Just a few weeks ago, Disney celebrities mingled with fans in Anaheim to celebrate the 100th birthday of Disney Legend Marc Davis. Scarlett Stahl was there and brings us a report. Special thanks to MiceChat’s Fishbulb who provided the photos. ~~Rick

THE DISNEYANA FAN CLUB/ RYMAN ARTS
CHARITY DINNER
“THE 100TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF MARC DAVIS”
By
Scarlett Stahl

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Thursday evening, July 11, 2013, the Disneyana Fan Club/Ryman Arts Charity Dinner, entitled “The 100th Birthday Celebration of Marc Davis” was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Anaheim/Garden Grove, California. At 5:00 p.m., the guests began entering the ballroom and chose their tables, where one or two seats at each table had been blocked off for the celebrity guests, who were waiting at the back of the room for their introduction. Everyone was seated at a table with a celebrity for the evening, which was a unique and enticing twist to a lovely dinner. After everyone was seated, the celebrity guests were announced and then learned the number of their tables. Salad, steak and chicken, as well as dessert were served to all the guests, while there was both a vegan and vegetarian option.

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Mark Silverman (Left) and David Smith (right)
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Lisa Davis (Right) the voice of Anita from the classic 101 Dalmatians.
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Disney Legend, Bob Gurr and Scarlett Stahl

After dinner, Disney Legend Alice Davis was escorted to the stage, where Allan Halcrow interviewed her about her deceased husband, Disney Legend Marc Davis. Marc was the creator of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Alice, Tinker Bell, Cruella de Ville, and many others. He was known as The Ladies Man, as he was always assigned the animation of the heroines in the Disney animated films, before he became an Imagineer at WED. Alice shared how they had met, when she was a student on a scholarship at Chouinard Art Institute and Marc was a teacher. However their love didn’t blossom until years later when she was a young woman or as Alice laughingly put it….the hanky panky didn’t start till she was grown. Alice is always a crowd favorite and had the audience laughing throughout.

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Allan Halcrow interviewing Alice Davis

Then animator extraordinaire, Andreas Deja, who is the creator of Lilo, Jafar and Scar, to name a few of his characters, was introduced. Andreas showed slides of the great animator, Marc Davis, art. Andreas is an authority and has spoken at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to sold out crowds. So this was a real treat for the audience.

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Animator, Andreas Deja
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Marc Davis character studies

 

Afterwards the auction began with Bill Atwood, the popular comedic auctioneer, who is a 32 year veteran of the California Public Schools with a Doctorate from USC. Bill would like people to know “that when they donate the money to buy an art supply box or make a donation to a program such as Ryman Arts they are changing the world in a profound way and while we won’t see the change directly, most of the time the world will be a better place because of that donation. We can certainly alter the life of unknown others in a good way and that gift and the other gifts we make along the way become our legacy. We can’t take it with us.”

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Bill interviews two students of the Ryman Arts Foundation

As Marty Sklar is one of the founders of Ryman and a graduate of UCLA, Bill enjoys teasing Marty about being a great Bruin from UCLA. Bill came up with the idea of passing the hat while standing on the stage at the first auction. This year’s “Hat Pass” brought in over $1,200.00!

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Marty Sklar addresses the crowd from the front of the stage.
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Bill Atwood and Margaret “Tinker Bell” Kerry.

All the celebrities had graciously donated items to the auction, which brought in $11,649 – more than ever before! Below are the names of the celebrity hosts, who attended the dinner, and also some of the items that were donated.

Celebrity hosts:

Ryman Arts (Diane Brigham & Marty Sklar, Disney Legend)
Alice Davis (Disney Legend)
Bob Gurr (Disney Legend)
Dave Smith (Disney Legend and former Historian of Walt Disney Archives)
Floyd Norman (Disney Legend, animator and cartoonist)
Andreas Deja (Animator of Lilo, Jafar, Scar)
Ted Thomas and Kuniko Okubo (Producers, Directors of short documentaries such as Frank and Ollie, etc)
Margaret Kerry (original reference model for Tinker Bell)
Lisa Davis (voice of Anita in 101 Dalmatians)
Rick Farmiloe (Animator of Scuttle and Abu)
Terri Hardin (Artist)
Mark Silverman (voice of Rod Serling in the Tower of Terror)
Carolyn Carroll (widow of Eddie Carroll- Voice of Jiminy Cricket)

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Marty Sklar anbd Scarlett Stahl

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List of some of the donated items:

  • Herb Ryman original piece
  • Book about the company, signed by Roy Disney
  • Book signed by Buzz Price
  • Marty retirement poster of Sklarzan’s Treehouse
  • Books – Brush with Art that Marty Sklar signed
  • Dalmation plush and picture signed by Lisa Davis
  • Trivia Book signed by Dave Smith
  • 1st charter member of Margaret Kerry’s new Key Club and photos signed by her
  • Original hand drawn sketch of Abu by Rick Familoe
  • Grizzley Peak Sculpture & Gargoyle Sculpture by Terri Hardin
  • Tower of Terror t-shirt & Tower of Terror actual recording script signed by Mark Silverman & writer of script
  • Jiminy Cricket photo signed by Eddie Carroll and Carolyn Carroll’s book signed DVD of Jack Benny signed by Eddie
  • Drawings & award received by Floyd Norman
  • Poster signed by Andreas Deja
  • Poster signed by Frank & Ollie
  • The Disneyland map with many signatures
  • Ryman piece of art that hung at the DL Hotel
  • Mickey’s Birthday around the World
  • 3 original drawings by Glen Keane

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Poster given to Marty Sklar upon his retirement

The fun filled evening event ended after the lively auction.

The following information about Ryman Arts is reprinted with permission from Diane Brigham, director of Ryman Arts:

The Ryman-Carroll Foundation was established in 1989 as a living tribute to Disney Legend, artist and mentor Herbert Dickens Ryman, (1910-1989). It was agreed by family and friends that the most positive way to commemorate the life of Herbert D. Ryman was to carry on his philosophy and commitment to teach and encourage young artists to reach their full potential. It was in this spirit that Ryman Arts was created. From a single drawing class for 12 students in 1990, Ryman Arts has grown to 30 classes for 450 students annually, engaged 4,500+ Southern California teens in its core program, and provided outreach activities to 7,500+ inner city students.

One of the nation’s top youth arts programs, Ryman Arts offers intensive studio classes taught by master teaching artists, college and career planning, field trips, support services, and community engagement opportunities to artistic high school students—all free of charge. Almost all graduates go on to college, many alumni work in the creative industries, and all are poised for personal and professional success. To foster a creative college-going atmosphere, classes are held in the studios of Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles and on the campus ofCalifornia State University, Fullerton in Orange County, which both host Ryman Arts free of charge. Accepted students choose to attend Saturdays on the campus of CSUF or Sundays at the studios of Otis College. This vibrant community of culturally diverse teens comes from over 130neighborhoods across Southern California. More than 80% live in low-income neighborhoods where schools provide little access to art and dropout rates are extremely high.

Ryman Arts is the only such program in Southern California that is completely free, and that selects participants solely on the basis of their ability and commitment. By doing so, Ryman Arts is able to serve talented youth from a wide variety of backgrounds without regard to their family’s financial status. Ryman Arts aims to inspire, nurture, and challenge the next generation of young artists to reach their potential.

Founders
Lucille Ryman Carroll (1906-2002)
Sharon Disney Lund (1936-1993)
Harrison A. (1921-2010) and Anne Shaw Price (1923-2012)
Martin A. and Leah R. Sklar

Rick Wright
Rick has been a long term MiceChat author and co-founder of the Weekend Update. You will often find Rick in the position of "Greeter" at official events due to his warm and welcoming spirit. If you've got photos, news or trip reports to share, Rick would love to hear from you: [email protected]