#Retta Scott

[tomoleary]

Retta Scott "Casey Bats Again" Concept Art (Walt Disney, 1954)

[the-visual-journey-blogg]

Legendary Animators: Mary Blair's and Dave Hand's experience working with Walt Disney

By Sofi Ojeda

Let's take a journey to the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, the golden age of the Disney Studio, a period of prosperity of the United States, where the Baby Boomers as kids, had a lot of free time, often spent watching Disney animations in movie theaters, and enjoying the premiere of Disneyland in 1955, which further solidified Disney's profound influence on the young audience of the time.

In today's blog,we will be delving into two of the people who were pioneers of the creation of this whole world and what it was like for them to work with Walt Disney persona. The animators of that time who worked with Disney were generally men; even their main group was called the famous "Nine Old Men of Walt's Animation." But at the same time, there were other unknown and extremely talented animators who contributed immensely to the aesthetics and narrative of Disney's films. To contrast this, I decided to analyze one of the most famous and successfull man director Dave Hand and one of the most famous Creative Artist and Designer Mary Blair.

''Story artist/animator Retta Scott with visual development artist Mary Blair. They are studying a baby alligator at the Griffith Park Zoo in 1940 or 1941,  I assume in preparation for Fantasia's dinosaur sequence.''

As the Disney team was growing in the 1950s, they posted different signs seeking male and female animators, the latter with the conditions: "Women do not do any creative work related to preparing the cartoons for the screen", as well as their age conditions, etc.

"If you were a man blessed with creativity and artistic talent, you held a place in the Animation Department and could even direct films, but if you were a woman with the same skills, the only department open to you at that time was Ink and Paint." - Mary Beth Culler.

In the research I conducted to decide which interviews to use for this blog, I read those from the book "Working with Disney(2011)" by Peri Don, in which Dave Hand was mentioned. Dave Hand (January 23, 1900 - Plainfield, New Jersey) attended the Art Institute of Chicago before returning to the East Coast and starting his career in animation at the J. R. Bray Studio.

Later, Hand worked for Max Fleischer on the "Out of the Inkwell" series. He came to California to consider live-action filmmaking but returned to animation, this time with the Walt Disney Studios. After the success of "Victory Through Air Power," he left the studio for an animation opportunity in England.

Dave Hand Portrait.

His career was consistent and very (secretly) appreciated by Disney, as he said in his interview. He played a significant role in the studio from 1930 and was the first director (after Walt) of short subject cartoons. He also directed "Snow White." In his interview, he mentioned that working with Disney did not seem difficult in general, or maybe that is what he had to mention. According to Ben Sharpsteen in "Working with Walt (2008)" by Don Peri, there were some conflicts with Disney regarding accepting Disney's criticisms in the previews. He felt that Disney was a man who always had to be right; he did not contradict him but discussed until the idea pleased both of them (especially him). The only thing he said he did not like was that he could not know if something would work unless it was shown in theaters, and then it was too late to correct it, but that had nothing to do with Disney itself but with a technical aspect of the industry. He said that Disney trusted him completely:

"I was allowed full latitude on all details of production; Walt monitored the results from the story to the preview."- David Hand

For Mary Blair, working with Disney was a process of ups and downs, during which there was a time when part of the studio complained that it was difficult for them to transfer her concept arts to animation when she had a marked watercolor style. She had to leave the studio because she preferred to stick to her ideas, but at the same time, Walt appreciated her art and called her back to go to South America for her research on culture and environment. There, she transformed her art into something more conceptual with color blocks and very saturated and vibrant palettes, like those of the cultures they were able to appreciate. She developed a distinct look for her concept art by using vivid colors from gouache and tempera.

From there, she was able to participate in the creative part beyond painting and inking the animations and creations of other animators. Many times, they arrived almost unchanged in the movies, as with Cinderella's castle or when the camera sees through the cups' ears to the Mad Hatter and the rabbit at Alice's unbirthday party in Wonderland. She also worked on "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros," along with the other trusted men of the company as a result of the trip, in which she was the only woman.

Mary Blairs concept art for Alice in Wonderland animated movie.

It is a shame that like her, many of the women had to stop working at the studio to work at home or to take care of their children. There were approximately 100 women. Blair once recalled:

"I had three jobs: raising children, keeping house, and doing my artwork." - Mary Balir

Her best friend Alice also said that Blair never realized how good she was; she always had insecurities. Mary Blair learned her craft at The Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in the mid-1930s. She joined The Walt Disney Company in 1940, where she created concept paintings for projects related to "Fantasia" (1940), "Dumbo" (1941), and "The Lady and the Tramp" (1955). Blair left Disney in 1953 to concentrate on illustrating children's books and raising a family.

There were also other female workers of Disney of that time, very talented women, like Retta Scott, who made the concepts for "Bambi," and Disney liked it so much that he offered her to animate a sequence of the film, but that was later.

Mary Blair and Disney coworkers. Trip to South America.

Comparing the career of Dave Hand with Mary Blair's they were such talented artists, it was more challenging for Mary to maintain the consistency of her career due to the challenges women faced at the time, apart from working at Disney, and also their creations had to be more justified to be considered in the studio. Even after demonstrated their talent, she or neither of her female coworkers directed a movie at that time, as Dave Hand.

Despite that, for them both, it was a challenge to work with Disney, as he was a very stubborn person, and some might call him a dreamer. As Dave described, the work was 24 hours a day, and that also translates into overwork problems, and in general, Walt did not express his recognition directly to his workers.

Over time, many wonderful artists have passed through Disney's offices, bringing good experiences with characters and cartoons for people of all ages. Some of these artists are more recognized than others, but you can't deny the impact and significance they have had to this day. However, when you watch a movie, in most cases, you can't tell what gender the person who made it was, or where they come from. This seemingly magical and fair anonymity extends to the animators and people in the industry in general. Additionally, it's important to consider that other industries of the time had similar characteristics. The context in which the Disney company grew doesn't make it "meaner," although it's always valuable to review history to avoid repeating it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Johnson, M. (2017). Ink & paint: the women of Walt Disney's animation. 

Peri, D. (2008). Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Pages 180-192.

Peri, D. (2011) Working with Disney : Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists, University Press of Mississippi.

ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/langara-ebooks/detail.action?docID=683913.

Biography Mary Blair - Illustration History:

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/mary-blair#:~:text=She%20joined%20The%20Walt%20Disney,South%20American%20tour%20in%201941.

The Art of Disney Legend Mary Blair | Women's History Month | Disney+ - Official Youtube Channel

How Mary Blair Changed the Walt Disney Company | Disney Legends: Josh Taylor's Modern Mouse Youtube Channel

Walt Disney Animation's First Female Animators! A Disney Documentary: El Ritmo De Disneyland Youtube Channel

Blog: Look Closer: Women in the Disney Ink and Paint Department by Mary Beth Culler Museum Educator:

https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/look-closer-women-disney-ink-and-paint-department

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/201/monograph/chapter/213079/pdf

[adventurelandia]

Cinderella Little Golden Book Illustrated by Retta Scott Worcester

[nezoid]

Pawnee is a union town.

Parks and Recreation day in the picket lines for SAG AFTRA and WGA.

[thefallenfangirl]

14yrs ago today 🥹 one of the best show premiered 🫶 !! What’s your favorite episode?

[cityoftheangelllls]

We all know the designs in Disney's Cinderella are iconic, but what if some iconic concept designs made it into the final film?

These are my first attempts at making screencap edits, taking inspiration from the 1940s-50s Golden Book of Walt Disney's Cinderella, with artwork by Disney's first credited female animator, Retta Scott Worcester. Her artwork is often mistaken for that of Mary Blair (one of Disney's most celebrated artists, who also worked on Cinderella and a handful of other movies), which makes sense, as their art styles are pretty similar. I have vague memories of having the book when I was little, and I've always been charmed and mesmerized by the artwork and the fact that the characters and their costumes looked so notably different from those in the Cinderella we got. Cinderella's ball gown and yellow party dress are especially so lovely, and I paid homage to them by including them in my Cinderella KiSS doll/dress up game, and Lady Tremaine's dress, accompanied by a mile-long pearl necklace and the key to Cinderella's room hanging from a rope wound around her midsection, is pretty sick. I also have always been fascinated by ideas of what could have been, for anything, really. So, I sat down and decided to play around with Krita, and these are the results! I actually started these roughly a year ago, when I was just getting started in digital art, and they had been sitting dormant in my files while I paid more attention to other projects, and I just now got around to finishing them.

I originally wanted to do the stepsisters too, but I was 1.) unsure of which outfits they were shown wearing in the book to draw for them, and 2.) a little apprehensive and unsure about the amount of detail to include in them, as there seemed too many to include in a traditionally animated film of the time.

Commissions info

[thegatheredfew]

Cinderella, Big Golden Book. 1950. Illustrated by Disney legend Retta Scott Worcester.

[jd-rush]

The Parks gang went picketing today. I couldn’t be there, but I stand in solidarity with them. #SAGAFTRAstrong #SAGAFTRAstrike SAG-AFTRA

(courtesy of Chris Pratt's Facebook, August 11, 2023)

[bestofparksandrecreation]

[tomoleary]

Retta Scott “Dumbo” Concept Art (Walt Disney, 1941)

[jewellery-box]

*Cinderella and her Friends* (A Little Golden Book) (1950)

~ Retta Worcester Scott ~ American ~ Children's Book

[vintage-every-day]

Retta Scott was hired in 1939, at the age of 23, to storyboard scenes for 𝑩𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊 (1942). Working in charcoal, she produced a dramatic scene of Bambi and Faline fighting off a pack of hunting dogs.

Impressed by her strong posing and sense of realism, Walt Disney and animator David Hand agreed that Retta should also animate the scenes.

Retta had never animated, but the sense of action and character depicted in her boards made her a natural choice for animator. She drew what she recalled to be “56,000 dogs for Bambi” – animating both rough and clean-up animation - and became the first female animator to receive screen credit.

[adventurelandia]

Cinderella Little Golden Book, art by Retta Scott Worcester

[nezoid]

writersguildwest:

Pawnee is a union town! #parksandrec #WGAStrike

[thefallenfangirl]

8 years ago today, the series finale aired 🥹🥲