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- [♪ gentle instrumental music playing]
- [birds chirping]
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Downloaded from
YTS.BZ
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[Bruce] So, I'm at CalArts.
I'm a freshman.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ
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{\an8}I remember one day my roommate says,
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{\an8}"Hey, let's go down to the Disney Studio.
I know someone who actually works here."
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We drive down,
and there was a big fence.
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So, me and my roommates park
on the side. We climb the fence.
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It's like, who are these four Black dudes
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climbing the fence to get
at Disney Studios at the time?
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{\an8}As we're walking, he says,
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{\an8}"Animation building this way,"
and all of this stuff, right?
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So, we're following the signs.
And then we get to, you know,
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{\an8}a couple of bungalows
that actually sort of had open doors.
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{\an8}And we're like… [gasps]
"There's a Black dude.
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- There's a Black dude over there."
- [♪ music fades]
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That Black dude was Ron Husband. [laughs]
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[♪ mellow instrumental music playing]
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[Ron] I'm… I'm not real big on tables
and chairs and inanimate objects.
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I want something that's moving.
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Everything and everybody
that's moving is telling a story.
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The city's still, or they're in action.
There's a story taking place.
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How best, as an artist,
can you tell that story?
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I get so much joy and pleasure
out of people looking at my work
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and being encouraged
and bringing a smile to their face.
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The name's Sweet, Joshua Sweet.
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[Ron] I never considered my time
at Disney work.
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For 38 years, I was there.
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It was just, uh, you know,
I got paid to push a pencil.
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[♪ music fades]
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[Ron] My high school art teacher,
uh, Mrs. Dorothy Clemons,
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encouraged the class
to carry a sketchbook.
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[breathes deeply]
And on her encouragement,
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um, I took her advice.
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Art Center had classes
for high school students on Saturdays,
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and so she arranged for me
to take advantage of that.
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Obviously out of her own pocket,
uh, for paying for those classes.
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So, she had a real heart for her students.
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And one day we had a class,
and there was a couple of brushes
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on the sink that students had
just sort of walked off and left.
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And… and she said, "Ron, will you clean
those brushes for me?"
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And I just sort of looked at her
and just kept walking.
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- [♪ light instrumental music playing]
- [Ron] The next day I sat,
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you know, I sat right up front.
Bell rang…
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- [school bell ringing]
- …and she walks over to the desk,
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and she looks me
in the eye and she says,
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"Get the hell out and don't come back."
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And Ms. Clemons never spoke
to me a word again.
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Couple months later,
I had won a national award
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{\an8}for a painting piece I had done.
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And the principal and Ms. Clemons
and I took a photograph,
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but she didn't speak to me
during that time.
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We took the photograph,
never spoke to me again.
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And I'm sitting there looking
with this dour look on my face.
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But I took her advice
to always carry a sketchbook.
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And to this day,
probably why I'm sitting here today,
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because I took her advice.
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- [interviewer] Oh, wow.
- [chuckles]
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- Just a couple of sketchbooks.
- Just a couple of sketchbooks.
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[♪ music fades]
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[Ron] These books here go back to 1962.
I was twelve years old.
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You know, I love sports.
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I get these sports magazines
and copy the photographs,
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which really, um, paved the way
for what I'm doing now
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in the sense of action, negative space,
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silhouette value, things that are really,
really important to drawing today.
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Now, these books here, you know,
they've got some history also. [chuckles]
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Um.
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I look at my sketchbooks as practice.
Practice, practice.
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Because practice won't make you perfect.
Practice just makes you better.
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And I wanna get better.
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You're always on your journey.
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And, uh, you know,
my journey started long ago.
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[♪ sentimental instrumental music playing]
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[Ron] I was born and raised in Monrovia,
California, a small town.
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You know, there was,
uh, unofficial barriers.
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A certain street, uh, was the limit
for Blacks to live in.
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{\an8}We had a public pool,
and the Black kids could only swim,
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{\an8}or people of color, really,
'cause it wasn't just the Black kids,
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{\an8}anybody of color could only swim
on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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[Ron] My mom, a single mom,
she had come out from Mississippi
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by way of St. Louis
and then coming to California,
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you know, not having very much money.
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We lived in 15 different houses.
You know, rent's a little cheaper here.
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You know, rent's going up here.
We had to move over here.
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And I remember this guy came
into our apartment…
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- [door knocking]
- …and he had been stabbed.
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And he staggered into the house.
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He ended up going in the bathroom
and… and dying in the tub.
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It had to be about three years old,
'cause at four years old, we had moved.
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She was a… a great mom,
you know, raising four boys by herself.
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Mom worked a lot. I mean, mom instilled
a work ethic in all her kids, you know…
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I was one of the original latchkey kids,
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'cause he took a key
and pinned it to my Levi's.
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And off to school I went, come back home,
don't let anybody in the house
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until she got home.
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You know, we were poor,
but when you're poor,
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you don't know you're poor.
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You know, you got love,
it's your mom's love.
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You never… Went to bed hungry.
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- [♪ music concludes]
- [birds chirping]
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[LaVonne] Well, my husband, yeah,
I understand my husband's priorities.
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- [Melissa chuckles]
- One of them is his sketchbook.
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- [Ron] Yes.
- Ask him about, uh,
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me always fussing that every time
we go somewhere,
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I have to compete
with the sketchbook.
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He'll tell you all the time, I tell him,
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"Just once in the 53 years
that we've been married,
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I would love you to not take
that sketchbook anywhere."
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And now he's gotten to the point,
he don't care
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what kind of sketchbook he has.
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You know, he used to carry
nice sketchbooks,
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leather-bound, the whole bit.
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Now, he'll carry one with tape on it,
and just, you know,
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I don't have to worry
about him getting an actual woman,
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- 'cause the sketchbook is his other woman.
- [Melissa laughs]
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- [Ron] Which is kind of beautiful.
- No.
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- [Ron] No.
- [♪ gentle instrumental music playing]
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[Ron] LaVonne, yeah, love of my life.
We've been married, um, 52 years.
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We didn't start dating
until my junior year in high school.
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She was a pep cat,
and I was on the football team.
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[LaVonne] He was just quiet.
I don't know what attracted me to him
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other than, well,
he had a great body, for one thing.
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I'll put that out there.
I'm gonna leave that alone. [laughs]
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But anyway, he… he was just a classy guy.
And I decided, "Okay, he's mine."
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[Melissa] Her name is
actually LaVonne Jackson…
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- [Ron] Mm-hmm.
- …but she, because she was part of ASB,
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snuck in somewhere and added her name
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as… as LaVonne Husband
in the high school yearbook.
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So, she's there
as LaVonne Jackson as a junior
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and as a senior as LaVonne Husband.
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So, she was staking her claim.
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{\an8}- [laughs]
- Yeah.
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{\an8}[LaVonne] And then at Citrus College,
we were there together.
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- [Ron] And he went to Vegas.
- [LaVonne] And then he went to Vegas.
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- [Ron] And you followed?
- [♪ music fades]
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No, I told him he better come back.
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- [♪ dramatic instrumental music playing]
- [indistinct chatter over TV]
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[Ron] I played football in college,
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went to university
on a football scholarship,
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so I get 15 dollars a month.
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I was also working at the university
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as a model for photography
and art classes.
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In eighth grade,
I was, uh, playing flag football.
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This little chart here,
and I said what I was going to do in order
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to build my body up…
[chuckles] …to play football, right?
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So, uh, 20 push-ups,
30 sit-ups, 100 jumping jacks.
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Really, really crude stuff
that I was gonna do. Uh, lift weights.
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Didn't have any weights,
but, uh, I ended up
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signing up, uh, October 22nd, 1963.
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I never knew where I was gonna end up.
This is a start. [laughs]
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After graduation
from the University of Las Vegas,
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I wanted to be a commercial artist.
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Uh, I wanted to do book
and magazine illustration.
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But coming back to Southern California,
where there are no publishing houses,
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I had to have a job
to bring in some income.
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I got a call from, uh, Honeywell.
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They offered me a position
as a technical illustrator.
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And that sounded
sort of like illustrator. [chuckles]
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So, I took that job.
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It was one guy who gotta do
all of the exploded views
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and all the really, really creative stuff.
And the rest of us in the department,
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we did block diagrams and flow charts.
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[chuckles] But it paid the bills,
and it was a lot of overtime.
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Uh, after about a year and a half,
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I said, "I wanna do something
more creative."
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- "Where can I find creativity…
- [♪ music fades]
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…and be creative?" I said,
"Well, maybe an art school."
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{\an8}[♪ dramatic instrumental music playing]
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{\an8}[Ron] So, I took a class at Art Center,
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a class called
"Sketching for Illustration."
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{\an8}It was taught by Sam McKim,
and he's-- was a imagineer.
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{\an8}You know, they design and build
the rides for the theme parks.
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I just wanted to get in an environment
to where I could be more creative.
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{\an8}Art Center, to me, was like the pinnacle
of where I could get my education.
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[Floyd] Going to Art Center
was just, um, the best thing
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that could have happened to me
because it gave me a foundation in art.
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{\an8}Before that, I was just a kid
drawing pictures,
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{\an8}but drawing and painting
suddenly became serious
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{\an8}when I was an Art Center student.
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[John] I love sculpting,
I love drawing, I love painting,
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but this is what I wanna do.
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{\an8}I wanna paint backgrounds
for Walt Disney Studios.
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{\an8}So, that was the propellant
that pushed me forward.
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[Ron] One night after class,
Mr. McKim said there's a trainee program
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at Disney bringing in,
uh, artists to train
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to perhaps become animators.
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Back in the '70s,
it was very, very bare bones.
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You know, you had Disney.
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- Yeah.
- [Ron] You had, uh, Hanna-Barbera.
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- Well, don't wait. Illustrate.
- Ralph Bakshi doing, uh,
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you know, his thing.
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[voice-over on TV]
Strong man and diaper man.
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[Ron] So, it was very, uh, minimal.
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And I remember the discussion
on the way out of the classroom
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that night was that,
"I'm not going to Disney."
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They don't pay anything. [chuckles]
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For me, it was like, "Okay, yeah,
I'm gonna-- I'm gonna follow up on this
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'cause, you know, I just need
something more creative to do."
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[♪ music concludes]
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[Ron] I went home, grabbed
a couple of sketchbooks,
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and dropped them off at the guard gate
on Buena Vista
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and went back to work.
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These are the sketchbooks that I turned in
to the-- To the studio
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that they looked at
and were able to see my ability,
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being able to capture
movement in my drawings.
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And nothing real, you know, real fancy.
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And so I was basically,
uh, hired on, uh, on potential.
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{\an8}[♪ whimsical instrumental music playing]
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{\an8}The world I walk into in animation
is total creativity.
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{\an8}Disney was looking for young people
to come in and to replace the nine old men
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who had really created
this art of animation.
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It was the '70s when, uh,
a lot of the new kids, uh, came to Disney.
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They were gonna be the one
to carry this business forward,
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to make the, uh,
Disney classics yet to be made.
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So, it was a very exciting time.
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- Hello, my name is John Musker.
- I'm Ron Clements and I'm a story man.
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Hi, I'm Tim Burton,
and I'm in the story department,
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kind of, I don't really have a rank,
but I just kind of work here.
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Randy Cartwright, animator.
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00:12:24,844 --> 00:12:28,881
I found out that if you can't draw,
you can't really animate.
222
00:12:28,948 --> 00:12:33,486
It took me eight portfolios to get in.
But, uh, finally, I did get in.
223
00:12:34,153 --> 00:12:37,423
We're gonna go inside
and see what it's like. Come on. Come on.
224
00:12:37,490 --> 00:12:40,760
[Barry] The thing
that I really remember instantly
225
00:12:40,827 --> 00:12:45,531
as I walked into this place
where Pinocchio and Bambi and Fantasia,
226
00:12:45,598 --> 00:12:50,336
all these films were created,
was the smell of the studio.
227
00:12:50,436 --> 00:12:57,410
{\an8}It was this wonderful
artistic incense of cigarettes,
228
00:12:57,577 --> 00:13:01,714
pencil shavings, and scotch.
[chuckles] It just-- It just permeated.
229
00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:04,550
It was… Gosh, it was intoxicating.
230
00:13:05,618 --> 00:13:07,353
{\an8}Being at the Disney Studio in the '70s,
231
00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:10,857
{\an8}I think there were attempts, really,
to open up the Disney Studio.
232
00:13:10,923 --> 00:13:13,326
{\an8}There-- The Disney Studio had been
so insular for many years.
233
00:13:13,926 --> 00:13:17,297
[Lorna] It was such a…
a new thing to be there,
234
00:13:17,363 --> 00:13:21,034
and particularly as a young woman.
I was so excited
235
00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:23,069
and just terrified at the same time.
236
00:13:23,136 --> 00:13:29,742
One day, uh, this football player
from Las Vegas, Nevada, came in,
237
00:13:30,043 --> 00:13:33,313
and… [chuckles] …he looked tough.
238
00:13:33,379 --> 00:13:38,384
I mean, muscles,
full man shoes, shaved head.
239
00:13:38,451 --> 00:13:39,786
- [laughs]
- [Barry] The sweetest,
240
00:13:39,852 --> 00:13:42,221
most gentle disposition.
241
00:13:42,288 --> 00:13:45,925
People would often tell me…
[chuckles] …Floyd's really a nice guy.
242
00:13:45,992 --> 00:13:50,163
"Oh, no, Floyd's not nice at all."
Nobody's nicer than Ron Husband.
243
00:13:50,229 --> 00:13:52,432
- [laughs] He's the nice guy.
- [♪ music fades]
244
00:13:52,498 --> 00:13:57,136
Every day was, um, an experience for me.
It was a learning experience.
245
00:13:57,670 --> 00:14:01,607
{\an8}I knew nothing about Milt Kahl,
Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston,
246
00:14:01,674 --> 00:14:03,476
{\an8}all these… these greats and anima--
247
00:14:03,910 --> 00:14:05,845
I had-- I had no idea
who these gentlemen were.
248
00:14:06,245 --> 00:14:12,018
It was so surreal to know
that you were among these… these, uh,
249
00:14:12,452 --> 00:14:14,454
legends of animation.
250
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,190
And I mean, I tried
to keep my cool and, you know,
251
00:14:17,256 --> 00:14:21,394
I just did… [chuckles]
…what I was told, but I felt
252
00:14:21,461 --> 00:14:24,664
I was in such a special place
and it was so exciting.
253
00:14:24,731 --> 00:14:26,532
- [♪ light instrumental music playing]
- [Ron] Eric Larson was the head
254
00:14:26,599 --> 00:14:31,270
- of that program.
- And this here is Mr. Eric Larson.
255
00:14:31,337 --> 00:14:35,241
[John] Of all of the animators
that could have been the shepherd,
256
00:14:35,308 --> 00:14:39,779
our shepherd and mentor
in our first month or so of growing
257
00:14:39,846 --> 00:14:43,082
into animation, they couldn't have picked
a better person than Eric.
258
00:14:43,149 --> 00:14:46,352
I mean, that was godly ordained
as far as I'm concerned.
259
00:14:46,419 --> 00:14:49,722
{\an8}It was this feeling
that you've got to learn,
260
00:14:49,789 --> 00:14:54,260
{\an8}that you've got to be, uh,
give with anything that you've got
261
00:14:54,327 --> 00:15:00,199
if it's of any value, give it to somebody.
I felt that this exchange of ideas
262
00:15:00,266 --> 00:15:03,302
was the whole thing the studio
was being built on.
263
00:15:03,369 --> 00:15:05,238
Basically, they were Walt's ideas.
264
00:15:05,838 --> 00:15:10,643
[Lorna] He was so lovely,
so giving and kind,
265
00:15:10,710 --> 00:15:13,246
and I was such a newbie at this.
266
00:15:13,312 --> 00:15:16,549
Um, I remember the first week,
I was so nervous.
267
00:15:17,150 --> 00:15:20,820
[John Musker] He was such
an avuncular mentor, the gentlest guy.
268
00:15:20,887 --> 00:15:23,356
He… he gave you criticism
when he worked on your drawings.
269
00:15:23,423 --> 00:15:25,691
He literally put your drawing down
on a drawing board.
270
00:15:25,758 --> 00:15:28,995
He'd put a piece of paper over it
and draw almost like diagrams over it.
271
00:15:29,061 --> 00:15:31,597
But they showed how you could make
your animation so much stronger
272
00:15:31,664 --> 00:15:35,301
with… with positive statements.
He would say, getting good silhouettes,
273
00:15:35,368 --> 00:15:37,970
getting arcs,
getting strong anticipations,
274
00:15:38,037 --> 00:15:40,873
you know, uh, Manna
from heaven for a… a young,
275
00:15:40,940 --> 00:15:43,476
nerdy, animation, uh, student.
276
00:15:43,543 --> 00:15:47,180
[Tom] We have a staff
of 200 young artists,
277
00:15:47,246 --> 00:15:50,817
animators, sculptors
from art schools, colleges.
278
00:15:50,883 --> 00:15:55,288
{\an8}And what that does for this company is
it has-- It's a group of people
279
00:15:55,354 --> 00:15:59,592
{\an8}who are bringing a whole different
sensitivity to the-- To the studio.
280
00:15:59,659 --> 00:16:04,897
Give what I had and get
what they-- What they had to give.
281
00:16:04,964 --> 00:16:08,801
{\an8}I mean, they're squeezing everything
they can out of us. [laughs]
282
00:16:08,868 --> 00:16:12,939
[Frank] No, the… the new fellas, uh,
always have their own talents,
283
00:16:13,005 --> 00:16:15,741
their own way of doing things,
and that's as it should be.
284
00:16:15,808 --> 00:16:19,979
{\an8}And we're trying to help them develop
in a way that will, uh,
285
00:16:20,313 --> 00:16:23,115
{\an8}carry on the Disney tradition
of entertainment.
286
00:16:23,182 --> 00:16:26,752
He's gotta look like
he's really going on this gal.
287
00:16:26,819 --> 00:16:28,888
He can't take his eyes
off of it, you know?
288
00:16:28,955 --> 00:16:31,057
Yeah, kind of like the same way
I've been with girls.
289
00:16:31,123 --> 00:16:32,124
[both laugh]
290
00:16:33,693 --> 00:16:37,497
But it was an interesting time.
There was this…
291
00:16:39,665 --> 00:16:43,202
- feeling of, like, you didn't really know…
- [♪ music concludes]
292
00:16:43,269 --> 00:16:45,771
- [♪ dramatic instrumental music playing]
- …all that you felt like you should know.
293
00:16:48,541 --> 00:16:51,110
[Ron] I came in
with no animation experience whatsoever.
294
00:16:51,177 --> 00:16:54,313
I had no idea what the animator was,
what the animator did.
295
00:16:54,380 --> 00:16:56,949
[John] Ron Husband came in
around that time.
296
00:16:57,016 --> 00:16:59,886
He wasn't, you know,
he… he was a good art student.
297
00:16:59,952 --> 00:17:03,856
He was a… a good enough draftsman
to be accepted onto the training program.
298
00:17:03,923 --> 00:17:05,558
But I think he needed to, you know,
299
00:17:05,625 --> 00:17:09,095
the bar was at a certain level,
and he needed to practice getting up
300
00:17:09,161 --> 00:17:13,032
to that level, getting those chin-ups
right up to where he needed to be.
301
00:17:13,099 --> 00:17:14,534
Yeah, let's… let's see it.
302
00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:16,068
- Let's see the scene.
- [overlapping chatter]
303
00:17:16,135 --> 00:17:17,537
Here's another good scene.
304
00:17:17,603 --> 00:17:20,706
This isn't, uh, as good
as the things they used to do,
305
00:17:20,773 --> 00:17:22,842
like I said, but it's the best we can do.
306
00:17:23,976 --> 00:17:25,311
[Don] So, animators,
when they were hired
307
00:17:25,378 --> 00:17:29,248
on into this kind of training program,
they had four weeks to prove themselves,
308
00:17:29,315 --> 00:17:31,017
and they would animate something.
309
00:17:31,083 --> 00:17:33,653
{\an8}And animation in that day was done
with a pencil and a piece of paper,
310
00:17:33,719 --> 00:17:36,289
{\an8}and it was really no more elaborate than,
311
00:17:36,355 --> 00:17:37,823
{\an8}let's say, when you were a kid
312
00:17:37,890 --> 00:17:40,259
and you would draw,
like, a little flip book.
313
00:17:40,326 --> 00:17:43,162
Except for Disney animators,
it was filmed,
314
00:17:43,229 --> 00:17:47,466
and that film came back, and you could see
those pencil drawings come to life.
315
00:17:47,533 --> 00:17:51,070
That was put up in a projector,
and the review board would look at it.
316
00:17:51,470 --> 00:17:53,039
[whirrs]
317
00:17:58,344 --> 00:17:59,545
[Don] There's a guy
named Woolie Reitherman,
318
00:17:59,612 --> 00:18:03,115
who is an amazing animator
from Walt Disney's era,
319
00:18:03,182 --> 00:18:05,851
who was kind of the--
in charge of animation at that time.
320
00:18:05,918 --> 00:18:08,754
And the review board was Woolie
and these talents,
321
00:18:08,821 --> 00:18:11,424
who virtually invented
character animation at Disney.
322
00:18:11,490 --> 00:18:13,225
So, if you were a young trainee,
you'd come in
323
00:18:13,292 --> 00:18:16,562
and you were shaking in your boots.
They were the ones that would pass you
324
00:18:16,629 --> 00:18:19,632
to go out of your next four weeks
or politely say goodbye.
325
00:18:19,699 --> 00:18:20,933
And they were tough.
326
00:18:21,701 --> 00:18:26,906
My pencil test would be a lot
um, less sophisticated
327
00:18:26,973 --> 00:18:29,475
than somebody like, Glen,
who came in from CalArts.
328
00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:34,614
Maybe, uh, one out of every two people
wouldn't pass the test, you know.
329
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,582
So, you're… you're sitting there
sweating bullets, uh,
330
00:18:36,649 --> 00:18:38,718
when they're… they're taking your test
and you're gonna show it
331
00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:40,553
to the review board.
332
00:18:40,953 --> 00:18:45,424
{\an8}Eric took me in, um, to his office,
and he showed me a reel
333
00:18:45,558 --> 00:18:50,563
of some of the personal tests that, like,
uh, Dale Baer had done and Pomeroy.
334
00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:54,867
And suddenly, I thought,
"I'm in over my head."
335
00:18:54,934 --> 00:18:56,535
Um, I'm not gonna make it,
336
00:18:56,602 --> 00:19:00,973
and my… my dream since childhood
is gonna be over in four weeks,
337
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:02,975
and how am I gonna deal with that?
338
00:19:03,042 --> 00:19:08,381
[Lorna] And I did my test,
but unfortunately, it didn't go well
339
00:19:08,447 --> 00:19:11,283
with two of the gentlemen
on the review board,
340
00:19:12,051 --> 00:19:13,452
so I was… [chuckles] …devastated.
341
00:19:13,519 --> 00:19:15,855
I mean, at the time,
I thought I… I had come
342
00:19:15,921 --> 00:19:19,225
to the Taj Mahal of animation,
and here I am,
343
00:19:19,291 --> 00:19:21,027
you know, and I… I can't stay.
344
00:19:23,129 --> 00:19:25,865
[Ron] But, you know, I think-- I think
the first test was a Goofy test,
345
00:19:25,931 --> 00:19:28,267
and Goofy is running with the football.
346
00:19:28,868 --> 00:19:33,139
They accepted it so I could be, um,
you know, the official Disney employee.
347
00:19:34,473 --> 00:19:36,776
- [Glen] At a certain point…
- [♪ music fades]
348
00:19:36,842 --> 00:19:40,179
…all of us were in this bullpen
up there next to Eric Larson.
349
00:19:40,246 --> 00:19:43,015
And then they split us into twos.
350
00:19:43,082 --> 00:19:45,918
And so that's where Huz and I ended up
351
00:19:45,985 --> 00:19:48,554
- in a room together.
- [♪ comical instrumental strings]
352
00:19:48,621 --> 00:19:50,656
- [Glen] At lunchtime…
- [indistinct chatter]
353
00:19:50,723 --> 00:19:53,592
…there would always be a group
of us that would gather together.
354
00:19:53,659 --> 00:19:55,928
- And I noticed that Huz…
- [♪ dramatic instrumental music playing]
355
00:19:55,995 --> 00:19:57,596
{\an8}…he was reading his Bible.
356
00:19:58,431 --> 00:20:03,069
{\an8}And I'd never seen anybody
read their Bible before.
357
00:20:03,502 --> 00:20:08,274
{\an8}People that talk about God
or talk about faith, like he lives this.
358
00:20:08,340 --> 00:20:11,143
- [♪ gentle instrumental music playing]
- [Ron] There's a line in Chairs of Fire
359
00:20:11,210 --> 00:20:14,847
when Eric's little sister asked him,
you know, "Why you run?"
360
00:20:14,914 --> 00:20:17,917
He runs all the time. And… and he says…
361
00:20:19,819 --> 00:20:23,589
when… when I run, I feel God's pleasure.
362
00:20:25,024 --> 00:20:28,994
And when I draw, I feel God's pleasure.
363
00:20:29,695 --> 00:20:33,232
{\an8}You know, God gave him this gift
and him utilizing it
364
00:20:33,733 --> 00:20:35,901
just as just part of like,
it's like him breathing
365
00:20:35,968 --> 00:20:38,871
and it's like how he gives glory
back to God.
366
00:20:38,938 --> 00:20:43,109
[Ron] And so everything artistically
becomes a part of…
367
00:20:44,276 --> 00:20:45,611
that, literally, you know,
368
00:20:45,678 --> 00:20:49,315
worship the Lord and the beauty
of his holiness, you know,
369
00:20:49,381 --> 00:20:52,685
and… and we're, as artists,
we're creating beauty.
370
00:20:53,285 --> 00:20:55,955
[Glen] Your calling is to be an artist…
371
00:20:56,021 --> 00:20:57,990
- …and you can't not be that.
- [birds chirping]
372
00:20:58,057 --> 00:21:01,260
[Glen] And, you know as iron
sharpens iron,
373
00:21:01,327 --> 00:21:03,262
one person sharpens another.
374
00:21:03,329 --> 00:21:08,467
And you run up alongside other people
who have that calling of being an artist,
375
00:21:08,534 --> 00:21:10,669
and you're strengthened by other artists.
376
00:21:10,736 --> 00:21:14,740
And Huz ended up really changing my life.
377
00:21:14,807 --> 00:21:19,211
And so each day when Huz
and I would come in,
378
00:21:19,645 --> 00:21:21,647
- to the office, Huz would say…
- [camera shutter clicks]
379
00:21:21,714 --> 00:21:23,849
…'cause he knew that I was
reading the Bible now,
380
00:21:23,916 --> 00:21:28,888
and he'd say, "What's the word, Jack?"
And so I would tell him what the word was.
381
00:21:29,288 --> 00:21:34,093
Um, and so this is pretty much
how we began each day.
382
00:21:37,062 --> 00:21:38,631
[♪ music fades]
383
00:21:38,697 --> 00:21:42,067
[Glen] You know, animation
is a very contained medium.
384
00:21:42,134 --> 00:21:44,770
You are drawing, flipping,
385
00:21:44,837 --> 00:21:47,740
making little tiny adjustments
and drawing.
386
00:21:47,807 --> 00:21:51,477
But both Huz and I had been used
to football where… [chuckles]
387
00:21:51,544 --> 00:21:57,316
…you are totally physically into this,
and there's such energy
388
00:21:57,383 --> 00:22:00,519
and expression that you--
That is built up.
389
00:22:00,586 --> 00:22:04,857
[laughs] And sometimes Huz
would just kind of look at me.
390
00:22:04,924 --> 00:22:06,192
[drum beats]
391
00:22:06,258 --> 00:22:10,696
[grunts, laughs] And I'd just--
You want some of this?
392
00:22:10,763 --> 00:22:11,964
And we would just…
393
00:22:12,031 --> 00:22:13,332
- [objects clattering]
- [men fighting, grunting]
394
00:22:13,399 --> 00:22:17,937
…throw each other down and be wrestling,
and fighting and things would be falling.
395
00:22:18,003 --> 00:22:22,274
[laughs] We had a lot of, um,
youthful energy at the time.
396
00:22:23,309 --> 00:22:26,946
[Glen] The caricatures
were pretty insulting.
397
00:22:27,012 --> 00:22:31,684
I mean, there was nothing held back
from either one of us.
398
00:22:31,750 --> 00:22:34,086
It was a way of saying,
399
00:22:34,153 --> 00:22:38,557
"I am going to… [laughs]
…just tear you apart in this drawing
400
00:22:38,624 --> 00:22:42,161
because I think you know how much I care."
401
00:22:43,028 --> 00:22:44,964
In The Fox and the Hound,
I was responsible
402
00:22:45,030 --> 00:22:48,100
for the rough animation
in the bear fight.
403
00:22:48,167 --> 00:22:49,368
This is a scene from it.
404
00:22:53,339 --> 00:22:56,442
Looking at the Bear,
I mean, it's just one great blob
405
00:22:56,508 --> 00:22:59,278
of fat and fur and nothing to hold onto.
406
00:22:59,845 --> 00:23:01,013
My name is Ron Husband.
407
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,282
I'm an animator here
at Walt Disney Studios.
408
00:23:03,749 --> 00:23:07,853
Next step in, uh,
the process of animation would be
409
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,825
taking the line drawings to, uh,
Xerox to be inked and painted.
410
00:23:12,892 --> 00:23:15,094
[♪ gentle instrumental music playing]
411
00:23:16,762 --> 00:23:18,564
[Melissa] I remember being, like,
412
00:23:18,631 --> 00:23:21,500
six years' old
at the old animation building,
413
00:23:21,567 --> 00:23:23,469
you know, literally dragging us
out of bed.
414
00:23:23,535 --> 00:23:25,471
We would go in there, like, bleary-eyed,
415
00:23:25,537 --> 00:23:28,707
and, like, just sit in the chair,
and, like, he would just be drawing,
416
00:23:28,774 --> 00:23:30,476
and we would sit there,
and then he'd go get us
417
00:23:30,542 --> 00:23:32,511
some hot chocolate
from the little hot chocolate place,
418
00:23:32,578 --> 00:23:35,080
and, like, you just sit there,
drink your hot chocolate, take a nap
419
00:23:35,147 --> 00:23:37,583
while he's drawing,
and then he would walk you down the hall
420
00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:39,084
and introduce us to all the animators.
421
00:23:39,151 --> 00:23:40,486
- [interviewer] Okay.
- This is my daughter.
422
00:23:40,552 --> 00:23:45,291
[Ron] Coming up and just being Disney kids
and all the camaraderie that Mikel,
423
00:23:45,357 --> 00:23:48,327
and, uh, Jai, and Melissa
had growing up together.
424
00:23:49,261 --> 00:23:52,865
[Melissa] The cool thing
about Dad was that, before VHS,
425
00:23:52,932 --> 00:23:55,567
he would bring home the reels,
and, like, set it up in the living room.
426
00:23:55,634 --> 00:23:58,137
Like, we would tell all the kids
in the block, like,
427
00:23:58,203 --> 00:23:59,505
"Movie night at the Husbands!"
428
00:23:59,571 --> 00:24:00,572
And it was, like, a big thing.
429
00:24:00,639 --> 00:24:02,274
My parents would pop popcorn.
And, like, we had our own
430
00:24:02,341 --> 00:24:03,842
- little movie theater.
- [Yehudah] Movie theater. Yeah.
431
00:24:03,909 --> 00:24:06,111
[Melissa] And it was,
like, the coolest thing.
432
00:24:06,178 --> 00:24:07,947
Especially growing up
in San Dimas, we were, like,
433
00:24:08,013 --> 00:24:09,548
- one of the only Black families.
- [Yehudah] Yeah.
434
00:24:09,615 --> 00:24:11,083
[Melissa] And so I don't wanna say
helped me fit in,
435
00:24:11,150 --> 00:24:15,387
but where I was-- probably have
felt very othered in a lot of ways,
436
00:24:15,454 --> 00:24:21,226
like, uh, I feel like, being able
to have this conversation piece
437
00:24:21,293 --> 00:24:23,562
of being able to talk about my dad.
438
00:24:23,629 --> 00:24:25,864
- [♪ music fades]
- [indistinct chatter]
439
00:24:25,931 --> 00:24:27,232
[birds chirping]
440
00:24:31,603 --> 00:24:34,740
[Don] The oddest coincidence
in the history of the planet Earth is
441
00:24:34,807 --> 00:24:38,344
{\an8}that the head of Disney Animation
was named Don Duckwall.
442
00:24:38,410 --> 00:24:41,046
{\an8}And, uh, he was the guy
you didn't wanna get a call from
443
00:24:41,113 --> 00:24:42,648
{\an8}- because he ran the place…
- [♪ tense instrumental music playing]
444
00:24:42,715 --> 00:24:44,984
…and, uh, it meant
there was something wrong.
445
00:24:45,050 --> 00:24:48,520
[Ron] I get a call and, you know,
call up to the… the third floor.
446
00:24:48,587 --> 00:24:52,691
Our, uh, production manager…
One-sided conversation,
447
00:24:52,758 --> 00:24:57,029
says, uh, "You won't be an animator here.
448
00:24:57,096 --> 00:25:00,265
Maybe Hanna-Barbera
or maybe Filmation, somewhere else,
449
00:25:00,332 --> 00:25:01,433
but never-- Not here."
450
00:25:03,168 --> 00:25:07,439
And that was sort of the end
and the beginning of the conversation.
451
00:25:08,741 --> 00:25:11,810
[Glen] How do you handle disappointment?
452
00:25:12,511 --> 00:25:16,281
How do you handle seeing
other people advance
453
00:25:16,348 --> 00:25:21,887
when you really desire that for yourself,
but it's not going to happen?
454
00:25:21,954 --> 00:25:26,525
And guaranteed by the ones
who can make it happen
455
00:25:26,592 --> 00:25:29,228
are telling you it's not going to happen.
456
00:25:29,728 --> 00:25:33,766
[Ron] I'm… I'm assuming
it was his person's-- personal thought
457
00:25:33,832 --> 00:25:36,235
or his personal, whatever it was,
458
00:25:36,301 --> 00:25:38,570
uh, even though, you know,
it was myself
459
00:25:38,637 --> 00:25:43,275
and Mike McKinney were only Blacks
in feature animation, uh, at the time.
460
00:25:43,342 --> 00:25:47,679
So… I just didn't think that much of it.
461
00:25:47,746 --> 00:25:50,516
And the fact that I didn't--
He didn't give me a pink slip.
462
00:25:51,050 --> 00:25:53,786
And I just went back and continued
to do my in-betweens
463
00:25:53,852 --> 00:25:57,823
and, um, and, see how things worked,
you know, worked out.
464
00:25:59,458 --> 00:26:02,728
Coming from a Black neighborhood,
you… you gotta be twice as good
465
00:26:02,795 --> 00:26:04,763
as a white person just to break even.
466
00:26:06,799 --> 00:26:08,667
And I mean, that was where I was raised.
467
00:26:09,201 --> 00:26:13,105
{\an8}When I was growing up in St. Louis,
I didn't know anybody Black doing this.
468
00:26:13,172 --> 00:26:19,845
{\an8}I had the same nerdy heroes
that my white comic book
469
00:26:19,912 --> 00:26:23,115
and movie loving friends had.
I loved Ray Harryhausen.
470
00:26:23,182 --> 00:26:29,621
I loved Jack Kirby. I loved Neal Adams.
And those were my… my heroes.
471
00:26:30,189 --> 00:26:32,825
{\an8}I grew up in a heavily
gang-infested neighborhood,
472
00:26:32,925 --> 00:26:35,027
so I remember one day
driving down the street.
473
00:26:35,094 --> 00:26:37,563
I'm in the backseat
of this stolen Mustang.
474
00:26:37,629 --> 00:26:40,866
A guy who was driving,
and he turns to me in the backseat,
475
00:26:40,933 --> 00:26:44,403
and he says, "So, Bruce,
are you still doing that cartoon thing?"
476
00:26:44,470 --> 00:26:47,506
And so he says,
"Man, Black people don't do cartoons."
477
00:26:48,173 --> 00:26:53,479
And I never thought
about that aspect, like,
478
00:26:53,545 --> 00:26:55,848
because right away,
my mind started swirling around.
479
00:26:55,914 --> 00:26:59,184
I was like, "Oh. I never knew
this was sort of a race thing."
480
00:26:59,251 --> 00:27:01,854
He was like, "Hey, man,
you ever see The Flintstones?"
481
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,489
"Ain't no Black people
in The Flintstones."
482
00:27:03,555 --> 00:27:06,058
And I was like… [gasps] "I guess not."
483
00:27:06,125 --> 00:27:07,893
Flintstones, one of my favorite shows.
484
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:09,728
And he said,
"Yeah, you ever see The Jetsons?"
485
00:27:09,795 --> 00:27:11,830
And I was like, "Oh, my gosh,
I see where he's going."
486
00:27:11,897 --> 00:27:13,899
There's no Black people in the past
487
00:27:13,966 --> 00:27:16,101
and in the future
of what you're trying to do.
488
00:27:16,168 --> 00:27:18,837
So, you just did the best you could,
where you could,
489
00:27:18,904 --> 00:27:22,074
how you could, with the best--
With the best you had.
490
00:27:23,275 --> 00:27:25,911
[Yehudah] Despite any obstacles
that he had,
491
00:27:25,978 --> 00:27:29,915
{\an8}um, he would never let those obstacles
to be, you know,
492
00:27:29,982 --> 00:27:32,551
{\an8}an excuse for any--
Anything other than excellence.
493
00:27:35,187 --> 00:27:36,255
[Don] So, here's the thing.
494
00:27:36,321 --> 00:27:40,392
{\an8}To become an animator,
you needed to animate 100 feet,
495
00:27:40,459 --> 00:27:42,060
{\an8}- which is about one minute…
- [♪ music fades]
496
00:27:42,127 --> 00:27:44,296
{\an8}…in a film you were working on.
497
00:27:44,363 --> 00:27:46,565
[Ron] So, you know,
we were keeping track
498
00:27:46,632 --> 00:27:48,734
of how many feet you got on The Rescuers.
499
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,937
It built up, but by the time
the formation ended up,
500
00:27:52,004 --> 00:27:56,475
you know, I had 51 feet.
So, uh, close but no cigar.
501
00:27:58,010 --> 00:28:01,613
After Rescuers,
we went on to Pete's Dragon,
502
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,784
and by the time that ended up,
I had about another 50 feet.
503
00:28:06,351 --> 00:28:10,155
After Pete's Dragon,
we went into The Small One.
504
00:28:10,822 --> 00:28:15,761
I was getting very close
to my 100 feet. [distorted]
505
00:28:15,928 --> 00:28:18,697
[♪ dark suspenseful music playing]
506
00:28:18,764 --> 00:28:21,266
[Ron] I started to get fatigued,
507
00:28:21,333 --> 00:28:23,635
and I was talking to a friend of mine
on the phone,
508
00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:26,205
and he says, "Huz, are you drunk?"
509
00:28:26,271 --> 00:28:28,273
[chuckles] Uh…
510
00:28:28,340 --> 00:28:30,375
'Cause my speech
was starting to get slurred.
511
00:28:30,442 --> 00:28:32,678
{\an8}Ron was getting dizzy.
512
00:28:33,679 --> 00:28:35,247
{\an8}More and more dizzy.
513
00:28:35,314 --> 00:28:37,549
I remember him just saying,
"I don't know what's wrong,
514
00:28:37,616 --> 00:28:41,853
but I just, when I turn my head,
everything keeps moving a little bit."
515
00:28:43,155 --> 00:28:47,659
[Ron] We lived in Monrovia.
It was about 20 miles or so to Burbank.
516
00:28:47,726 --> 00:28:51,029
I get in one lane, because I look
left or right, I get dizzy.
517
00:28:51,096 --> 00:28:54,600
[truck horn honking in distance]
518
00:28:54,666 --> 00:28:59,004
But he kept coming in and working
and putting in his hours.
519
00:28:59,071 --> 00:29:03,542
{\an8}His personality, you know, he got quieter,
I feel like, and he got more subdued.
520
00:29:03,609 --> 00:29:06,478
And I remember Glen being very,
very concerned, and we all were.
521
00:29:06,545 --> 00:29:08,413
You know,
was he gonna come through this okay?
522
00:29:09,581 --> 00:29:12,317
[Ron] I went to a doctor,
and he examined me.
523
00:29:12,384 --> 00:29:15,287
He says, "Ron, I'm not gonna write you
a note to get off work."
524
00:29:15,988 --> 00:29:17,990
So he didn't take it seriously,
525
00:29:18,056 --> 00:29:22,661
so I didn't really take it seriously.
So I continued to go to work.
526
00:29:23,495 --> 00:29:26,031
And I noticed that as he was
animating,
527
00:29:26,098 --> 00:29:31,937
um… you typically
place your drawings up on the shelf.
528
00:29:32,004 --> 00:29:35,874
So you do some drawing and take one
from this shelf and put it over there.
529
00:29:35,941 --> 00:29:38,810
But there was something in that action
530
00:29:38,877 --> 00:29:43,382
of the hand lifting up
that it was difficult for him.
531
00:29:43,448 --> 00:29:45,584
So he would just drop it on the floor.
532
00:29:52,958 --> 00:29:57,162
And so around his desk
was all of these drawings
533
00:29:57,229 --> 00:29:58,563
just laying on the floor.
534
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,335
[Ron] I continued to go to work.
535
00:30:03,402 --> 00:30:07,906
But again, my energy level
was getting very, very low.
536
00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:13,512
I took a week off,
and Ed Hansen called.
537
00:30:13,945 --> 00:30:15,814
Finally, Ron gets to this point,
538
00:30:15,881 --> 00:30:17,749
and he's pushed
through a million sketchbooks.
539
00:30:17,816 --> 00:30:20,752
He got his job at Disney.
He made it past the review board.
540
00:30:20,819 --> 00:30:22,954
He has a hundred feet in the movie,
541
00:30:23,021 --> 00:30:25,223
and he gets a phone call
while he's at home.
542
00:30:25,290 --> 00:30:27,092
- [phone ringing]
- [Ron] I was in bed,
543
00:30:27,559 --> 00:30:29,961
you know,
just literally dying on the vine.
544
00:30:31,930 --> 00:30:33,065
And Ed calls.
545
00:30:33,131 --> 00:30:37,035
He says, "Ron,
you've been promoted to an animator."
546
00:30:37,869 --> 00:30:40,806
I said, "Thanks."
547
00:30:44,042 --> 00:30:47,145
I went back to sleep.
I mean, that was as much as I could do.
548
00:30:47,212 --> 00:30:50,415
And so at the height of his career,
the time when he should be having a party
549
00:30:50,482 --> 00:30:54,453
and having his friends over
and celebrating… he can't move.
550
00:30:54,519 --> 00:30:56,955
- This is Ron Miller.
- Randy.
551
00:30:57,022 --> 00:30:58,990
{\an8}How are you? Good to see you.
552
00:30:59,057 --> 00:31:02,661
{\an8}[Ron] Ron Miller was the president
of the company at the time.
553
00:31:02,728 --> 00:31:05,230
{\an8}He saw me walking,
staggering down the halls.
554
00:31:05,664 --> 00:31:09,267
And he said, "What's wrong with Ron?"
So he had his secretary.
555
00:31:09,968 --> 00:31:13,338
Call up and make doctor's appointments
to see specialists.
556
00:31:13,472 --> 00:31:16,441
{\an8}[Don] So Ron Miller had his secretary,
Lucille Martin, help out.
557
00:31:16,508 --> 00:31:18,877
{\an8}Now, Lucille Martin
was Walt Disney's secretary.
558
00:31:19,378 --> 00:31:22,948
{\an8}So here you have Ron Miller
pulling in Walt Disney's secretary
559
00:31:23,014 --> 00:31:24,850
to make some calls
to doctors and specialists.
560
00:31:24,916 --> 00:31:27,119
{\an8}[Ron] You know, so I was losing weight.
561
00:31:27,185 --> 00:31:30,021
{\an8}Um… energy level was gone.
562
00:31:30,489 --> 00:31:32,958
So, you know,
I was literally falling apart,
563
00:31:33,024 --> 00:31:35,894
and I didn't really realize how much so.
564
00:31:36,261 --> 00:31:40,232
Got him to the doctors fast
and found out that the news wasn't good.
565
00:31:41,566 --> 00:31:43,502
[Ron] It was a neurosurgeon,
566
00:31:43,568 --> 00:31:48,507
and I remember staggering over,
going up the stairs.
567
00:31:48,573 --> 00:31:52,844
I'm really, you know,
sort of losing my physical attributes.
568
00:31:53,545 --> 00:31:56,648
After he examined me…
[chuckles] …you know, he said,
569
00:31:56,715 --> 00:31:58,250
you know, "Don't go home,
570
00:31:58,316 --> 00:32:00,652
you know, don't pass go,
don't collect 200 dollars,
571
00:32:00,719 --> 00:32:02,721
go straight over
to St. Joseph's Hospital,
572
00:32:02,788 --> 00:32:05,056
- check yourself in."
- [♪ slow sentimental music playing]
573
00:32:05,123 --> 00:32:09,628
[Ron] What it was is I had a cyst
on the back of my brain.
574
00:32:09,694 --> 00:32:13,298
How it got there,
I really wasn't quite sure.
575
00:32:13,365 --> 00:32:17,536
But what was a certainty
is that something had to be done,
576
00:32:18,069 --> 00:32:20,672
and sooner, not later.
577
00:32:21,373 --> 00:32:24,075
[LaVonne] And the doctor said,
"I just need to tell you this
578
00:32:24,142 --> 00:32:26,711
so that you're aware
of what could happen."
579
00:32:26,778 --> 00:32:29,481
"He's either gonna die
on the operating table,
580
00:32:29,548 --> 00:32:31,116
or he's gonna be paralyzed
581
00:32:31,183 --> 00:32:35,187
{\an8}from the waist down
for the rest of his life."
582
00:32:37,756 --> 00:32:41,960
I just had never had anybody
tell me anything like that.
583
00:32:42,027 --> 00:32:43,795
I mean, that was just awful.
584
00:32:44,930 --> 00:32:49,000
[Ron] They did the surgery.
It was an eight-hour brain surgery.
585
00:32:50,268 --> 00:32:53,672
[Glen] A group of us got together,
586
00:32:53,738 --> 00:32:58,143
prayed at the studio
while they were going into surgery.
587
00:32:58,210 --> 00:33:00,912
[Lorna]
Glen saying, "Let's pray for him."
588
00:33:00,979 --> 00:33:03,515
And I thought, "Of course."
589
00:33:03,582 --> 00:33:09,354
{\an8}Anything that's gonna help give Ron,
you know, that extra spiritual something.
590
00:33:09,921 --> 00:33:12,390
[LaVonne]
And it seemed like it took forever.
591
00:33:13,024 --> 00:33:15,260
Finally, he came,
and they rolled him down,
592
00:33:15,327 --> 00:33:18,497
and I went out there
and saw him, and I went out,
593
00:33:18,563 --> 00:33:22,033
and I touched him, and he was like,
he had just come out of a freezer.
594
00:33:22,534 --> 00:33:25,036
I passed out, because I… you know,
595
00:33:25,103 --> 00:33:27,205
they'd already told me
he was going to die, so,
596
00:33:27,272 --> 00:33:29,608
and that's what I was expecting to happen.
597
00:33:30,108 --> 00:33:32,544
[♪ music concludes]
598
00:33:33,478 --> 00:33:35,547
[indistinct chatter over the TV]
599
00:33:37,883 --> 00:33:42,420
[Ron] I remember waking up and seeing
Cal Worthington and his dog, Spot.
600
00:33:42,487 --> 00:33:44,956
[chuckles] That only came on
on Saturdays, right?
601
00:33:46,124 --> 00:33:48,493
What am I doing here on Saturday?
602
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,695
Oh, you had the operation, you know.
603
00:33:50,762 --> 00:33:53,431
You're waking up.
You're finally waking up.
604
00:33:54,966 --> 00:33:58,503
After surgery,
they could drain the cysts,
605
00:33:58,570 --> 00:34:02,874
and by draining the cysts,
it took pressure off my brain,
606
00:34:03,441 --> 00:34:09,114
which allowed my physical attributes
to come back to a certain extent.
607
00:34:09,180 --> 00:34:12,717
I had lost my ability to write or draw.
608
00:34:12,784 --> 00:34:14,052
[♪ slow soft music playing]
609
00:34:14,119 --> 00:34:16,655
[Glen] I remember going
and visiting him to the point
610
00:34:16,721 --> 00:34:19,291
where he was beginning to walk,
611
00:34:19,357 --> 00:34:24,462
but he could only walk
very slowly down the street.
612
00:34:24,529 --> 00:34:31,369
You didn't know… if he was going
to regain that drawing ability.
613
00:34:31,436 --> 00:34:34,139
It was so shocking
614
00:34:34,205 --> 00:34:37,208
and staggering that he was
having to go through that.
615
00:34:37,275 --> 00:34:41,613
And it took time to recover,
but he hung in there.
616
00:34:43,782 --> 00:34:47,185
[] Ron went through the surgery
and survived, thankfully.
617
00:34:47,252 --> 00:34:48,587
But it wasn't that quick.
618
00:34:48,653 --> 00:34:50,288
It wasn't like he jumped
right back into work.
619
00:34:50,355 --> 00:34:54,793
They said he wouldn't go back to work
for probably a year or two.
620
00:34:54,859 --> 00:34:56,861
Ron was back at work in six months.
621
00:34:57,329 --> 00:34:59,664
[♪ soft uplifting music playing]
622
00:35:02,467 --> 00:35:03,902
[bicycle bell dinging]
623
00:35:05,937 --> 00:35:09,174
[Don] So from the 1930s
all the way up to 1978,
624
00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:12,744
there were no Black people credited
625
00:35:12,811 --> 00:35:15,780
with the title of animator
at Disney Studios.
626
00:35:15,847 --> 00:35:18,717
If there were real pioneers
like Floyd Norman,
627
00:35:18,783 --> 00:35:22,187
who came to Disney as a trainee,
as an in-betweener,
628
00:35:22,253 --> 00:35:24,055
worked on the drawing board for a while,
629
00:35:24,122 --> 00:35:27,158
but then was plucked upstairs
by Walt Disney himself
630
00:35:27,225 --> 00:35:29,194
to work in story because Floyd, well,
631
00:35:29,260 --> 00:35:32,530
he was really funny
and his story ideas were great.
632
00:35:32,597 --> 00:35:35,900
Then there was Frank Braxton,
who really made history in Hollywood
633
00:35:35,967 --> 00:35:38,403
by becoming the first head
of the Screen Cartoonist Guild.
634
00:35:38,470 --> 00:35:41,973
And he was the only Black head
of any union
635
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,776
in Hollywood for like, 30 years.
636
00:35:44,843 --> 00:35:46,344
{\an8}And then there was Ron.
637
00:35:46,411 --> 00:35:49,214
{\an8}He was the guy
that kind of broke through it all
638
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,217
{\an8}and was the first Black animator
at Disney.
639
00:35:52,784 --> 00:35:57,756
{\an8}[Ron] I had no idea that, you know,
history was being made.
640
00:35:57,822 --> 00:35:59,090
{\an8}Word went out.
641
00:35:59,157 --> 00:36:03,928
{\an8}There was a little blurb
in one of Ebony's publications.
642
00:36:03,995 --> 00:36:06,498
{\an8}But, you know, I got a lot of fan mail.
643
00:36:06,564 --> 00:36:08,900
{\an8}Uh, I had no idea.
644
00:36:08,967 --> 00:36:11,169
You know,
I had no idea this was happening.
645
00:36:11,236 --> 00:36:15,006
So it made a real wave
in the Black community.
646
00:36:15,073 --> 00:36:17,809
[birds chirping]
647
00:36:19,844 --> 00:36:22,681
[Ron] Working on a crew doing a character,
648
00:36:22,747 --> 00:36:26,685
that was something that eluded me
for a long time.
649
00:36:26,751 --> 00:36:30,321
{\an8}He was a guy that you gave, like,
the kind of long shots to,
650
00:36:30,388 --> 00:36:31,990
{\an8}or the close-ups
of the hands turning doorknobs,
651
00:36:32,057 --> 00:36:34,559
{\an8}or he was like a backbone animator,
652
00:36:34,626 --> 00:36:38,496
but he didn't ever
really get the real sexy scenes.
653
00:36:38,963 --> 00:36:42,000
In Ron's case, he felt like
he couldn't really contribute at work
654
00:36:42,067 --> 00:36:43,868
the way he thought he wanted to,
655
00:36:43,935 --> 00:36:45,236
as hard as he tried.
656
00:36:45,970 --> 00:36:50,542
[Ron] I started getting scenes
that were less appetizing. [chuckles]
657
00:36:50,608 --> 00:36:54,813
And so that drove me to do
a little bit more experimenting
658
00:36:54,879 --> 00:36:56,548
with my pen and ink work.
659
00:36:56,614 --> 00:36:59,451
- [crowd cheering]
- [♪ suspenseful music playing]
660
00:37:02,721 --> 00:37:06,725
[Ron] What gets me started
is a photograph or so.
661
00:37:06,791 --> 00:37:10,261
So I have something
to sort of base it on.
662
00:37:10,328 --> 00:37:15,033
This whole idea of boxing came out
of doing some quick sketching
663
00:37:15,500 --> 00:37:17,936
on a boxing match that I was watching.
664
00:37:18,002 --> 00:37:19,537
[crowd cheering]
665
00:37:22,207 --> 00:37:25,176
This personal work
is intensely personal
666
00:37:25,643 --> 00:37:29,781
because Ron starts to draw a history
of his that he never knew
667
00:37:29,848 --> 00:37:32,450
from the lives of not only his mother,
668
00:37:32,517 --> 00:37:34,986
but his relatives
that he may not have ever known.
669
00:37:35,053 --> 00:37:37,088
And it's something
that Ron wanted to express.
670
00:37:37,655 --> 00:37:39,824
[Ron] My mom,
she was born in Mississippi,
671
00:37:39,891 --> 00:37:42,994
one of 14 children, living on the farm.
672
00:37:43,061 --> 00:37:46,698
And she would tell me stories
about her life in the South.
673
00:37:47,198 --> 00:37:50,935
[LaVonne] Listening to his mother talk
about them being raised in Mississippi,
674
00:37:51,002 --> 00:37:54,205
and he, for some reason,
he just picked up on that.
675
00:37:54,272 --> 00:37:57,041
And every piece that he does,
if it's not 1930s related,
676
00:37:57,108 --> 00:37:58,276
he didn't want to do it.
677
00:37:58,343 --> 00:38:01,246
[Ron] And black and white
sort of lends itself to that era.
678
00:38:03,181 --> 00:38:05,183
[♪ reflective instrumental music playing]
679
00:38:05,750 --> 00:38:09,387
And Knockout, 1930. [chuckles]
680
00:38:09,454 --> 00:38:12,590
This is, um… labor of love, right?
681
00:38:13,258 --> 00:38:15,860
You can look at that for a long time.
682
00:38:15,927 --> 00:38:18,296
You know, this is, um…
683
00:38:19,297 --> 00:38:22,500
trying to capture the emotion
of the moment.
684
00:38:22,567 --> 00:38:24,636
I've had people come up and say,
685
00:38:25,603 --> 00:38:29,007
"I saw something
that I had never seen before."
686
00:38:29,073 --> 00:38:34,412
The faces on everybody here
has got some story to tell
687
00:38:34,479 --> 00:38:40,318
as to what's going on,
and what they've just witnessed.
688
00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:44,289
[Glen] Seeing the drawings
that Huz is doing,
689
00:38:44,355 --> 00:38:49,894
they are worlds that he draws
where he draws them
690
00:38:49,961 --> 00:38:53,665
not just to do a drawing,
but to make the paper go away,
691
00:38:53,731 --> 00:38:55,500
to step into that world.
692
00:38:55,567 --> 00:38:58,736
- [bell ringing]
- [crowd cheering]
693
00:38:59,938 --> 00:39:02,740
- [camera shutter clicking]
- [crowd jeering]
694
00:39:07,245 --> 00:39:09,948
[Ron] That's what makes
storytelling so interesting,
695
00:39:10,014 --> 00:39:11,916
because you become a part of it.
696
00:39:13,151 --> 00:39:17,655
[Glen]
The kind of care and detail that he draws,
697
00:39:18,156 --> 00:39:21,025
I don't know of anybody that's
doing anything like that.
698
00:39:24,262 --> 00:39:27,265
[Yehudah] It's personal in that
he's sort of retelling
699
00:39:27,332 --> 00:39:29,868
and creating a legacy
of where he came from.
700
00:39:29,934 --> 00:39:31,636
And I think that's super important to him,
701
00:39:31,703 --> 00:39:35,306
especially from his upbringing
and his personal family situation
702
00:39:35,373 --> 00:39:37,575
and just really wanting
to tell that story
703
00:39:37,642 --> 00:39:41,546
and define himself
and connect to those roots.
704
00:39:42,113 --> 00:39:43,348
[Melissa] As a child growing up,
705
00:39:43,414 --> 00:39:45,617
there was always art on the walls,
his art, right?
706
00:39:45,683 --> 00:39:48,953
And so, like, you grew up
in a museum, basically,
707
00:39:49,020 --> 00:39:51,256
that your father created.
Like, it was just really,
708
00:39:51,322 --> 00:39:53,925
I don't know
how many other people grew up like that.
709
00:39:53,992 --> 00:39:57,295
Like, it was just a blessing.
It was just really, really beautiful.
710
00:39:57,929 --> 00:40:03,835
[LaVonne] He uses people in our lives
as the characters in his drawings.
711
00:40:03,902 --> 00:40:07,005
His family members,
his brothers, our children,
712
00:40:07,071 --> 00:40:08,406
our children's friends.
713
00:40:08,940 --> 00:40:12,377
You can sit and stare at that picture,
and you still can't find all of them.
714
00:40:13,344 --> 00:40:16,948
[] Because my dad is not so expressive
verbally all the time, this is the way
715
00:40:17,015 --> 00:40:19,684
that I have understood
who he is on the inside.
716
00:40:19,751 --> 00:40:22,587
I have learned so much
about him through, you know,
717
00:40:22,654 --> 00:40:25,189
the stuff that's on the walls
and the vignettes and moments
718
00:40:25,256 --> 00:40:26,691
and stories
that he's telling on these walls
719
00:40:26,758 --> 00:40:27,926
and why they're important to him,
720
00:40:27,992 --> 00:40:30,862
and it's really a huge window
into his soul,
721
00:40:30,929 --> 00:40:32,463
and I've always appreciated it.
722
00:40:42,941 --> 00:40:45,843
[♪ music concludes]
723
00:40:49,681 --> 00:40:52,650
[laughs]
724
00:40:53,818 --> 00:40:57,855
{\an8}[Andreas] Ron Husband had worked
with me in my Gaston team.
725
00:40:57,922 --> 00:41:00,959
{\an8}Ron had been very used
to drawing human figures
726
00:41:01,025 --> 00:41:02,860
{\an8}in his sketchbooks, live drawing classes.
727
00:41:02,927 --> 00:41:04,829
{\an8}So he was very good
at drawing humans.
728
00:41:04,896 --> 00:41:09,600
{\an8}And I remembered him really staging
and animating a lot of the fight
729
00:41:09,667 --> 00:41:12,837
between the Beast and Gaston
on the rooftop of the castle.
730
00:41:12,904 --> 00:41:15,974
- Come on out and fight!
- [thunder rumbling]
731
00:41:16,708 --> 00:41:19,243
[Andreas] He did a fantastic job there.
732
00:41:19,310 --> 00:41:22,380
And when it came to Lion King,
we all had to kind of switch gears.
733
00:41:22,447 --> 00:41:24,716
- [♪ soft uplifting music playing]
- [growls]
734
00:41:24,782 --> 00:41:29,020
One of the things I really enjoyed
about the studio was the fact
735
00:41:29,087 --> 00:41:32,857
that they gave you time
to research and really develop
736
00:41:32,924 --> 00:41:35,927
the characters that you're working on.
You know, we called it Lion King.
737
00:41:35,994 --> 00:41:37,795
They brought a lion to the studio.
738
00:41:37,862 --> 00:41:40,398
We sat and we drew lions…
739
00:41:41,265 --> 00:41:43,901
to draw those animals and see 'em
740
00:41:43,968 --> 00:41:48,673
so that we could bring an air
of believability to the animation.
741
00:41:48,806 --> 00:41:51,809
[♪ enchanting instrumental music playing]
742
00:41:52,710 --> 00:41:54,645
[indistinct chatter]
743
00:41:57,582 --> 00:41:58,783
[groans]
744
00:42:02,553 --> 00:42:07,358
Yeah, some thumbnails of Scar.
745
00:42:09,293 --> 00:42:13,031
[Andreas] Animators are actors,
but in a really strange way.
746
00:42:13,097 --> 00:42:15,867
They have to be kind
of utility hitters all the time.
747
00:42:15,933 --> 00:42:18,403
They have to be willing to crawl
into the skin of any character.
748
00:42:18,469 --> 00:42:21,172
[Ron] Yeah, this is Scar.
749
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:22,573
He's talking.
750
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:26,844
[imitating] Stick with me
and you'll never be hungry again.
751
00:42:27,645 --> 00:42:29,313
[Don] You can imagine
Ron's done all this homework,
752
00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:32,683
he's drawn, he's prepared, he's ready.
Lions, got it.
753
00:42:33,084 --> 00:42:35,019
But then the directors also noticed
754
00:42:35,086 --> 00:42:39,390
that maybe Ron would be more
comfortable in a different unit.
755
00:42:39,457 --> 00:42:42,994
[Don] The production needs warthogs.
Yeah, warthogs.
756
00:42:43,094 --> 00:42:47,365
About halfway through the picture,
I started working on Pumbaa and Timon.
757
00:42:47,432 --> 00:42:48,433
- Oh.
- Oh.
758
00:42:48,499 --> 00:42:49,867
[Don] You're an actor.
759
00:42:49,934 --> 00:42:53,604
You can do warthogs.
So you got to shift. Warthogs it is.
760
00:42:53,671 --> 00:42:55,873
- So we're giving them?
- [scoffs] Of course.
761
00:42:55,940 --> 00:42:57,275
Who's the brains in this outfit?
762
00:42:57,341 --> 00:42:58,843
- Uh…
- My point exactly.
763
00:42:58,910 --> 00:43:00,178
Jeez, I'm fried.
764
00:43:00,244 --> 00:43:02,246
Let's get out of here and find some shade.
765
00:43:02,313 --> 00:43:05,183
{\an8}[] You play this. You take this part.
I'll play this part. Ready?
766
00:43:05,249 --> 00:43:06,851
{\an8}You're gonna say
this is a stick this time,
767
00:43:06,918 --> 00:43:09,720
{\an8}because that is a stick after all.
Okay. One, two…
768
00:43:09,787 --> 00:43:12,156
[Yehudah] I kind of bonded the most
with my dad when I was working at Disney
769
00:43:12,223 --> 00:43:13,891
for that short time on Lion King.
770
00:43:13,958 --> 00:43:15,827
And my dad's just a quiet person.
771
00:43:15,893 --> 00:43:18,463
Like, you know, he's very reserved
in his emotions and all that.
772
00:43:18,529 --> 00:43:19,530
For a long time,
773
00:43:19,597 --> 00:43:20,865
I felt like I didn't really know him,
know him.
774
00:43:20,932 --> 00:43:24,569
And then we were in this--
Disney has dudes', like, acting classes.
775
00:43:24,635 --> 00:43:27,038
And then they paired me with my dad,
and I was like… I was like,
776
00:43:27,105 --> 00:43:29,006
"I do not-- like,
my dad is not that kind of person."
777
00:43:29,073 --> 00:43:31,109
I mean, he was, like,
hamming it up and acting.
778
00:43:31,175 --> 00:43:32,410
I was like, "Who is this guy?"
779
00:43:32,477 --> 00:43:35,780
[all] Oh, a stick. This is a stick.
A what? A stick.
780
00:43:35,847 --> 00:43:39,150
A what? A stick. Oh, a stick. Oh, a ball.
This is a ball. A what?
781
00:43:39,250 --> 00:43:42,086
This is what he does at work.
Like, this is what I've missed this.
782
00:43:42,153 --> 00:43:44,856
Like, how am I, like, waiting until
I'm like, 20 years old,
783
00:43:44,922 --> 00:43:47,058
- and I'm just now seeing all this.
- [laughs]
784
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:52,363
[Randy] Ron Husband,
illustrious animator here.
785
00:43:53,264 --> 00:43:57,735
I've talked about how Ron
worked his ass off, like, every single day
786
00:43:58,836 --> 00:44:01,906
- [Randy] You're not sketching?
- [Rob] Trying to work out a scene here.
787
00:44:01,973 --> 00:44:03,474
Oh, okay.
788
00:44:03,541 --> 00:44:06,677
From my early days at Disney,
I would see this guy
789
00:44:06,744 --> 00:44:10,781
sitting out and drawing on a sketchbook
all the time, every break we had.
790
00:44:10,848 --> 00:44:13,117
[Kirk] Even during break time,
when all of us were happy
791
00:44:13,184 --> 00:44:16,120
to put down our pencils,
Ron is drawing. [chuckles]
792
00:44:16,187 --> 00:44:17,722
{\an8}And God love him for it,
793
00:44:17,788 --> 00:44:20,725
{\an8}because we were
the beneficiaries of that.
794
00:44:20,791 --> 00:44:26,330
The first character he got to supervise
was the goat in Hunchback of Notre Dame.
795
00:44:26,397 --> 00:44:28,432
And it was like a light clicked on.
796
00:44:28,499 --> 00:44:32,003
You know, he was just like,
all those years suddenly paid off,
797
00:44:32,069 --> 00:44:33,504
and he was suddenly great.
798
00:44:33,571 --> 00:44:37,542
It wasn't like he was like, "Oh, kind
of struggling to kind of get it."
799
00:44:37,608 --> 00:44:39,777
He was like, "boom!" He got it right away.
800
00:44:40,378 --> 00:44:42,980
And to the best of my knowledge,
Ron animated
801
00:44:43,047 --> 00:44:45,216
every single shot of Djali in the movie.
[chuckles]
802
00:44:45,283 --> 00:44:46,317
[Djali bleats]
803
00:44:46,384 --> 00:44:48,252
[♪ whimsical music playing]
804
00:44:48,319 --> 00:44:50,821
So after The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
um…
805
00:44:50,888 --> 00:44:54,592
me, Don, and Gary started talking,
and Tad Murphy, the writer,
806
00:44:54,659 --> 00:44:58,362
started talking a lot about what sort
of movie we'd like to make next.
807
00:44:58,429 --> 00:45:03,301
All of us had this desire
to tell an action-adventure story,
808
00:45:03,367 --> 00:45:07,371
kind of as though, you know,
we walked down Main Street in Disneyland,
809
00:45:07,438 --> 00:45:10,341
and instead of going straight
through into the castle for a third time,
810
00:45:10,408 --> 00:45:14,011
we decided to turn left at the hub
and go to Adventureland this time.
811
00:45:15,146 --> 00:45:18,583
And that's exactly how we pitched
Atlantis to Michael Eisner.
812
00:45:19,183 --> 00:45:21,953
And as soon as we said that,
he leaned in.
813
00:45:22,019 --> 00:45:26,390
That's what this is all about, right?
I mean, discovery, teamwork, adventure.
814
00:45:26,457 --> 00:45:28,059
When I first talked with Fer and Gary
815
00:45:28,125 --> 00:45:31,996
about coming aboard on Atlantis,
there was a number of characters
816
00:45:32,063 --> 00:45:35,900
that had not been cast,
and Dr. Sweet was one of 'em.
817
00:45:35,967 --> 00:45:37,201
[Kirk] Dr. Sweet.
818
00:45:37,268 --> 00:45:40,972
who was going to be kind
of the ship's surgeon, the team doctor.
819
00:45:41,539 --> 00:45:45,943
Some of our artists were
doing exploratory drawings of him
820
00:45:46,010 --> 00:45:48,079
as being this big, hulking,
handsome Black man,
821
00:45:48,145 --> 00:45:50,448
but with a tremendous sense of humor.
822
00:45:50,514 --> 00:45:52,717
So even though
he was very good at his job,
823
00:45:52,783 --> 00:45:56,320
he had kind of a sly,
kind of a winking sense of humor
824
00:45:56,387 --> 00:46:00,191
where you never quite
knew if he was kidding or not. [chuckles]
825
00:46:00,258 --> 00:46:02,927
Get back. I've got soap,
and I'm not afraid to use it.
826
00:46:03,494 --> 00:46:06,497
I don't remember it ever really
being a matter of discussion.
827
00:46:06,564 --> 00:46:09,467
It was like,
who are we gonna get for Dr. Sweet?
828
00:46:09,533 --> 00:46:13,170
I think, I mean, it was just like,
"Let's let Ron do it."
829
00:46:13,237 --> 00:46:14,672
- Phil Morris.
- [Phil] Hey.
830
00:46:14,739 --> 00:46:16,641
- Hello, Phil. How you doing?
- Nice to meet you.
831
00:46:16,707 --> 00:46:19,310
Vinny's playing Dr. Sweet.
Sweet meet Vinny.
832
00:46:19,910 --> 00:46:24,015
{\an8}When I met Ron and I shook his hand…
that dude's got some strong hands.
833
00:46:24,548 --> 00:46:27,451
{\an8}This is a legitimate specimen
of a human being.
834
00:46:27,518 --> 00:46:31,756
I went to his office and saw all
of the character studies
835
00:46:31,822 --> 00:46:34,225
and all the things
that he was working with.
836
00:46:34,292 --> 00:46:36,861
To see his own tools,
to be in his own space,
837
00:46:36,927 --> 00:46:39,063
- to have him share that with me…
- [♪ intriguing music playing]
838
00:46:39,130 --> 00:46:40,798
…I knew he was a special man.
839
00:46:41,399 --> 00:46:43,868
And I knew we were
doing something really special.
840
00:46:43,934 --> 00:46:47,071
[Floyd] I knew Phil,
but I knew his dad, Greg Morris…
841
00:46:47,138 --> 00:46:48,706
[chuckles] …who was also an actor.
842
00:46:48,773 --> 00:46:52,677
{\an8}And Greg Morris was
on the first Mission Impossible TV show.
843
00:46:52,743 --> 00:46:54,712
[host] I guess we better meet
that boy right now.
844
00:46:54,779 --> 00:46:57,281
- Then Greg, your son, Phil.
- [audience applauding]
845
00:46:58,115 --> 00:47:00,651
[Phil] These were not just artists.
These were superheroes.
846
00:47:01,118 --> 00:47:05,589
They superseded and excelled
in an industry that was not for them.
847
00:47:05,656 --> 00:47:08,726
He's a hardworking man,
but whenever he can spare the time,
848
00:47:08,793 --> 00:47:10,961
he spends it with my sisters and myself.
849
00:47:11,028 --> 00:47:12,563
It was not created for them.
850
00:47:12,630 --> 00:47:13,831
It did not look like them.
851
00:47:13,898 --> 00:47:16,033
But they were determined to change that.
852
00:47:17,134 --> 00:47:19,870
Disney and Disneyland,
just by its own nature,
853
00:47:19,937 --> 00:47:21,372
wasn't thinking about us.
854
00:47:21,439 --> 00:47:23,708
Like, so we didn't get a chance
855
00:47:23,774 --> 00:47:28,012
to kind of be a part
of the fabric of the fiber.
856
00:47:28,079 --> 00:47:30,481
{\an8}I've heard a lot of people say
if you can't see it,
857
00:47:30,548 --> 00:47:33,017
{\an8}you can't be it
when it comes to being a woman
858
00:47:33,084 --> 00:47:34,819
or a person of color doing this.
859
00:47:34,885 --> 00:47:38,522
You know, eventually,
as Black folks really started
860
00:47:38,622 --> 00:47:45,329
to shape the landscape, culture, music,
what you're wearing, you know,
861
00:47:45,396 --> 00:47:47,698
how you speaking, all of this stuff
862
00:47:47,765 --> 00:47:51,035
just started to really kind
of shape and curl in.
863
00:47:51,502 --> 00:47:54,472
And it was just a matter of time
before the bandwidth of content
864
00:47:54,538 --> 00:47:57,308
started to really sort of allow us
to kind of jump in.
865
00:47:57,375 --> 00:47:59,176
And we all wanted
to be a part of the dream.
866
00:47:59,243 --> 00:48:00,344
[Phil] As a child,
867
00:48:00,411 --> 00:48:04,915
I was an animating nerd.
I loved animation.
868
00:48:05,316 --> 00:48:08,552
So as an adult, to get a Walt Disney film
869
00:48:08,986 --> 00:48:11,555
and to do Dr. Sweet, who was the first…
870
00:48:11,956 --> 00:48:14,658
human representation
of an African-American
871
00:48:14,725 --> 00:48:17,261
in a Walt Disney major feature film.
872
00:48:17,328 --> 00:48:21,365
So, oh yeah, we saw a huge change.
873
00:48:21,432 --> 00:48:23,934
My Lord! I can't say it too loud.
874
00:48:24,001 --> 00:48:28,706
That's, you know, that's kind
of when animation becomes magic, you know,
875
00:48:28,773 --> 00:48:32,877
when you put these different elements
together, and out comes this character.
876
00:48:35,012 --> 00:48:37,114
[♪ intriguing music playing]
877
00:48:37,882 --> 00:48:41,352
Roy Edward Disney,
the nephew of Walt Disney,
878
00:48:41,786 --> 00:48:43,521
wanted to create a new Fantasia.
879
00:48:43,587 --> 00:48:47,358
Roy felt like this is part of the legacy
of Walt Disney, we have to do this.
880
00:48:47,758 --> 00:48:49,026
One of the sequences
881
00:48:49,093 --> 00:48:51,729
is a breathtaking finale
to the whole movie.
882
00:48:52,463 --> 00:48:55,399
There's an elk in it,
and the elk is a symbolic character,
883
00:48:55,466 --> 00:48:58,102
a mythological character,
but it's based on real elk.
884
00:48:58,169 --> 00:49:02,973
And so, being Ron Husband,
he gets on an airplane with the directors,
885
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,844
he flies into possibly
the coldest place on the planet,
886
00:49:06,911 --> 00:49:10,381
[Ron] There was a certain kind of elk,
and there was none in the local zoos.
887
00:49:10,448 --> 00:49:15,186
So they got a trip
to this elk farm in Montana.
888
00:49:15,252 --> 00:49:19,657
And I remember it had been snowing.
It was 14 below zero.
889
00:49:19,723 --> 00:49:22,593
So we're putting on these clothes.
890
00:49:22,660 --> 00:49:25,930
We look like Ralphie's little brother
in Christmas Story.
891
00:49:25,996 --> 00:49:30,367
[laughs] We were all layered up.
892
00:49:31,902 --> 00:49:34,505
{\an8}Paul and Gaetan's vision of the elk
893
00:49:34,572 --> 00:49:37,475
{\an8}was that he was going
to be real royal and majestic,
894
00:49:37,541 --> 00:49:39,276
like the king of the forest.
895
00:49:39,343 --> 00:49:44,748
I was trying to capture that nobility,
being able to walk regally.
896
00:49:44,815 --> 00:49:48,652
So that's a challenge of a character
that doesn't have dialogue.
897
00:49:53,290 --> 00:49:55,726
[♪ music concludes]
898
00:49:57,027 --> 00:50:00,498
[Fox] All right, Ron, we've got some
of your rough animation in here.
899
00:50:00,564 --> 00:50:01,565
{\an8}[Ron] All right.
900
00:50:01,632 --> 00:50:05,236
{\an8}So let's go see
if I can find the box for you.
901
00:50:07,004 --> 00:50:08,539
Let's see…
902
00:50:09,240 --> 00:50:11,008
Oh, there we are. Here it is.
903
00:50:14,044 --> 00:50:17,581
- Do you recognize any of these?
- [Ron] Oh, yeah.
904
00:50:17,648 --> 00:50:19,049
[Fox] When you're animating,
905
00:50:19,583 --> 00:50:23,120
are you… this is a silly question,
are you an elk?
906
00:50:23,187 --> 00:50:27,324
Are you putting yourself
as an elk to try to put it
907
00:50:27,391 --> 00:50:30,261
through on your pencil,
or is this more cerebral?
908
00:50:30,327 --> 00:50:32,363
- [Ron] It's probably some of both.
- Okay.
909
00:50:32,429 --> 00:50:36,667
[Ron] Initially, I'm trying to feel
what it's gonna be like
910
00:50:36,734 --> 00:50:38,602
to go from point A to point B.
911
00:50:38,669 --> 00:50:40,604
It's a very subtle movement.
912
00:50:41,338 --> 00:50:44,141
He's walking through,
coming towards camera.
913
00:50:44,208 --> 00:50:46,544
- [Fox] Mm-hmm.
- [Ron] And to accomplish that story point…
914
00:50:46,610 --> 00:50:49,246
[♪ slow soft music playing]
915
00:50:57,521 --> 00:50:59,490
[Glen] Ron doing the elk.
916
00:50:59,557 --> 00:51:03,093
I mean,
when I saw the animation that he did,
917
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,030
I didn't see the elk.
918
00:51:08,465 --> 00:51:09,767
I saw Ron.
919
00:51:12,369 --> 00:51:18,676
There's this quiet strength,
confidence, a nobility
920
00:51:18,742 --> 00:51:22,012
in that, the power of this elk,
921
00:51:22,079 --> 00:51:28,852
and a spiritual presence,
and… I thought how wonderful
922
00:51:28,919 --> 00:51:31,689
that Ron animated that,
923
00:51:31,755 --> 00:51:34,625
and animating it with all of this um…
924
00:51:35,292 --> 00:51:37,595
analysis going on,
925
00:51:37,661 --> 00:51:40,798
still really what was communicated
was him,
926
00:51:40,864 --> 00:51:44,501
from the inside out, in that character.
927
00:51:44,568 --> 00:51:47,438
And that's really the goal in animation,
928
00:51:47,504 --> 00:51:50,207
put yourself into the characters
that you animate.
929
00:51:50,274 --> 00:51:56,213
And nothing was more clearly defining Ron
than I think that character.
930
00:52:08,092 --> 00:52:11,595
- [♪ music concludes]
- [traffic whizzing]
931
00:52:15,132 --> 00:52:18,335
[Ron] There's a quote
by Jackie Robinson who said that
932
00:52:18,402 --> 00:52:20,704
"A life is not important
933
00:52:20,771 --> 00:52:23,874
except in the impact
it has on other lives."
934
00:52:23,941 --> 00:52:25,576
[♪ soft music playing]
935
00:52:25,643 --> 00:52:28,045
And that's the way I would like
to be remembered.
936
00:52:28,445 --> 00:52:31,281
[John] When he retired,
I did this caricature of him
937
00:52:31,348 --> 00:52:38,222
as Hokusai, the great Japanese printmaker
who drew well into his old age.
938
00:52:38,288 --> 00:52:41,692
{\an8}And I called him 'Huz"-kusai.
939
00:52:41,759 --> 00:52:44,995
{\an8}And I have… I have, if you don't mind.
940
00:52:45,929 --> 00:52:48,499
I have a… I did this caricature of him.
941
00:52:48,565 --> 00:52:50,801
And there's a quote from Hokusai,
the actual artist down there.
942
00:52:50,868 --> 00:52:52,102
And I'd like to read that.
943
00:52:53,671 --> 00:52:55,372
[Ron] Okay, ladies and gentlemen.
944
00:52:55,439 --> 00:52:58,275
{\an8}We're gonna start in a quick minute.
945
00:52:59,777 --> 00:53:03,280
And Hokusai said, "From the age of 16,
946
00:53:03,347 --> 00:53:06,150
I had a mania
for drawing all shapes of things.
947
00:53:06,216 --> 00:53:09,219
When I was 50,
I had published a universe of designs,
948
00:53:09,286 --> 00:53:13,290
but all I had done before the age of 70
is not even worth bothering about.
949
00:53:13,357 --> 00:53:16,627
At 75,
I have learned something of the pattern
950
00:53:16,694 --> 00:53:19,663
of nature, of animals,
of plants, of trees,
951
00:53:19,730 --> 00:53:21,598
of birds, fish, and insects.
952
00:53:21,665 --> 00:53:25,135
When I am 80, you will see real progress.
953
00:53:25,202 --> 00:53:29,006
At 90, I shall cut my way deeply
into the mystery of life itself.
954
00:53:29,073 --> 00:53:32,176
And at a 110, everything I create,
955
00:53:32,242 --> 00:53:35,446
a dot, a line,
will jump to life as never before."
956
00:53:35,512 --> 00:53:38,515
Think about form you're trying to create.
957
00:53:39,049 --> 00:53:40,884
There's this wonderful tradition
in the arts
958
00:53:40,951 --> 00:53:42,986
that goes back thousands of years
959
00:53:43,053 --> 00:53:45,656
of masters and apprentices.
960
00:53:45,723 --> 00:53:47,825
For all of us to sit there
and hear Eric Larson say,
961
00:53:47,891 --> 00:53:50,694
you know,
"Here's what I know from Walt Disney."
962
00:53:50,761 --> 00:53:52,262
"Here's what I know
from making all these movies.
963
00:53:52,329 --> 00:53:53,931
Now it's up to you."
964
00:53:54,631 --> 00:53:58,335
And now to look at Ron saying,
"Well, here's what I know from Eric Larson
965
00:53:58,402 --> 00:54:01,238
and what I've learned from my career
and from the bumps and bruises
966
00:54:01,305 --> 00:54:04,608
and all the ups and downs
of a life in the arts.
967
00:54:05,075 --> 00:54:06,777
And I'm gonna give that to you."
968
00:54:06,844 --> 00:54:09,079
As a human being,
we have to share that.
969
00:54:09,146 --> 00:54:11,215
And Ron's gift is his amazing drawing,
970
00:54:11,782 --> 00:54:14,651
and now he's giving it generously
to the next generation.
971
00:54:15,853 --> 00:54:18,122
"To all of you who are going
to live as long as I do,
972
00:54:18,188 --> 00:54:19,690
I promise to keep my word.
973
00:54:20,357 --> 00:54:21,959
I am writing this in my old age.
974
00:54:22,392 --> 00:54:24,695
I used to call myself Hokusai,
975
00:54:24,762 --> 00:54:29,666
but today I sign myself
the old man mad about drawing."
976
00:54:30,267 --> 00:54:32,102
To me, that is Ron Husband.
977
00:54:33,337 --> 00:54:34,872
[Ron] What do you see?
978
00:54:35,873 --> 00:54:37,508
How about the proportions?
979
00:54:37,574 --> 00:54:39,409
Heads too small, legs too long.
980
00:54:40,511 --> 00:54:44,281
As artists, you paint a painting,
you do a sculpture.
981
00:54:44,815 --> 00:54:45,949
It's not for us.
982
00:54:46,517 --> 00:54:49,119
It's for other people
to enjoy what we do.
983
00:54:49,186 --> 00:54:51,655
And so that's part of my motivation.
984
00:54:52,122 --> 00:54:56,527
For as long as I can, you know,
I'm going to be pushing that pencil.
985
00:55:03,767 --> 00:55:06,236
[announcer] How fitting that tonight
we gather to honor
986
00:55:06,303 --> 00:55:08,438
one of Citrus' own success stories.
987
00:55:08,939 --> 00:55:13,377
Tonight, we induct Mr. Husband
into this category
988
00:55:13,443 --> 00:55:15,479
as a member of Distinguished Alum.
989
00:55:15,546 --> 00:55:18,882
The Distinguished Alumni Award honors
those who have achieved
990
00:55:18,949 --> 00:55:21,718
a high level of accomplishment
and recognition
991
00:55:21,785 --> 00:55:26,590
in his or her chosen career field,
make significant contributions
992
00:55:26,657 --> 00:55:28,492
to the wellbeing
of their communities,
993
00:55:28,559 --> 00:55:31,461
and demonstrate high
moral and ethical principles.
994
00:55:31,528 --> 00:55:34,965
[crowd cheering]
995
00:55:35,032 --> 00:55:38,268
[Ron] I'm so blessed and humbled.
996
00:55:38,702 --> 00:55:44,374
So this night is just, as my son
would say, off the chain.
997
00:55:44,441 --> 00:55:48,579
[♪ uplifting, upbeat music playing]
998
00:56:11,368 --> 00:56:14,371
[♪ music fades]