Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
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D E PA R T M E N T 21 KEYFRAME CELEBRATING THE FORGOTTEN From this inauspicious beginning, Gladstone went on to join the board, and he has been executive producing the ceremony since he became Executive Director in 2012. He says he's an easy crier, and there's usually a part in every ceremony where he thinks, I hope I don't have to speak now. One such moment came in 2019 when Frank Braxton received the Winsor McKay award for his career contributions to the art of animation. Having passed away 50 years earlier, "He had been forgotten by most of the [animation] community, but he was, for all intents and purposes, our Jackie Robinson," Gladstone says. Braxton worked on classics like The Bullwinkle Show as a director and Mister Magoo as an animator, as well as on successful commercial campaigns including Cap'n Crunch. In 1960 he became president of the Screen Cartoonists Guild. "He'd had a color bar to get through, but the community in general welcomed him then, and his family told us how much they appreciated it." Braxton's wife and children accepted his posthumous award, and his son spoke of "the humanity we came to know during his career." That, Gladstone says, "was particularly poignant." The Annies started in 1972 as a dinner at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City. The organizers, including June Foray, who conceived of the idea, were nervous. Would anyone show up? More than 400 people did, and a tradition was born. In the beginning, the Annies gave gave an Annie Award and then added the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement. Now, there are three more juried awards and 31 awards for production and achievement. Today, the Winsor McKay is the Annies' anchor, and as the 2021 winners show, it carries on a tradition of celebrating nothing short of excellence. WILLIE ITO is an animation industry legend, having started his career at Walt Disney Studios working on the famous spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp. Following a stint with Chuck Jones at Warner Bros., he arrived at Hanna-Barbera, where he worked on The Flintstones and The Yogi Bear Show, as well as designing title characters for other popular programs. SUE NICHOLS was considered pivotal in the 1990's revival of Disney Animation, beginning with Beauty and the Beast. She contributed to the early development of such hits as the The Lion King, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Mulan. She passed away on September 1, 2020. BRUCE W. SMITH got his start on films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and countless TV cartoons. But he's best-known for his heavy hitting work, co-directing the much-adored animated short Hair Love and creating Disney TV's groundbreaking animated series The Proud Family. The 48th Annual Annie Awards will be held virtually on Friday, April 16, 2021. WE, THE JURY Photo credit: Meg Oliphant. WE'RE ALL HUMAN Each ceremony inevitably has its elements of surprise, whether it's an award recipient ignoring the timeclock, a presenter announcing the wrong name, or a legendary winner with a potty mouth. "We gave a Winsor McKay to a very famous guy named Walt Peregoy," Gladstone says. "He was too ill to come, so we went out to film him." Peregoy was known for being a curmudgeon and was famous for cussing people out. Gladstone and his team weren't sure what to expect, and when they turned on the camera, they got a surprisingly generous speech. Teary, Peregoy declared, "Everybody has talent … and their accomplishments are as great as anybody else's." Then he added, in classic Peregoy fashion, "I have to say that because we're what make up this world. A**holes. Hey, we all have one." Laughing, Frank says, "That was his reputation. We left it in." The family of Frank Braxton receiving his posthumous award SPRING 2021 21 D I A L O G U E