Day One

OK, a handful of hours later, and we’re back for more, at day 2 of D23’s Destination D!

The day started off with animation historian Jerry Beck and animator Eric Goldberg’s presentation on Wacky and Wild Disney Animation. Many of the more surreal segments of animation (such as Pink Elephants on Parade) and some of the earlier Mickey Mouse cartoons, in which he was depicted as doing comically uncomfortable things to Minnie and barnyard animals.

Next up was animator Andreas Deja, who, in Drawing with Personality, showed examples of many famous animators’ drawings and pointed out how their drawing styles evolved and what their strong points of design were. He then drew several drawings which were later given away by the time-old “taped under the seat” method, and asked the audience to draw Jafar as a child.

After a short break, we came back to Tinker Bell: The Evolution of a Disney Character. In this panel, animation historian Mindy Johnson introduced us to the creation and maturation of the Tinker Bell character, revealing her new discovery of Tinker Bell’s facial model, former ink and paint girl Ginni Mack. They were joined by Tinker Bell’s body model Margaret Kerry, and the voice actress and director of Tinker Bell’s new movies, Mae Whitman and Peggy Holmes.

Following lunch, a star-studded panel awaited in Hearing Voices: A Salute to Disney Voice Artists–Kathryn Beaumont, voice of Alice and Wendy; Lisa Davis, voice of Anita in 101 Dalmatians; David Frankham, Sgt. Tibbs from 101 Dalmatians; Bruce Reitherman, Mowgli and Christopher Robin; Bill Farmer, Goofy; and Christ Sanders, voice of Stitch.

The last presentation of the day was Snow White: Still the Fairest of Them All. In celebrating the first animated feature that made all the rest possible, Tim O’Day presented Marge Champion, live-action model for Snow White, Alex Rannie, animated musical historian, and Gabriella Calicchio, recent CEO of The Walt Disney Family Museum .

But wait! It wasn’t over yet! To top off all that had gone before, the weekend culminated in an amazing concert: An Evening With Alan Menken. Playing parts of various songs he wrote for Disney and non-Disney productions throughout his career, the songwriter and Disney Legend played piano and sang for over 100 minutes to a completely rapt audience. If you weren’t there, man, I feel for you, because it was fabulous.

Next time: The event in overview.