The Forum at 74-80 Camden St., at the intersection with Pratt St., had been a warehouse and then became an animation studio. It housed the production of Who framed Roger Rabbit during 1987 and 1988, and then the final production push of Dick Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler after that. Camden Town continues to be a creative hub in London, but the creativity housed in The Forum is now that of high tech software and gaming firms. In Roger Rabbit days there was an old commissionaire sitting at a simple 4-legged desk just in front of the elevator bay. Now, there is nobody… just CCTV cameras and door buzzers. I have visited Camden Town several times in the course of my research, and I even managed to breach the security of the building to climb the stairs and see the current layout. There still seems to be some magic in the air. ‘
I asked former Who framed Roger Rabbit animator, Peter Western, if he would be interested in doing a painting of The Forum for me. I think that he captured the magic!
Cheers to Pete Western!!