An excerpt from Gene Deitch’s book, How To Succeed In Animation (Don’t Let A Little Thing Like Failure Stop You!).

Jamison Handy himself was already (to me) an old guy when I was there, and he reigned, rather than ruled, over the JHO roost. The actual creative head honcho was Grant Harris. He was also a Hollywood import, and was supremely self-confident. He never doubted for an instant that he was right in all of his thoughts. I didn’t reach that level of creative authority until years later, but I did learn from my relations with Grant that a certain humility is necessary to get the most from your staff. A director, and certainly a studio creative director must be clear and definite in his or her conceptions, but still there must be room to accept the ideas of others, as long as they fit into the perceived pattern

Even when I later did become creative director of large studios, and even as director of individual films, I never got over the awe I felt when I walked through the studio. I said to myself, “My God, all of these people are working away on a project I set up. Their livelihood depends on my being right! And I am committing my client’s money!” I gave a lot of thought to what I was doing, and had to believe that in fact I was right!

It amazes me that I manage to be mentioned in most of the animation history books, and yet the largest portion of my work over the past 50 years is either obscure to the point of invisibility, or never even got out the door. Much of it is children’s films, tucked into cozy little school libraries, and of virtually no interest to animation film buff historians. And so it is with the first film I directed. It was a paean to capitalism, produced at Jam Handy, — the quintessential capitalist film studio, and titled, Building Friends for Business. Now what history of animation mentions that film? And yet it was in early UPA style, and I herewith show you the one surviving set up from that first film I ever directed.

Scanned directly from a recently rediscovered cel setup.