John Culhane
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John Culhane was a writer and journalist best known for his contributions as a Disney animation historian. He also served as the inspiration for the characters Mr. Snoops in The Rescuers and Flying John in Fantasia/2000.
Culhane met Walt Disney in 1951, at the age of 17, during a trip to California. Disney advised Culhane, then an aspiring writer, to: “Work for your hometown newspaper, write for your neighbors — and just keep widening your circle.” Culhane later became a reporter for his hometown paper, then an investigative reporter for the Chicago Daily News, a media editor at Newsweek and a roving editor at Reader’s Digest.
He began working in the publicity department at the Walt Disney Company in the 1970s. Later, he contributed as a writer to 23 episodes of the ’70s animated series The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel, a program that combined film clips, animation and commentary to teach young viewers about historic and cultural events.
He collaborated with his cousin, Shamus Culhane, on three animated primetime television specials for NBC. One of the three was Noah’s Animals (1976), a retelling of the biblical story of Noah and the ark, from the viewpoint of the animals. The other two were King of the Beasts (1977) and Last of the Red-Hot Dragons (1976), both a continuation of the Noah tale. In the last, the animals become stranded at the North Pole on their way to the ark and receive help from an old dragon, voiced by Culhane.
John Culhane was a writer and journalist best known for his contributions as a Disney animation historian. He also served as the inspiration for the characters Mr. Snoops in The Rescuers and Flying John in Fantasia/2000.
Culhane met Walt Disney in 1951, at the age of 17, during a trip to California. Disney advised Culhane, then an aspiring writer, to: “Work for your hometown newspaper, write for your neighbors — and just keep widening your circle.” Culhane later became a reporter for his hometown paper, then an investigative reporter for the Chicago Daily News, a media editor at Newsweek and a roving editor at Reader’s Digest.
He began working in the publicity department at the Walt Disney Company in the 1970s. Later, he contributed as a writer to 23 episodes of the ’70s animated series The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel, a program that combined film clips, animation and commentary to teach young viewers about historic and cultural events.
He collaborated with his cousin, Shamus Culhane, on three animated primetime television specials for NBC. One of the three was Noah’s Animals (1976), a retelling of the biblical story of Noah and the ark, from the viewpoint of the animals. The other two were King of the Beasts (1977) and Last of the Red-Hot Dragons (1976), both a continuation of the Noah tale. In the last, the animals become stranded at the North Pole on their way to the ark and receive help from an old dragon, voiced by Culhane.
In 1983, he wrote and starred in "Backstage at Disney," an episode of Disney Channel’s Studio Showcase, which included a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a young Tim Burton working on his first film, a stop-motion animated short called Vincent. In 1992 Culhane wrote the television documentary The Making of 'Aladdin': A Whole New World.
He also wrote several books on Disney animation, including Walt Disney’s Fantasia, Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film and Fantasia/2000: Visions of Hope. Additionally, he taught classes on the history of animation at the School of Visual Arts, Fashion Institute of Technology, Mercy College and New York University.
Culhane died July 31, 2015, in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He was 81.
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