Wolfgang Reitherman and I were alone in the room. Our director had stopped in to look at a sequence being developed for “The Jungle Book.” After the devastating collapse of “Chanticleer,” months earlier, the Old Maestro, Walt Disney had finally given the go ahead for boarding on a new film. However, this storyboard was not by one of the Disney masters — it was mine.
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As Woolie stared at my storyboard for what seemed an eternity, I stood with pad and pencil in hand, ready to take the volume of notes soon to come my way. The tall, imposing director suddenly turned and said, “Let’s show the board to Walt.” And with that, he turned and walked out of the office. The fact that my storyboard was going to be shown to Walt Disney sent a chill down my spine. What if Walt hated the sequence?
I honestly don’t know how I made it into Disney’s story department. I did know that story was a coveted position at the Disney studio. Many friends and colleagues had attempted making the move upstairs, but all were eventually disappointed. So, it was ironic that this plum job should suddenly and unexpectedly be dropped in my lap. I did know that story artist; Al Wilson was leaving the studio. Al was living in nearby Santa Barbara, and being a golf buff, wanted to spend more time on the links. So the rather small story crew on Disney’s “The Jungle Book” had an opening.
Of course, I was well aware of the film being in production. My office in 1D-1 was right down the hall from Milt Kahl, and I could hear the soundtrack as Milt ran his animation tests on the Moviola over and over again. I was enjoying a break from feature films, and was content working on short projects where I had the opportunity to assist guys like Ward Kimball. But, then one Monday morning my boss, Andy Engman called me into his office with some rather startling news. I was being moved upstairs to the story department to work on “The Jungle Book.” News like this would have delighted most artists, but it left me puzzled. Why would they want me in story, I wondered?
So, less than elated, I moved my stuff upstairs to C-Wing on the second floor of the Animation Building. I was well aware of the location. This was Woolie’s unit, and the headquarters of Disney’s newest feature film. My roommate was story veteran Vance Gerry, a talented soft-spoken gentleman who had to be the mellowest man in the universe. In those days, the story artists often worked two to a room with their desks facing each other. This gave the story artists opportunity for a continual give and take as they went about their task crafting a story sequence.
Young Floyd at Disney in the sixties
Still concerned that Disney management had made a blunder, I went about my duties hoping I wouldn’t prove too much of a disappointment. Vance told me I would start boarding from an outline by writer Larry Clemmons. Larry was an old guy who had worked in radio in the forties on the Bing Crosby show. In time, Larry found a home at Disney animation where he became the official writer for many years. Larry would provide the story artists with an outline of each sequence. This was not a script in the conventional sense, rather a rough outline describing the basic theme of the sequence. Working from this bare bones outline, the story artist would flesh out the sequence. He would develop the ideas and add entertaining bits of business. Once completed, the sequence would be shown to Woolie, and if he approved, your next meeting would be with Walt Disney.
Writer, Larry Clemmons by Ward Kimball
Vance Gerry handed me a handful of grease pencils or China markers. “Draw with these,” he said. “Walt likes drawings that are bold and direct. Don’t try and dazzle him with draftsmanship, that’ll be provided later. For now, it’s the ideas that are important.” I think this was my first real story lesson. Vance taught me that the job of the story artist is to develop the story — not design the movie or direct the movie — but to tell the story. Vance liked to come up with a drawing that embodied the themed of the sequence and then “dream into it.” Allowing the art to inspire the scene is what made Disney films so unique. With all due respect to my screenwriter colleagues, I think this is why the early Disney films were so brilliantly –“written.”
A Floyd sketch of Baloo the Bear
I confess it took me awhile to adjust to the pace of working in story. Up to that time I had spent my career in the animation department where working fast was never fast enough. No matter how much footage you could plow through in a week, it seemed you always came up short. Animation artists were always under the gun. There was always a production manager brandishing a clipboard reminding you that you missed your quota yet again. However, life on the second floor of Disney Animation was blissful. We were all off the clock, and could stroll into work when we felt like it. There was little pressure, and all of us had ample time to complete our work. We met with Walt when he had the time, so that meant waiting for his availability — and that could take weeks. Should we want to view a movie, an assistant would call Warner Bros. or MGM and a print would be messengered to us. We would often sit and chat with guys like Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas and other Disney heavyweights. Life was sweet, and this kid was finally playing with the big boys.
I remember sneaking upstairs to the third floor to take a look at Bill Peet‘s boards. Bill had been working away on the story for at least a year before I joined the film. He worked alone in a large office in B-Wing on the third floor of the Animation Building.As always, Bill’s sketches were inspiring. Meanwhile, song writer Terry Gilkynson had penned several songs for the movie, and color stylist Walt Peregoy had come up with some bold new ideas for the film’s background styling. Downstairs in animation, Milt, Frank and Ollie were already animating on some of the earlier sequences. Things on “The Jungle Book” appeared to be going well.
Yet, in the midst of all this sunshine, storm clouds began to gather. The Old Maestro had returned from Europe for another look at his new animated film, and he wouldn’t be happy. In the second installment of this series I’ll tell you why.
Next Time: The sad departure of story legend Bill Peet, Louie Prima’s band goes crazy, and Rocky the Rhino is declared dead.
Did you enjoy the first installment of Floyd’s new series about the production of “The Jungle Book”? … Speaking of multi-part stories, Mr. Norman has three (count ’em — three!) great collections of his cartoons currently on the market. All of which take an affectionate look at his career in animation.
These include Floyd’s original collection of cartoons and stories — “Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation” (which is available for sale over at John Cawley’s excellent www.cataroo.com web site) as well as two follow-ups to that book, “Son of Faster, Cheaper” & “How the Grinch Stole Disney.” Which you can purchase by heading over to the Afrokids.com website.