The transcript of this lecture is based on recordings made at CalArts by John Musker. The series of lectures were transcribed by Nancy Beiman, Darrell Van Citters, and John Musker.
Jack Hannah: After 47 years at Disney, our guest is leaving the Studio. I asked him why and he said he was afraid of the competition from the young people he had trained. His other reason was he was making too much money. Anyway, he and Frank Thomas are writing a book together which will take him another 40 years. [Laughter] Here he is, Ollie Johnston.
Ollie Johnston: I’m going to tell you a lot of different things today. They aren’t things that you’ll be able to just sit down and start using this afternoon. A lot of them are what I consider long-range things. In the last half of my talk, I want to get into more of the fundamental stuff: squash and stretch, and things like that. This first half I want to tell you something about the acting and how we build a character. Those are the things that really make the Disney pictures what they are. Incidentally, this program, I think, is doing very well. We have about four or five fellows from your last year’s class who are doing quite well. I brought along a film by one of them to show you later in the program. […]
