It's become a constant theme in my writing this past year. I've
been comparing today's animation studios to the cartoon factories of years past
and the changes I've observed. Most noticeable are the amazing technological
advances as cartoon making has moved from traditional hand drawn production to
today's digital process. You can't walk through a modern animation studio
without seeing rows and rows of animation artists working away on their
computers and Cintiq Tablets.
What's even more noticeable is the atmosphere of today's
animation studios. The joy of cartoon making has now been reduced to the pure
drudgery of hitting deadlines and cranking out footage. This was driven home by
a recent visit with an old animation colleague. My talented friend was hard at
work on a cartoon that proved to be as much fun as having a tooth removed. The
deadline was impossible and the pay was pitiful. There was a joylessness about
the whole process and my friend wondered why he had gotten into animation in
the first place.
I couldn't help be reminded of the wonderful world of animation
I experienced throughout most of my career. Animation wasn't a big deal in the
old days and most people barely understood what we did for a living. But, I'll
tell you this. The business was loads of fun and artists even arrived at work
each morning with smiles on their faces. I've observed the looks on the faces
of animation workers today and trust me, they're not smiling. What the hell
happened to the creative career that was once considered a sheer delight?
Life was often kinda nuts when you worked in the animation business
I'll start with the Bob Clampett Studio in Hollywood because it
best personifies what it was like to work in animation back in the 1960s.
Clampett's insane workshop was filled with a cadre of animation's top talents.
They were also the craziest group of men and women you could ever imagine. The
artists worked hard and they played hard. The studio was an amazing looney bin
of brilliant creatives whose zany ideas were more than evident on the screen.
Better yet, they had one hellava time working in this fun-filled atmosphere and
that included the boss himself. Bob Clampett was an active participate in the
cartoon mayhem and he generated laughs both onscreen and off.
During Saturday morning television's hey day, one of the most
prolific studios in town was Hanna-Barbera. Whether you considered the work
brilliant or not, you had to concede the Hollywood studio managed to crank out
reams of footage each year for the upcoming television season. You can also bet
that H-B's talented artists, directors and writers worked their butts off
meeting those deadlines. Considering all this, I'll have to add that laboring
in this wacky factory remained a joy. There were jokes, pranks and outrageous
incidents that would no doubt get anyone immediately sacked today. Yet, back
when animation was fun, it was pretty much anything goes as long as the work
got done.
Want an example? We had a gag called "The Drop" where something was
dropped on the studio floor only to be followed by a larger item hitting the
floor. The noise would intensify as more items were dropped until finally
climaxing with a loud crash. Hold a beat – and a tiny can would punctuate the
wacky mayhem. It was a pure cartoon sound gag within a cartoon workplace. The
stories are endless, but the best is probably the artist who moved his office
into the studio men's room. No joke. He really did. The studio facility drew
its fair share of visitors who had to see this wacky situation for themselves.
One of animation's major talents, artist Phil Mendez, moved his office into the studio's
men's room. No joke. This actually happened
In case you think Walt Disney Productions was a "rest home" by
comparison, think again. Even at staid, conservative Disney, the artists often
played as hard as they worked. If you know your Disney history you've probably
heard a tiny fraction of the merry mirth that went on inside Walt's cartoon
factory. That meant Ward Kimball walking in to work in a gorilla suit or Roy
William's convertible with a water filled bath tub wedged in his vehicle.
Though conservative politically, Walt Disney was hardly a prude or a stick in
the mud. He knew that artists were always at their best when having a good
time. The Old Maestro made sure his studio was a home away from home and a fun
place to work. For those who have their doubts about this version of life at
Walt Disney Productions, let me again remind you – I was there.
Eventually, a
new generation of animation talent arrived at Disney in the 1970s and they
carried on the zany tradition of their predecessors. There were gags and pranks
throughout the year that culminated in a wacky holiday show presented in the
windows of Animation's G-Wing. Disney employees gathered in the studio parking
lot every December to enjoy the festivities which included Santa Claus being
hurled to his "death" from the roof of the Animation Building.
Let's take a look at today's animation studios where I often
walk through facilities that are beautifully designed and well appointed.
Scores of artists sit hard at work in neat little cubicles as they stare at
computer screens. These studios have all the ambience of a law office or the
charm of an accounting firm. As weird as this might sound I can't help but feel
grateful I'm no longer employed. Finally, I remember button-down business types
envying me because I worked in the cartoon business. These "suits" easily out
earned us animation workers, but their jobs were pure drudgery and they hated
it. It would appear we're now all members of the same club. Our facilities are
nicer and our pay has increased. However, the fun filled days of the cartoon
business is something you'll only find in the animation history books.
No one escaped the pranksters at Walt Disney Studios back in the day. That even
included legendary directing animator Milt Kahl
Did you enjoy today's look back at when working in animation used to fun? If so, Floyd Norman has hundreds of stories like this. Which you can find if you pick up some of the books that Mr. Norman has written about the 40+ years that he's spent working in the animation industry.
Speaking of which: Floyd's most recent effort – "Disk
Drive: Animated Humor in the Digital Age" – is available for purchase
through blurb.com. Mr. Norman's original collection of cartoons and stories —
"Faster! Cheaper! The Flip Side of the Art of Animation" – is still
for sale over at John Cawley's Cataroo. And if you still haven't had your fill
of Floyd at this point, feel free to move on over to Mr. Fun. Which is where
Mr. Norman posts his musings when he's not writing for JHM.