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Mark Kausler didn’t have time in our first interview for him to play some of the music that influenced him in his early years, so that’s all we do in this show.  

It would probably be best to listen to his first interview before listening to this one, just to get a background feel for his extensive experience as; animation director, producer, writer, animator, layout artist, storyboard artist, story sketcher, animation historian, animation film and archives collector, and weekend painter.

But, just briefly, Mark Kausler, has spent most of his professional life working at many different studios as a freelance animation jack-of-all-trades, picking up animation work wherever and whenever it was available, and using his free time to paint and work on his own personal films … his “It’s the Cat” won him a coveted Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short. 

Of course, this vagabond adventure of his has meant that he’s been able to work at many different studios, with a great variety of people, and in many different styles.  He freely admits his gratitude to the great masters he’s been able to work with over his long career. At the Annie Awards ceremony in  2006, he won the June Foray Award for his great contributions to the world of animation. 

A quick look at his bio fines a number of widely different animated characters as; Daffy Duck, Goofy, Tony the Tiger, The Lion King, Roger Rabbit, and that little guy in the Yellow Submarine, who looks like a purple cloud. And his list of film credits is longer than most people in the business twice, three times, his age, including; Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Beauty and the Beast, Heavy Traffic, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Fantasia/2000, Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas, The Prince and the Pauper, Michael & Mickey, and Night of the Living Duck, just to name a few.

And, if that’s not enough, Mark Kausler is one of the most respected animation experts in the business. His name can be found in the acknowledgements pages of many of the best books written on the art and history of animation. 

But, this particular interview is about a part of Mark Kausler that is not as well known, even among other animators, his love for animation music, and how it has profoundly affect his animation work.  So, sit back and enjoy some of the early music that Mark listened to as a little kid, and again today.

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This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at 10:25 am and is filed under Episodes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.