Report: Walt Disney Art Classics Mini-Convention
Page 5 of 7

Ilene Woods
After a brief intermission, the morning continued with Tim interviewing Ilene Woods, the voice of Cinderella. As usual when the princesses make an appearance, the throne chairs appeared for the session. Ilene was born in New Hampshire and began singing at the age of 2 or 3. Vacationing in New York at the age of 14, she ended up auditioning for ABC and got a job. She worked with many famous people during that time and was very much at ease with celebrities.

After moving to California, her friend David Livingston asked her to record songs that he had written to present to Walt Disney. Three or four days later she found out that she had gotten the voice part for Cinderella. She met Walt Disney and said that talking to him was like talking to your uncle, although she always called him Mr. Disney. She said he was very kind to young people. He was visionary who always knew his ideas would work.

Ilene Woods and Tim O'Day on the throne chairs

Tim showed a film clip of Marc Davis discussing his work on Walt Disney’s favorite piece of animation, the rags to gown scene of Cinderella. Marc and Ilene were united for the first time in 40 years at a Disneyana convention a couple of years ago. It was a surprise for Marc and it was a very emotional reunion. Marc created the Cinderella character for the film. Ilene remarked that her father thought he could see Ilene in the animated character.

It was Walt Disney’s idea to have Ilene’s voice layered for the multiple harmony effect in Sing Sweet Nightingale. He later lamented that if he had known how well that would work he wouldn’t have had to pay the Andrew Sisters three salaries. In 1995, Ilene recorded a song that was cut from the original film, I’m in the Middle of a Muddle, which was filmed with concept art and storyboards. The same layering technique was used for this film which we were privileged to see.  [Ed. Note: Again, see the coverage of Cinderella's 50th Anniversary Celebration for pictures.]

Ilene never worked with the voices of the stepsisters but she did work with the wonderful Verna Felton, the voice of the fairy godmother. She said Verna was exactly like her film character. Tim showed clips of Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas who worked on the stepsisters and the stepmother. Ollie said the first time he did the stepsister they were too ugly and he had to tone them down. Frank said that Eleanor Audley was a wonderful inspiration for the stepmother as the live-action model and voice.

Ilene told some wonderful stories of her experience as Cinderella through the years. When she took her daughter, Steffie, to see the film in Westwood, Cinderella began to speak and Steffie jumped up and said, “That’s my mommie”! The lady in the row in front of her turned around and said, “Isn’t that cute? She thinks her mommie is Cinderella!” A little boy, upon meeting her, asked if she still had Bruno. He then said that Lucifer was terrible, the way he made her have to clean that floor again. Another little girl came up to get her signature and said, “My mom said I should get your signature because someday it will be worth a lot of money.” Her favorite story was about an 11-year-old girl who came to her and said, “You look exactly Cinderella would look if she were your age!”

Ilene said she loved Walt Disney, who called her Lucky because Cinderella saved the studio from financial ruin. Ilene paints portraits in her spare time and did one of Walt looking at a picture of Cinderella. Ilene said the reward of doing the voice of Cinderella is the love she gets from people. To her, it is moving and awe-inspiring.

We next adjourned for a delicious lunch buffet.

Friday afternoon was spent purchasing convention items, among them pins, shirts, sericels, The Dunking Scene from the Pirates attraction, and many other items. A random number generator assigned numbers to each person or group and a report time was given that corresponded to each number. With lots of registers set up, this process went very smoothly and we actually got in before our allotted time. Before or after purchases were made, we could get a single item signed by the invited guests. If you missed the opportunity on Friday, they would be available for signings at the Disney-MGM Studios on Saturday.

The Auction
After a brief rest,  we prepared for the evening's banquest and auction event. The pre-dinner entertainment was someone looking suspiciously like Disney Ana (from the Official Disneyana Convention) complaining that she was told it was a costume party and here she was dressed like a wench. With the word wench, pirates appeared from everywhere. A little dancing and music and the entertainment made way for dinner. The dinner was very nice with beef filet, fish, and polenta. The finish to the meal was a chocolate treasure chest filled with a creamy mousse accompanied by a couple of chocolate doubloons. Minutes after dessert was completed, we received our banquet gift - a wooden, logo-emblazoned box containing a silver coin with the logo in relief.

After dinner the auction began. The auctioneer seemed a little confused at first and then made a terrible error in judgement by reopening a closed bid at lower than the original final bid. The person petitioning for the reopening of the bidding won the item with the exact final bid that had just been reopened. The auctioneer could not have picked a worse time to have this happen. The piece being bid on was a Marc Davis lithograph. Alice Davis actually got up from her seat and, with Ilene Woods help, went to speak with the auctioneer. He obviously didn’t know who she was. Jeers from the audience notwithstanding, the auction went on. Finally, the convention organizers said that the original winning bidder would receive an equivalent piece from their offices. Paul Phillips got up to address the group with the plans for next year’s convention. The date would be May 24 through May 26, 2001 but the theme is yet to be picked. It was a memorable evening but maybe not quite the way everyone had hoped.