I just posted my interview with Sonny Anderson on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation Sonny discusses his Disney career starting as a drummer in the Disneyland Band in 1956 and becoming a legendary talent booker for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disneyland’s director of talent booking Stan Freese joins me for additional insight. CLICK HERE for the interview and more photos
I just posted my interview with Peter Marshall on my Mouse Clubhouse website. Peter Marshall reminisces about his career as a big band singer, actor, and television and radio host including “Hollywood Squares” and “Big Bands at Disneyland. CLICK HERE for the interview and more photos
I just posted my interview with Barry Lane on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Barry discusses his time as a tour guide at Disneyland in the 1960s, and as a skipper on the Jungle Cruise. CLICK HERE for the interview
Blaine Gibson began his Disney career in animation in 1939, and worked on some of Disney’s early classic features, animated shorts and even military films during World War II. Eventually Blaine began sculpting for Disney, creating the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean, ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, Abraham Lincoln for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, all the president before Barrack Obama for Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom, Mark Twain and others for the American Adventure in Epcot, and much more. Blaine also sculpted the Partners statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.
AUDIO INDEX
1:11 Blaine Gibson’s start in Disney animation; His first drawing
5:26 Learning that he got a job for Disney while chopping wood in 1939
9:44 At the Disney studio on Hyperion Avenue; Beginning in “traffic”; Listening to the Philadelphia Symphony recording for “Fantasia”; Exploring the Disney Studios
12:35 Getting into production as an in-betweener; Working on his first scene in the Pluto short “Bone Trouble”; Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi
14:26 In-betweeners/assistant animators/breakdown men and about the animation process; working for Ken Hultgren on Bambi; Art classes at the Disney Studios, and instructor Rico Lebrun
17:57 Walt’s goals in animation; Believability – not real, but believable
26:56 Sculpting, starting at five years old; The thrill of drawing; Effects animation; World War II films; Becoming assistant to great animator Frank Thomas
I just posted my interview with Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In two conversations tangled into one as Zach and Mandy discuss their roles as the voices of the animated stars in Disney’s “Tangled.” CLICK HERE for the interview and more photos
I just posted my interview with Connie Swanson Lane on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Connie discusses Walt Disney, and her time as the 1966 Disneyland Ambassador to the World, including the grand opening of it’s a small world. CLICK HERE for the interview
I just posted my interview with Don Dorsey on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Don, who is a discusses a musician, director, producer, and audio engineer for Disney, discusses secrets of the classic Epcot show IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, for which he was creative director. CLICK HERE for the interview and more photos
I just posted my interview with Scott Weinger on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Scott, who is probably best known for his role as Steve Hale on the TV series “Full House,” discusses another of his most famous roles, providing the voice of the title character in Disney’s animated feature, “Aladdin.” CLICK HERE for the interview
I just posted my interview with Academy Award winning composer Alan Menken on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Alan discusses his work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Tangled, amongst others. CLICK HERE for the interview
I just posted my interview with Blaine Gibson on my Mouse Clubhouse website. In this conversation, Blaine, Disney animator-turned-sculptor, discusses some of his work including the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and If You Had Wings. CLICK HERE for the interview