Miracles

In 1978, I  shared a corner office at the end of the hallway (1A-13) with Glen. You had to go through my room to get to his. We were working on  'The Small One.' I was doing Gary Goldman's inbetweens and animating the Boy, Donkey and a Roman soldier. Gary put a piece of tracing paper over my drawing and showed me how to do it right and then he took me out at lunchtime to show me how to do it right again, beating me on the tennis court.  This was a growing time...both for me and the studio. As a young animator getting better at my craft.

On my way home from work I would often stop off and run around the track at a local school to stay in shape. After running, I was tired as usual. I thought I'd catch my 'second wind' as athletes refer to it, but my second wind never came. I was tired and never seemed to recover from that point on. Soon I lost my appetite, started to slur my speech, and loss of equilibrium followed. I went to a doctor who, after examining me said disdainfully, "I'm not going to write you a note to get off work." After that, I did not take my condition seriously, after all the doctor didn't. I just tried to push through, thinking it would soon pass. I made accomodations to help get me through the days. I drove to work on the freeway using only one lane, as turning my head left or right made me dizzy. I would tap my hand against the wall as I walked the hallway to maintain my balance.

Another doctor gave me a prescription to settle my stomach so I could eat. But the medicine made me drowsy which made animation virtually impossible. I thought by taking a week off and staying in bed to rest, I'd regain my strength.  But by the end of the week my energy had not returned. I did get a phone call from Ed Hansen informing me I had been promoted to animator. I said "thank you" pulled the covers back up over my head and dozed off.

 I went back to work the following Monday. Ron Miller spotted me staggering down the hallways, and inquired "What's wrong with Ron?" He involved himself in my situation. He had his secretary make appointments to see a group of specialists - Dr. Line, (ear-nose & throat) squirted ice water in my ear which made the room spin. After the same procedure in the other ear, I was pronounced 'ok' in the ears-nose-throat area. A few more appointments followed. Finally, I was sent across the street from the studio on Alameda to Dr. George Gruner, a neurosurgeon. I thought he was going to jump out of his skin as he examined me.  He ordered me into St. Joseph's Hospital right then and there. Don't go home, go straight to admitting! The diagnosis was a 'silver dollar' sized cyst growing on my brain, at the base of my skull.  It needed to be operated on immediately. We wouldn't know if it was malignant until they got in there.

Eight hours later, a successful  surgery performed, and the cyst was pronounced 'Non-malignant.' But, post brain surgery, I still had a long way to go. It took me three months to walk without a walker. I had to learn to do simple things again, like brush my teeth etc,. Eventually, I went to work half days and built up to full time. The Lord was not through with me at that time.

Next up was 'The Fox & the Hound.' I got a chance to work on Chief and Tod. Ollie did some great scenes of Chief recovering after he got hit by the train and on the back porch with Amos, but they did not sync with the way the story was going and they never got in the film.



After the production I participated in our first 'wrap' party. Above is the official invitation from Ron Miller and Card Walker. Those two guys were imposing figures, walking together down the narrow halls of the animation building, as they were both well over six feet tall.

The back lot was decorated in red and white checker board table cloth style and a boxed chicken dinner was served.

Disney animation continued to recruit talent to build the department. From word of mouth to this brochure (below, left), which was produced a few years after I had been at the studio.



The photos above on the right was another promotional piece.  We all went in to Eric's room, stood by his side while he put a piece of paper over our drawing and showed us how it could be better if we did this or that. Eric really cared about animation and the people who made animation.

The bottom photo is Frank going over a scene with me at the moviola.  He is pointing out what I could do to make the scene better. In those days it was about 'making the scene better.' You never heard a compliment, not directly anyway. What you did hear from the 'old guys' was, "Let's see what we can do to make this scene better." At least that was my experience...

A word about the moviola. Once a scene was animated, the drawings were sent out to Camera to be shot and put on film.  It took a day or two before it came back on film to be looked at on the moviola.





The image to the left is the invitation to the crew who worked on the Black Cauldron - The final animated feature done on the original Buena Vista Studio lot. The drama that unfolded during this production is covered in Don Hahn's documentary, "Waking Sleeping Beauty."  If you haven't seen it, check it out...



The 'wrap' party was 'over the top.' Chasen's was the restaurant at the time. The parking lot was tented and the festivities rolled - though the picture did not.

Early in the production Art Stephens, Johnathan Winters and I had lunch in the cafeteria on the lot. Johnathan was being considered to voice King Eidilleg. As always I had my sketch book with me. Johanathan takes it and drew this picture in it. Priceless.

Early days at the studio...

      

 February 10th 1975, was my first day on the lot at Disney Animation, reporting to Ed Hansen, head of the department.  He sent me upstairs to Eric Larsen (one of the legendary 'Nine Old Men' of Disney animation) who was in charge of training young artists to be future Disney animators.

I was given a desk in a large room across the hall from Eric, where all the potential animators were. There I met Glen Keane, Tad Stones, Jerry Reese, Jerry Moeler, Randy Cooke, and a host of others.

  

The assignment was: you had four weeks to do an animation test (supervised by Eric).  No matter when you entered the program, you had four weeks.  People were in various stages of their 'weeks' before showing their tests to veteran animators for a sink or swim nod.  Though we got paid, there was no guarantee you'd be around for a fifth week.

About half passed the first four week test, and were then given another four weeks to animate another test, showing how much you had learned from the first one. About one in three passed the second round. Fortunately for me they took into consideration your background; as I had no animation experience.  Literally learning the first day what an exposure sheet was, how to 'flip' drawings and set up Disney paper on Disney pegs, etc..  Others who had come from Cal-Arts or another studio had more experience and their tests and understanding of animation were far superior to mine.  Yet, in this communal atmosphere we all encouraged and pushed each other along. Life long friendships were forged in this pressured atmosphere. We all had the same goal, to make it to the next level and bring others with us. There was a tremendous camaraderie, everybody wanting others to 'make it' and Eric wanting all of us to succeed.

 Passing my second test, I was sent to the first floor to learn animation by doing inbetweens for a 'real' animator, the legend, Frank Thomas. 'The Rescuers' was in production at that time.  Normally a picture was released every three years and this production was about half finished when I came on board. Frank let me do a scene here and there; Bernard and Critters,  but my main job was to do his inbetweens during the work day.  My animation was done at night and on weekends; about fifty feet total. In those days an animator had to do a minimum of a hundred feet to get screen credit (notice how older animation/live action features have such short credits compared to today? :)

Pete's Dragon was next for me, working with Gary Goldman, doing his inbetweens and given a scene here and there for another fifty or so feet... sorry no screen credit :) But, by this time I had worked my way up to assistant animator, animating and doing inbetweens during working hours-yes!

Though other Americans of African decent had worked at the studio, Mike McKinney and I were the first to be on track to be animators, and Disney was making sure the world knew it.  This publicity shot went to magazines and newspapers across the country. 

The article is from this February 1978 issue of Ebony Magazine.

This event was a big deal for the studio. They had been making feature films since the release of Snow White in 1937.















 As a result, I received a great amount of fan mail from people who followed Disney animation and had no idea there were people of color behind the scenes.  This is a typical letter, which I saved in a folder about 4 inches thick of like letters recieved over the years, (notice the 13 cent stamp:).  I responded to as many letters that came to me, offering words of encouragement to young artists. I said to myself, if I ever got in a position where I could offer advice or direction to others, I would.  Coming out of college there was no one to answer my questions or share advice as I stumbled around looking for an avenue to express my creativity.  So, I took an active role in sharing with others.

The end and a beginning...

I finished my last day as a Walt Disney employee on Friday, September 20, 2013.  This culminated 38 years at the Mouse House.  Beginning as a Trainee in 1975, working my way up through in-betweener, breakdown artist, assistant animator, animator, and then supervising animator and working on such titles as Rescuers, Pete's Dragon, Small One, Fox and Hound, Black Cauldron, Great Mouse Detective,Oliver & Co., The Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, Atlantis, Fantasia 2000 and Treasure Planet before moving on from the animation world into the publishing world and working as a  Character Artist for Disney Consumer Products.

As I reflected on my time at Disney and throughout my career as an artist, I realized I'd collected not only memories, but mementos that I'd love to share beginning with photos and tons of stories.

 

 

The above photos are of the beginning and ending of my first job after graduating from UNLV. Actually, my very first job was at Eubanks in Monrovia, CA on Duarte Road. It lasted one week. I had several resumes out at the time and was extremely desperate for a job. My wife LaVonne, sons Mikel and Jai, and I were living with my Mom at the time and to get on my own two feet and take care of my family was top priority. I took the first job offered, Eubanks. In the middle of the week Honeywell in West Covina called and offered me a job in their Technical Illustration Dept. I took the job and the second day there, June 26th, 1973 I covered the top of my desk with a large piece of illustration board and wrote in the lower left hand corner ..."a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step"and that circle is a penny (since lost) from my first cashed paycheck. Not knowing where my journey was to end, I had at least started. My duties at Honeywell consisted of making block diagrams and flow charts and plenty of overtime. This allowed me to move my family to a just completed apartment complex on Highland Ave. across from the Duarte post office. This leg of my journey lasted until February 1975. I had gone to school training to be a commercial artist, illustrate books and magazines, or at least be able to draw in some capacity. Making flow charts with a technical pen and ruler, though it paid the bills, did nothing for my creative streak. So, I took a night class at Art Center College of Design in LA.  Mr Sam McKim, the instructor, encouraged me to take my portfolio to the Disney animation department trainee division, headed up by Eric Larsen. My interview with Eric went fine as he looked over my portfolio which was filled with slick, commercial art pieces.  I could tell by the look on his face that he was not at all impressed, even with the Pinocchio I had put in...he asked me,"Do you have any sketches?" Sketches are things I failed to include in my portfolio, not realizing how important they are in the field of animation. I was applying for admission to be trained in animation, though I knew nothing about animation and had not even seen a animated feature in probably a decade.

Fortunately back in high school, before I was kicked out of my art class, my teacher encouraged me to keep a sketch pad with me at all times. I took her advice and by this time had built up a small supply of filled sketch pads. I went home, gathered three pads, put them in an envelope addressed to Eric and dropped them off at the guard gate on Buena Vista in Burbank and headed back to Duarte. Disney called a few weeks later and invited me into the program. I did not know at the time that the trainee program was started a few years earlier to train young artists to be animators in the Disney style, before the older animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl etc. retired (more on this later)....I took a lower salary but gained a whole world of creativity and learning through this new path on my journey. This last photograph is from the going away gathering at Honeywell, once they knew where I was going, they ran wild with the Disney theme.   They made me wear the mouse ears to cut the mouse cake... Afro hair style was in for black men in 1975 and here I am with a shaved head and fu manchu mustache, forty years ahead of time.
Stay tuned for another leg of my journey.