THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994 TAG: 9406210120
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mal Vincent
DATELINE: 940621 LENGTH: Short
The animation staff went to Africa and the San Diego Zoo to study animal movements. Later they threw a little party with animal guests that almost turned into a disaster.
{REST} A sound stage of the Disney studio was turned into an African jungle, complete with drawings from the film, a live elephant, giraffe, lion and cub. I defied a warning and poured a soft drink down the eager trunk of the elephant. He lapped it up. I had been warned that he might spew it back into my face, but he was well-behaved.
The giraffe, however, got tired of the black curtains that ringed the set, and, with one sweep of his neck and a toothy grab, jerked them down. The planners looked blithe, as if ripping up the curtains was part of the act.
The visiting lion was a 650-pound guy named Pauncho. He stands 12-feet-tall on his hindlegs, and he isn't fully grown. Pauncho took one look at lyricist Tim Rice and lunged for him. Three handlers raced for Pauncho and wrestled him to the floor before he could get on the stage.
Minutes later, all was calm. It seems Pauncho may have mistaken Rice, who was wearing a striped shirt, for a zebra.
As a grand finale, the not-so-tiny visiting lion cub did something that no other creature at the studio is brave enough to do. He urinated on the lap of Jeffrey Katzenburg, the head of production.
by CNB