Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1257506
SUMMER 2020 17 no small task and Baer described setting up an entire unit with over 100 people from scratch. Williams was not happy giving up his sequences, she said, but the deal was that he was not allowed to interfere with their work. As a result, they operated incognito while doing the iconic Toontown sequences. It was at the height of the Civil Rights movement that a young animator made his way to the Walt Disney company. FLOYD NORMAN grew up African American in the protective bubble of Santa Barbara, where as a child he had no sense of segregation. In high school, he landed his first job working on Katy Keene the Fashion Queen for a local cartoonist. Norman explained that he had no racial baggage when he came to Disney in 1953, looking for a job. He simply applied as a young man having just graduated from high school. When he didn't get the job, he went off to ArtCenter and was later hired by Disney where he worked with an extremely diverse group of people who all had a love of animation in common. Norman worked on films like The Jungle Book and 101 Dalmatians; and it was Walt Disney himself who helped advance his career and gave him unique opportunities. Norman later partnered with Leo Sullivan, starting Vignette Films where they produced films on African American history. They developed Fat Albert for Bill Cosby, producing the first half hour special for NBC. Norman eventually found his way back to Disney, but at age 65, while still at the top of his game, he ran into ageism—suddenly there was no more work for him and he was let go. Johnson pointed out that age discrimination is not really talked enough but deserves more attention Norman fortunately went on to do pioneering work at Pixar and he is the subject of Floyd Norman—An Animated Life which will air on TCM. There is a long history of people with disabilities working in the animation industry. Back in the 1940s, the first woman animator in Canada, Evelyn Lambert, was deaf. But our general U.S. history with disability, Johnson pointed out, is not a pretty picture. In 1927 there was compulsory sterilization for people with disabilities and it was only in 1974 that the last of the so-called 'Ugly Laws' of the 1800's was repealed. These laws originated in Chicago and allowed for the lawful imprisonment of anyone who was diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed. ENID DENBO-WIZIG lost her hearing due to illness as an infant; her mother refused to accept she was deaf, instead convincing herself that her daughter was hard of hearing. Determined that her daughter be part of society, she set out to find whatever help she could. In 1926, hearing aids were not yet available, but her mother found a German therapist who gave her a stethoscope and told her to try to stimulate her daughter's hearing. Wizig repeated basic words hundreds of times. At age seven, she was sent to a school for the deaf where she learned to read lips and speak. Then came private speech therapy twice a day, five days a week, for five years with a therapist who wanted her to "speak like the queen." Initially the therapist didn't know if she could help a non-hearing child. She told Wizig's parents that she would try, but she charged a hundred dollars an hour, back in 1935. Wizig had a guttural sound in her nose and her tongue was twisted and needed extensive work to make it more flexible. After a few sessions, the therapist decided to waive the payment. A talented artist, Wizig attended LA City College's art program where she learned anatomy, life drawing, and perspective. She went on to work at Schlesinger Studios, starting in painting. She recalls playing ping pong with Art Babbitt and Bill Melendez during lunch. They recognized the potential in her drawing and taught her animation, giving her homework, which included practicing drawing on even numbered pages. This was during World War II when animators were leaving for the service and they needed replacements. Wizig was promoted to assistant animator where she was one of only three women working in the animation unit. She related how Chuck Jones was a great teacher who conducted evening classes for his unit, teaching contours, gestures, and insisting that they draw with feeling. Wizig married, raised a family and became an inspiration for the deaf community where she still volunteers. She was recently honored by the Academy and documented her life in a memoir, I Never Asked, Why Me? In 1934, an influx of Japanese immigrants came to the U.S. and embraced Western culture and lifestyle, adding to the diverse fabric of the arts, music, and sciences. But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, things changed overnight, with 120,000 Japanese Americans rounded up for incarceration, their property seized and bank accounts frozen. December 7, 1941 is forever etched in WILLIE ITO's memory. The events of that day ultimately led to his family's incarceration at an internment camp in Utah. Ito, who was born in the San Francisco bay area, said he and his family were sent to the Topaz internment camp in the Utah desert, taking with them only what they could carry. They would be confined there for three years. Having realized at age five that cartooning was his vocation, Ito already drew voraciously. There were no stores in the camp, so shopping was done via mail order. Young Ito would take the expired Sears and Roebuck catalogues and draw in the margins, creating his first flip books. Later, when his peers from the internment camp were becoming engineers and doctors, a concerned Ito wondered about his decision to become a cartoonist. Ito told his mentor and life-drawing instructor that he was considering doing something more substantial, like medical illustration. But his mentor insisted that Ito follow his dream. He provided Ito with a letter of introduction for his own mentor at Chouinard in Los Angeles. Ito was awarded a scholarship and studied alongside Jimmy Murakami. Ito wanted to work at UPA, which was the hottest studio in town at the time. He used his portfolio as a ticket just to see the inside of the Disney studio with no intention of working there. But soon after a telegram arrived, inviting him to take a test at Disney. He was hired to work on Lady and the Tramp and illustrated the legendary spaghetti- eating sequence. After being told by Disney that there would be a three-month hiatus, Ito immediately called Warner Bros. and was hired days later. Changing studios was quite a culture shock. Ito worked on the Road Runner cartoons, What's up Doc, working with legendary Chuck Jones. He then moved on to work at Bob Clampett, followed by Hanna- Barbera where he worked on The Flintstones and The Jetsons among others. Some of the series he worked on were groundbreaking in terms of diversity, like The Harlem Globetrotters, The Amazing Chan and the Clan, Hong Kong Phooey. Ito has also illustrated the books, Hello Maggie! and A Boy from Heart Mountain which speak to his time and experiences during his WWII incarceration. S O C I A L H O U R