Clik here to view.
Century Birthday - Hardie Gramatky
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAYHardie Gramatky, perhaps best known for his classic childrens book, Little Toot, was born 100 years ago today in Dallas, Texas. He was also a prolific illustrator, watercolorist...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Cecil Surry
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAYCecil Hays Surry was born in the state of Washington and raised on a fruit farm in Chelan County in the center of the state. His parents, Bert and Eliza (who went by Lydia) were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding Jay Ward
Jay Ward, the joyfully irreverent pioneer of TV animation, has a personal background that is very elusive. Even to long-time friends, co-workers and biographers some aspects of his life have been very...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Disney Bulletin - May 3, 1940
Flashback to 1940 Along with stories about birthdays and weddings being celebrated, an insight on a studio in transition; a note about the Ink & Paint Department moving from Hyperion to Burbank --...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Short Life of Godfrey Bjork
If the name of animator Godfrey Bjork comes up in conversation, it is most often accompanied by the name of Emile Offeman. The story, as told by Shamus Culhane in his autobiography, Talking Animals and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Memorial Day Tribute - Willard Bowsky
After the United States entered World War II in December 1941 the service from the animation community was considerable. Most people continued to work at the studios, albeit on far different projects...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Edward Plumb
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAY Disney composer and orchestrator Edward Holcomb Plumb was born and raised in Streator, Illinois, a town on the Vermilion River 100 miles southwest of Chicago. His parents...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ghosts of the Charles Mintz Studio
A BIT MORE OF THE WHERE...On a nondescript street just a short walk from the busy intersection of Western Avenue and Santa Monica Blvd. stands a building that's been there for more than eighty years....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Neighbors - chapter I
Santa BarbaraLike many seaside communities, Santa Barbara has been home to quite a number of artists. A handful of them would move to Los Angeles and ply their profession in the field of animation....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthdays - Al Coe and Roy Williams
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAYAl Coe, and animator known for his work on shorts at Disney and Lantz and Roy Williams, long time story man at Disney were both born a century ago today!Sorry everyone, but I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Virgil Ross
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAY Virgil Walter Ross was born a century ago today in Watertown, New York. His parents, Bertha Mary (Hart) and Ellwood Burdsoll Ross, both natives of New York state, married in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Dick Lundy
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAYRichard James Lundy, an only child, was born to parents James and Minnie Lundy a century ago today. He was born in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan on the eastern tip of Lake...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Art Babbitt
BORN 100 YEARS AGO TODAY Arthur Harold Babitzky entered the world in the unlikely city of Omaha, Nebraska, at the eastern edge of the state on the Missouri River.His parents Solomon* and Zelda were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Neighbors - chapter II
Fred, ...Meet FredWhile doing research several years ago in the depths of the Main Library in downtown Los Angeles, I came across the interesting fact that during the mid-1940s, Robert Fred "Freddie"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Joe Grant at Chouinard
The clipping below is from a catalog for prospective students of the Chouinard Art Institute, School of Motion Picture Arts. Although undated, I believe this to be from the late 1930s, probably 1937 or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Snow White at The Carthay
There has been plenty of buzz recently regarding the Carthay Circle Theater, with a reproduction coming soon to Disney's California Adventure. The original theater once stood in the mid-Wilshire...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Time Magazine December 27, 1937
Nearly seventy years ago a 36 year old Walt Disney (his 106th birthday is today) and some stars from his new movie were featured on the cover of Time Magazine.The cover and article within are shown...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Godfrey Bjork
Iwerks animator Godfrey Bjork would have been 100 years old today.Please see the earlier post from last May for more about this almost forgotten figure.In the months since then, I have found that he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Joe Grant
Disney artist Joe Grant was born a century ago today in New York City. His parents Eva and George Albert Grant made their home at at 611 W. 136th Street in Manhattan, where George worked as an art...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Century Birthday - Mel Blanc
The legendary Man of 1000 Voices was born 100 years ago today. Mel Blanc was born Melvin Jerome Blank to Frederick and Eva (Katz) Blank in San Francisco, California. Mel arrived four years after an...
View Article
