WZR: All right then, Pickles: Are you still in touch with Art's first wife, Marge Champion?

BPB: Not really. But I did go backstage to say hello to her last year when she was on Broadway in Follies. She was charming and as pretty as ever. She introduced me to everyone with, "This is Barbara Perry. We share a husband."

WZR: That's kind of a shocking thing for the rotoscope model of Pinocchio's Blue Fairy to say.

BPB: But she was also filmed for the "Dance of the Hours" sequence in Fantasia.

WZR: I suppose the line is less outrageous emanating from a tutu-ed hippo.

BPB: A supposition universally shared.

WZR: Isn't Marge, like yourself, a second generation Los Angeles dancer?

BPB: Yes. My mother ran Perry's Rehearsal Hall, the dance studio on Highland Avenue, and Marge's father was Ernest Belcher, who ran his own studio. He was a very famous ballet teacher and dancer here in Los Angeles and a friend of Pavlova's.

WZR: You were raised in the World of Dance, and now you seem to live in an Animation Neighborhood.

BPB: I do. The Outpost has become quite a show business neighborhood. As for animators, let's see... Walter Williams and his wife lived next door until recently.

WZR: ...He of "Mr. Bill" fame. In the house once occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Martyn Green.

BPB: ... He of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. Then down the street is Alex Toth...

WZR: ... The much-admired comic book artist turned animation designer. There was a new collection of his work in the bookstore.

BPB: And up the way is Ernie Pintoff...

WZR: ...The Oscar-winning animator. And we just saw a couple of books by him on the shelves.

BPB: And for many years Don Selders, the very fine assistant animator, was a neighbor. He used to say to us, "I'd rather be a great assistant animator than a bad animator."

WZR: And what about inside your house?

BPB: Oh, that's right. The spare bedroom has hosted several people from the world of animation over the years, most recently Aleksandra Korejwo, the marvellous animator from Poland. And come to think of it, you helped house-sit while I was in Vienna two years ago.

WZR: Which is how I got to know about your neighbors.

BPB: Really? And all this time I thought Discretion was your middle name!

WZR: Really? With a zed?!

* * *

Barbara Perry Babbitt usually buys animation books which discuss Art Babbitt to collect for his daughters, Karen, Michelle and Laurel, who are very proud of their illustrious parent. Barbara's one-woman show, Passionate Ladies, garnered her two L. A. Drama Critics Circle Awards and two Dramalogue Awards before heading to Broadway. Barbara played Jim Carrey's dingy aunt on The Duck Factory, the only network TV sitcom about an animation studio.

Will Ryan is active in animation as a producer, writer, actor and composer. He would like to recommend that, in order to learn more about Art Babbitt, you visit your local library. Or bookstore.