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A MOUSE
CLUBHOUSE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
HOWARD GREEN
talks about re-discovering missing Disney people
by Scott Wolf
 I've
long known of renowned Disney animation expert Howard Green, whose
official job is Vice President, Studio Communications for the Walt
Disney Studios.
I had never met Howard but had heard nothing but great things about him.
So when Kathryn Beaumont and her husband Allen offered to hook me up
with him, I jumped at the chance.
After meeting him, it was plain to see why so many legendary Disney
personalities raved about him. He's simply a great guy, instantly
likable. It's a joy to share his stories with you.
Howard Green: One fun thing about having been involved in animation and
having become the animation expert at Disney in terms of publicity, I’ve
discovered a lot of people who were missing, starting with Virginia
Davis back in the ‘70s (Virginia Davis was Walt Disney’s first
live action actress in one of his earliest films in 1924).
Mary Costa (the voice of Princess Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty”) hadn’t
really been in touch with the studio for a long time until ’79 when we
had the 20th anniversary of “Sleeping Beauty” when we struck a new print
of the 70mm film. We did a big thing at USC, a screening, and Mary Costa
came.
(Veteran Disney Animators) Frank (Thomas) and Ollie (Johnston) hadn’t
seen the movie in twenty years because they didn’t like the movie… the
(Art Director) Eyvind Earle designs were tough on the animators because
they felt that it would compete with the animation and the style was
weird with them. They hadn’t seen it for twenty years and had a negative
impression of the movie and they went and saw it again and they loved
it. So we had a great evening down there.
 Kathryn
Beaumont (pictured here at the El Capitan) had been a teacher in Toluca
Lake and I knew somebody who said, “You know, my son has a teacher who
used to do a voice at Disney,” and I said, “You’re kidding?” and I
started looking into it and I found Kathryn Beaumont.
Another great one is Peter Behn, the voice of Thumper, one of the
greatest voices of all-time hadn’t been connected with the studio in
many many years, forty or more, and I said to my friend Charles Solomon
who was writing the film reviews for the L.A. Times, “Boy, we’d sure
like to find that Peter Behn,” and he put out an item in the paper that
got picked up by the wire services and the next thing I know I get a
call from Warren, Vermont, where any good rabbit would be... in a warren
(and a “warren” by definition is a place where rabbits live). It was
Peter Behn, and he had read about it and he heard the studio was looking
for him and he came to me.
Even more recently we found the voice of Bambi, Donnie Dunagan, and just
in the past two years, we found him in time for the new DVD that came
out. Literally it was sixty years, after the movie he was not in touch
with the studio.
With “Peter Pan” recently I had set out to find the voice of Michael,
who was the son of (animator) Ham Luske. I tracked down other Luske
relatives and I found out that he had died in a car accident in the
‘90s.
 Then
I randomly started looking up the voice of John (Paul Collins) and I saw
there’s a guy listed on IMDB (Internet Movie Database) who had credits,
although IMDB can throw you off sometimes... you have to take it with a
grain of salt.
But, I started tracking it down, and thru casting and SAG (Screen Actors
Guild) I found the actor and he came to our big event (and panel
discussion) at the El Capitan (pictured here at that event with Margaret
Kerry, the live action model for Tinker Bell).
More from Howard:
His start with Disney
See other interviews
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by
the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee
and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse
Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims
made or opinions expressed within.
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