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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 21 March 2019
Now 30, ‘The Little Mermaid’ paved the way for Elsa and Anna

By MARK KENNEDY hood. She supplied the
Associated Press singing and speaking voice
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s not of Ariel, the heroine of the
uncommon for people to 1989 animated Disney hit
just look at Jodi Benson “The Little Mermaid,” which
and burst into tears. is celebrating its 30th anni-
Sometimes they hyperven- versary this year.
tilate or scream. But mostly Benson says she will some-
they break down and start times watch as the stunned
sobbing. Benson will hold movie’s fans virtually go
them, heaving in her arms, back in time in front of her.
and pat their back gently. “It triggers a memory for
Benson isn’t a household them,” she says.
name but for many she’s an “They remember who they
intimate part of their child- were with when they saw

This image released by Disney shows Ariel, voiced by Jodi Benson, in a scenefrom “The Little
Mermaid.
Associated Press
the movie the first time. ture “Part of Your World” on emy Award nominations.
Maybe that sibling is no lon- a reel-to-reel tape and was It was critically acclaimed,
ger with them, that grand- handed a few of pages of with Roger Ebert calling
parent is no longer with dialogue. it a “jolly and inventive
them. It reminds them of a “I ran into the ladies’ room,” animated fantasy,” and
relationship that had been she recalls “and waited for would go to earn $211 mil-
broken with a parent. So everybody to get out of the lion worldwide. Parents of
they have all sorts of emo- stalls and started talking to children with learning dis-
tions that go on.” the mirror, sort of trying to abilities have told Benson
“The Little Mermaid “ has come up with what would their child’s first words were
changed a lot of lives, not she sound like at 16.” from the film.
least of which is Benson’s, Benson, it turned out, was A live-action remake is in
who has continued to a master mimic. She had the works, featuring new
perform Ariel virtually ev- spent countless hours in her songs by Lin-Manuel Miran-
ery weekend in concerts room as a child with her da, who created “Hamil-
as well as on film in the guitar, singing along to re- ton.” He loved the 1989 ani-
“Wreck-It Ralph” franchise. cords by Barbra Streisand, mated film so much its part-
“The Little Mermaid” also Carole King, James Tay- ly the reason he named his
had a big role in making lor as well as Marvin Ham- first child Sebastian — the
Disney into an animation lisch’s “A Chorus Line.” mermaid’s crab friend.
juggernaut and reviving “I would start to just sing like It was the kind of hit that
the art form. Many believe them. But it wasn’t like I was Clements and his animators
we’d never have Anna and trying to be them. It’s just at Disney had long been
Elsa from “Frozen” without that’s what I heard. And so hoping for. He had started
first having Ariel. that’s just what you do. You at Disney in 1974 and was
“Disney was starting to get just sound like what you part of a new generation of
into a groove that would been listening to,” she says. artists trying to change the
continue, but I feel like a lot A year or so after audition- notion that animation was
of that started with ‘A Little ing for Ariel, she got the call just for kids.
Mermaid,’” says Ron Cle- that she’d won the role. “I Clements had pitched a
ments, who co-wrote and completely forgot that I two-page treatment of
co-directed the film. had auditioned,” she says. the musical to then-studio
Benson was a rising Broad- Back then, voiceover work head Michael Eisner and
way star when Ariel came wasn’t very glamorous and was given the green light.
into her orbit. She had big celebrities wouldn’t For Clements and his part-
been in a short-lived musi- consider it. ner, John Musker, the stakes
cal “Smile” when Howard “It wasn’t a good job. Do- were high: It was the first
Ashman, the musical’s lyri- ing voiceovers was what fairy tale Disney had done
cist and story writer, invited you would do when your for some three decades.
the out-of-work cast to au- career was on the back “There was a feeling — all
dition for his next project, half, when it was tanking,” through ‘Little Mermaid’ —
an adaptation of Hans says Benson. She thought that this film had potential
Christian Andersen’s “The Ariel would be just another to be the film that could
Little Mermaid.” notch on her resume. It was break through and work
Producers wanted the sing- not. Propelled by such Alan the way we were all hungry
ing and speaking voice to Menken songs as “Under for and hoping for,” recalls
be supplied by the same the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl,” Clements, who went on to
actress. So Benson, a lyric the film won two Grammys co-direct “Aladdin” and
soprano, sang the signa- and earned three Acad- “Hercules.”q