Movie Musings: Disney and More

Eric Goldberg: The King of Clown Character Animating

In animated movies, there are the heroes/heroines that we root for and the villains that we jeer, (or possibly root for, depending on your point of view!) But there are also the supporting “clown” characters. “Clown” cartoons make animated movies endearing because they provide humor throughout the plot of the movie, often when the hero/heroine experiences trouble at the hands of the villain. But…somebody has to create those characters visually and bring them to life. Today, I’d like to tell you about someone who is known for animating some of Disney’s most beloved “clowns” Eric Goldberg.

Goldberg was born on May 1st, 1955 in Levittown, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he graduated Cherry Hill High School East. After graduation, he relocated again to New York to major in illustration at Pratt Institute. Determined to have a career as an animator, he moved again, this time to London to begin working on the animated film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (produced by the Richard Williams London-based studio and released in 1977). Prior to working on that film, he made two films by himself called For Sale and Good Old Fashioned Cartoon Violence in 1973, which have since then been preserved by the Academy Film Archive. Not long after “Raggedy Ann and Andy,” Goldberg started his own London-based studio where he began producing television commercials. 

In 1982, Goldberg married his wife, Susan—also an accomplished artist, having attended Walt Disney’s California-based art school, CalArts (California Institute of the Arts). It was through her that Eric met and developed friendships with future employees at Disney, including John Musker. When Musker and his filmmaking partner, Ron Clements, were hired to co-write/co-direct Aladdin (1992) for the studio, they immediately knew that Eric would be the perfect supervising animator for the character of the Genie in the film. Fortunately for them, Eric was hoping he would get that assignment, and he closed his London studio to begin full-time work at Disney. Animating the Genie was a great challenge because Robin Williams, tapped to voice the Genie was VERY clever and frenetic with improvisation. (Williams improvised almost 16 hours of dialogue!) Prior to making the film, Goldberg also did test animation of the Genie performing Robin William’s stand-up routine in order to persuade Williams to do the part. Goldberg relied primarily on inspiration from the caricaturist Al Hirschfeld to design the Genie, as well as inspiration from the jazz greats, Fats Waller and Cab Calloway. 

Thanks to the success of “Aladdin,” Goldberg was hired by Disney to direct Pocahontas (1995) with Mike Gabriel. His wife, Susan, was the key assistant animator for the character of “Percy” and “Wiggins” in the film. His next assignment was supervising animator for Phil in Hercules (1997). For this character, Goldberg came up with a design that he stated was a combination of Grumpy the Dwarf from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bacchus, the Roman God of Parties, who was in Fantasia (1940). Susan Goldberg collaborated on that design and they collaborated together on the short films: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and Camille Saint-Saens “The Carnival of the Animals.” Both films were later edited into Disney’s Fantasia 2000 (1999). Eric wrote and directed the segments, while Susan served as art director.

Eric briefly left Disney in the early 2000’s to be the animation director for Warner Bros. live-action/animation hybrid film Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). He also provided the voices of Marvin the Martian, Tweety Bird, Michigan J. Frog and Speedy Gonzales in the film. After “Looney Tunes,” he animated the title sequence of MGM’s (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s) 2006 remake of The Pink Panther starring Steve Martin. He later came back to Disney to do animation on the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007) and the supervising animation for Louis the Alligator in The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh (2011). He was the Final Line Animator on the Oscar-winning short Paperman (2012), which meant that he gave all the animators more influence and control over the final cut of the short. He also served as the Head of the Animation on Get a Horse! (2013), and most recently, he animated Maui’s tattoos in Moana (2016) and was credited as an additional animator in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Going beyond movies and shorts, Goldberg has also been the animator of Mickey Mouse in Disney Park nighttime shows, including Disney Gifts of Christmas, and Celebrate!, in Tokyo Disneyland, and the We Love Mickey Main Street Projection Show in Hong Kong Disneyland.

Eric Goldberg is a multi-talented artist! Besides animating several of Disney’s most humorous characters, he also gave exceptional direction to some Disney Movies and Shorts and to live shows in Disney Parks. The films that he contributed to continue be classics, and inspire artists, especially those who animate supporting characters.