Animation &Animation Artifacts &Hubley 06 Apr 2009 07:31 am
Phil Duncan’s Carousel
- There’s an odd conversation going on at the Animation Guild Blog. It started out with the traditional CG vs hand drawn argument, then it morphed into who get the better salaries and the greater recognition.
Quite a few brilliant animators passed under the limelight and never got quite the credit they deserved for their long and dedicated work in the medium.
Phil Duncan certainly belongs in this
category. I never got to meet him while working at the Hubley studio, but I assisted many of his scenes, spoke with him and came to know his style well.
He worked for many years animating at the Disney studio, starting on Pinocchio and working his way up into the early 60s. He animated on Magoo’s 1001 Arabian Nights and Gay Purr-ee for UPA.
His work for Hubley began with The Cruise in
1966 and continued through many of the important films right up to John’s death in 1977. Phil’s work on Watership Down began with John Hubley and continued with Martin Rosen.
I got to assist many a scene Phil animated for shorts, commercials, Electric Company spots etc. I also followed him through many scenes on the feature, Everybody Rides The Carousel.
His style was so different from all the other animators I mentioned that it was a delight for me to work behind him. His line was always this great feminine stroke that featured plenty of arcs and curves. He usually left only one inbetween between drawings, and he knew that often enough John Hubley would say to put the scene on fours and not inbetween it. I remember breaking the news to Phil the first time I saw this happen. There was an ever-so-slight downturn in his voice, but it was obvious that he expected this to happen.
Believe me, he wasn’t the only animator who heard me break this news. The films were done on such a tight budget that every penny counted. It did give me some power, because I would judge the scenes to see if I felt there was any point that we couldn’t get away with it, and if that were the case I would inbetween it while inking the drawings. John didn’t need to know, and I worked quickly enough so that it didn’t cost him much more of my salary.
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Here are some drawings Phil did for the Toddler sequence from Everybody Rides the Carousel. Horse #2. The toddler can turn into a rabbit (meek) or a lion (daring.) Here she turns into a lion as she tries to dress herself with some help from her mother.
These are a couple of layouts by John Hubley.
Below, is a clean up that he sent to Phil Duncan of the mother’s head.
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5 
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13
Here’s the next scene’s animation before it underwent some changes.
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As you’ll notice from the frame grabs above, this sequence changed.
John wanted to go with the girl whose head, for a brief moment,
turns into the lion’s head. (Doubt) I did the change using most of
what Phil had on his original drawings.
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35
37
Note that on her hit down onto the floor #35, she turns back
into the toddler child before going back to the aggressive lion.
on 06 Apr 2009 at 8:05 am 1.Rudy Agresta said …
Beautiful, simply beautiful.
on 06 Apr 2009 at 9:41 am 2.Mark Mayerson said …
Those are great drawings.
on 06 Apr 2009 at 12:14 pm 3.Mike Kazaleh said …
I’m a big big fan of Phil Duncan’s work. He started experimenting with stylized movement as far back as his stint at Screen Gems in the 1940s. He ended up taking those ideas further at Playhouse Pictures, UPA (especially on the Boing Boing show) and his excellent work for the Hubley studio. He also did lots of hilarious animation for Jay Ward. Phil also did work for Hanna-Barbera in their early days, mostly on the bumpers and commercials (Phil’s best known H&B animation may have been the commercial with Fred and Barney smoking Winston Cigarettes behind the garage.) At the time, H&B was located in the old Charlie Chaplin building at DeLongpre and LaBrea. Playhouse Pictures was directly across the street. I think Bill Hanna may gone over to Playhouse to find animators, and that might explain why so many friends of Ade Woolery worked for H&B.
on 06 Apr 2009 at 12:50 pm 4.Michael said …
Thanks, Mike, for the info on Phil Duncan. I have a bunch of his drawings for some of the Hubley shorts.
Tomorrow, I’ll post a walk cycle he did for OF MEN AND DEMONS.
on 06 Apr 2009 at 7:19 pm 5.Thad said …
I absolutely love appealing original drawings like these. So full of vigor. Thanks for sharing.
on 09 Apr 2009 at 11:23 pm 6.Jenny said …
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing the memories and this work.
on 11 May 2009 at 10:33 am 7.steve woods said …
I was lucky enough to be assistant to phil on watership down for the duration of the film, It was my first post after graduation. he and john were the best. He had time for everyone And all of the UK animatiors inclding George Jackson, Arthur Humberstone from the Animal farm days of English animation enjoyed his generous companionship.
To the assistants
every word he spoke was of interest to us all in the studio and he was the master of the school of get it right,get it right,get it right.
the 3 rules of animation.
it was a privilage to know him.
on 14 Jan 2011 at 9:57 am 8.Steven Hartley said …
Is Phil Duncan still with us or is he not with us anymore – because I don’t think he’s done anything else after “Watership Down” – did he retire afterwards?