Hey everyone,
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! On this day I would like to share a great story from the animation legend, Chuck Jones. I was lucky to hear Chuckie Boy lecture at Boston University way back in the Ice Age. He told many stories and many of them were quite memorable. This particular story had to do with his brief relationship with Walt Disney during the time when a short-sighted Warner Bros was disbanding their animation division. Walt had taken ill and was hospitalized, so Chuck decided it would be a nice gesture to write him a get well card. Walt soon recovered and gave Chuck a ring to thank him and to inform him (to Chuck's surprise) that he was the only person outside of his immediate family that had wished him well. No one from the Disney company had sent anything. Walt further surpirised Chuck by asking him to come to Disney, hang around a week or two and pick out any job he wanted.
Chuck did just that, what the heck, Warners was falling apart, so he was going to need a job relatively soon. So Chuck "hung" around the Disney animation department for a couple of weeks, seeing how things were run and trying to get an idea of which job would suit him the most. Chuck met with Walt at the end of his tour and quickly informed him that the "only job worth having was his".
So that is my Happy Thanks-But No Thanksgiving story
7 comments:
That's a great story. And the moral....it's better to work for yourself then have to work at Disney!
Horrendous Fiasco Rules! Love the artwork - put more on your blog for our viewer enjoyment!
A little small world story, not nearly as good as yours. When I came back from four years of living in Africa, I spent my first night back home in an illegal loft apartment in downtown Manhattan (zoned for commercial) that my cousin, Pete Friedrich rented along with a wonderful group of animators and artists, including Bob Camp (he's the connection--I just saw him on your blogroll). Game 6 of the 1986 World Series was on--talk about a night to come home--and I was the only Red Sox fan in the group. When the Sox got up two and then retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 10th, everyone else in the party drifted off (this was a big loft), but I, being a Sox fan, knew I had to stay till the end, so I got to watch the implosion all by myself, then report to the party going on elsewhere in the loft that their Mets were still alive to play another day (well, actually at that point, the game 7 result was already as inevitable as game 7 in 03 after the Bartman incident).
Ah yes Bill Buckner...I watched that debacle too...was living in Boston at the time. Thanks for all your comments.
Hey Gav,
I like your blog so much that I'm going to try to figure out how to get a google account so I can post a comment. If this comment shows up, I guess that means I got a google account.
Bye the way - you are an awesome animator and artist, and dang good golfer too. I still can remember a couple of monster shots you made.
Dean
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