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A Closer Look at Art Scott

Katie Mason profiles Art Scott, a man whose career took him to almost every major U.S. studio.

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The artist at work. Courtesy of Art Scott. Art Scott hamming it up as W.C. Fields. Courtesy of Art Scott.

It is hard to imagine someone who held more jobs in animation than Art Scott. While still in junior college, he was called by Warner Bros. to do impressions of Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee for a cartoon. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in art education, he began working as an in-betweener at the Mintz Studio. Following some shuffling and layoffs he was moved to the story department for a time. When he decided there was no way to move up in story, he went back to animation until he was laid off in 1939.

Next stop was the Disney studio, where he was an assistant animator on short films. He stayed at Disney through the strike of 1941, and afterward was assigned to produce navy training films. Scott worked on segments of Fantasia, Bambi and Melody Time, as well as short subjects including Mickey's Delayed Date. With a group of Disney artists, he also sang and performed in a magic act which traveled to military bases across California.

Bambi is just one of the many Disney films to which Scott contributed. © 1942 The Walt Disney Company. All Rights Reserved.

After Disney, he started his own company, Art Scott Productions, in 1947. The company produced cartoons based on music called MelloTunes. He also designed puppets and did voices for a puppet show called Cyclone Malone. He returned to Disney in 1955 as a storyman on The Mickey Mouse Club. A favorite memory of his Disney days was when he and Ray Patterson were playing badminton on the sound stage as Walt walked in. They challenged Walt and his partner and won!

From Disney Scott headed to Hanna-Barbera, doing storyboards for The Flintstones. During the off season he worked on industrial films for John Sutherland Productions. Later he became a director for the Beany and Cecil television series. He went on to work for Larry Harman Productions as a story man before returning to Hanna-Barbera as production manager. He worked for Hanna-Barbera for many years, moving up to associate producer. As recently as 1998, Scott directed an animated feature, The Mighty Kong, which had a limited run before going to video.

Scott's work is still hitting new audiences like in the newly released DVD Beany and Cecil: The Special Edition.

Scott was born in Astoria, Oregon in 1914; he grew up in British Columbia and moved to Long Beach, California at age ten. After graduating from high school he went to Long Beach Junior College, where he sang and was a catcher on the baseball team. It was not until he entered UCLA that he had any art classes. He recalls: "I wanted to take the easiest thing I could do, and that was an art course. So I signed up for art, and ended up taking all kinds of art." At a dance, he met Herb Rothwill who was at the time working at the Mintz studio. Scott recalls: "He asked me, 'What do ya think about working in the animation business?' I said, 'I don't know anything about it. I've only seen stuff on the screen.' He had an animation board made for me with a light and the pegs and he used to bring scenes for me, and he'd take out all the in-betweens. As you know in animation, the first thing you learn as an animator is to in-between, and that's how I started." He began working at the Mintz studio himself shortly after graduation.

Scott posing in full magician dress with partner Bob

From Mintz he went to Disney and was assistant animator to Dick Lundy. With two features in production plus short subjects, there was a shuffling of personnel. Art recalls: "Dick's moved upstairs, and I'm pushed in with another animator named Ed Love. Real work horse, heck of a good animator too. Virtually everything I learned about animation really came from Ed Love. He had a system that was fantastic for getting work done. Some animators would start with a character here and going down to here, and then they would rough in everything as they go. Ed would make these drawings and just make a chart showing how these drawings should be spaced. And it was an easy thing."

One of Art's fondest memories was of the camp show. He sang with a jazz group which included Ward Kimball on trombone and Frank Thomas on piano. He also had a magic act and was assisted by Bob "Tiger" West. The shows featured short plays, juggling and dancing. Scott reminisces: "We did the show every other week. Two buses would take us to different camps, as far up as Santa Barbara, as far down as San Diego, and a lot of stops in-between. That was the most fun time with the studio, to have that camp show, because even when we weren't doing the show, Ward would take his orchestra and go out on the sound stage and they'd have a noontime dance and I'd be up there singing some of their numbers. It was a fun time in the studio that Walt built."

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Scott making the moment magic. Courtesy of Art Scott. The audience enjoys Scott's act. Courtesy of Art Scott.

Scott recalls that at Disney's Walt always knew what people's skills and hobbies were, which helped him on many projects, including Disneyland. Scott was selected to do sculpture models for Disney several times. He made a sculpture of an Oscar with wings to honor Major Alexander de Seversky, the expert on the film Victory Through Air Power.

mason11.gif Now playing the violin. What can't Scott do? Courtesy of Art Scott.

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Scott sings with quartet mates at a performance for the troops. Courtesy of Art Scott. Scott even takes a dramatic turn in this play for the troops. Courtesy of Art Scott.

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Scott presents the Donald Duck Fighter Pilot Award to Lt. Commander Jimmy Thatch. Courtesy of Art Scott. Art Scott (1914-1999). Courtesy of Art Scott.

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Working on Fantasia was one of the highlights of Scott's career. © Disney. All Rights Reserved. Hey, who's that handsome man behind Walt Disney and Lt. Commander Thatch? Courtesy of Art Scott.

The best animation ever done, in Scott's opinion, was without question Fantasia. "There's nothing like it, it's so well done." And his favorite job in the animation industry? "Recording the voices. This for me was the one point where your show comes to life, when you hear those voices. Doing that was the biggest thrill

Art Scott, and all of his stories, knowledge and experience, passed away in May 1999.

Katie Mason was an editorial assistant at Animation World Magazine. A longtime animation reader and fan, she watches cartoons each Saturday morning and is currently studying towards her university degree.

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