Celebrating Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective"!

Today, July 2 2025 marks the 39th Anniversary of Disney's animated feature, "The Great Mouse Detective". This film is a particular favourite of mine, as I consider it the last hoorah of that type of character-driven feature I'd always enjoyed. I saw it several times when it was out in 1986 and I had just recently begun my career as a character illustrator at Disney's Canadian Consumer Products Division.

A couple years later, Barrie Ingham was going to be playing here in Toronto in the musical, "Me and My Girl", so I immediately got tickets for the show. Also, having recently videotaped an episode of "Murder She Wrote" that he had guested in, I set about doing a caricature of him. About a week before his scheduled performance I wrote to him, care of the theatre, asking if it might be possible for me to visit backstage after the show so I could present him my caricature. I mentioned how much I enjoyed his Basil and I included my work number at Disney on the hopes he might respond. 

Well, respond back he did, making a personal phone call to me while I was working at my Disney office, and starting out his introduction in the character of Basil I might add! Anyway, he was very gracious in letting me know I'd be more than welcome to visit backstage after the show. 

Meeting him backstage after his performance was a great thrill, as he really was a delightful gentleman and he was happy chatting for close to an hour. He regaled me and my friend with stories of the theatre, as well as the making of "The Great Mouse Detective", which he said he thoroughly enjoyed doing. The only disappointment he said, was that he never got to read his lines with Vincent Price, whom he had been hoping to reconnect with after having worked with him on something many years before. I think that his reading on Basil is a masterpiece. In fact, I think the reason I love that film so much is that it is one of the few Disney features where the hero is every bit as interesting (and quirky) as the villain. 

Here is a photo of Barrie Ingham and me backstage at Toronto's Okeefe Centre, where I presented him with one of two originals I'd inked up of my caricature, the other of which I had him autograph for me:

And here is a photo from several years earlier in 1981 when I'd had the great pleasure of meeting Vincent Price! I wish we'd had digital cameras back then, as the camera this was taken on was not a very good one. But it still brings back very fond memories that I have written about at length on another blog post from years back:

And finally, many years after I'd finished my Disney career and was now teaching in the Animation Program at Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario, I had the pleasure of renewing acquaintance with Disney animation director, John Musker, whom I'd originally met many years ago around 1981 when I was introduced to him while I visited the Walt Disney Studio Archives. John came to give a talk at Sheridan College around 2014, so I drew this caricature to present to him at that time:

Happy Birthday, David Frankham!

This dashing young fellow is British actor, David Frankham, as he appeared in the 1961 adventure film, Master of the World. It was the second of three films in which he co-starred alongside Vincent Price, the other two being Return of the Fly (1958) and Tales of Terror (1962). In fact, David credits Price with getting him cast in this role when the original actor had to bow out. 

But today is a very special day, as today Mr. Frankham hits the age of 90 years old, and is still quite the spry fellow living down in warm and sunny New Mexico!

Science fiction TV fans may recall David Frankham from his guest roles in The Outer Limits (“Nightmare”) and Star Trek (“Is There in Truth No Beauty?”) However, to many longtime Disney fans like myself, David Frankham will always be beloved as the voice of Sgt. Tibbs, the heroic little tabby cat who helped rescue the puppies in Disney’s animated classic, One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

I’ve written before of how the Disney artists would often try to incorporate some of the physical features and mannerisms from the actors who provided their voices. And I believe that they were able to translate some of Mr. Frankham’s facial features into the feline features of Tibbs. The little cat shares his big soulful eyes, small pointed nose that juts out sharply, and especially the pouting lower lip on a small mouth. 

As it happens, Sgt. Tibbs is my favourite character from the film, as I love the irony of a skinny little cat risking his nine lives trying to protect 101 puppies, knowing full well that as grown-up dogs they’d likely give him a lot of grief! Tibbs moves in quick zigzag patterns, in contrast to the slow plodding movements of The Colonel, his sheepdog commander, and so that also makes him the natural choice to embark on a stealth mission, as he can easily dart through small confined spaces undetected by the two Cockney villains, Horace and Jasper. David Frankham created a quick, attentive vocal mannerism to match his physical movements, and the little cat is so respectful of his superiors, eager to carry out his mission to the best of his abilities. In short, Mr. Frankham and the Disney animators have combined their talents to create a heroic and memorable little personality that will live on in the hearts of all Disney fans forever!

So in closing, I want to wish David Frankham a very Happy 90th Birthday and sincere thanks for playing a part in my childhood movie memories!

Here he is in the trailer for Roger Corman's Master of the World (1961):

Happy Halloween!

Here's a new caricature of Vincent Price that I drew for this past week's subject on Caricaturama Showdown 3000. I've written about Vincent Price before, as he was one of my favourite actors and I was lucky enough to have met him in person many years ago. As reference for this illustration pictured above, I turned to his role as Mr. Trumbull the undertaker, who's desperate for business in the 1963 dark comedy, The Comedy of Terrors. Here he is offering up some "medicine" to his infirm and nearly deaf father-in-law, played by Boris Karloff.

Incidentally, I'm dedicating this Halloween post to Belle Dee, who is a huge fan of Vincent Price, as well as of all the gothic horror films from AIP and Hammer studios of the 60's and 70's. Belle is also a very talented illustrator/cartoonist who has created a great many illustrations of her favourite horror film stars. Please be sure to check out her stylish art on her Facebook page.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of this cop who's trying to arrest me for drinking and jiving at the Arthur Murray Halloween Dance...

Happy Birthday Christopher Lee!

Last year on this same date I celebrated the birthday of one of my favourite actors, Vincent Price. By some coincidence, today is also the birthday of another horror film veteran, Christopher Lee. (And if that's not amazing enough, his buddy and frequent film costar, Peter Cushing celebrated his birthday yesterday on May 26th!)

But today we honour Mr. Christopher Lee, whom I'm happy to see is still quite active an actor, having appeared in The Lord of the Rings films, as well as in the most recent Star Wars entries as Count Dooku. And as if that wasn't enough, he's done a couple of turns for his big fan, director Tim Burton, including playing Willy Wonka's dad in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I see from his IMDb page that he's also scheduled to play the Jabberwock in Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland. I suspect that it will just be his voice that's heard in that role though, as I can't imagine him wearing a rubber dragon-like costume to play the part.

All of this film activity is particularly admirable when one considers that Mr. Lee will be turning 87 today. Where have the years all gone? He received his greatest fame, of course in all of those wonderful Hammer horror films of the late 50s/early 60s, including several star turns as Count Dracula. Frankly, it doesn't seem that long ago when Christopher Lee was starring opposite Roger Moore in the 1974 James Bond entry, The Man with the Golden Gun. It is his role in this film as the million dollars a hit assassin, Scaramanga, that inspired this caricature I drew of him a few days ago after watching the film again on DVD. What a great villain he makes, with that refined deep, rich voice of his - the perfect British cad! I wish I could find a YouTube clip from the film where he speaks, but you'll just have to settle instead for this non-verbal scene where Scaramanga menaces his mistress, played by the lovely Maud Adams:



However, if you would like to hear that deep baritone of his, here's a real oddity I came across in my search where Christopher Lee actually sings. I must admit, I have never heard of The Return of Captain Invincible until now but, after watching this bizarre clip, I have to somehow see this film!!