The 13th Marc Davis Animation Celebration - Milt Kahl
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Monday evening, April 27, 2009 at The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California was held the 13th Marc Davis Animation Celebration of Milt Kahl (The Animation Michaelangelo.) The event was in honor of the centenary of Kahl�s birth and was a multi-layered animation treat in more ways than one with two panels, film clips and drawings.
Beginning the evening was a reception in the lobby of the famous Motion Picture Academy for invited guests of the sponsor of the Marc Davis Animation Celebration, popular Alice Davis, widow of famed animator Marc Davis. Alice is a Disney Legend for being the designer of the costumes in Small World as well as Pirates of the Caribbean and other attractions. The lobby was filled with the cream of the animation world. To name just a few of the luminaries there were: June Foray- considered to be the first lady of animation voices with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and best known as Rocky of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Antran Manoogian- President of ASIFA Hollywood, Kathryn Beaumont Levine-Voice and model for Alice of Alice in Wonderland as well as Wendy in Peter Pan, Lisa Davis- Voice for Anita in 101 Dalmatians, Howard Green, Historian and VP at thef Walt Disney Studios, Andreas Deja- famed Disney animator and host of the evening, Tony Baxter-VP at Disney Imagineering, Floyd Norman- Disney Legend, Eric Goldberg- well known Disney animator, Brad Bird- Academy Award winning animator from Pixar, Richard Sherman- Academy Award winning composer, Pete Doctor- famous Pixar director and Leonard Maltin- well known film critic and historian. There was an open bar and buffet tables laden with chicken, beef, shrimp pastries and other delicacies accompanied by stimulating and interesting conversation.
After the reception the guests had special seating in the auditorium before the event was opened to the public who had been able to purchase tickets to the lecture. Though this was a sold out event, a crowd waited outside the building hoping that there might be some openings so they could attend.
Kathy Beaumont (Voice of Alice and Wendy), Alice Davis (Disney Legend), Sybil Byrnes (Milt's daughter), Andreas Deja (famed animator)
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Andreas Deja was the host, while Charles Solomon, animation critic, was the moderator. Andreas began by talking about Milt �Actually I would say it right out front that I would put Milt Kahl right up there with the greatest artists in history that transcended a medium �.in my book he�s right up there with Mozart, Michaelangelo and all the others�. I�m going to give you just a really quick run down on how I met Milt and what he meant to me. I came in kind of late. I was not in the original training program, as some of our panelists were part of. I wrote him a fan letter when I was still an art student in Germany. He wrote back and we had an exchange of letters. One was particularly funny. I thought I would send Milt some drawings and if I ever got a job at Disney, I would have to work like an animator and my drawings would have to look like the animator�s drawing so I sent him drawings of Shere Khan�.And then came the answer and he basically said judging by the drawings you sent, I have no idea if you have any future in this medium. I sent the wrong drawings. He had to see my life drawings, the animal drawings, which I did later on. But at that time it didn�t shock me or upset me. I had a letter from Milt Kahl and that�s all that mattered. And then I had a chance to meet Milt once a year. Once I started at Disney in 1980, I would fly up to northern California and hang out with him for half a day�It was great seeing a happy Milt Kahl, really enjoying life.�