Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Art 480T Cal State Fullerton
When I was a kid, just out of high school, I was a lifeguard on Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida. People would retire after a full life of work, move south, and hang out at the beach doing nothing and soon die. Being active keeps you young and alive.
What can I say about Sol and Martha Sigall? They are the most alive, sharp, active, friendly, giving, and down right sweet couple in an industry of very nice people. I have read an awful lot of books about the history of animation but it is Martha and sharing people like her in this industry that have given me true understanding.
I first met Martha and Sol at the yearly Animation Afternoon of Remembrance a few years back. I happened to be siting next to them and we started up a conversation. The next year I brought my son and daughter to the Afternoon of Remembrance and we all talked with Martha and Sol.
I think my kids impress Sol because they already knew that Bugs Hardaway created Bugs Bunny. The short of it is that Martha and Sol kind if adopted my whole family. When we get together Martha and I always end up talking animation. When we talk on the phone they always want to know how the kids are doing.
Last night, in yet another kindness in a long list of kindnesses, Sol and Martha came and talked to my Cal State Fullerton History of Animation class. Dana Lamb, the head of the animation program at Fullerton, was thrilled to act as their chauffeur.
I saw Dana`s eyes light up a couple of times during dinner with that I-didn`t-know-that-is how-that-happened look that is often in my own eyes when talking to Martha and Sol.
Gems of insider understanding just fall from Martha`s lips without her even knowing it. Why Chuck Jones always bad mouthed and made fun of Leon Schlesinger, how the falling out between Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones came about, the great Ken Harris / Romer Gray story, the extra Porky Pig drawings in the Schlesinger storyboards.
Soon you too will all be able to share in the fount of information. Martha is in the last stages of putting out her book, `Living Life Inside the Lines`. I have read the first couple of chapters in draft form, it is schedules for Spring/Summer release, and I for one just can`t wait.
My class started at 7:00 P.M. with a graphics teacher down the hall asking if there was enough room for her students to set in on the class. The answer was yes. One of the cool things about teaching at a state university is the state of the arts classrooms.
I am guessing here. My class has 78 students. (that is not a guess) The class for down the hall has about 20 students. Then there was another 15 or 20 from the Pencil Mileage Club (the CSUF animation support club). I would say we had a full house.
The students were psyched. The format was a sit down interview with questions running the gambit from Martha`s childhood hinging out at Schlesginger`s Pacific Title Company to Sol`s reaction to the weirdness of Martha`s peer group. (he liked them)
One of the cool gems that came out was that Martha did ink and paint on of all of the Pvt. SNAFU`s between 1941 and 1943 but had no idea what she was working on at the time because she never got more than 10 cells at one time for security reasons. It was only years later when she got to see them that she knew what she had worked on and only then by the release dates.
We talked about her near misses on the picket line. The fire hoses at Warners and the paddy wagon at Paramount. (She had a dentist appointment so she didn`t get arrested)
I just got off the phone with Martha who called up to tell me that she and Sol had a really good time talking to my class last night. Isn`t that just the way. Here I am writing this blog about how great it was to have them in my class and she calls and thanks me and my students for her giving us the best class of my semester.. Thank you Martha, Thank you Sol. God bless you both. And I`m going to be first in line for you book when it comes out.
larry@agni-animation.com
¶ 9:45 PM
What can I say about Sol and Martha Sigall? They are the most alive, sharp, active, friendly, giving, and down right sweet couple in an industry of very nice people. I have read an awful lot of books about the history of animation but it is Martha and sharing people like her in this industry that have given me true understanding.
I first met Martha and Sol at the yearly Animation Afternoon of Remembrance a few years back. I happened to be siting next to them and we started up a conversation. The next year I brought my son and daughter to the Afternoon of Remembrance and we all talked with Martha and Sol.
I think my kids impress Sol because they already knew that Bugs Hardaway created Bugs Bunny. The short of it is that Martha and Sol kind if adopted my whole family. When we get together Martha and I always end up talking animation. When we talk on the phone they always want to know how the kids are doing.
Last night, in yet another kindness in a long list of kindnesses, Sol and Martha came and talked to my Cal State Fullerton History of Animation class. Dana Lamb, the head of the animation program at Fullerton, was thrilled to act as their chauffeur.
I saw Dana`s eyes light up a couple of times during dinner with that I-didn`t-know-that-is how-that-happened look that is often in my own eyes when talking to Martha and Sol.
Gems of insider understanding just fall from Martha`s lips without her even knowing it. Why Chuck Jones always bad mouthed and made fun of Leon Schlesinger, how the falling out between Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones came about, the great Ken Harris / Romer Gray story, the extra Porky Pig drawings in the Schlesinger storyboards.
Soon you too will all be able to share in the fount of information. Martha is in the last stages of putting out her book, `Living Life Inside the Lines`. I have read the first couple of chapters in draft form, it is schedules for Spring/Summer release, and I for one just can`t wait.
My class started at 7:00 P.M. with a graphics teacher down the hall asking if there was enough room for her students to set in on the class. The answer was yes. One of the cool things about teaching at a state university is the state of the arts classrooms.
I am guessing here. My class has 78 students. (that is not a guess) The class for down the hall has about 20 students. Then there was another 15 or 20 from the Pencil Mileage Club (the CSUF animation support club). I would say we had a full house.
The students were psyched. The format was a sit down interview with questions running the gambit from Martha`s childhood hinging out at Schlesginger`s Pacific Title Company to Sol`s reaction to the weirdness of Martha`s peer group. (he liked them)
One of the cool gems that came out was that Martha did ink and paint on of all of the Pvt. SNAFU`s between 1941 and 1943 but had no idea what she was working on at the time because she never got more than 10 cells at one time for security reasons. It was only years later when she got to see them that she knew what she had worked on and only then by the release dates.
We talked about her near misses on the picket line. The fire hoses at Warners and the paddy wagon at Paramount. (She had a dentist appointment so she didn`t get arrested)
I just got off the phone with Martha who called up to tell me that she and Sol had a really good time talking to my class last night. Isn`t that just the way. Here I am writing this blog about how great it was to have them in my class and she calls and thanks me and my students for her giving us the best class of my semester.. Thank you Martha, Thank you Sol. God bless you both. And I`m going to be first in line for you book when it comes out.
larry@agni-animation.com
¶ 9:45 PM
