A Celebration of Ollie Johnston

[Rapunzel]

Is anyone attending?




If not I'll provide trip report.

[Coheteboy]

If only I knew how to get a ticket!

[Craigroy8287]

How do you get tickets? I would love to go. He is my favorite animator.

[Rapunzel]

I don't know. I got one through my school and I know that Cartoon Brew gave away 100. Maybe contact Disney and ask or check other groups with close ties to Disney and see if they have tickets. I don't think that my school sold out so maybe Disney will have extra space on the list after tomorrow (I think that is the RSVP date for those groups).

[Rapunzel]

Okay. I did not take a camera because I had no idea what the etiquette is for these sort of things. Animators are usually a little more casual.. so I ended up having to change after I saw the first people start arriving. Anyway, I am SUPER bummed that I didn't because others had cameras and there was beautiful art and photos and even animation by Ollie Johnston that was shown for the first time! Andreas Deja had a little pencil test entitled "Striptease" by Ollie. They had personal art to family members as well as photos taken by Ollie's family and friends throughout the years. The man was INCREDIBLE! And so was the 4 hour celebration of his life...

I knew that some of my idols would be there... but I didn't know they would be chit-chatting right next to us! My animator friends and I joked that we should get up in the line of people that Lasseter was giving hugs. Glen Keane waved at our group and I literally accidentally bumped into Leonard Maltin in the lobby before realizing it. And Brad Bird was making the rounds too.

People my animation friends and I geeked out about:
Brad Bird, John Lasseter, Glen Keane, Eric Goldburg, Andreas Deja, John Musker, Ron Clements, Leonard Maltin, the voice actors for of Alice/Wendy and, Pinocchio, Alice from the Alice comedies, the model for Peter Pan, Frank's family, Ollie's family, Mark Kirkland. PLUS there were a lot Disney/industry people that I recognized from lectures at my school or the Disney Studios, etc.

It was a beautiful and inspiring lecture about Ollie Johnston. He was an amazing animator and wonderful man. The ceremony was 4 hours and I was bawling at the end for this wonderful individual I only know from his animation and books. It was a wonderful celebration I'm sure all in attendance with remember for the rest of their lives.