First pic: Jeffrey Katzenberg & Michael Eisner; second pic: Ron Clements, Pete Young &am

First pic: Jeffrey Katzenberg & Michael Eisner; second pic: Ron Clements, Pete Young & Steve Hulett; third pic: Ron Clements, Jodi Benson & John Musker

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner were brought from Paramount to Disney in 1984, and they brought with them the concept of the “Gong Show.” At Paramount, they would hold pitch meetings in which everyone was given the opportunity to give ideas for future movie projects. The first Katzenberg and Eisner Gong Show at Disney was held in 1985. It was at this Gong Show that Ron Clements and John Musker first pitched two ideas that would eventually come to fruition: an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in space.

But the belle of the ball in this meeting was Pete Young, who pitched the idea of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist except instead of human orphans, they would be cats and dogs. Back at Paramount, Katzenberg had wanted to do a contemporary version of the musical Oliver! (based on the same novel). Oliver & Company would go on to the be the first film from Walt Disney Animation Studios under the new management of Katzenberg and Eisner. Young worked on the story, but unfortunately, he passed away in October of that year at the age of 37.

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