0:10
Please put your hands together for the
0:12
chief creative officer of Walt Disney
0:14
Animation Studios, [music] Jared Bush.
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>> You guys, legend ceremony. Come on.
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Okay, so all of us who are Disney fans
0:32
know that Famous Walt Quote, let us
0:34
never lose sight of the fact that it was
0:37
all started by a mouse. But we also know
0:41
that it was in fact also started by the
0:45
people who created that mouse, Walt
0:48
Disney and his fellow artists and
0:50
storytellers. All of them pioneers in a
0:54
new art form called animation.
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And in the century since, thousands of
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artists have entered the doors of Disney
1:02
animation to pick up that pencil or
1:04
breathe life into that pixel in order to
1:06
tell a timeless story. And tonight, it
1:11
is my most sincere privilege to honor
1:16
one of the greatest artists to ever pick
1:19
up a pencil, Eric Goldberg.
1:25
Okay. Since he was a little boy watching
1:28
cartoons and Walt Disney on television,
1:31
he knew he wanted to be an artist. As a
1:33
young man, Eric was a successful
1:35
animator uh leading his own company when
1:38
Disney approached him to consider
1:39
animating a character for a project in
1:43
development. That project was a lab
1:50
and that character was the genie.
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>> The combination of Eric's joyful,
1:59
playful, and fearless animation with the
2:01
talents of Robin Williams created one of
2:04
the most iconic animated characters of
2:07
all time. Not a bad way to start your
2:10
Disney career. Uh, from there, Eric
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animated Phil and Hercules, Lewis the
2:14
Alligator, and the Princess and the
2:15
Frog. He directed Pocahontas as well as
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the carnival of animals and Rapsidy and
2:20
Glow sequences in Fantasia 2000. He
2:24
created pencil on paper Mini Maui for
2:32
And as head of handdrawn animation, he
2:35
has celebrated some of our studios
2:37
greatest characters in the incredible
2:39
100th anniversary short Once Upon a
2:41
Studio. And there's more in the Oscar
2:45
nominated Get a Horse. Through his work,
2:47
he keeps the legacy of Disney's history
2:51
alive and has created a body of work
2:54
that is a legacy unto itself. Starting
2:57
with his very first Disney character,
2:59
the genie, his work was legendary.
3:04
he becomes a Disney legend.
3:14
>> Goldberg is a legendary animator.
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>> He still draws on paper with a pencil.
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[music] You see all that beautiful line
3:23
work and it comes to life right in front
3:25
of you. See Eric freaking [music]
3:27
Goldberg flip a scene. Magic.
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Eric is a animation rock star. He is as
3:34
iconic as his animation is. He is sort
3:37
of a classic Disney character of
3:39
himself. Disney is in his DNA. I have
3:41
walked in on Eric while he's giggling
3:44
over something that he's drawing.
3:46
>> He's enjoying what he does. And you can
3:48
see it in the work. Louis the alligator.
3:52
>> all that humor, all that charm.
3:54
>> It was so different, [music] so fresh.
3:58
You were going, "Oh my god." He did it
4:00
with the genie and he continues to do it
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today, mentoring the next generation.
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His love is the history and mission of
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>> He has touched so many of our films. He
4:10
[music] has such a great sense of
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entertainment. That's why Eric is more
4:13
than just an animator. He's a filmmaker
4:17
master of their craft. [music]
4:18
He's always been a but of course now is
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Okay, everyone get on your feet. Let's
4:32
celebrate together one of the greatest
4:34
animators of all time, Disney legend
6:36
>> [music and cheering]
6:53
[applause and cheering]
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Heat. [cheering and applause]
7:32
>> Wow. No, it's still nothing. Um, well,
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being a traditional handdrawn animator,
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I work from paper. [clears throat]
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This is indeed an honor and probably the
7:53
most important one I will receive in my
7:56
lifetime. Not that I'm going anywhere. I
7:59
I have a zillion people I would like to
8:02
thank, but for time I've cut it down to
8:03
a million. [laughter]
8:07
Thank you to the Disney Legends
8:08
Committee who saw fit to include me this
8:13
Thanks to Don Clemens and John Nusker
8:17
who brought me to Disney in the first
8:22
and trusted me so much on the projects
8:25
we worked on together. I mean, people's
8:28
jaws still drop when I tell them that
8:30
the Genie was my first Disney gig. Talk
8:34
about landing on your feet.
8:36
Thanks my wonderful family, my wonderful
8:40
daughters Jenny and Rachel and my
8:43
amazing wife Susan. All of whom are
8:46
fantastic unique artists in their own
8:48
run and for their undying support for my
8:51
nutball love affair with animation below
9:03
Thanks to Dorothy McKim, our great
9:06
producer and creative legacy who always
9:08
has my back and I'm [clears throat] not
9:10
sure I wish that on anybody. Her
9:13
experience and wisdom never failed to
9:16
lift me up and encourage me.
9:19
And thanks to Walt for perfecting a
9:24
that gave a guy like me such inspiration
9:27
and the opportunity to help carry on his
9:41
when you believe an elephant can fly, a
9:44
puppet can be a real boy, and a mouse
9:46
can take the world by storm, the sky's
9:55
People have asked me recently what it
9:57
feels like to become a dig
10:00
wrong studio. Anyway,
10:07
people have asked me recently what it
10:09
feels like to become a Disney legend. It
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is very humbling to be part of a
10:15
rarified group that includes so many
10:18
people I've admired for so long. Mary
10:21
Blair, Frank Thomas,
10:24
Olly Johnson, [applause] Mark and Alice
10:29
Ward Kimble, Freddy Moore, Ken O'
10:46
Well, that's pretty amazing company for
10:49
me to keep. Thank you one and all.
10:52
[applause and cheering]
