time with those characters. And their film makers.
In planing this exhibit it was very important to me that we get far away from the idea that here is a wall with art on it...and over there is another one. From the beginning we wanted to create immersive spaces that transport the visitors into the drawn and painted world of the film. There is such a variety in the art and artifacts on display. We have early concept art by Walt Peregoy, rough animation drawings and cel set ups. There is plenty to read as well: Walt's sweatbox notes on the overall story development as well as individual sequences. (Yes, he made Milt Kahl change the size of King Louie's eyes and the amount of hair on top of his head.) We show early drafts of the Sherman songs, handwritten. There is a sheet with "spicy" notes from director Woolie Reitherman to Bill Peet, and much more. Monitors feature vintage interview clips, production photos and pencil tests. You'll find a few interactive stations that are a lot of fun.
A once in a lifetime opportunity to study the art and craftsmanship of The Jungle Book up close. Treat yourself to a trip to the Presidio in San Francisco. You'll have a great time!
Tickets are available now! bit.ly/3tXeIwG
I'm with my dad, Wolfgang Reitherman, who directed the film. Working with my dad wasn't a big deal for me and recording Mowgli was fun, although you had to take it very seriously and come prepared to give it your best shot.
The voice of Mowgli required something special, in the sense that he had to be absolutely ordinary. It had to feel like a really average kid.
You had all these big personalities - people like George Sanders as Shere Khan, Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera and Louis Prima as King Louie - but Mowgli needed to have a sympathetic quality to make him someone you cared about.
The film took four years to make, and when I was recording I used to get out of school do to it, which was a real treat. I didn't have many friends at that age, but some kids knew what I was up to.
It's only since I've grown up and my generation have had children that I've really appreciated what a great thing I was involved in. that film is going to live on for ever - there's a copy of it at major film museums all over the world.
It's a piece of 20th-century art, and having been a part of it, you can't help but feel proud.
I have a daughter now, Camilla, who's 10 years old. She loves to sing and dance - she's quite the performer, which I think she inherited from me. She's seen The Jungle Book many times and it's one of her favourites.
When we watch it together, there are moments when I might have a little flash of memory from those days, and there are times when my daughter will look at me and say, 'that was you!' But in general we just enjoy it as a piece of entertainment.
Much of the original cast have passed away now but Richard Sherman, who composed most of the songs, is a friend of the family and I still see him frequently. My father was one of Walt Disney's original "nine old men", the animators who worked with him in the early days, and they're all gone too.
But I'm a cinematographer now, and I still connect with members of the animation team who were just starting out at the time of The Jungle Book.
Disney is like a family. that doesn't mean there aren't difficulties, trials and tribulations, but it's a family that sticks together to look after the bare necessities."
