Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1446450
D E PA R T M E N T 18 KEYFRAME 2022 1965 2000 1986 1993 52 1974 17 F E AT U R E Following shor t stints on Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty, Romersa spent nine years inking for Auril Thompson, then dove into a 33-year on-and-off career at Hanna-Barbera, moving from Animation Assistant to Director to Producer. Her final years before retirement in 2017 were spent as an Animation Director and Sheet Timer for Disney. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY? I had no desire to get into the business. A friend asked me to come see her at her new job as a secretary at Disney Studio in Burbank. I was totally impressed and went home, gathered up some life drawings I had done in college, applied for a job, and was hired as an inker on Lady and the Tramp in 1954. WHAT DID YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY? Every day was different. There was always something new to learn and a challenge to meet. I had the good fortune to know and be taught by the most the talented, amazing, gifted people in the business, and many became my dearest friends. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT YOU'VE WORKED ON IN YOUR CAREER AND WHY? Difficult to choose a favorite project. Lady and the Tramp because it was the first, The 7D because it was the last, and all in between. TELL US WHAT THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY LOOKED LIKE IN THE 1960S. Animation in the 1960s was traditional paper, paint, and camera animation. It could be limited or full or a mix of both. There was sunlight in the [Hanna- Barbera] building and laughter in the halls. There were cartoons of the real characters we worked with pinned up on walls, and jokes were played on friends on a regular basis. We worked hard and met deadlines and produced funny cartoons because it was fun! HOW DID THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY CHANGE FROM WHEN YOU STARTED TO WHEN YOU RETIRED? Computers came along, changing everything from color to action, and the fact that most of the animation [began being] outsourced to countries outside the U.S. made a huge difference. HOW DID THE UNION IMPACT THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY WHEN YOU WERE A MEMBER? I walked the picket lines—actually roller-skated—on the first strike [of 1979] but was not very active in the Union. I appreciated what they did for us but had no idea how important it was to work in a union shop. Now that I am retired, I truly appreciate my pension and would be lost without it! 1960s JOANNA ROMERSA