Animators' Family Tree, Which way did they go, George? Options

[hiselliotness]

One of the things that has fascinated me about Hollywood animation's "Golden Age" is the nomadic nature of many of the animators. The constant shifting of talent from one studio to another had a profound impact on the style and quality of cartoons put out by each studio.

I've often thought that it would be great if someone who was truly knowledgeable about cartoon history put together a "family tree" or flowchart showing where most of the head animators, directors, storyboard artists, etc. started and wound up.

Come to think of it, such a chart wouldn't fit nicely even in a coffee table-sized book. Perhaps an index of these people, showing years and dates of emplyment at each studio? (Maybe old personnel or payroll files would show this.)

I'm constantly finding out new information each day, of the "I never knew so-and-so worked there" variety. On a recent thread here, someone mentioned that Fred Moore worked at other studios later in his career besides Disney. After reading an old intereview on Mike Barrier's site, I only recently discovered that Art Babbitt worked in Bob Clampett's unit around 1942-43. (The credits on most Warner Bros. cartoons are of little help.)

Shamus Culhane's Talking Animals And Other People is a fascinating book, as it describes the entire career path of a journeyman animator/director, peppered with funny anecdotes and many "gloves off" opinions of the people he worked with. His career was not atypical: He started at J.R.Bray/Lantz; then worked at the Mintz/Harrison/Gould Krazy Kat studio, then went to the Fleischers, followed by Ub Iwerks, Van Buren, Disney, Fleischer, Warner Bros., Lantz, and then long stints in commercial and TV animation.

I wonder how many other animators and directors worked for as many studios as Culhane did? Probably a lot. Just consider the effect that Disney studio had on the business: Walt carefully plucked great animators out of all the other studios; many thrived there, but others only stayed for a while.

I've done a lot of Google searches using the names of animators and directors. Usually I'm sent back to imdb.com to get a partial filmography for any one person. Of course, if you look up Chuck Jones, or Tex Avery, or even Wilfred Jackson, you'll get a lot of information. But what about the Earl Duvalls of the animation world?

[JDWeil]

Earl Duvall did work for DSisney as an animator but his chief claim to fame there was that he drew the very first Mickey Mouse Sunday page in 1932 (as well as the first Silly Symphony top strip) before he went to Warner's and created the Buddy series there.

[Semaj]

One of the things that has fascinated me about Hollywood animation's "Golden Age" is the nomadic nature of many of the animators. The constant shifting of talent from one studio to another had a profound impact on the style and quality of cartoons put out by each studio.

I've often thought that it would be great if someone who was truly knowledgeable about cartoon history put together a "family tree" or flowchart showing where most of the head animators, directors, storyboard artists, etc. started and wound up.

Come to think of it, such a chart wouldn't fit nicely even in a coffee table-sized book. Perhaps an index of these people, showing years and dates of emplyment at each studio? (Maybe old personnel or payroll files would show this.)

I'm constantly finding out new information each day, of the "I never knew so-and-so worked there" variety. On a recent thread here, someone mentioned that Fred Moore worked at other studios later in his career besides Disney. After reading an old intereview on Mike Barrier's site, I only recently discovered that Art Babbitt worked in Bob Clampett's unit around 1942-43. (The credits on most Warner Bros. cartoons are of little help.)

Shamus Culhane's Talking Animals And Other People is a fascinating book, as it describes the entire career path of a journeyman animator/director, peppered with funny anecdotes and many "gloves off" opinions of the people he worked with. His career was not atypical: He started at J.R.Bray/Lantz; then worked at the Mintz/Harrison/Gould Krazy Kat studio, then went to the Fleischers, followed by Ub Iwerks, Van Buren, Disney, Fleischer, Warner Bros., Lantz, and then long stints in commercial and TV animation.

I wonder how many other animators and directors worked for as many studios as Culhane did? Probably a lot. Just consider the effect that Disney studio had on the business: Walt carefully plucked great animators out of all the other studios; many thrived there, but others only stayed for a while.

I've done a lot of Google searches using the names of animators and directors. Usually I'm sent back to imdb.com to get a partial filmography for any one person. Of course, if you look up Chuck Jones, or Tex Avery, or even Wilfred Jackson, you'll get a lot of information. But what about the Earl Duvalls of the animation world?

Now that you mention it, there are some old-school animators that I've also wondered about. There doesn't seem to be any substantial records behind some of them; there's no way of knowing if they're still alive anymore.

Some includes:

-Charles Nichlos: animator/director for Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and Ruby-Spears.
-Dick Lundy: animator/director for Disney, Lantz, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera.
-Rudy Larriva: animator/director for Disney, UPA, Warner Bros, and Ruby-Spears.
-Jack King: animator/director for Warner Bros. and Disney.
-Preston Blair: animator/director for Disney and MGM.

As for the nomadic nature of cartoonists, that still happens today. Some new-school artists, like Dan Povenmire, Lauren MacMullen, Erik Weise, Vincent Waller, and Mark O'Hare have worked on various shows since the 1990's.

[mark mayerson]

Dick Lundy and Preston Blair have definitely passed away. Frankly, I would be surprised if anyone on your list was still alive.