Articles on Animation &Disney 28 Jul 2009 07:42 am
Old Black Magic
- Back in 1979, an eruption took place at the Disney studio. A group of the younger, talented artists at the studio – 20 of them – decided they couldn’t put up with it anymore and they walked out of the studio. Led by Don Bluth, they moved into his garage and a new studio came into being with competition for Disney’s troubled animation department.
The rebellion didn’t just happen. Foment had started years earlier as Disney produced films such as The Black Cauldron, Pete’s Dragon and The Small One. Together with John Pomeroy and Gary Goldman, Bluth had put together an idea for a trial film, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, in 1975. The three got together after-hours and worked on their pilot film.
The article by John Culhane that appeared in the 1976 NYTimes really got this small group going. Disney was trying to put a little kick in their animation studio, and the kick ultimately resulted in a new animation studio – which, ironically, helped to get Disney back on track. It also got a couple of other studios going – Amblin and Ted Turner. They proved that there was money to be made in animation and slowly studios grew.
Here’s that NYTimes Magazine article:
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In April, I wrote about Bluth and Banjo in two parts:
Part 1
Part 2
on 28 Jul 2009 at 11:55 pm 1.JaneD said …
I’d love to hear more about Dick Sebast and Allan Huck.
on 28 Jul 2009 at 11:58 pm 2.JaneD said …
Oh, and I’m looking forward to an upcoming book on the history of Disney Animation Studios from 12/15/66 to 9/22/84. Should be an interesting read.
on 30 Jul 2009 at 8:48 pm 3.Tom Minton said …
After Disney’s, Dick Sebast moved into television animation, where he was an excellent action/adventure storyboard artist and later a producer. The legend is that he left Disney after suggesting to Ron Miller that “The Small One” was perhaps shaping up as a film with too much religious content. Alan Huck also left Disney and later worked at Ruby-Spears Enterprises, during much of the 1980′s. I saw and briefly spoke to Dick at the Local 839 Christmas party either last year or the year before. Haven’t seen Alan since about 1990. He may be retired by now.
on 16 Oct 2009 at 6:17 pm 4.Chamber Magic said …
this article really rocks!!!