Don Bluth's Banjo the Woodpile Cat. Courtesy of Jerry Beck.

When Disney management failed to take interest in this out-of-pocket, home made short, Bluth then used Banjo as a way to lure investors in his dream: to return the art of animation to its glorious Golden Age. With an offer from Aurora to challenge Disney, Bluth and his team made their bold move.

Bored to Tears, Then ...
Early in 1980, I was working in New York for United Artists as a salesman in their 16mm department, renting films to colleges and hospitals. One night, word spread in the local animation community that a representative of Bluth's new renegade studio (Executive Producer Mel Griffin) was going to give a presentation at the School Of Visual Arts. This turned out to be, perhaps, the first studio recruitment pitch open to the public. The studio rep, a business partner installed at Bluth by Aurora, began to talk of the studio's dream to return animation to it's glorious past. I remember that many animation students there were bored to tears at his speech and were there just because they were required to attend. Then he showed a clip from NIMH.

I'll never forget it. It was the sequence of Mrs. Brisby and Jeremy the crow (voiced by Don DeLuise) flying to the tree where the Great Owl (John Carradine) was. The entire sequence--with the cobwebs, the darkness, the great voice acting, the owl crushing a spider and eating a moth--was the greatest thing I had ever seen! It looked like Disney animation from the forties, only darker. It was as lavish as anything from Bambi or Fantasia, only slightly subversive (skeletal remains of other animals the owl must have eaten, littered the background; the owl taking a chomp at a Disneyesque moth). The students (myself included) begged the man to run this footage again. Everyone was charged and excited. It wasn't just talk--Bluth was going to do it!

I had that sequence running in my mind for weeks. I had seen the future of animation and it's name was Don Bluth Productions. (It was a high that was only topped in later years, when I had seen advance scenes from The Thief and the Cobbler [Arabian Night], Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the genie ["Friend Like Me" sequence] in Aladdin, and experienced that rare "sense-of-wonder" deja vu.) Animation wasn't dead! Anything was possible! My personal faith in the medium was renewed. It was coming back and all anyone had to do to believe was to see this clip from (what was then called) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

In 1980, the Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly musical Xanadu was released. It contained a short animated sequence by Bluth which was a knockout. This studio was doing Disney better than Disney.

Supporting the Future of Animation
A few months later, in late 1980, I accidentally intercepted some interoffice mail heading for my boss. It was a deal memo stating that United Artists had just acquired Mrs. Frisby/NIMH and Banjo. I was working for the company that was supporting the future of animation!

Though my department had limited involvement with Bluth, I made it my business to have as much involvement as possible. The coolest animated feature in years was going to be released by United Artists, and it soon became apparent that I was the only person there who knew about it and cared.

United Artists had a checkered past with animated features. Yellow Submarine (1968), Lord of the Rings (1979) and later Rock & Rule (1983) were its best known releases. The studio enjoyed more success on television with its syndication of the pre-1948 Warner Bros. and Popeye cartoons, along with DePatie-Freleng's Pink Panther menagerie.