A meeting with Walt Disney always guaranteed one thing. After it was over there would be little doubt if you had succeeded or failed. Lucky for me, my teammate was one of Disney’s best. Vance Gerry pitched the Kaa sequence in his own casual manner. There was none of the showmanship and pizzazz that some story guys exhibit. Vance simply walked us through the sequence letting the drawings speak for themselves. Vance knew that Walt hated being bamboozled. If the story wasn’t working, he would know it soon enough. Our office was pretty crowded that day. You’ll note I said, our office and not conference room. In those days, the meetings were held in the story man’s office. No need to drag storyboards down hallways to a meeting room. I still wonder why this sensible system was abandoned?
Mentor and friend, Vance Gerry. He was an awesome Disney storyman.
The Old Maestro was not known for handing out compliments. I remember songwriter, Richard M. Sherman speaking of an incident where he and his brother played a new song for Walt some years ago. Disney listened for a bit, and then said, “That’ll work.” The Shermans’ were delighted. That simple statement was a pretty good indication they had “hit one out of the park.”
At the conclusion of Vance’s pitch, Walt turned to our director, Woolie Reitherman and said, “We could use a song here. I’ll get the Sherman brothers to write something for you guys.” And with that, the boss excused himself, and moved on to other matters. Woolie, Larry Clemmons, Don Griffith, Frank Thomas and “the boys” shuffled out of the room delighted that the meeting had gone so well. Vance Gerry had a slight smile on his face. That was pretty much all the emotion my laid back partner was going to show.
Many years ago, my mom took me to see Walt Disney’s “Dumbo” at the Fox Theater in Santa Barbara. Sterling Holloway voiced the stork that delivered little Dumbo to his mom, and it’s a voice I’ll never forget. Over the years I would hear that same voice in numerous Disney features. Holloway, in his own way was a Disney legend. So, you can imagine how I felt that day in Recording Stage A as I watched and listened to Sterling Holloway record the song, “Trust in Me.” The quirky actor sat on a tall stool in a pool of light. There was a music stand in front, and a boom microphone looming above in the large recording stage.
The quirky Sterling Holloway.
Without a doubt my favorite Disney voice actor.
George Bruns scored the music for “The Jungle Book.” Disney, like most film studios of the day kept creative people on staff, and George had become part of the Disney family. He also played in Ward Kimball‘s jazz band, The Firehouse Five plus Two, and I was lucky enough to jam with these talented musicians one Saturday afternoon. I was playing a borrowed saxophone that had seen better days. Whenever the battered horn squawked, Kimball would yell at me. “Play whole notes, just play whole notes!” Today, it was back to business, and Bruns lifted his baton, and the music began. Holloway weaved on his stool as he sang. He was quite a sight with his red hair and wide eyes. Sterling Holloway suddenly became Kaa the Snake, and I watched him intently, eager to incorporate much of his mannerisms into my boards. Yet, time has a way of moving on, and I did not see the talented actor again until the early nineties when he returned to the Disney studio to be honored as a Disney legend. Sterling Holloway passed away in the early nineties. His distinctive voice replaced by Jim Cummings in “The Tigger Movie,” a Winnie the Pooh feature directed by Jun Falkenstein. I did story on that film as well, and I’ll always regret not getting to work with Sterling Holloway one last time.
While we’re on the subject of music, did you know we were going to do a Beatles number in “The Jungle Book?” That’s right, the song, “We’re Your Friends” initially had a rock beat not unlike a popular singing group recently imported from the U.K. As the popularity of this longhaired group continued to soar, we thought, why not incorporate this pop style into our film? However, Walt Disney was no fan of the fab four. He saw them as a flash in the pan, and said they would be forgotten in a few years. Walt suggested we stick with something that would never go out of style, such as a barbershop quartet. I confess I didn’t totally agree with Walt on this one, but I did get to take home a handful of Beatles albums that the studio had paid for. As for the singing group, I think Walt Disney might have been surprised. Rather than being forgotten, the Beatles went on to achieve some degree of popularity for a few more years.
Sure they look depressed.
They must have heard Walt say the Beatles had no future.
Finally, there remained the little matter of getting Mowgli back to the Man Village. That was the all-important scene that wraps up the film. And, here we have another instance where the answer is right in front of your face, but you fail to see it. We had gone around and around trying to find a reason that would motivate Mowgli to leave the jungle, but nothing seemed to resonate. “It’s simple,” said the Old Maestro. “He sees the little girl and follows her.” “But, Walt,” we sputtered. “He’s a little kid. He wouldn’t have any interest in girls at that age.” “Do it,” said Disney. “It’ll work!” If you’ve seen “The Jungle Book,” I think you’ll agree with Walt Disney, that it does work.
By the way, the cute little girl at the films’ end is the work of Directing Animator Ollie Johnston. It’s just plain adorable. Is there any doubt the man is a genius? My favorite line in the movie is when the trio sees the little girl. Baloo warns Mowgli to “Stay away from those things. They ain’t nothing but trouble.”
I guess I could go on and on with more stories. Frank Thomas animated most of that sequence that Vance and I boarded, and boy does he make us look good. On another note, one of the actors doing a vulture’s voice in the movie was Digby Wolfe, a producer I would later work for as a writer on television shows, “Laugh-In” and “Turn On.” Although we didn’t think that much of “The Jungle Book” at the time, Vance and I continue to be amazed at how much this film is loved by Disney fans. Many young artists tell me this movie inspired them to seek a career in animation.
Finally, there’s the little matter of screen credits. Did you notice that Disney story legend Bill Peet doesn’t have a credit on “The Jungle Book” even though he labored on the film for over a year? As a matter of fact, not one story artist (with the exception of Vance Gerry) has a credit on the film. Unlike today, screen credits were not automatic, and one often waited for years to finally see their name on the screen. Many artists never received a Disney screen credit. My first credit was garnered for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1996 even though I had started at Disney decades earlier. No matter. I was given the opportunity to work with Walt Disney on his final film. That alone is all the reward this animation old timer will ever need.
I’m often asked the question, what’s your favorite animated film? For a lot of reasons it always comes back to “The Jungle Book.” Back in the fifties and sixties, cartoon making was fun. Unlike today, where animated features represent an investment of millions of dollars, we were unimportant, and consequently we were left alone. And being left alone is what allows creators to do their best work. Even a hands-on boss like Walt Disney understood that. When something failed to work, he simply said, “fix it,” and left us alone to solve the problem. If only today’s producers had the wisdom of Walt Disney, and were smart enough to trust their talent.
Baloo’s “death” at the end of the movie.
You didn’t really believe he was dead, did you?
When I watch “The Jungle Book” today, it’s difficult to believe I was ever part of this animation classic. It was so long ago, yet somehow it still feels like yesterday. Most of the “Old Boys” have since passed on, and a new generation of animation artists is hard at work building their own legacy. As these new kids labor over their drawing boards and computer screens at such studios as Disney, DreamWorks, Blue Sky and Pixar, I can only hope they’re having lots of fun.
We sure the hell did.
Did you enjoy the final installment of Floyd’s four-part 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 cataroo.com) 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 Afrokids.com.