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• When you work in animation, there’s just no avoiding those Pink Slip Blues

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman returns with a column that discusses one of the lesser popular aspects of working in Toontown. And that’s the layoff that invariably comes whenever a new animated feature completes production Read More... Posted Monday, March 01, 2010 12:00 AM | 1 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, books, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, 1960s, John Lasseter, Burbank, The Walt Disney Company, The Lion King, Aladdin, Disney Legend, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, Animation Building, California, young artists , employees , layoffs , Walt Disney Productions , Burbank lot , Floyd Norman, Mr. Fun , Mr. Fun's Blog, Disney's Animation Building , old Animation Building, Disney artist , book, Disney animator , artists, assignment , animated film, young animators, feature films, Hanna-Barbera , pink slip, Hanna-Barbera Studio , animation professionals, Walt Disney Feature Animation, 1990s, Roy Disney, production, production team , film, animated feature film, studio, WDAS, Jim Fletcher, Freddy Hellmich, Hanna Barbera, Glen Keane, Ray Aragon, animated feature, 2010, Kem Weber, Beauty & the Beast, Vic Haboush, layoff, Hicks Lokey, Bill Keil, Amby Paliwoda, Disk Drive: Animated Humor in the Digital Age, My Animated Life: A seriously funny look at the cartoon business by Disney's first colorful animator, blurb.com

• Toon Tuesday : My Luncheon with Roy

  Join Disney Legend Floyd Norman in the Coral Room on the Burbank lot in late 1984. And then listen in as Walt’s nephew reassures the troops in regards to all the changes that had recently been made at Walt Disney Productions Read More... Posted Tuesday, January 26, 2010 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney, Hollywood, Glendale, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Legend, Animation Building, Disney Commissary , young artists , Burbank lot , studio commissary, Disney animator , young animators, Filmation, 1980s, Michael Eisner , Walt Disney Feature Animation, Roy Disney, executive decision, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E Disney, executives, studio, Pinocchio, WDAS

• Disney’s timeless battle between the young punks and the old guard

  Everything old is new again at the Mouse Factory. Or so says Disney Legend Floyd Norman, as he talks about the creative struggles that have gone at the Studios for decades now Read More... Posted Monday, December 07, 2009 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, Tom Oreb, Walt Peregoy, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, Mouse House, John Lasseter, Burbank, Milt Kahl , Animation Building, Eyvind Earle , Disney Commissary , California, shorts , Nine Old Men , young artists , animators, layout artists, instruction, screening rooms , animation artist, design , development , Disney history , Burbank lot , Disney movie, Mr. Fun , Mr. Fun's Blog, wisdom, column, Disney staffers , gags, Disney backlot , artists, assignment , young animators, Disney shorts , top animators, sequence, shorts unit, layout artist , storyman, animation professionals, story team, storyboard, style, art direction, production design, screening, production, sequences, production team , story issues, color storyboards , layout, layout crew, film, studio, 2009, leader, legacy, John Musker, Ron Clements, Brad Bird, storyboarding, animated feature

• Toon Thursday: When Dad's a Disney Legend, that's a tough act to follow

  Floyd Norman looks back on the careers of Peter Kahl, John Kimball and Dale King. Each of them a talented artist in their own right. Who then had to struggle in order to escape the shadows of their far more famous fathers Read More... Posted Thursday, November 05, 2009 12:00 AM | 3 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, 1960s, Milt Kahl , Animation Building, design , Walt Disney Productions , Disney's Animation Building , character designer , industry veterans , legacy, A-Wing

• Toon Tuesday: What was it like to work at the Mouse Factory back in the 1950s?

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman talks about what it was like to work at Walt Disney Studios in the post-strike era. And to Floyd's way of thinking, "The Bad Old Days" were pretty darned good Read More... Posted Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, 1950s, Hollywood, Burbank, Animation Building, Disney Commissary , California, Los Angeles , instruction, artwork , 1941 , animators strike , Walt Disney Productions , sound stage, Old Hollywood, Burbank lot , motion picture, Disney artist , Dopey Drive, good times , Disney animator , The Great Depression, artists, job, Silver Lake , animated film, young animators, Disney shorts , master animator, industry veterans , job security, animation professionals, Roy Disney, production, production team , film, animated feature film, motion pictures, leader, legacy, Riverside Drive, animated feature, animation training class, animation department

• Toon Tuesday: Remembering 2-C

  Forget about 3-D. Disney Legend Floyd Norman revisits a location at Walt Disney Studios where lots of classic animation was created Read More... Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:00 AM | 10 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney, 101 Dalmatians, San Diego, Comic Con International, 1950s, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Jungle Book, Animation Building, shorts , animated film, shorts unit, The Great Mouse Detective, 2009, 1966, Jack Hannah, Dick Kinney, Roy Williams, Al Bertino, storyboarding, Woolie Reitherman, Basil Davidovitch, Dale Barnhart, Ray Aragon, Sammie June Lanham, Betty Gossin, Vance Gerry, Al Wilson, Sylvia Niday, Dick Lucas, Eric Cleworth, music room, the music room, 2-C, The Black Cauldron, directorial units, Joe Hale, Riverside Drive, Mark Evanier, Quick Draw, Scott Shaw!, panel, Comic-Con, Comic-Con International, convention, San Diego Convention Center, Sergio Aragones, animated feature

• Toon Tuesday: Funky Warehouse Syndrome

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman points out an interesting paradox of the animation industry. In that artists deserve the finest facilities, but it's sometimes better if they don't actually get them Read More... Posted Tuesday, May 12, 2009 12:00 AM | 1 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios, 1970s, Pixar Animation Studios, Glendale, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, Toy Story, Animation Building, young artists , animators, animation artist, design , Walt Disney Productions , Burbank lot , Disney artist , Disney backlot , backlot , Disney animator , artists, young animators, Hanna-Barbera , Hanna-Barbera Studio , 1980s, story, 1990s, production design, production team , production designer, film, motion pictures, studio, Hanna Barbera

• Toon Tuesday : Here's to the real survivors

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman pays tribute to all those animation veterans who have hung in there through the tough times Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, traditional animation, CG, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, Hollywood, Glendale, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Legend, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, How the Grinch Stole Disney, Afrokids.com, Son of Faster Cheaper, Animation Building, 1956, television show, shorts , young artists , animators, animation artist, director, layoffs , Walt Disney Productions , writer/director , television , television series , Mr. Fun , Mr. Fun's Blog, Disney artist , Disney animator , artists, young animators, Survivor, desert island , craft services , drawing board, shorts unit, Rick Gonzales, cutbacks, layout artist , character designer , Hanna-Barbera , Ruby-Spears, pink slip, industry veterans , MGM Animation , Visual Arts , Bob Clampett, Bob Clampett Studio , Bryan Ono, Hanna-Barbera Studio , television animation , Filmation, 1980s, Granada Hills , Dave Michener, storyman, The Great Mouse Detective, Michael Eisner , Orlando , CGI , digital bandwagon , job security, animation professionals, third world potentates, overpaid gig, old survivor, real survivors

• Toon Thursday : Mermaids, donuts and musical concrete

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman is back with a trio of wild & wacky stories from his days at the Mouse House. And did we mention that Mr. Fun now has his very own blog ? Read More... Posted Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, books, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, 1960s, Mouse House, Glendale, Burbank, The Walt Disney Company, Imagineering, Disneyland, theme park, Disney Legend, Toontown, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, cataroo.com, How the Grinch Stole Disney, Afrokids.com, Son of Faster Cheaper, Animation Building, animators, eFX Inc., artwork , Disney history , Walt Disney Productions , 1940s , Burbank lot , Jim Hill , Floyd Norman, JHM , Mr. Fun , Mr. Fun's Blog, JimHillMedia, Favorites list , shameless plugging , column, Disney's Animation Building , Disney art , crazy, creative , corporate , rock band, album, Music Concrete, electronic music, space epic , F-Wing , old Animation Building, coffee machine, coffee maker , vending machine, donuts, donut, donut machine , ants, ant, Disney artist , Disney staffers , gags, Jack Fergus, sculptor , attraction, sculpture , B-Wing, mermaid , Disney backlot , boxing movie , Dopey Drive, movers, moving crew , book

• Toon Tuesday: Disney's "B" Movie

  Long before Jerry Seinfeld and DreamWorks began talking about making "Bee Movie," this subject was alive & well at Walt Disney Studios Read More... Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:00 AM | 20 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, Hollywood, Burbank, The Walt Disney Company, Bill Peet, Animation Building

• Toon Tuesday : Disney's Night School

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman reminisces about the after-hours animation classes that used to be offered on the Disney lot back in the 1950s Read More... Posted Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:00 AM | 3 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, traditional animation, books, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, Mouse House, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt was right, Disney Legend, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, John Cawley, cataroo.com, How the Grinch Stole Disney, Afrokids.com, Son of Faster Cheaper, ABC, Animation Building, Frank Thomas, California, California Institute of the Arts , Cal Arts, Sheridan College, 1956, shorts , Nine Old Men , Chouinard Art Institute , Los Angeles , young artists , animators, layout artists, background painters , night school, instruction, classmates , employees , screening rooms , Joshua Meador, effects animators , painter, palette knife , brush, True-Life Adventure , Jack Foster , Ken O'Connor , animation artist, design , Fantasia, Dance of the Hours, artwork , development , pencil test, John Sparey, mentoring program , Ollie Johnston , chops , director, Disney history , Bob McCrea , bankruptcy, 1941 , 1941 animators strike , animators strike , Bill Eigle , layoffs , master class , after-hours

• Toon Tuesday : Home for the Holidays

  As a special holiday treat, Disney Legend Floyd Norman takes JHM readers on a tour of Walt Disney Studios circa 1957 Read More... Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007 12:00 AM | 7 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, Burbank, Disneyland, Disney Legend, holidays, 1957 , Christmas, ABC, Milt Kahl , D-Wing , Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Animation Building, Eyvind Earle , Ralph Hulett, Frank Thomas, key assistant, Dale Oliver , Glogg, Ink and Paint Building, Grace Bailey, Disney Commissary , North Korea , South Korea, Korea, US Army, replica, DMZ , California