Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists

275 Pages·2008·0.75 MB·English

by  Don Peri

Working with Walt
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
JACKSON
W
alt
Working with
INTERVIEWS
WITH
DISNEY
ARTISTS
DON PERI
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2008 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2008
(cid:100)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peri, Don.
Working with Walt : interviews with Disney artists / Don Peri.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-934110-67-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-934110-67-1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Disney, Walt,
1901–1966. 2. Animators—United States—Interviews. I. Title.
NC1766.U52D522008
741.5'8092273—dc22 2007031892
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my parents, Alice and Joe Peri,
Who first introduced me to the Disney dream
And to my wife, Sue, and my daughters, Julie and Emily,
Who continue to share it with me.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [ ix ]
INTRODUCTION [ xi ]
EXPLANATION OF TERMS [ xxv ]
Ben Sharpsteen
[ 1 ]
Dick Huemer
[ 32 ]
Clarence Nash
[ 49 ]
Wilfred Jackson
[ 55 ]
Marcellite Garner
[ 83 ]
Ken O’Connor
[ 93 ]
Floyd Gottfredson
[ 109 ]
Les Clark
[ 119 ]
Ken Anderson
[ 134 ]
Larry Clemmons
[ 149 ]
Herb Ryman
[ 156 ]
Jack Cutting
[ 180 ]
Harper Goff
[ 193 ]
Eric Larson
[ 208 ]
Don Duckwall
[ 221 ]
INDEX [ 239 ]
Acknowledgments
This book has been a labor of love for me, but without having met Ben
Sharpsteen, this book would never have happened, so my first debt of
gratitude is to him. My work with him encouraged me to seek out other
Disney artists, and I will be forever grateful to them for the privilege and
the honor of allowing me to interview them and for sharing their stories,
their emotions, and their lives with me. They inspired me then and they
inspire me still.
Didier Ghez set this project in motion when he encouraged me to
contact humanities professor Thomas Inge of Randolph-Macon College
with a book proposal. Didier is an author, historian, and proprietor of
one of the best web sites on Disney, disneybooks.blogspot.com. His
series, Walt’s People, has fast become required reading for all those who
are serious scholars of Walt Disney. Even though he and I have never
met face to face, he became my champion from across the Atlantic, and
this book is largely the result of his efforts.
Tom Inge was very supportive of the book proposal and his recom-
mendation catapulted the book from an idea to reality and for that, I am
deeply in his debt.
Director Seetha Srinivasan, managing editor Anne Stascavage, and
editor Walter Biggins of the University Press of Mississippi have been
very helpful in guiding a novice author through the steps required to
ix