Lightning Strikes Twice. Meeting a former Disney Animator
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 3:15 pm
Hello everyone,
Many of you know of my make a wish trip, where I met Roy E. Disney and had a 3 hour tour of the Disney Studio lot, and saw the Disney Vault. My meeting with Roy was amazing, like I was seeing a Whole New World to the way I saw and came to love about Disney. I was getting behind the scenes info from Roy, personal stories about his Uncle Walt and his father.
Well, today at my local mall at Cil-Con, which is a horror type comic con. Let me stress this is an incredibly small mall with 18,00 people living in my town.
I learned a few months ago that a former Disney animator Philo Barnhart would be doing a panel at this Cil-Con. I was shock in shock and was so exited. Philo also worked on other animated stuff, such as The Secret of Nihm, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Rescuers Down Under, Pinocchio and The Emperor of the Night, Smurfs (tv not that live action movie) Happily Ever After. It turned out, only my dad and I were the only ones that showed up, so we talked for an hour and a half. One of the first conversations we had was I shared with him how much I loved Pinocchio and the Emperor's as a kid and he laughed and said, ooh so you're THE ONE. It was awesome. He specifically drew Ursula, but worked on other scenes. He told me about the big backstory of Triton being Ursula's sister and the reason it was cut out was because they felt Ursula would be so bitter when she lured Ariel in to first meeting her in her spooky lair. Of course I did ask him about that infamous banned VHS cover and he told me what had happened. The company was very frustrated that someone with no life spotted this, and there were four animators who worked on the cover. The company asked one of the four to step forward, but when no one did, they all got fired.
He shared with me other stories as well, for instance that Pat Carrol was not the first choice for Ursula, but Ellen Stritch was. The reason she left was because half the time she showed up drunk while trying to record Poor Unfortunate Souls. By the way, Philo was the artist who drew Ursula for the film, and he met Pat Carrol by chance before she began recording her lines. Thanks to this, he was able to draw the Ursula we all know and love to hate in the film we see today. He emulated the conversation he had between and Pat Carrol. That day was just so amazing. I also learned he was the one in charge of animating Gaston. It was just a surreal day, that once again in my life, I was able to have met and talked yet another person from inside the magic castle, only this time it was in my own back yard. He's gonna be back at the mall next year and can't wait to see him again. I consider myself one lucky Disney fan, and for the first time in forever, I feel blessed.
Many of you know of my make a wish trip, where I met Roy E. Disney and had a 3 hour tour of the Disney Studio lot, and saw the Disney Vault. My meeting with Roy was amazing, like I was seeing a Whole New World to the way I saw and came to love about Disney. I was getting behind the scenes info from Roy, personal stories about his Uncle Walt and his father.
Well, today at my local mall at Cil-Con, which is a horror type comic con. Let me stress this is an incredibly small mall with 18,00 people living in my town.
I learned a few months ago that a former Disney animator Philo Barnhart would be doing a panel at this Cil-Con. I was shock in shock and was so exited. Philo also worked on other animated stuff, such as The Secret of Nihm, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Rescuers Down Under, Pinocchio and The Emperor of the Night, Smurfs (tv not that live action movie) Happily Ever After. It turned out, only my dad and I were the only ones that showed up, so we talked for an hour and a half. One of the first conversations we had was I shared with him how much I loved Pinocchio and the Emperor's as a kid and he laughed and said, ooh so you're THE ONE. It was awesome. He specifically drew Ursula, but worked on other scenes. He told me about the big backstory of Triton being Ursula's sister and the reason it was cut out was because they felt Ursula would be so bitter when she lured Ariel in to first meeting her in her spooky lair. Of course I did ask him about that infamous banned VHS cover and he told me what had happened. The company was very frustrated that someone with no life spotted this, and there were four animators who worked on the cover. The company asked one of the four to step forward, but when no one did, they all got fired.
He shared with me other stories as well, for instance that Pat Carrol was not the first choice for Ursula, but Ellen Stritch was. The reason she left was because half the time she showed up drunk while trying to record Poor Unfortunate Souls. By the way, Philo was the artist who drew Ursula for the film, and he met Pat Carrol by chance before she began recording her lines. Thanks to this, he was able to draw the Ursula we all know and love to hate in the film we see today. He emulated the conversation he had between and Pat Carrol. That day was just so amazing. I also learned he was the one in charge of animating Gaston. It was just a surreal day, that once again in my life, I was able to have met and talked yet another person from inside the magic castle, only this time it was in my own back yard. He's gonna be back at the mall next year and can't wait to see him again. I consider myself one lucky Disney fan, and for the first time in forever, I feel blessed.