Disney historian Jim Korkis follows up on my post about the SNOW WHITE wrap party and sends in this excerpt from an interview he did with Disney animator/director Bill Justice. The entire Justice interview can be found in the third volume of WALT’S PEOPLE.

Jim Korkis: Tell me a little about the “Snow White Orgy” at the Norconian.

Bill Justice: In 1938, “Snow White” was a huge hit. You can’t believe how big it was. Walt and Roy announced that they were going to throw this huge, incredible “thank-you” party for everyone who worked for them. Wives, husbands, children, friends…all of them were invited to a weekend at the NORCONIAN HOTEL on Lake Norco (a desert resort near Palm Springs where Walt would later have his Smoke Tree Ranch hideaway).

All costs from the rooms to food and drink and in fact whatever we wanted to order would be taken care of by Walt. You know at the Studio, there was a strict dress code in those days for employees. Men came to work in jackets and ties although they were allowed to take them off when they sat down at their drawing boards. Women were not allowed to wear pants, and sober-colored skirts and blouses weren’t very appealing. The ink and paint girls were separated from the animators. The Disney Brothers had sent out a memo that if you were in animation you weren’t supposed “to dip your pen in the company’s ink and paint” which was their way of saying, “behave yourself with the ink and paint girls.” If you told a dirty joke within earshot of Walt, you might get fired. He didn’t put up with any of that stuff.

So, anyway for two years, all of us had been under terrible pressure, working long hours day and night to finish “Snow White.” When I came on at the end of production, I still felt that stress. When we arrived at the Norconian Hotel there were pools to swim in, tennis courts, a golf course, music, and plenty of food and alcohol and something just snapped.

An animator picked up an ink and paint girl and dumped her into the pool fully clothed. Followed by others jumping in and all hell broke loose pretty quickly.
Swimsuits flew out the windows. There were naked swim parties, people got drunk and were often surprised what room they were in and who they were sleeping next to when they awoke the next morning.

Freddie Moore walked off one of the upper floor balconies thinking he was on the ground floor and ended up in a tree fortunately. You know, he was one of my idols. I never saw Freddie Moore do a bad drawing. As my wedding gift from my wife, Kim, I got a sketch of a woman’s head wearing a hat done by Freddie.

Walt was horrified at the shenanigans. He and his wife drove home that next morning. He never referred to that party again and in fact if you wanted to keep your job, you didn’t mention it either when you were working at the studio. We never had a party like that again.

Animation designer Pete Emslie wants us to to be aware of a new Canadian cartoon show. Pete writes:

I’d like to direct your attention to this show Yam Roll, as I feel it has been getting a free pass for too long. Currently it airs on CBC in Canada, but I gather it is trying to get picked up by one of the U.S. cable channels as well. Frankly, I consider it an embarrassment and, due to it being on our public broadcaster, a needless waste of taxpayer dollars that should instead be spent on a show with higher artistic and entertainment merit. It is the current poster boy for bad animation design, in my opinion.Also, to be honest, I’m hoping you’ll be able to direct some of your readers to their blogsite so that I can get some much needed support in my dissenting view on the show. As it is, I’m being attacked as a know-nothing despite my longtime experience as a successful character illustrator. I really feel like these folks should have more critical attention focused on their awkward, primitive little efforts.Anyway, here are both the main site and the contentious blogsite of which I speak. I really would appreciate it if you could shine some light on the matter.

Well, that’s what Pete thinks. I’ve heard from readers who say it isn’t all that bad. Apparently Cartoon Network is planning to air the YAM ROLL cartoons sometime this fall in the U.S. I’ll make up my mind then.

I’ve made it no secret I’m a fan of Xeth Feinberg’s Internet cartoons (particularly BULBO) and his Queer Duck films. Dave Levy has posted an informative interview with Xeth on the ASIFA-East website about his involvement with the Queer Duck series, and how he put a studio together from scratch to make a feature length version.

After the 3-D cartoons at the Egyptian tomorrow afternoon, I recommend bopping over to Meltdown Comics at 7522 Sunset Blvd. where, from 7-10pm, animator/illustrator/character designer Rik Maki (THE LION KING, FINDING NEMO, A BUG’S LIFE , HERCULES, TARZAN, etc.) will be signing his new sketchbook and giving a drawing demonstration. There’ll also be free food and drinks.

Yesterday’s USA TODAY had a short ARTICLE about Fox/Blue Sky’s next animated feature HORTON HEARS A WHO (March 2008), which also included the first official image from the film. My friend who emailed this article says, “I’m actually surprised that it looks so decent.” Discuss amongst yourselves.

UPDATE: ComingSoon.net has the second photo from HORTON. I’ve posted it below. Why they decided to add crow’s feet around Horton’s eyes, we’ll never know.

Yesterday we posted an obit for Berny Wolf (1911-2006). Here’s links to other people talking about Berny’s life and work:

Mark Evanier, who worked with Berny on several occasions, writes about Wolf’s career in the 1970s and 1980s.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has posted some of Wolf’s model sheets that he created while at Iwerks, as well as a copy of Fleischer’s MINNIE THE MOOCHER, on which Wolf animated.

Remembrances of Wolf from Scott Shaw!, Bronwen Barry and Ben Burgess are on this Animation Nation thread.

I’m telling you for the last time! Tomorrow afternoon, Saturday September 16th at 3:30pm, a once in a lifetime screening of all six Hollywood cartoons made in 3-D (featuring Popeye, Casper, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Donald Duck) - cartoons by Chuck Jones, Ward Kimball and Walter Lantz during the 1953-54 3-D movie craze - along with six other rareties from around the world, will be shown at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. If you live in this area, I insist you attend. Due to the technicalities of showing these films, and the negotiations with the dozen copyright holders, this compilation of films will not be repeated anywhere in the world, ever. Here is a great way to see all of them in one sitting - and the chance to talk about it all afterward with a large group of likeminded folks.Join us!

This clever Mexican RED CROSS spot (click HERE for a better rez version of it) was directed by Javier Gutiérrez for Saatchi & Saatchi (Mexico). Nicely done!