Les Clark: The Other Man Behind the Mouse

You might remember from some of my other blogs that I’ve acknowledged some of the top animators at Disney Studios throughout Walt Disney’s time, otherwise known as Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men. Each of the “Nine Old Men,” made unique contributions to the studio, and their influence on animation continues. Though I haven’t shared the stories of all nine of the men just yet, today I’d like to tell you about one who drew many classic Disney characters—including Mickey Mouse,—and was the first of the “Nine Old Men,” to be hired at the studio: Les Clark.

  Leslie James “Les” Clark was born in Ogden, Utah on November 17th, 1907. His family relocated Los Angeles in the mid-1920’s where he attended Venice High School. While there, he worked a summer job at an ice cream shop near the Walt Disney Studios, where he designed the lettering of the menus. Walt and Roy Disney regularly visited the ice cream shop and Walt immediately became intrigued by Les’s drawing gift when he saw the ice cream menus, complimenting him on his work. Les was moved by the compliment and although nervous, he asked Walt for a job. Walt replied, “Bring some of your drawings in and let’s see what they look like.” He brought in freehand copies of cartoons that he had created in college, and Walt said that he admired Les’s “swift, deft graphic line,” and hired him, though he said at the time that the job might only be temporary. Little did they know at the time that Les’s employment at the studio would last for nearly half a century. 

Les Clark’s first job at Disney was as camera operator on the “Alice” Comedies and doing ink and paint on the animations. In addition to working at the studio, he also attended art classes there to improve his skills. Walt Disney’s long-term business partner, Ub Iwerks, became Clark’s mentor, and the mentorship earned Clark a job as an “inbetweener” on the short, Steamboat Willie (1928). When Iwerks left the studio, in 1930, Clark was officially promoted to animator and he became the full-time animator of Mickey Mouse. When he started Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt assigned Les to animate the dwarfs, and one of the best examples of Clark’s work at Disney is the scene in “Snow White” where she dances with each of the Seven Dwarfs. In 1940, when Pinocchio and Fantasia were in production at Disney, Les Clark worked as an animator on the character of Pinocchio and he animated the Nutcracker Suite and Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequences on Fantasia. “Nutcracker Suite,” and “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” along with the dance scene in “Snow White,” underscore what makes Les Clark special from the other “Nine Old Men,” because he became known at Disney for his unique ability to time animation to musical score as well as depicting emotion in his work. 

He made his debut as a directing animator in Song of the South in 1946. Throughout the 1950s he animated many leading ladies at the studio, including Cinderella in Cinderella (1950), Alice in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Tinker Bell in Peter Pan (1953) and Aurora/Sleeping Beauty in Sleeping Beauty (1959). In addition to the feature length films, Clark also applied his talents to short films: Plutotopia (1951), The Little House (1952), and Ben and Me (1953). He animated Anita Radcliffe and the Dalmatian Puppies in 101 Dalmatians (1961) and worked on several episodes of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1961-1969).

Les Clark remained a faithful employee at the Walt Disney Studios until he retired in 1975. Having worked at Disney from 1927-1975, he earned the title of “longest continuously employed member of Walt Disney Productions.” He made uncredited animation contributions to Robin Hood (1973) and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), before he passed away in Santa Barbara, California on September 12th, 1979 at the age of 71. Les Clark’s contributions to the Walt Disney Studios are not only special, but they are vastly underrated, given his amazing contributions to movies that captured audiences everywhere.

Santa Claus Blog

Throughout the history of holiday movies, Santa Claus has been portrayed by numerous actors. From both film versions of Miracle on 34th Street (1947 and 1994), to Elf (2003), to The Santa Clause Trilogy (1994-2006), the actor always brings their own unique qualities to the performance and each of the performances always manage to be asset to the movie. In this blog, I thought we could explore the actors who have donned the red suit (and elderly makeup if they need it), and always managed to be endearing when they say “Ho! Ho! Ho!” Please feel free to tell me who your favorite is.

• The very first actor who portrayed Santa Claus on the Silver Screen was Edmund Gwenn in the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Gwenn won a well-deserved Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actor) for his performance. When he received the award his acceptance speech was “Now I know there is a Santa Claus.” Each of Gwenn’s cast mates in the film were very fond of him. Maureen O’Hara (Doris Walker) said “By the time we were halfway through the shoot, we all believed Edmund really was Santa Claus. I’ve never seen an actor more naturally suited for a role.” Alvin Greenman (Alfred the Janitor) said that he was “a dear, dear man,” who always took time to mentor him, and Robert Hyatt (Thomas Mara Jr.) said “He was a really nice guy, always happy, always smiling. He had this little twinkle in his eye.”     
• When Fox remade “Miracle,” in 1994, the role of Kris Kringle was assumed by Lord Richard Attenborough starring alongside Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, and Mara Wilson. Much like Edmund Gwenn’s cast mates, Attenborough’s were also fond of him. When Lord Attenborough passed away on August 24th, 2014 at the age of 90, each in the cast tweeted their condolences. McDermott tweeted “Rest in Peace Richard Attenborough. U were the best Santa ever” and Wilson tweeted “Sir Richard Attenborough was the only Santa Claus I ever believed in. A wonderful man. Still in shock. May he rest in peace.” Also, Perkins tweeted “Terribly sad. He will always be my Kris Kringle.” Although the principle cast members who worked on this movie had a good time working together, their movie was critically panned in its initial release, and Fox offered a refund to any viewer who didn’t enjoy it and received approximately 1,500 tickets to the movie returned to their studio. There was also reviewer named Desson Howe who said the film “it will not be found on television half a century from now,” which is ironic because the film has gained popularity since its release and is consistently aired on television all throughout Christmas.
• The same year that Fox remade “Miracle,” Disney produced The Santa Clause (1994) starring Tim Allen (his first leading role in a movie). His collective contributions to Disney, including the Toy Story franchise, Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), The Shaggy Dog (2006), and other various TV roles, earned him the title of “Disney Legend” in 1999. (His award set the record for shortest time between first contribution to Disney (Allen’s was in 1991 with ABC’s Home Improvement) and being named a legend. Ironically, Tim Allen’s “Toy Story” cast mate, Tom Hanks was considered for the role of Scott Calvin in “The Santa Clause” franchise, but Allen got the role and reprised it in two sequels: The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006).
• Edward Asner, who is best known for playing the role of Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and Lou Grant (1977-1982) which earned him five Golden Globes and five Emmys actually is a Santa Claus veteran. He first donned the red suit in an episode of the television series Highway to Heaven (1984-1989). His next portrayal was in The Christmas Star (1986) which is a made-for-television produced by ABC and The Story of Santa Claus (1996), Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999), and an episode of The Ellen Show (2001-2002). The first time he played it in a theatrical movie, however, was in the comedy cult classic, Elf (2003). You Disney fans might also remember that Asner is known for providing the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Up (2009) and portraying Hank Cooper in Disney’s Gus (1976), starring opposite sit-com legends Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Harold Gould, and Tom Bosley. He has also done voices for numerous animated series for Disney, including Bonkers (1993-1994), Recess (1997-2001), and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001).        

There are many other exceptional actors who have also played Santa Claus and not quite enough time to make this lengthy discussion about all of them. Leslie Nielsen in All I Want For Christmas (1991) and Santa Who? (2000), Paul Giamatti in Fred Claus (2007), Jim Broadbent in Get Santa (2014), and Kurt Russell in The Christmas Chronicles (2018) all come to mind…no doubt movie buffs continue to benefit from their talents.   

Mary Jo Catlett: Simple yet Hilarious

In the voice-over acting world, there are actors who have very wide vocal ranges that can allow the actor to speak in all kinds of different accents. But there are other actors whose range allows them to talk in only one kind of accent, but it is distinctive and unique. Mary Jo Catlett is the latter. You might recognize Mary Jo’s saccharine voice as Mrs. Puff on Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present), but did you know she actually has some fascinating connections to Disney as well?

  Mary Jo Catlett was born on September 2nd, 1938 in Denver, Colorado. After attending Loretto Heights College in Denver, she was bitten by the “acting bug,” particularly in musical comedy, and relocated to New York to try her luck. Fortunately, she found success landing a role in the off-Broadway production of Along Came A Spider in 1963. The very next year, she was cast as Ernestina Simple in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing. She also reprised the role of Ernestina in the first national tour of the show, which starred Ginger Rogers.  

Around the time of “Dolly,” Catlett also began making appearances on television in The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978), Maude (1972-1978), and M*A*S*H (1972-1983). She made her film debut in the Woody Allen comedy Bananas in 1971. After “Dolly,” Catlett continued to appear on Broadway in plays called Canterbury Tales, Different Times, and in 1973 she starred as Mabel in Broadway’s revival of The Pajama Game. She also acted the role of Mabel in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and provided additional voices on the animated sit-com The Smurfs (1981-1989). In 1994, Mary Jo Catlett was cast in the role of Madame de la Grande Bouche, otherwise known as the Wardrobe in the original Broadway production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which was Disney’s very first film ever to be adapted on Broadway. The role earned her an Ovation Award Nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical!

After “Beauty,” Catlett later lent her voice to the Disney Channel Original Series Quack Pack (1996-1997). Three years after that, she landed the role of Mrs. Puff on “Spongebob.” She has voiced Mrs. Puff throughout the show’s entire 20-year-run, as well as other elderly characters including Squidward’s grandmother, Grandma Tentacles, and the elderly psychic. In the “Something Smells,” episode of Spongebob, there is a scene where Spongebob says “Hello, Dolly!” in reference to Mary Jo Catlett’s Broadway musical debut. Catlett has also voiced Mrs. Puff in each of the “Spongebob,” movies, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004), The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), and the upcoming The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run.

Catlett is also known at Disney for having small roles in the Disney Channel Shows Kim Possible (2002-2007) and That’s So Raven (2003-2007). Whether she acts on Broadway, Television, Film, or in Animation, her unmistakable voice never ceases to make us laugh!   

Disney’s Christmas Carol Blog

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is undoubtedly a classic holiday story! Dickens first published A Christmas Carol as a novella in 1843 and since that time, the story has been adapted for television, stage, radio, and of course, film. Disney has also made various adaptations of the story and I thought we could explore fun facts about those in this blog. Feel free to community on your favorites!

• Disney produced Mickey’s Christmas Carol in 1983, and it received an Oscar Nomination for Best Short Film, Animated that year. Featuring the voice talent of Wayne Allwine (Mickey Mouse), Alan Young (Scrooge McDuck), and Will Ryan (Pete/Ghost of Christmas Future and Willie the Giant) it was the very first film appearance of Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse and his first chance to work with future wife Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse. (Though Taylor recorded some dialogue for the film, it wasn’t included in the final cut.) This film also marked the last appearance of Disney voice-over veteran, Clarence Nash, as Donald Duck, whom he voiced for over 50 years. 
• Prior to the 1983 version, Alan Young collaborated with Alan Dinehart on a Disneyland Records Album called An Adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Performed by the Walt Disney Players in 1974. It was his first time voicing Scrooge McDuck and he continued voicing Scrooge McDuck for 32 years until his death in 2016.
• Disney’s next adaptation of “Christmas Carol,” was The Muppet Christmas Carol, which was released in 1992. The film was directed by Brian Henson, son of “Muppets,” creator Jim Henson, who also directed The Muppet Treasure Island (1996). In this film, Scrooge is portrayed by Michael Caine, who is also known to Disney fans for voicing Finn McMissile in Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 (2011). Caine to this day considers the role of Scrooge to be one of his most memorable. Caine got along wonderfully well with Henson while the film was in production, being seriously impressed with Henson’s skills as a director. Before filming began Caine told Henson “I’m going to play this movie like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me,” to which Henson replied “Yes, bang on!” “Muppet Christmas Carol,” was also the second “Christmas Carol,” movie that was filmed at the Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. The first was the movie-musical, Scrooge (1970) in which Ebenezer Scrooge was portrayed by Albert Finney.
• Disney re-adapted “Christmas Carol,” for C.G.I. in 2009 with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and all three of the Christmas Ghosts who visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve. In this film, Bob and Emily Cratchit were voiced by Gary Oldman and Leslie Manville, who were married in real life from 1987-1990 and have a son together. This is also the first film that Robert Zemeckis directed for Disney since Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). In this film, Cary Elwes provides the voice of Dick Wilkins, Scrooge’s partner at Mr. Fezziwig’s. Elwes previously worked with Jim Carrey in Liar Liar (1997) and Robin Wright in The Princess Bride (1987), and Wright voices Scrooge’s sister Fan as well as his fiancé, Belle in this film. Fionnula Flanagan voices Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge’s charwoman in this film, and Flannagan also worked with Jim Carrey in the movie Yes Man (2008). In the initial release for this film Jim Carrey described it as “A classical version of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents. I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go ‘Yeah, that’s for real.’ We were very true to the book. It’s beautiful. It’s an incredible film.”            

Of all these film adaptations my personal favorite is “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” because it was the first of these adaptations that I recall seeing as a child and I also enjoy the songs.

J. Pat O’Malley: Tone Changer

You might remember from some of my earlier blogs that I talked about various talented actors who frequently lent their voices to Disney cartoon characters. In this blog, I’d like to tell you about yet another actor—this one a personal request of Walt Disney himself—J. Pat O’Malley.

James Patrick Francis O’Malley was born in Burley England on March 14th, 1904. He started his career performing as a singer in the United Kingdom in 1925 and later signed on as a principal singer with Jack Hylton and his orchestra from 1930-1933. Known as just Pat O’Malley at the time, he recorded more than 400 songs with that orchestra including “Amy, Beautiful Amy,” which was a song about aviator Amy Johnson. O’Malley later partnered with Hylton, himself and they came to the United States in 1935 to record music with a band of American musicians. Their partnership, unfortunately, was short-lived and Hylton returned to England while O’Malley remained in the U.S. and ultimately found his way into acting. Addding the first initial of James back onto his first name, he became becoming J. Pat O’Malley to avoid confusion with the American actor, Patrick Henry O’Malley.

J. Pat O’Malley made his film debut in United Artists Captain Caution in 1940. He also made the films Thumbs Up and Lassie Come Home in 1943, and in both films he starred opposite Elsa Lanchester. He later appeared on the Broadway Stage in the play Ten Little Indians in 1944. It wasn’t long before O’Malley’s interesting British accent caught the attention of Walt Disney who hired O’Malley to voice the character of Cyril Proudbottom (the horse) in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). In addition to the horse, he also voiced the characters of Mr. Winkie, the Policemen and the Paperboy.

After lending his voice to “Ichabod and Mr. Toad,” O’Malley voiced Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, the Walrus, the Carpenter, and the Curious Oysters in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Jasper and Colonel the sheep dog in 101 Dalmatians (1961), the Pearly Band Drummer, the Huntsman, The Master of Hounds, and the Penguin Waiter in Mary Poppins (1964), Colonel Hathai the Elephant and one of the Vultures in The Jungle Book (1967), and Otto the Blacksmith Bloodhound in Robin Hood (1973). While voicing his bit roles in “Poppins,” he helped Dick Van Dyke develop his cockney accent for his role as Bert the Chimney Sweep in the film. 

Besides all these film roles, Walt Disney also hired O’Malley to play the role of “Perkins” in the Disney television serials “Spin and Marty,” which aired as part of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959), and he also voiced several of the pirates in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, including the pirate dunking the magistrate into the well and also one of the prisoners who coaxes the dog with the keys.. He also lent his voice to two cartoon shorts, Goliath 2 (1960) and The Saga Windwagon Smith (1961), and he even appeared in the live-action Disney film, Son of Flubber (1963), the sequel to The Absent-Minded Professor (1961).

In 1969, J. Pat O’Malley appeared as the Park Policeman in Hello, Dolly! (1969) and portrayed Carol Brady’s father, Henry Tyler, in the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch (1969-1974). He continued acting in film and television until the early 1980s and passed away on February 27th, 1985 due to heart disease. He truly was a talented actor with a unique voice who helped make many Disney characters endearing.      

Paddi Edwards: Ghostly Entertaining

If you’re a fan of Disney Animation like I am, Halloween is as a time for celebrating and (or at least acknowledging) Disney villains. Throughout the history of Disney, the villains have always been voiced by talented actors—all of whose voices have unique qualities, from deep tones to harsh rasps. In this blog, I’d like to tell you about an actress who was known for having a raspy voice that she lent to a variety of films, most notably The Little Mermaid (1989). 

Patricia Mary Ursula Edwards was born on March 8th, 1931, in Bristol, England. She and her family relocated to Waban, Massachusetts where she officially became a U.S. citizen at the age of 21. In 1960, she made her official debut in the British film Inn for Trouble, a spin-off of a television series. In 1982, she starred as the Secretary in Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. Not long after that, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were casting for their upcoming film project in Ghostbusters (1984), having just cast Yugoslavian actress Slavitza Jovan to portray the ruthless deity Gozer, they decided that her Slavic accent was too comical. Since they wanted the character of Gozer to be one of the scarier elements of the film, Paddi Edwards’ spookier voice turned out to be just what they were looking for. 

After lending her voice to “Ghostbusters,” Paddi Edwards made a guest-star appearance on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing the role of Anya the shape-shifting mother figure in “The Dauphin” episode which aired on television in 1989. The same year, Edwards was hired by Disney to voice the dual role of Ursula’s two evil eels in “Little Mermaid.” It is ironic, considering that Flotsam and Jetsam worked for a sea witch named Ursula in the movie, and one of Paddi Edwards’ real middle names is Ursula! In 1997, she was rehired by Disney to voice one of the Fates in Hercules (1997) which was co-written/co-directed by John Musker and Ron Clements who also co-wrote/co-directed “Mermaid.” She also lent her voices to Disney’s direct-to-video sequels to The Brave Little Toaster (1987), The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997) and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998). Around the time of these movies, Edwards also lent her voices to Disney television shows as well, including 101: Dalmatians: The Series (1997-1998) and Pepper Ann (1997-2000), voicing the character of Vera Groober-Schwartz. She continued to voice that character, along with lending her voice to An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000), the direct-to-video sequel to A Goofy Movie (1995), before her untimely death due to respiratory failure on October 19th, 1999 at the age of 68.

Paddi Edwards has a unique body of work in the entertainment industry. Remembered as the voices of Gozer in “Ghostbusters,” Flotsam and Jetsam in “Little Mermaid,” or to Trekkies as Anya in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” though I’m sure we can all agree that her spooky voice served as an asset to every film and/or television show that she was a part of.  

Absolute Classics part 2

You might remember from two weeks ago that we began a tribute to films that are considered classics today—but weren’t necessarily beloved when they first came out. I’d like to continue our tribute to such films in this blog. Please feel free to comment on anything you find interesting.

Most movie buffs remember the year 1987 as the year of films of Fatal Attraction, Moonstruck, Broadcast News, or even The Untouchables. Each of the aforementioned films were huge hits! But hard core movie buffs might also remember 1987 as the year of The Princess Bride, which was released on September 25th, 1987. Although the film was critically well-reviewed in its initial release, it only grossed $30.8 million in the United States and Canada while on a $16 million dollar budget. It seemed, audiences didn’t know what genre defined the film, fairy tale/medieval satire, swashbuckling adventure, romance story, or a comedy. One reviewer who said said “Hey, it’s a cute movie. And if you need to do something in the afternoon, go ahead, take your kids.” The film however, did begin to gain cult status in the video market when it was released on Laserdisc in 1988, VHS in 1994, DVD in 2000, and Blu Ray in 2018. The same year that it was released on DVD (2000), the magazine Total Film voted it as the greatest comedy of all time. The film’s male star, Cary Elwes, also wrote a book in 2014 called As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride in which he and Rob Reiner explain that one of the main reasons that “Princess Bride,” is a special film is because it is combines all of those genres into one plot.

1993 was the same year that the Walt Disney Company produced two beloved Halloween-themed films. The second was Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, though the first was Hocus Pocus. “Hocus Pocus,” was released on July 16th, 1993, and received mixed-to-negative reviews. Gene Siskel from The Chicago Tribune wrote that the film was “a ‘dreadful witches’ comedy with the only tolerable moment coming when Bette Middler presents a single song.” The Miami Herald referred to it as a “pretty lackluster affair. Despite the triple-threat actress combo, Hocus Pocus won’t be the Sister Act of 1993. There are a lot of go-sees this summer and this isn’t one of them.” The film also grossed only $8.1 million and was only in the top ten ranking of summer of ’93 films for two weeks. However, just like “Princess Bride,” this film gained cult status when it was released on VHS in 1994, DVD in 2002, and Blu Ray in 2018, which was just in time for the film’s 25th anniversary. The film has also been aired on television by the Disney Channel, ABC, and ABC Family’s 13 nights of Halloween, where it gains more viewers more and more every year. 2009’s broadcast of the film drew 2.5 million viewers and when it aired last year on Freeform, the viewing was averaged at 8.2 million.               

I hope you enjoyed our tribute to these classic films. Let me know which is your favorite, or if you have another you think I should have talked about.