Burny Mattinson is the only person I know who started working at Disney Animation when Walt was alive, and has been there since. Here’s a SHORT list of films he has worked on: Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan. Burny is a talented draughtsman, animator, illustrator, story man, producer, and director with first-hand stories and insights to share with us from his career which spans over fifty years. In part one, Burny recounts how he came to work at the Walt Disney Studios in the 50s, and eventually worked under many of The Nine Old Men there.
Get the MP3 here: Show 16: Burny Mattinson, Part One
(20.4MB, 44:32 minutes)
Or get the enhanced version playable only with Quicktime, iTunes, or iPods. (Includes pictures in addition to the audio.)
Get the AAC here: Show 16: Burny Mattinson, Part One
(22.9MB, 44:32 minutes)
Continue for Show Notes…
- 0:00:00: The Intro Voice
- 0:00:05: Theme Song by DJ Sweettooth (Joe Moshier)
- 0:00:49: Intro
- 0:02:02: How to get a job at Disney’s Studio
- 0:07:24: Working in the Mailroom
- 0:09:51: Getting in to animation
- 0:11:16: State of the Studio in the 50s
- 0:11:57: Training on Shorts – Casey’s Girls
- 0:12:36: Lady and the Tramp
- 0:13:57: Layoffs and Sleeping Beauty
- 0:15:19: D-Wing of the Animation Building
- 0:15:54: Scene 31 of Sleeping Beauty
- 0:18:41: Demands of drawing
- 0:19:56: The role of assistant animators
- 0:20:24: Instituting a drawing count
- 0:21:24: 101 Dalmations & Golden Books
- 0:22:57: Becoming Eric Larson’s assistant
- 0:23:42: Marc Davis’ animation style
- 0:25:17: Working on Milt Kahl & Frank Thomas animation
- 0:26:52: Ludwig von Drake with Eric Larson
- 0:27:55: Marc Davis leaving animation
- 0:29:00: More on von Drake
- 0:29:34: Getting out from under the Nine Old Men
- 0:33:11: Assigned to animate with Ollie Johnston on Robin Hood
- 0:34:49: Working with Woolie Reitherman – Eric Larson transitions to training
- 0:35:44: Conclusion of Part 1
- 0:35:53: Feedback info
- 0:36:16: Your Favorite Characters 10-6 [LINK]
- 0:38:10: Voice messages [LINK]
- 0:42:39: Your Top Five Favorite Characters [LINK]
- 0:44:07: Closing
Clay! awesome show as always, it was great hearing how Burny got into Disney! So i was thinking, what are the odds that someone would actualy land a job today, showing up at the gate with a portfolio (or a DVD reel) and just walking through the main gate?!
anyway, thanks for the great show and i’ll be waiting for the second part with Burny Mattinson.
Kaveh
Very cool to see a living legend like Burny interviewed. The interviews with contemporary masters are important, but capturing the memories of a long-timer like Burny is on a different level. There aren’t many of them left around, and they provide us a unique peek into the development of this art form that we all love.
Great stuff, Clay!
Speechless…
Cheers Clay – well worth the wait.
That was awesome. Thank you to Burny for sharing your story on getting into Disney. As always, the show is inspiring. Keep up the great work Clay.
Oh gosh oh gosh another podcast! I¬¥m saving this one for a saturday morning breakfast, to reeeeally lean back and enjoy it 🙂
Thanks Clay!
Micha.
ps. We´ll be missing you so badly at AM, enjoy your show and rock on!
…..Wow! Wow! Wow!!
Wow its a great experience, mindblowing.
Its a great experience, Bunny’s experience in the Waltdiseney co. very interesting. He is the model for today’s Cg people. His speech is well worthy.
Everyone must hear it.
Very good tape.The interviews with contemporary masters are important, but capturing the memories of a long-timer like Burny is on a different level.
As always, great job Clay. Keep them coming!
Great show, one of my favorites. I’m looking forward to part 2. Burny is such a talented and humble guy.
Absolutely AMAZING stuff!
…And this little ‘thank-you’ is WAY overdue, Clay…
So, THANKS, and keep up the great work!
🙂
-Dagan M.
http://www.daganm.blogspot.com
ps- ALL of the shows have been outstanding, but may I request an interview with Eric Goldberg?… AND Ken Duncan?…
😉
Man, what an awesome show Clay. I really loved the Nik Ranieri interviews, and i heard you say you have more material from him, sooooo…i guess im saying if you have time to string together a show that would be pretty kool.! awesome. Keep it up man. You doing a great thing…if i wasnt such a poor student i’d opt to pay for such things! Ha.
…. great to know im not the only Aussie here listening!
great interview as always…. i wish they would come quicker though…. 🙂 …. my new ipod has battery to burn!
Great Mouse Detective
Great interview Clay! Thanks :O)
Oops that last reply was supposed to be on the Burny Mattinson Part Two….but this interview was also excellent too!
I’ll throw out a general response on this one: I appreciate all the comments here. I’ll try to stay on top of them in the future.
Dagan – If only I could pin down Ken to an appointment. He’ll be on the show, trust me. Eric is high on my list too.
Dave – Getting back to finish the Nik interview is one of my higher priorities.
So, I’ve been listening to really old podcasts for the first time! I want to say thank you to one of your call responses. A caller asked for more variety in your interviews, including “adult” Japanese animation. While I wouldn’t call pornography “education,” I appreciate that you were straightforward in refusing his request.