welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast we'll be talking about the artist milk call
he was a born artist and a perfectionist who went on to become one of the most
transformative figures of the Disney Empire sit back and relax and let's dive into his
story so that we can be inspired by his talents and accomplishments
perhaps one of my favorite things about Disney is this at first it's all Sparkle and Magic whether
you're visiting the parks or enjoying Disney movies every bit of it is captivating in some
of the most imaginative ways possible and then when you look deeper you start to notice the
Real Genius behind it all underneath the parks the rides the attractions the movies you'll
find a level of craftsmanship that just isn't all that common if we're speaking of Disney
Genius and craftsmanship then we must talk about animator milk call some refer to him as the master
Puppeteer and among all Disney animators he is one of the most legendary in fact he was part of
the nine old men a prominent group of animators responsible for so many Disney Classics let's
dive into his story so that we could be inspired by his talents and accomplishments like so many
of Disney's most famous animators Milt took a circuitous route that eventually landed him a
career with Disney he was born in San Francisco on March 22 1909 and as a teen attended High School
there one of the things that guided milt's early life was that his family was very poor
this led him to dropping out of high school and quite fortuitously pursuing his dream of becoming
a cartoonist or illustrator for magazines he mainly looked at work for magazines and newspapers
and it was during this time that he began work with the Oakland post Enquirer where he would
paste up layouts and retouch photographs at the post he managed the art department and also became
good friends with ham lusky who would later go on to a Disney career of his own as one of the four
young men who were trained by the nine old men the group that Milt would eventually become a part of
after time spent with the post Milt moved on to the San Francisco bulletin but then the Depression
hit and the bulletin laid him off he went into business for himself starting his own commercial
Arts Studio but with the depression business was slow during the Depression was when he saw
his first Disney short Three Little Pigs this was at a local theater and he was so captivated by it
because in it he saw opportunities to transfer his skills to animation that's what led him to
apply directly at Walt Disney Studios in June of 1934. well that in a trip from his old friend ham
who had gotten a job with Disney and urged Milt to move to Los Angeles and do the same Milt went for
the job and was hired on as an assistant animator where he began work on several Disney shorts some
of these included Mickey circus Lonesome Ghosts and the Oscar award-winning The Ugly Duckling
some of milt's other accomplishments during his time with Disney include work on Lady and the
[ __ ] 101 Dalmatians Melody time the adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad Cinderella The Rescuers and
The Jungle Book one of the most inspiring things about Walt Disney was that he rewarded Talent
where he saw it and that is Illustrated in one story told by one of milt's fellow animators Ollie
Johnson during the production of Pinocchio Freddie Moore barged into Ali's office and said hey you
ought to see the drawings this guy Milt call is doing milt's work on this film was incredible
so much so that Walt Disney ended up naming him the supervising animator over Pinocchio
the story behind Pinocchio is almost as interesting as the film Itself by June 1938
the film had been in production for a while but Walt Disney wasn't happy with it people know the
story he said but they don't like the character work proceeded on the film for six months and then
Walt made the decision to scrap the entire project and start over from the beginning
all along Milt had been among the voices calling for a redesign of the Pinocchio character citing
the idea that is a wooden puppet the original design just wasn't all that likable with the
project restarted Milt took over and focused on transforming the original Pinocchio into
the adorable character that we know and love today something similar happened during the early stages
of production for The Sword and the stone Milt was making some of the first rough draft drawings
when woolly Rifleman took a look at them and said these things look so beautiful they could hang in
a museum Milt ever the bashful sort replied ah you're full of it throughout the tale of
milt's career you'll find this theme again and again he gained a lot of recognition for shorts
belonging to the Silly Symphony series and for things like Ferdinand the Bull his craftsmanship
was such that he was often given the most difficult of tasks animating human characters
this included Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty Alice of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan himself
he didn't just animate people though many of Disney's most iconic animal characters numbered
among his accomplishments too Bambi is one such character plus he animated several characters
from Song of the South including Bray rabbit Brer Fox and brerbear if you recall the snooty llama
in saludos Amigos that was milt's work too one of the most interesting things about Milt was that
he was a true perfectionist refusing to settle for less than the best and he had an explosive
temper that would flare when he was unhappy with his results this is also what made him a natural
leader because he expected the same Perfection from his colleagues that he demanded from himself
his fellow animators came to respect him and they even came up with ways to deal with his
temper Walt Disney himself once famously said the way to handle Milt is to let him cool off for a
couple of days and then talk to him Milt worked with Disney for almost 40 years his retirement
came in 1976 and after that he returned to the Bay Area where he'd grown up so that he could pursue
other Arts most notably this included creating dancing ballerinas and other figurines sculpted
with fine wire he enjoyed a long fruitful retirement until his death on April 19 1987.
thanks for listening and subscribing to the ancestral findings podcast
check out ancestralfindings.com for additional free genealogy
resources and weekly giveaways hey happy searching