The Nine Sages are No more...

So it ends an era.

Ollie Johnson, one of the "Nine Sages" of Disney passed away at ninety five. Their has been a lot of words that have been said about these nine men. In this Journal, there are two different obituaries, one positive- the other critical...

The first is from Michael Barrier:

[i]I liked Ollie a great deal. Frank Thomas and Ward Kimball, the other two of the "nine old men" whom I knew fairly well, had a certain edge to their personalities—expressed very differently, although in both cases born of high intelligence and supreme artistic gifts—but I never sensed such an edge in Ollie. He also may not have been quite as brilliant an animator as the other two, but at that olympian level the differences are too small to matter much.

Still: as I've written here more than once before, I'm deeply skeptical of the whole "nine old men" mythology. When Disney animation was at its most vital, the idea of freezing it in a mold determined by nine animators, however good they were, would have seemed ridiculous; and it was. The exaltation of the nine, beginning in the '50s, signified the beginning of a steep decline that culminated in the dead-end Disney features of the '70s, Robin Hood and The Aristocats and, to be sure, The Rescuers. I hope that Ollie's death doesn't have the perverse effect of elevating the reputation of the nine still further and making it that much more difficult for today's animators, especially those at Disney, to produce work that is deeply personal, artistically advanced, and quite unlike anything Ollie and Frank and their colleagues ever did.[/i]

The next is from Brad Bird, storyman and director from Pixar:

[i]I came along at a “best of times/worst of times” moment at Disney animation. The worst of times because the studio was creatively moribund and young people were not yet empowered to do anything to change it. The best of times because a few of the old masters were still around, still working, and still able to impart their wisdom to us eager students.

When Frank and Ollie retired from production on the same Friday I was the next animator on Ollie’s desk the following Monday; the very desk he had used for decades to create so many indelible animated moments. I was properly awed as I sat down in Ollie’s chair, at his desk.

As I was checking it out and getting the feel of it I noticed the pencil sharpener was full of shavings. Instead of throwing them out I poured them into a glass jar, labeled it and set it atop the desk. Good luck shavings… a simple reminder of the hard work required to create magic. My own jar of real Disney dust. The last jar.

Ollie got a kick out of that story when I told him, and for years afterward he asked me how the jar was doing. I kept in touch with several of the “Old Men” after they retired, and was particularly happy to pay Ollie and Frank both a hand-drawn and computer generated (both animated by Mike Venturini) tip of the hat in IRON GIANT and INCREDIBLES, which they were surprised and delighted to be a part of so late in their lives.

Ollie was one of the best that ever was and will be. He lives on as an entertainer, a teacher and inspiration for all generations to come. Needless to say, I’ll miss him. But I plan on visiting him as I visit Milt, Eric, Frank and all the others who taught and/or inspired me–

–through their work.. which will be around forever.[/i]


Take it from me, the Nine "Sages" were just men. But back then they were the magic in 1950's Disney, and in some cases, the american dream. Lets not take away what they did do- but in some cases lets look what happened because they wanted to continue doing such work. The studio was in dire straits, and needed new blood. But it was going to take another decade, and the dilution of the dead era of the 1970's (notice that only two industries survived from that era? Music and Movies - everything else changed some for better, many for the worst) before Disney went back to respectability.

Now the the legends are gone... who will lead or better yet - who will take us out of the two generic world-views prevalent in the western world? Who will ask the great pycoligical questions that need to be asked about human existence? Because if there not going to ask, then what is the use? All of the animation and all the money made from it will not make a difference in the end. Thats why series live, movies make there effect long after the first airings of said work.

Its is time to move on, but don't doubt yourselves we can forget these men. They will never be forgotten, and wether we live from this dark era of humanity that is coming towards us like a bat blank train from hell, or not; know that they and others will live on... through the work shown through the mega HD Holographic screens of a new humanity- or through red blood stained sands of a dead and dying earth...

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