2004 Disney Legends Ceremony
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Dodie Roberts, Richard Sherman, Ruthie Tompson, Tyrus Wong, and Ollie Johnston. The crowd rose to their feet in a standing ovation for the Legends. He also recognized Frank Thomas, who had died last week. He commented that Frank was one of Walt’s Nine Old Men and had written the book on animation with his long time friend and collaborator, Ollie Johnson. Frank and Ollie wrote the bible of animation, “Disney Animation, the Illusion of Life�? so that their skills and knowledge could be passed on to future generations. Frank’s widow, Jeanette was present at the ceremony.
Marty reminisced that this year they are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the New York Worlds Fair where Walt and Disney teams created four of the most popular shows: The Carousel of Progress for GE, the Magic Skyways for Ford, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the State of Illinois, and the attraction for which Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the song “It’s A Small World.�? He said that all four of the Disney Parks and Resorts honorees played important roles in Disney’s success at the World’s Fair.
Alice Davis
He then introduced Alice Davis (Imagineering), who represents a Disney Legends first, since she is the first Disney Legend to be married to another Disney Legend, Marc Davis, who was another of Walt’s Nine Old Men. Marty added that Alice wished that her husband, Marc could have been there today “but she enjoyed a vitally important Disney career of her own as the designer of clothes for the audio animatronics figures that starred in such deluxe Disneyland attractions as It’s A Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean.�? When she first started her career, Alice was head designer of women’s fashion lingerie. One day she received a call from Marc, her future husband, asking for her assistance in designing and creating a costume for some live active footage being filmed to inspire his animation of Briar Rose in “Sleeping Beauty.�? Later Walt Disney recruited Alice to collaborate with Mary Blair to create more than 150 highly detailed costumes for It’s A Small World attraction for the World’s Fair. Next she contributed to Pirates of the Caribbean, Carousel of Progress, and Flight to the Moon. Today she continues consulting for the Company and making special guest appearances at Disney events.
Rolly Crump
The next honoree introduced was Rolly Crump (Imagineering), who worked “ in animation first as an inbetween artist and later as an assistant animator contributing to Peter Pan, to Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and other classic films. After Walt remembered an exhibit of creative mobiles that Rolly had created and showed in the Studio library, Rolly joined WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. He became a key designer on Disney attractions featured at the World’s Fair including It’s A Small World.�? When the attraction was moved to Disneyland, Rolly designed the giant clock at the entrance and went on to work on the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, Adventureland Bazaar, as well as the initial design of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. He served as project designer for the Land and Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot as well as master plan of the expansion of Disneyland. He became executive designer. working on Innovations and the Land Pavilion at Epcot. Rolly is now retired but was welcomed to return anytime by Mr. Sklar, who also introduced Rolly’s son, Chris, who also works in Imagineering.