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2011, 02-22:
Report on: Q&A with “BAMBI” – DONNIE DUNEGAN (Voice) & ANDREAS DEJA (animator)
Is it wise to give a “RATING” when the folks are “TWITTERPATING”?!...
In 1942, WALT DISNEY Studios released its 5th animated feature, “BAMBI”. It was opened at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, &, partly because it was wartime (World War II), it initially did not do well financially…
… The film (voted # 3 of the Best 10 movies in the Animation genre by the American Film Institute in 2008) was re-released theatrically in 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982 & 1988. There were VHS releases in home video starting in 1989, 1997, & a Digitally “Re-Mastered” / Restored “Platinum” version around 2005…
… As a prelude to the March 1, 2011 release of a BLU-RAY version of the film, the studio held a special screening of the original film at Chicago’s Museum Of Contemporary Art on 2-21-11…
… Hosting the event was JEFFREY EPSTEIN, who moderates an internet “DISNEY GEEK” show for the D-23 Collectors Club (named for the fact that Walt Disney went to California in 1923). There were a number of Club members in attendance (along with film students and the general public)…
… Mr. Epstein started the event by asking a number of Disney-related questions -- about their movies, their chartered cruise ships, their various Parks, etc. He gave away some soundtracks + Collector pins & Epcot patches to those answering correctly (& it was amazing how much “trivial” information is known by some people!)...
… Then, after speaking of how there would be special movie-related GUESTS after the film was projected, the movie was shown to the public on a good-sized screen … The motion picture -- which was always one of my mother’s favorites -- still “HOLDS UP” as a wonderful, charming, beautifully-executed piece of animation work…
… Mr. Epstein then introduced the original VOICE of the young “Bambi”, spry DONNIE DUNAGEN. He enthusiastically gave a bunch of fascinating HISTORY on himself & his roles in film. Donnie (born in 1934) was in a number of films starting at 4 years old [beginning in “MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS”, released in 1938)…
… In 1939, he played the title character in “THE SON OF FRANKENSTEIN”. Being from the south (Texas & TN), he had to work to “hide” his accent when he spoke loudly for the mics (& gave us examples of that)…
… To do the role in “BAMBI”, he was called in to the DISNEY studios. They were a comparatively “RELAXED” movie company, & the people there were generally very friendly towards him. In the past, studios often used voices of ADULT stars to play young kids, but they wanted an actual kid to play his “BAMBI” role…
… When asked (by Jeffrey & audience members), Donnie related how he was 6½ when called in to do the role, & they did not tell him “HOW” to act-- they wanted him to be “NATURAL” in his delivery… To do his voice recording, they put him (& others) in “open”-fronted SOUND booths, with a large dynamic microphone hanging down from the ceiling…
… Donnie related that, while he did meet the girl playing the female deer “Faline” [CAMMIE KING], he NEVER actually met the young person [PETER BEHN] playing the role of personable rabbit “Thumper” in many scenes with him, as his role was recorded separately…
… As Donnie commented to the audience, he RETIRED from acting after the “BAMBI” role, just wanting to be a normal “KID”… Later [when 18 in 1952], he joined the MARINES & served there for 25 years [until 1977]. ..
… Until like 5 years ago (around 2006 when he was 72), he never TALKED to “outside” people of how he’d once been an ACTOR. He purprosely didn’t want his military comrades to know he was once the voice of “BAMBI”, for fear they’d “NICKNAME” him that & he’d never “live it down” in his military career!...
… But then, for a function, he was contacted by someone involved with DISNEY, & he agreed to attend an event for them. Since then, he’s really ENJOYED talking about his past acting life!...
… He’d conversed with Jeffrey before the show, & had asked Jeff to ask him what he most “WANTS” from Disney. Jeff did that, not knowing what he was going to say:
… Donnie recalled how, when he was working at the Disney studio for the “BAMBI” role, someone had given him a metal German-made WATER-pistol. Being a young kid, he liked playing “games”, &, when he saw a guy who was comparatively “gruff” at the set, he SHOT him with the pistol, & the guy “sputtered” as he was all wet, which Donnie (then 6½) thought was very funny… But, the guy he’d shot did not think it was very humorous, complained, & had someone take the water-pistol AWAY from him…
… Well, the one & only thing he’d especially “like” from Disney-- is the return of that old WATER GUN, as a memento!... The audience laughed, & Jeffrey said, well, he’d have to see if such a thing still “existed” in the studio archives!...
…. Jeff THANKED Donnie for all his years of work with the Marines, including in Vietnam… [I later found out that, what Donnie did not relate, was that he was the YOUNGEST-EVER DRILL instructor in the Corps, & at one time worked in counter-intelligence]…
… Donnie gave more details on the work he’d done in “BAMBI”, including how WALT DISNEY enjoyed jumping in & HELPING-OUT with elements of making the movie, & how KIND he was to him & the other young people making the film…
… Donnie also revealed that it personally took him a few “viewings” to fully UNDERSTAND just what happened to his MOTHER in the film…. Partly because of his work in it, he decided he never wanted to ever shoot any ANIMAL, & he never did-- except with a CAMERA (which allows him to “re-live” the experiences)!...
… Using one of the lines from the film, said he himself had gotten “TWITTERPATED” (become enamoured with someone), & the proof of that was the fact that his WIFE of many years was in the audience tonight!... (The audience happily applauded at that… The word originated in the movie-- although “twitter” had been used since the 17th Century to describe trembling in “anticipation”)…
… Jeffrey then talked to one of Disney’s prime ANIMATORS, ANDREAS DEJA, who was the animation consultant on their 2006 film “BAMBI II”. It was considered a “MID-QUEL”, in that it dealt with how the Great Prince (his father) worked to help RAISE Bambi after his mother was killed in the original film…
… [In the U.S., that film was a “direct-to-VIDEO” release-- tho, in some 25 or so countries (in Europe, Australia, etc.), it was shown as a THEATRICAL release)…
… To questions from Jeffrey & the audience, Andreas related how he was hired by Disney around the mid-1980’s, with one of the original “BAMBI” animators as one of his mentors. That men is still alive, at 100 years old!...
… Since coming to Disney, Andreas has worked on numerous projects [including 1985’s “THE BLACK CAULDRON”, 1986’s “THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE’, 1988’s “WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT”, 1989’s “THE LITTLE MERMAID”, of “Gaston” in 1991’s ‘BEAUTY & THE BEAST”, & “Jafar” in 1992’s “ALADDIN”…]
… [… He’s also been supervising animator of villain lion “Scar” in 1994’s “THE LION KING”, the adult “Hercules” in the 1997 movie of that name, of “Lilo” in 2002’s “LILO & STITCH”, “Queen Narissa” in 2007’s “ENCHANTED” , of Mama Odie” & “Juju” in 2009’s “THE PRINCESS & THE FROG”, & he’s supervising animator of “Tigger” in “WINNIE THE POOH” due out later in 2011…]
… Andreas showed various EXAMPLES he’d brought of some of the work done in 2006 on the “Thumper” & “Bambi” characters in “BAMBI II”, & explained how important the ORIGINAL “BAMBI” was in helping animators learn how to do lots of different “STYLES” for animation, such as the exceptionally “NATURAL”-looking movements of animals, [the multiplane cameras], etc….
… At one point, he used a board & quickly DREW a “BAMBI” character for the audience… To urging by an audience member who wanted to BUY the drawing, Jeff & Andreas agreed to give away the item to someone who could answer a TRIVIA question about Disney films (which, after a few tries, was finally won by a very knowledgable man in the audience)…
… Andreas (& at times Donnie) spoke more about the inner WORKINGS of producing animated films, how Disney intends to CONTINUE making animated films (besides in their PIXAR division), etc.…
… Audience members enjoyed asking technical questions including what they could do for a possible CAREER in such work. (Andreas urged students to spend a lot of time looking at live animals in zoos & the like, to get a good “feel” for movement & muscular structures & all)…
… AFTER the talk, Donnie (assisted by his wife) & Andreas were kind enough to SIGN items for the audience members-- books, a special “BAMBI”-on-Blu-Ray announcement CARD brought along, etc. They were very GRACIOUS to everyone, even posing for PHOTOS when requested…
… I thanked DONNIE for his fascinating & enthusiastic reminiscences for the audience…
... A couple young men ahead of me in line (seemingly animation students) commented to ANDREAS on how much they LOVED work he’d done, + the interesting talk he’d given…
… When they asked Andreas what his “favorite” character was, he said, he doesn’t HAVE a single “favorite”: what especially appeals to him is trying to get “EMOTIONS” into the characters he draws, to try to give people a “FEEL for what “steers” them “inside” as individuals…
… For example, he loved aspects of “SCAR”, which were greatly “added-to” by the wonderful VOCAL work done [by JEREMY IRONS], who he said could sound great just reading “the phone book”… He also much enjoyed doing elements to show the character of villain “JAFAR”, etc…
… To his having spoken of how he enjoyed working on elements of “MAMA ODIE”, I commented on how I was fascinated by the way that character reminded me of a friend of mine, IRMA P. HALL in her “Aunt T” role in the movie “A FAMILY THING”…
… He said, he’d never heard of that film, & I gave him the “link” to my web-site on which I (at the end of my “PRINCESS & THE FROG” review at: http://voice-of-film.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-of-film-princess-and-frog.html ) show an example of the similarity…
… At one point, various Disney employees demonstrated to me (& others in the crowd in the lobby) how their new BLU-RAY version looks; with it’s super-sharp & wonderfully saturated colors & all, as Donnie had commented during his talk, it’s almost like looking at a whole “NEW” movie in certain ways…
… One of the fascinating elements is the addition of an interactive “SECOND SCREEN”, wherein you (on a desktop or tablet) have the ability to access numerous things such as original ARTWORK devised for the film, move back & forth to specific “spots” in the movie, etc…
… It seems to be an EXCELLENTLY done project (which you can see in the photo I’m enclosing of the display), & a fitting “companion” to the captivating SCREENING & Q&A we’d just experienced…
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