More on Ollie Johnston
I never realized until today, how difficult it is to find a photo of Ollie Johnston that doesn’t also have Frank Thomas in it. I think that says something about their friendship.
Anyway, NPR has posted their remembrance of Ollie Johnston. It is an interesting listen, as they talk about an artist who worked in such a visual medium. They really do convey the feeling of his work, even without any visuals.
Someone asked me what my favorite work by Ollie was, and I really had to think about it. Smee from “Peter Pan”, and Merlin from “The Sword in the Stone” are both high on my list, but I think Brer Rabbit is my personal favorite.
The tar baby sequence from “Song of the South” is a great one. Political correctness discussions aside, there is much to admire about this sequence (starts at 3:11).
The action is much more frantic than most of Ollie’s other work. There is also a lot of really nice voice work which is animated expertly. The stammering of the characters and he subtle facial expressions are great. The range of expressions and emotions that Brer Fox and Brer Bear go through is quite huge.
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