Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1257506
16 KEYFRAME JANE SHATTUCK TAKAMOTO BAER started working in the animation industry at a time when women were not welcome in the workplace. In 1939, at the height of the depression, married women were banned from working because women were perceived as taking jobs from men. In 1955, post-World War II, Mamie Eisenhower defined herself as the First Housewife, not the First Lady, and it was in this context that Baer began her career. Baer's father, an artist, happened to be friends with Charlie Thorson (the designer of Bugs Bunny) and introduced him to a young Baer in her hometown of Winnipeg. At the time, Thorson was working on the children's book "Keeko" and Baer recalls being mesmerized by his artwork. Baer longed to study art, but her family only had enough money to finance one child's higher education. Since the prevailing attitude was that education would be wasted on a girl who would ultimately get married and have babies, her brother was the one sent to university. Baer found a job and saved enough to attend ArtCenter in Los Angeles. When her money ran out she was lucky enough to be hired at Disney on Sleeping Beauty where she worked with four of the "nine old men" of animation. One day, Frank Thomas asked if she wanted to try her hand at animation. Baer leapt at this opportunity and was given the task of animating the candles sliding off Aurora's birthday cake in Sleeping Beauty. But after layoffs at Disney, Baer found herself living the life of a suburban housewife and mother—she felt isolated and miserable. Her marriage to Iwao Takamoto ended and she made her way back to Disney, assisting Milt Kahl with the character of Medusa from The Rescuers. In 1984, together with her second husband, Dale Baer, she went on to create The Baer Animation Studio. Baer related how they were called in to Disney and asked if they'd like to take on part of a Richard Williams' project. This ended up being the Toontown sequence of Benny the Cab for the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It was S O C I A L H O U R CHAMPIONING DIVERSITY WITHIN THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY left to right: Mindy Johnson, Enid Denbo-Wizig, Willie Ito, Jane Baer, and Floyd Norman THIS SPRING, ANIMATION GUILD MEMBERS WERE TREATED TO A PANEL DISCUSSION ON DIVERSITY FEATURING FLOYD NORMAN, WILLIE ITO, JANE BAER, AND ENID DENBO-WIZIG, WHO SHARED THEIR PERSONAL JOURNEYS IN THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY. THE EVENT WAS MODERATED BY AUTHOR AND ACADEMY SCHOLAR, MINDY JOHNSON, WHO DEFTLY WOVE IN THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND PROVIDED AN INSIGHTFUL BACKDROP TO THEIR STORIES. HERE'S WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY.