In Passing...
Evening of Remembrance.
On Saturday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m. the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists
Local 839, ASIFA-Hollywood and Women In Animation will present the third
annual "Evening of Remembrance," honoring members of the animation
community who passed away in 1997. This year's event will be held at the
Hollywood Heritage Museum at the DeMille Barn, 2100 North Highland Ave
(across from the Hollywood Bowl) in Hollywood. Free parking is available
by entering on Odin Street. If you would like to speak for any of the following
honorees, or if you know of someone who is not listed who passed away in
1997, contact M.P.S.C. at mpsc839@primenet.com or (818) 766-7151. Honorees
are: Marie Cornell, Phyllis Craig, Lillian Disney, John Gentilella, Stan
Green, John Guerin, Cameron Guess, Jerry Hathcock, Les Kline, Charlotte
Levitow, Frank Little, Harry Love, Dick Lucas, Virginia McColley, Don Messick,
Milt Neil, Zoë Parker, Jack Parr, Jane Phillippi, Frances Ross, Don
Selders, Jerry Smith, Bruce Strock, Fred Stuhr, Dick Thomas and Beverly
Ware.
Mae Questel, best known as the voice of cartoon characters Betty Boop
and Olive Oyl died on January 4, 1998 at her home in Manhattan, New York.
She was 89. Questel was born in 1909 in the Bronx, New York. At age 17
she started her career in entertainment as a vaudeville performer. Then
New York-based animator Max Fleischer discovered Questel in her capacity
as an impersonator of Helen Kane, and signed her as the giddy, childish
voice of his emerging character Betty Boop. One of the first Betty Boop
cartoons, Stopping the Show drew from Questel's stage experience,
depicting Betty as a vaudeville impersonator of popular performers such
as Maurice Chevalier. In all, she performed Betty Boop's voice in more
than 100 cartoon shorts produced between 1931 and 1939. In the Popeye cartoons,
which started at Fleischer Studios in 1933, Questel performed the voice
of Olive Oyl, and when the Popeye shorts were produced by Famous Studios
from 1942 to 1957, she voiced most of the studios' female characters, including
Little Audrey. On occasion, she even filled in for Jack Mercer as the voice
of Popeye! In 1988, Questel performed the voice of Betty Boop in Who
Framed Roger Rabbit? Also, on the screen, she acted in numerous live
action films in the 1960s-80s, including in the role of Woody Allen's mother
in New York Stories (1989).
The March 1998 issue of Animation World Magazine will include a
feature article about Mae Questel, written by Andrew Lederer.
Cameron Guess died on December 12, 1997 at his home in Winter Springs,
Florida. He was 61. An animator and producer, Guess worked at the National
Film Board of Canada (NFBC) from the late 1950s until 1963. There, he worked
on the animated short The Great Toy Robbery directed by Jeff Hale
and written by Derek Lamb. After receiving a large inheritance, Guess relocated
to San Francisco, where he founded the now defunct animation company, Cameron
Guess & Associates in 1964. He was joined by Jeff Hale, Derek Lamb
and animator Barrie Nelson. The company produced two animated shorts, The
Well (1965) and The Shepherd (1967), the latter of which was
nominated for an Academy Award. When the theatrical cartoons industry declined
in the mid sixties, Guess moved to Florida, where he is survived by his
wife and one daughter.
Lillian Bounds Disney, widow of Walt Disney, died on Tuesday, December
16, 1997 at her home in West Los Angeles. She was 98 years old. Walt Disney
died almost 31 years ago to the day (December 15, 1966). Lillian Bounds
came to Los Angeles and got a job as a cel painter at Walt Disney's fledgling
studio in 1923. Approximately two years later, Lillian and Walt were married
on July 13, 1925, near her birthplace in Lewiston, Idaho. It is believed
that Lillian suggested the name "Mickey" for Walt Disney's character
originally named "Mortimer Mouse." Since Walt's death, Lillian
has been active in charitable activities, and in 1987 she made a landmark
gift of U.S. $50 million to the Music Center of Los Angeles County, to
build the Walt Disney Concert Hall which is set to open in 2001 in downtown
Los Angeles. She has also made many donations to Cal Arts animation program.
Lillian is survived by one daughter (Roy Disney is the son of Walt's brother),
as well as ten grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.
Send your newsworthy items, press releases, and reels to:
Email: wendyj@awn.com
Fax: (213) 464-5914
Mail: Animation World Magazine
6525 Sunset Blvd. Garden Suite 10, Hollywood, CA 90028 USA
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