Welcoming Russi to the stage, he noted �Russi Taylor has a light, bubbly, energetic quality with an incredible range that includes the voices of infants, children, young women, old women and various fantasy characters.� He also noted her most famous character voice credits, from Minnie Mouse to the Fairy Godmother for Disney and from Baby Gonzo to four voices on The Simpson�s for those who indulge in non-Disney animated entertainment. He also noted her Academy Award nomination for Runaway Brain. Russi is a rare and gifted multi-voiced actress who brings her own optimism to Minnie, and to us.

In inviting Wayne to join them, Jay noted that Wayne�s 37-year Disney career began in the Studio�s mail room in the summer of 1966, saying, �Yes, he did meet Walt Disney� he eventually found himself working alongside Disney sound effects wizard Jimmy MacDonald.� Wayne was Jimmy�s apprentice for 8 years and the rest is Disney Company and entertainment history.� Wayne has an incredible range of experience in the art of sound effects to draw upon as he brings Mickey to all of us.

Wayne was hired, left the studio and came back again, left to sell shoes and after a last-ditch stint at Western Costume in Hollywood, came back to the Studio for good. �I went back again to traffic, and I was all set to pull out again when Bob Jackman asked me if I would like to learn Jimmy MacDonald�s job. Now I knew Jimmy as being a little guy who walked around with pencils in his pocket and a real great handle-bar mustache, but beyond that I didn�t know what he did. At the time, I thought, �Why not?� It sounded interesting.�

Wayne was asked about his first days working at the Studio with Jimmy and how he came to do Mickey�s voice, smiling, he recalled, �Well, actually, the first thing Jim did was sit me down and give me a speech about pirating someone else�s voice.�, he laughed. �I didn�t really take the job to assume Jimmy�s voice work. I just took it to learn sound effects, and the Mickey thing happened during the auditions for the New Mickey Mouse Club lead-ins. It was an open audition and the fellow who was recording called Bob Jackman (manager of Disney�s music department)��

Wayne continued, �Interesting story there, Bob had done Goofy�s voice at one time after Pinto Colvig left. So, Goofy was, sort of, in a way, responsible for hiring Mickey. Uh-Oh! (in Mickey�s voice)� they called from the stage and asked if I would come down and fill a hole basically. I was a name on a piece of paper� The first thing I told Bob Jackman was that I couldn�t do it because I�d told Jimmy I would never. And he said, �Awww, Jim won�t mind. Go ahead.�. So, I went down and I auditioned, but I didn�t take it seriously. I thought that it was really nice that they thought of me� A few months later, Lou Debney (producer) stopped me on Mickey Way.� He added, �And, said, �Kid, you gotta join SAG �cause they�re gonna use ya.� And, that�s how it happened for me.�

To begin their story together, Russi was asked about her first meeting with Wayne. She remembered that it had been while she was doing Totally Minnie with Elton John, �Wayne was brought in to do the part that was left on the cutting room floor� That was the first time we met.� She added, �We would talk and stuff in the hallway, say �hello� and stuff like that. We really didn�t work together very much, but it was always fun.� At that time in their lives they were both married to others and both headed toward divorce, as Wayne remembered that at the time, �I was living in a hotel in Glendale.�

Eventually, as their personal lives resolved themselves, they found themselves together, both personally and professionally.

Russi was also asked about meeting Walt Disney, �When I was very little I met him at the park, right near the Mark Twain, there was a bench right there. And he was sitting on that bench and I walked by with my mother and my brother and I said (in a small child�s voice) �That�s Walt Disney.� And they said, �No it isn�t.� So I said, �yes it is. I know Walt Disney, he comes to the house every Sunday.� And, sure enough, it was Walt. And I sat with him for a while and we shared popcorn and talked� He said �What do you want to do when you grow up?� and I said, �I want to work for you.�� He told me I could� and here I am.�

Russi remembered her audition for Minnie, �About 150 other people auditioned for Minnie at the time� it was really, really fun, it was just fun. There were several call-backs and finally on the last call-back they wanted us to improvise. And, I, just went a little nuts and did Romeo and Juliet.� The audience asked for a sample and Russi obliged with a snippet of Minnie as Juliet that Shakespeare could never have imagined.

Wayne went from sound effects man to sound effects editor, picking up an Emmy along the way for the sound effects cutting he did for a Steven Spielberg episode of Amazing Stories. Wayne noted, �But you�re only as good as your teachers. And I had the very, very, very, very, very best teachers at Disney. That was my college.� As he acknowledged the past NFFC Legends attending the Luncheon, he added, �Thank you gentlemen, thank you ladies.�

They were then asked what it was that brought them the most satisfaction in their careers, and Russi answered, �Being together.� Wayne agreed, �It�s a gift� speaking professionally, our timing is exquisite. Because, having been together this long, I know what she�s going to say. In fact, we wind-up finishing each other�s sentences all the time now.� Which really comes in handy during the often grueling press junkets they attend. �Our record is, back during Walt Disney World�s 20th, we did 250 interviews in three days.�