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• 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: 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: Jim Fletcher, Disney Artist and the Ultimate Hollywood Fan

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman launches a new series at JHM by talking about a co-worker of his who really did seem to know everyone who was anyone in Tinsel town Read More... Posted Tuesday, April 21, 2009 12:00 AM | 1 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, 1970s, Hollywood, Disney Commissary , Old Hollywood, Floyd Norman, Hyperion Studios, Hanna-Barbera , Hanna-Barbera Studio , 1990s, childrens books, Jim Fletcher, Chicago Institute of Art, Tinsel town, Gregory Peck, Edward G Robinson, Ed Wynn, Edgar Bergen, A-Wing, Freddy Hellmich, Fairy Crew, Des Plains, Illinois, CBS, Jack Benny, The Jack Benny Show, Hollywood Museum, preview, fundraiser, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Toluca Lake, UPA, Hanna Barbera, Format, Encino, Bill Walsh, Ruth Roman, Art Babbit, Margie Belcher, Gower Champion, Linda Darnell, Debbie Reynolds, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Withers, Charlotte Rae

• Steve Jobs: A Tough Act to Follow

  As stories continue to circulate about the Head of Apple's health problems, Disney Legend Floyd Norman looks back to the 1960s. When another company you may know suddenly had to deal with leadership & succession-related issues Read More... Posted Monday, January 19, 2009 12:00 AM | 9 Comments Filed under: Disney, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, 1960s, Pixar Animation Studios, Diane Disney Miller, Apple , artists, Walt Disney World, 1990s, pop culture, innovative, popular culture, Phil Schiller, vice president, keynote, keynote address, San Francisco, MacWorld, MacWorld Expo, MacWorld 2009, Steve Jobs, Steven P Jobs, Epcot, June, Ron Miller, CEO, Silverado Vineyards, Napa, Napa Valley, Silicon Valley, garage, innovative products, leader, legacy, 1966, visionary leaders

• 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 , 3400 Cahuenga Blvd , 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 Tuesday : Getting a head with Blaine Gibson

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman pays tribute to a master animator & sculptor. Who -- due to his soft-spoken nature -- often doesn't get the attention that he deserves Read More... Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:00 AM | 6 Comments Filed under: Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, 1950s, Hollywood, Glendale, WDI, Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineer, Imagineering, Disneyland, theme park, Disney Legend, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, How the Grinch Stole Disney, Afrokids.com, Son of Faster Cheaper, 1957 , Animation Building, Frank Thomas, shorts , young artists , effects animators , 1940s , 1961, special effects , effects shots, Mr. Fun , blog, Mr. Fun's Blog, Blaine Gibson , attraction, limo, media event , Disney Blu-Ray , Blu-Ray , Disney animator , Pirates of the Caribbean, Good Fairies , Flora, Fauna, Merryweather , 1930s, farm boy , Colorado, college, Depression, The Great Depression, artists, sketches , drawings , job, Greyhound, bus, train, Silver Lake , Hyperion Studios, assignment , drawing, apprentices , animated film, phases of production, messenger boys, Traffic Department, young animators, Disney shorts , feature films, effects, effects animation, plum scenes , master animator, top animators, clean-up, clean-up crew , opening scenes , Pongo, Roger, personality, movement , sequence, Walt Disney World, Montecito , Santa Barbara , George W Bush , bust , WDW, The Hall of Presidents, animation treasure

• Toon Tuesday: The curious case of Elizabeth Case

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman returns with a story about “Big Liz,” the Mother of the Beat Generation. Who – as it turns out – was once a Disney animation artist Read More... Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Sleeping Beauty, female animators, 1950s, Burbank, Disney Legend, Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation, How the Grinch Stole Disney, Afrokids.com, Son of Faster Cheaper, California, animators, animation artist, Disney history , Walt Disney Productions , Burbank lot , Floyd Norman, Mr. Fun's Blog, Disney artist , B-Wing

• 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, Bob's Big Boy , 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

• Caught in "The Parent Trap" -- Part I

  In the first installment of this new two-part series, Disney Legend Floyd Norman describes what it was like to visit the set of this 1961 David Swift film Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 19, 2008 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, 101 Dalmatians, 1960s, Hollywood, Burbank, The Walt Disney Company, Disney Legend, D-Wing , Animation Building, Frank Thomas, Disney Commissary , California, television show, director, Disney history , The Parent Trap , 1960, Annette Funicello, Hayley Mills , Pollyanna, A Walt Disney Production , Walt Disney Productions , writer/director , Disney geek, Bud Swift , Minneapolis, Minnesota , 1940s , United States Air Force , radio , comedy writing , 1949, television , scriptwriting, screenplay, Philco Television Playhouse , Playhouse 90, The Rifleman, Wagon Train , television series , Mr. Peepers, Wally Cox, Jamie, 1961, Petticoats and Blue Jeans , sound stage, Maureen O'Hara , Brian Keith, Leo G Carroll, Charlie Ruggles, Nancy Kulp , Frank DeVol , on location, Northern California, Stage Two, Director of Photography , Hollywood veteran , Lucien Ballard , Old Hollywood, special effects , screen double, special photographic technique , camera optics , sodium matte process , compositing , on-camera double, redhead , Burbank lot , studio commissary, Robert Keith , Julie Andrews , actor, press agent , handler, motion picture

• 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, 1st Calvary Division, DMZ , California

• Toon Tuesday : The Failure Factor

  Disney Legend Floyd Norman returns with an object lesson for all you creative types out there. How falling on your face every now & then can actually play an important part in your growth as an artist and as a person Read More... Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007 12:00 PM | 7 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Hollywood, John Lasseter, Pixar Animation Studios, Glendale, Burbank, Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Kansas City, Toy Story, failure, CFI, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, Bill Peet, Rudyard Kipling

• Toon Tuesday: A tribute to Hurricane Eva

  Precious little is known about the early women animators at Walt Disney Studios. Floyd Norman returns with a profile of one female artist you should really know about Read More... Posted Tuesday, September 18, 2007 12:00 AM | 7 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, traditional animation, Walt Disney Studios, Louisiana, New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, Sleeping Beauty, female animators, Eva Schneider, Vanity Fair, Switzerland, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Mouse Factory, Mouse House, Hollywood, Gulf Coast, category 5 storm

• Toon Tuesday : In Defense of Mavericks

  Animation industry legend Floyd Norman returns with a cautionary tale. Where he points out that while animation studios do need employees who know how to follow the rules, there's an even greater need for artists who know when to break the rules Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007 12:00 AM | 17 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, traditional animation, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney, Ward Kimball, Tom Oreb, Walt Peregoy, 101 Dalmatians