Ollie Johnston: A Celebration of Life - 8/19/2008 at the El Capitan Theatre
Page 5 of 10

Promising a diversion of his own, Maltin turned to the subject to Ollie�s Christmas cards. Rick stated that the hand made cards became an anxiously awaited part of the holiday season. Some years the cards were drawn, sometimes photos, and sometimes major productions. One year the whole family was photographed in various poses, to form letters spelling out �Merry Christmas.� The tradition was continued for some 50 years, right through 2003 0r 2004.

Ollie and Marie Johnston�s 1998 Christmas card
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The crowd was then treated to a montage of several years of cards, accompanied by a song Ollie had written for a long ago college talent show. The cards included line drawings of trains, photos of the family, and, in later years, full color art markers of Ollie and Marie, dealing with the humorous trials of growing older. The audience roared at one that showed Marie wearing a familiar mouse-eared cap. Ollie is saying, �I�m not doing a card this year��and she is replying, �Then why am I wearing this *!#?*!- HAT?�

As the lights came back up, Maltin asked Ted Thomas about the genesis of his documentary film, Frank and Ollie. Ted laughed that it was made because he couldn�t put it off anymore. He explained that it couldn�t have been made right after their retirement, as they were still busy. �Their greatest achievement in their retirement,� he said, �was the speaking and the writing.� The chemistry between them was so great, Ted lamented that it wasn�t possible to bottle it.

As if the cards were not enough of a treat, the crowd was then given a showing of rarely seen outtakes from Frank and Ollie. In one clip, Frank related that Ollie once bumped into a bookcase, and then sharply told it to get out of the way. Frank, incredulous, asked him if he actually expected it to move. Ollie replied that that was the problem with inanimate objects�you have to keep telling them to move.

Ted related that putting the two of them together could set them off. In describing a scene from The Jungle Book, Frank sketched a vivid word picture of Balloo the Bear, and the little man cub, Moseley. Ollie snickered, �Moseley?� The scene was reset, and Frank bravely began again, slightly changing his wording, and again accidentally saying �Moseley,� rather than �Mowgli.� By now, both were on the edge of laughter, and did, indeed, simply begin giggling as the next take began. After several attempts, Frank triumphantly got through a clean take, introducing the scene as an exchange between �The Bear and The Boy.�

As the audience composed themselves, Maltin asked Ken about a childhood photo that had formed the basis for a memorable image from Robin Hood. On the screen, a black and white photo of young Ken was shown. In bed, he had his thumb in his mouth, and held his ear with the other hand. This was then shown with a similar pose of King John, thumb in mouth and hand holding his ear.

Ken Johnston�s childhood inspired this pose for King John in Robin Hood
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