They Made the Magic: Izzy Klein

Isadore "Izzy" Klein was born on October 12,1897 in Newark, New Jersey.  he attended the national Academy of New York and the Art Students League.  By 1916 he had joined Wiliam Randolph Hearst international Film Service as an animator.  There he met Grim Natwick, Jack King, and Burt Gillett.  In 1918, Klein went to work for Barre-Bowers Studios working on the Mutt and Jeff cartoons.  In 1925, Klen went to work as a free-lance cartoonist but by 1934 he returned to animation working at the Van Geuren Studio.  When the studio close he went to work for Columbia Pictures.  It was in 1936 that Klein joined Disney.  Klen related that when he made the decision to work for Disney he talked to Ted Sears.  Sears set the ground work so when Klein called, he got an appointment to talk with Walt Disney.

At Disney Klein worked as an animator and storyman.  He worked on shorts such as Mother Goose Goes Hollywood and Lonsesome Ghosts just to name a few.

He left Disney in 1939 to work for Mintz and then later Paul Terry.  He penned the cartoon Might Mouse.  In the late 40's he went to work for Paramaount to work on Casper, Little Audrey, Little Lulu, and Popeye.  He retired from animation in the 1960's.  Klein is credited as I. Klein, Izzy Dlein, and I. Klien.  He died in 1986.

They Made the Magic: Merrill de Maris

Merrill de Maris was born in New Jersey on February 26, 1898.  De Maris was a member of the story adaptation team on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  De Maris is also mentioned the The Disney That Never Was, by Charles Solomn, as working with Ted Sears in 1936 on a Silly Symphony based the the Hans Christian Andersen story "The Emperor's New Clothes."

From December 14, 1937 until late April of 1938, de Maris and artist Hank Porter took over the Silly Symphony newspaper comic strip with stories of Snow White.  This strip included the Queen capturing the Prince and locking him up, Snow White built a scarecrow type representation of the prince and named him "Prince Buckethead," and the Huntsman is addressed as Humbert (the name Walt had suggested).  You can see the full comic strip on Michael Sporn Animation site.  De Maris continued working on comic strips working with Floyd Gottfredson on Mickey Mouse and Carl Barks on Donald Duck.

He died December 31, 1948 in Escondido, California.

They Made the Magic: Dorothy Ann Blank

Hired in the summer of 1936, Dorothy Ann Blank made a substantial contribution to Snow White as a member of the story department.
Walt and Roy had been working with Hal Horne, ;publicity director for United Artists, whom Dorothy worked for.  When Horne left United Artists and found himself n financial difficulty, Disney helped him out and that was when Dorothy became am member of the Disney staff.
In his book, Fairest of the All, J B Kaufman notes that Dorothy objected to the notion of the birds helping Snow White make the pies for the dwarfs, she wasn't fond of the idea of the birds wiping their feet on the pies.
It was Dorothy who wrote the title that marked the passing seasons as the dwarfs mourned the loss of Snow White.  Walt Disney pressed Dorothy to express the story with the least amount of words.  She submitted four titles, but were changed down to three, and Walt himself rewrote the last title.
Dorothy was also given the responsibility to write the text for the November December 1937 issue of Good Housekeeping that featured snow White.  In this version she included portions of the story that were not in the final film (death of Snow White mother, soup sequence, and the bed building).  Additionally, the language includes some slang from the time. To see the magazine, check out this post from Filmic Light.

They made the Magic: Webb Smith

Smith started out as Ted Sear's assistant and later moved into the story department.  Smith is credited by Walt Disney himself with being the guy who started the story board method.  He is said to have drawn out each scene individually and pinned on a bulletin board (hence storyboard).
Smith is also known for writing the sequence where Pluto get stuck the to flypaper that was animated by Norm Ferguson in 1934 Playful Pluto.
Smith was one of the storymen who joined Walt Disney on the South American Goodwill Tour.  His story ideas were rich with gags and good humor.
His career with Disney was short as he passed away in the mid to late 1940's.

They Made the Magic: Bill Tytla

Grim Natwick wrote of trying to write about Bill Tytla for Cartoonist PROfiles "How does one start to write about a superb artistic talent?"  Natwick points out that Tytla was not one of the Nine Old Men - he taught the Nine Old Men.
Valdimir "Bill" Tytla was born October 25, 1904 in New York.  He dropped out of high school and went to Paris to study.  It was there that Paul Terry contacted him and by 1923 Tytla he joined Terry in New York.  In New York he met Ted Sears and Ben Sharpsteen.  In 1934 Tytla joined the Disney Studios where is first few assignments were working on Clarabelle Cow in Mickey's Fire Brigade and The Cookie Carnival among others.  Tytla said that the working conditions at the studios were terrific and that Walt Disney was miles ahead of the competition in all fields.
Tytla was responsible for many of the dwarfs but is perhaps remembered most for the way he animated Grumpy living up to his name  Natwick said that the scene where Grumpy is given a bath was an "impossible" scene to animate because of the difficult drawings and complicated staging, but Tytla accomplished it with "the determination of an artist with an undaunted spirit and the best mustache in the Studio." (Walt's People, Volume 7).  Tyla said of the time:
"Freddy Moore and I were responsible for the dwarfs.  There were seven of them, all the same size, and only one who didn't have hair on his face.  Each one was a separate color.  We animated all seven of them at once.  On Snow White, Walt always gave us directions.  We were all walking on tiptoes on that one.  We didn't know what to expect.  We were all full of kinds of emotions." (Walt's People Vol.1)
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson said of Tytla: "Fill was powerful, muscular, high-strung and sensitive, with tremendous ego.  Everything was 'feelings' with him.  Whatever he animated had the inner feelings of his characters expressed through very strong acting."
After the success of Snow White, Tytla became one of the highest paid animators in the studio.  He went on to work on Stromboli in Pinocchio, Socerer Mickey and Chernabog in Fantasia, and Dumbo (modeling the character on his own son).  He returned to the shorts department to work on the Giant in the Brave Little Talior.
Tytla joined Disney playing polo and bought a horse.  During one game, Bill's horse tripped and fell on him, injuring his pelvis; an injury he never fully recovered from.
In 1941, Tytla joined the strike at the Disney Studios.  I. Kelin remembered that Tytla didn't have a problem with the Disney Studios and suspected he joined the strike out of loyalty to his friend Art Babbit.  He returned after but things were never the smae, not getting the strong characters he once did.  He worked on Saludos Amigos and some of the war films but left in 1943.
Tytla worked for Paul Terry, Paramount, Tempo Productions and then tried his own production company where he animated shorts and directed commercials.
Bill Tytla died in 1968 and was named a Disney legend in 1998.

They Made the Magic: Scotty Mattraw

Scotty Mattraw was born on October 19, 1880 in New York.  A character actor, Mattraw appeared in may movies from the silent pictures to 1940.  Some of his pictures included The Thief of Bagdad, Babes in Toyland (1934), Wee Willie Winkie, and Grapes of Wrath.  Mattraw provided the voice of Bashful for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mattraw died November 9, 1946.

They Made the Magic: Hamilton Luske

Hamilton S. Luske was born October 16, 1903.  After attending the University of California Berkley, he went to work as animator for a paper in Oakland.
In 1931, Luske joined the Disney Studios.  His animation attracted the attention of Mae West who was so impressed with the Jenny Wren character modeled after her, she personally wrote to Walt.  He skills as an animator who could analyze a character moved him along the company quickly.

Walt Disney personally assigned Luske to the daunting task of animating Snow White herself.  In fact, Walt wrote a memo in 1935 stating that "From now on Ham Luske is definitely assigned to Snow White."
Luske went on to be a director for the studio working on many classics including Mary Poppins.  He also went to work on TV projects at Disneyland and Walt Disney Presents.
Ham Luske died in 1968 became a Disney Legend in 1999. For more information read the 50 most influential animators blog.

They Made the Magic: Art Babbitt

Born October 8, 1907, Babbit grew up in Iowa after leaving Nebraska early on.  Art Babbit began his career in animation in 1924.  He joined Paul Terry Studio in 1929, however he was so impressed with the Disney Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance, he applied in 1932.  He worked on a variety of shorts and became instrumental in developing Goofy.  Babbit also helped establish the studio classes for animators taught by Don Graham.

Babbit moved over to animated features where he worked on the character development for Dopey and was the supervisor on the scene where the Queen becomes the Hag on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs..  Babbit said of the scene: "You may have read that a lot of rotoscoping was done, but I have proof that I didn't rotoscope my Queen.  Live action was taken of an actress who acted out the parts.  I studied the live action on a Moviola, got it firmly into my brain, then put it away and never touched it again." Walt's People Volume 3.  Babbit was one of the highest paid Disney animator at the time.  He also worked on Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. Babbit took legal action against the Disney Studios in 1942 because Babbit wasn't paid a bonus for Pinocchio.  In fact he was not payed a bonus for Snow White either.  According to Michael Barrier, there were two animators not payed bonuses (Dick Lundy being the other).  Babbit lost the suit as no one was paid for Pinocchio as the film ultimately lost money.

In 1941 Babbit led a strike against Disney that greatly effected Walt Disney and his studio.  He was hired back for a short time from 1943 to 1947.  In 1949 Babbit joined the UPA where he introduced the character of Mr. Magoo.  He stayed with UPA until 1952 and then in 1966 (until 1975) Babbit was in charged of Hanna-Barbera's commercial department.  Babbit continued his career working on projects with Grim Natwick and teaching in London.

Art was married three times; first to Margie Belcher, the live action model for Snow White, Dina Gottliebovca, and Barbara Perry.

Art Babbit was induced as a Disney Legend in 2007.  For more information read Animation World's extensive article, or check out the Art Babbit Blog.

They Made the Magic: Riley Thomson

Note: sometimes Riley's last name is spelled Thompson including on a Disney short: Dude Duck.  Riley was born on October 5, 1912.  He began his career with Warner Brothers in 1935, and moved to Disney in 1936.  He worked on Silly Symphonies as an animator and worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia.  He moved to the story department after Fantasia and directed some well known Mickey shorts including Nifty Nineties.  In 1950's he moved into comics and worked for Western Publishing.  There he drew mainly Disney characters but also drew some Woody Woodpecker shorts.  In 1957 he went to work for Walter Lunz Productions back in the filed of animation until 1959.  Riley passed away in 1960.

They Made the Magic: Paul J Smith

Paul J. Smith was born on October 30, 1906.  His father was a professor at a college in Idaho where he composed some songs for the school.  In 1934, he joined the Disney Studios.  He spent most of his life working for Disney as a composer, writing more than 70 scores.    He worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where he got the first of 8 Oscar nods (he won an Oscar for the score of Pinocchio along with Leigh Harline and Ned Washington).  He retired from Disney in 1962 died at the age of 78 in California, and became a Disney Legend in 1994.

They Made the Magic: Tom Codrick

Tom Codrick's 1940 Sketch can be seen at the Walt Disney Family Museum

Tom Codrick was born September 21st, 1901.  Codrick joined Disney in 1932 and was a key layout man for Disney for 35 years working on films from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Jungle Book.  Additionally, he worked on the Wonderful World of Disney.    For a very interesting read, check out this transcript of a layout training course from 1936.  Codrick passed away in 1969 at the age of 67.

They Made the Magic: Norm Ferguson

Know as Fergy by his friends, Norm Ferguson was born on September 2, 1902.  After studying commercial art he worked as a stenographer before leaving to work in animation.  He got a job for Paul Terry's Fables Pictures Inc.  After 9 years he started working for Disney.  In a time when animators averaged 10 to 15 feet a day, Ferguson did 40 feet daily.  His work set a new standard, not only for the speed, but more importantly, for his ability to bring expression and thought to characters.  One of Ferguson's best loved scene (Pluto stuck to fly paper) is credited to be the first time an animator appears to be thinking on screen.During his time at Disney he worked on over 75 shorts.
By 1935 he was moved onto Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where he worked on the evil witch.  His career continued on feature films and he can be seen in the live action shots of the Walt Disney Studios in the 1941 movie The Reluctant Dragon.
For a really complete biography of Ferguson, check out this article.  Ferguson was named a Disney Legend in 1999.

They Made the Magic: Marge Champion

Continuing on with the series of people who worked on Snow White, Marge Champion is one who I've talked about before.  Marge is one of the few who are still with us who can say: 'I was there!'

Marge was born September 2, 1919 in Los Angeles, California.  Her father owned a dance studio and learned at an early age to dance.  She was hired by the Walt Disney Studio as the live action reference model for Snow White.  She later preformed this same task for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio and the dancing hippos in Fantasia.

Marge was married to animator Art Babbit, but later married Art Champion.  She and Art had a successful dancing career that included film (Showboat among others) and a television show.  She and Champion were married until 1973.  In 1977 she married Boris Sagal (father of Katie), but lost her husband in 1981 in an accident on a set.  After her retirement she worked as a dance instructor in New York City and even appeared in Fame.

Marge has appeared at many events in recent years including TCM's film festival and D23's Detestation D where she has shared her thoughts.  Marge was also the guest on a podcast where you can hear her remembering her work with Disney.  She was named a Disney Legend.

They Made the Magic: Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser was born in Montana on August 15,1904.  He joined the Disney studios as an animator begining on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  He continued with the studios working on Pinocchio, Dumbo, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland.  He left the Disney studios in the mid fifties and joined Hanna Barbara working on Smurfs and Scooby-do among others.  In 1987 Fraser was awarded the Golden Award by the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Award.  Fraser passed away in 1994.

They Made the Magic: Ray Lockrem

Born on August 14, Ray Lockrem was an artist for Walt Disney Studio.  He was a background artist on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Dumbo.  In addition, he was background artist on the Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria segments and on The Reluctant Dragon.

They Made the Magic: Dick Rickard

Dick Rickard was a screenwriter/story adapter for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.   He worked on several shorts for Disney including The Old Mill, The Country Cousin, and Mother Goose Goes Hollywood.  On the Practical Pig and Ferdinand the Bull he acted as a director.

They Made the Magic: Bill Roberts

William Opal Roberts was born on August 2, 1899.  In 1922 his family made the move from Kentucky to California.  Roberts worked in New York as an illustrator for a while.  He joined the Disney Studios in 1932 where he did a lot of work on Pluto.  He began working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs primarily working on the dwarfs. You can see his work when the Doc leads the group to the house ever so cautiously after noticing the lights one, the dwarfs working at the mine and discovering the Queen got Snow White, and the chase scene that follows.  He also worked on scenes that hit the cutting room floor.
Milt Khal worked as Roberts assistant, thus Roberts was one of the inspirational people that helped train the nine old men.  Khal recalled working under Roberts and his very different style of animation: he referred to Roberts as one of the fast-action boys.
 He earned the role of director and directed some of the sequences in Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.
He left the animation business in the 1940's.  Roberts died in 1974.

They Made the Magic: Marion Darlington

With a Smile and Song would not have been complete without Marion Darlington.  The actress was known for her ability to make birds sing and was hired by Disney to work on Snow White and the Seen Dwarfs, Cinderella, So Dear to My Heart, and Pinocchio.  She appeared in the 1942 film Obliging Young Lady in an uncredited role of bird lover and in 1953 she provided the whistiling solo for Bright Road.

They Made the Magic: Joe Grant

Joseph Clarence Grant was born May 15, 1908.  When he was two, the family moved to Los Angeles.  His career began with The Los Angeles Record where he drew caricatures of famous people weekly.  These caught the eye of Walt Disney and Grant was asked to draw for Mickey's Gala Premier.  A few years later, he joined the studio full time.  He briefly worked on Who Killed Cock Robin? and then began work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Grant related in an interview that he based the concept art on the queen on a woman who lived across the street from him who picked persimmons and carried a basket.  He didn't like people to know that and only shared in when he was confident she had passed on.

During work on "Snow White" in 1933, Walt Disney came up to Grant in a hallway of the Hyperion studio in Loz Feliz and asked, "What are we going to do for an encore?" That question led to the establishment of the Character Model Department  He oversaw the people who worked with character design and models.  He was also important to the studio as a writer and gagman.  When the character Model Department was dismantled in 1949, Grant left to work on his own ventures (ceramics and greeting cards).  In 1989, he was asked to return to the studio where he became creative director.  

The only artist to have worked on Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.
Grant became a Disney Legend in 1992.  He won an Academy Award for best short (Lorenzo) and passed away a few months later in 2005.  Two Guys Named Joe is a book written by John Canemaker that features the lives of two important animators:

They Made the Magic: Hal Adelquist

Harold Williams Adelquist was born in Utah on July 11, 1914 and moved to Los Angeles when he was six.  By 1933 he went to work for the Walt Disney Studios.  While working for the company he worked in the production, department, the story department, and the personnel office.  He was an un-credited assistant director on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  In 1938 he began working for personnel, a difficult position to hold during the strike.  He later became the head of the story department.  In 1955 Adelquist was assigned to the Mickey Mouse Club to help Bill Walsh as the show's production supervisor.  After the first season, he began producing live shows for the Mickey Mouse Club Circus at Disneyland.  And here is where things began to fall apart.  At some point he was demoted to a talent scout and in 1956 It seems that the pressure was too much and he resigned from Disney, but later asked to be re-hired and Walt Disney refused.  It seems they and a falling out.  He died in Long Beach in 1981.

For additional information read more on the original Mickey Mouse Club website, or Cartoon Brew.