Channel Frederator Blog

John Canemaker interviewed Richard Williams Monday night at MOMA. The event was sold out and the place was packed with students, as Willliam’s book The Animator’s Survival Kit is an essential read for animation majors around the world.
Williams is always an entertaining speaker, fond of leaping out of his chair to act out anecdotes. He presented clips from:

• The Little Island (his first short)
• A Christmas Carol (his first Oscar win)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (more Oscars)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
• Return of the Pink Panther titles
• Amazing “The Greedy” sequence from Raggedy Ann and Andy (animated by Emery Hawkins)
• Trailer for The Thief and The Cobbler (never released in its proper form)
• Commercial Reel

The night was very much a chance to promote the release of a 16 DVD version of his well-regarded Animation Masterclass. The Animation Survival Kit Animated consists of Williams “performing” the class live at Blue Sky Studios (about ten years ago) intercut with animated examples that illustrate his ideas. Okay, so the set costs over $900, but at least most art schools will buy one.

After the jump, some choice quotes from the evening. Also, the Return of the Pink Panther titles in teeny tiny form on the ubiquitous YouTube…

• Regarding his time interviewing great animators like Milt Kahl, Art Babbitt, and Grim Natwick: “I sank my fangs into their necks until they bled.”
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was “a cartoon of a cartoon”. Zemeckis didn’t want him to upstage the rest of the movie, suggesting that he “…just make me a good Tom and Jerry.”
• “What’s my friend’s name? He’s dead.” (Trying to remember the name of British producer Ned Sherrin. Hey, it happens to all of us!)
• “Ick! The Bouncing Ball!”

—Anne D. Bernstein