"Disney's Gettin' Lazy" 3: Whatever Happened to Bambi's Mother?

To many, the death of Bambi's Mother is the single saddest moment in all of film history. But don't worry folks, Bambi's Mom is alive & well! In fact, she came back to play a role in many movies since then. Personally, I think she holds the record of most appearances in a Disney film.

The big questions from me are 1) Who animated the original scene of Bambi's Mother eating grass, looking up & running away (Frank Thomas? Ollie Hohnston? Eric Larson? Who?...) & 2) Did the animator in question get credit for it when it was reused in the later films? Can anybody answer this for me?

Special thanks to Hans Perk & Michael Sporn!

*UPDATE* - Hans Perk pulled out his animator drafts for Bambi & wrote about his findings in the comments:

"Hi Michael, I had a look at the draft for Prod. 2002 (Bambi), Seq.09.2-"Death of the Mother." Directed by James Algar, layout by Dave Hilberman, animated by (drum roll...) Art Elliott. He animated Sc.8 (21-00ft on a 6½F setup), Sc.9 (9-00ft on 5F setup) where mother whispers "Bambi!" and Sc.10 (5-07ft on 5F setup) where mother says "Quick! The thicket!" (followed by some scenes by Bill Justice).

I did not check the other drafts yet, but normally reuse like this is not credited, as--again--the drafts were not prepared for crediting animators but for tracking the responsible person on any current production. Thus, most likely the person RE-animating the scene will be credited..."

Thanks again for the info, Hans!

"Disney's Gettin' Lazy" #2 - Mr. Toad & Jungle Book

For the chase scene at King Louie's Palace in The Jungle Book (1967), the animators thought: "Hey guys, we don't have to animate anything new! Let's just break out some 20-year-old animation from Mr. Toad & trace over Ratty, Moley & Mr. Winkie with King Louie, Baloo & Bagheera! & don't forget to replace the deed to Toad Hall with Mowgli, alright fellas?!"

I vaguely remember some animation from Mr. Toad where Toad is hanging from the chandelier & saving Moley from decapitation & Ratty from a bunch of weasels was reused for another Disney film, but I can't remember exactly what film it was. Maybe Robin Hood? If anybody can enlighten me on this, let me know & I'll compile & post it here as Part II.

Thanks & remember to leave comments!

*UPDATE* - Hans Perk & Michael Sporn both let me know (at almost exactly the same time!) about a translated Russian article about Disney animation reuse. You can find the article here: http://www.prodisney.ru/index.php?page=clones.php . Part I is translated in English, but if you want to read parts II & III, you have to translate the webpages using BabelFish.

Thanks again Hans & Mike!

The Bare Necessities

Just a little over 24 hours ago, the new Platinum Edition DVD of Disney's Jungle Book hit the shelves! Unlike some of the last few Platinum Editions that have come out (Peter Pan immediately comes to mind), this edition seems to be chock full of bonus goodies, including a deleted character feature, "Making Of" documentary, art galleries, interviews & most importantly... an AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK!

Even though it's not my absolute favorite Disney film (Fantasia tops my list), this ranks pretty high up there. Like many other animators, this film is a pretty big inspiration to why I'm in animation today.

If you are a Disney fan, animation fan or just a fan, do yourself a favor & run out to your local video store & pick this baby up ASAP (except if you're a fan of Kipling's original book).

Just 'Trust in Me'! Go get it pronto!