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John Culhane was an investigative Journalist for Newsweek Magazine and noted film historian. He taught the history of animation at New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Roy Disney School of Animation Studies at Mercy College in Westchester County. His books include "Walt Disney's Fantasia", "Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope (Forward by Roy E. Disney, commentary by James Levine", Disney's Alladin: An Animated Film", "Special Effects in the Movies", and "The American Circus: An Illustrated History". Culhane has also written three animated television specials, and has credit on one animated feature and 2 other television specials. He is currently writing a memoir of the life that made him the model for two Disney characters, 23 years apart.

Early life
Born in Rockford, Illinois on February 7, 1934, John Culhane attended a one room country school house in the country side in Winnebago County, completed Primary School at St.Mary's grade school, Roosevelt Jr. High and graduated from West High School  Rockford.

In 1952 Culhane drove Route 66 to LA with his friends, 20 dollars each and a collection of canned goods, for the sole purpose of meeting his idol Walt Disney.

In August 1951, when he was 17, Culhane won a contest for a screen test at MGM with Virginia Mayo and was ushered around the studio by Ricardo Montalbán. He met Walt Disney on a Sunday afternoon at his home in the Hollywood Hills, as arranged earlier by Diane Disney.

They talked for 5 hours straight, after which Walt invited him to visit him at the Studio the following Tuesday. Walt gave John a personal tour of the studio and introduced John to the 9 old men as they worked on their Various projects. Thus begun a life long relationship with the 9 old men.

John attended St. Louis U in St. Louis, Missouri on a scholarship to the Writer's institute, Majoring in writing and European History. One of his professors and mentors was the ex Chancellor of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg. While there, he worked as a reporter for the St Louis Globe Democrat paper in the summers.

Career
He was drafted in the army and served two years as company Clerk in the American Army as part of NATO at their Headquarters in Fontainebleau, France.

Journalist
While there he contributed to the international Herald Tribune.

He then joined The Rockford Register Republic as a reporter covering variety of events with a daily column called, "Off The Beat". While there, he was the first reporter to interview the then unknown preacher in Wis., Malcolm X. And wrote a feature on the Illinois poet Carl Sandberg for which he received 1st prize in feature writing contest by the Illinois Associate Press. .in 1959. It was Sandberg who urged John to go to The Chicago Daily News since he had worked there as a young man.

John married Hind Rassam Culhane of Baghdad, Iraq in August 1960, who was completing a degree in Psychology at Rockford College, Ill. He moved his family, with baby Michael to Chicago to begin his tenure at The Chicago Daily News in early 1961 where he began his career as an investigative reporter.

He wrote a front page exposes series of Chicago's Cook County Hospital. A series on Slum Lords. when in 1964 the Surgeon General's report on the dangers of Smoking came out, john wrote a front page series on him attending a stop smoking clinic, which was nationally syndicated. John wins a Ford Fellowship in Journalism and attends Columbia U. Journalism School. 1965-1966. He covers the N Y black out for his home town. In 1967 John becomes the deputy Bureau Chief of NewsWeek Magazine in Chicago. He covered the riots following the Martin Luther King assasination. He covers the 1968 Democratic Convention and gets beaten up by the Chicago Police, chased out with the protesters at Grant's Park and is cited in the warren Commission report on the event. John was the first American reporter to meet Yasser Arafat in his secret hideout in the hills of Jordan in May, 1969.

In June 1969, Culhane joins NewsWeek in New York.

In 1989 Culhane Interviewed Albert R. Broccoli

Film historian
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Circus Clown
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Author
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Professor
John Culhane created the first class on the art and history of animation in 1972 and has taught since than at NYU, Cal arts, Mercy College, AFI, school of visual arts and UPA.