Floyd Norman is Disney Legend
Black Animator, Michael Eisner Receive Mouse House's Highest Honour
Sep 13, 2007
Floyd Norman, the "Lone Negro" who was the sole black animator at Disney during the 1950's and 60's, will become a Disney Legend on October 10th.
The Disney Legends awards ceremony was started in 1987 to "acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney magic ... Since its inception, (this) program has honored many gifted animators, Imagineers, songwriters, actors and business leaders as having made a significant impact on the Disney legacy."
A selection committee put together by VP Emeritus (and Walt's nephew) Roy E. Disney chooses those employees who have made a major contribution to the Mouse House’s legacy. This year’s committee included former Disney Imagineering head Marty Sklar, Disney and chairman Dick Cook.
Floyd Norman started at the Mouse House as an "in-betweener" animator on 1959's Sleeping Beauty and worked on The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book and Robin Hood. In later years, he was a writer on Mulan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and did storyboard work on Pixar's Monsters Inc. and Toy Story 2. He also wrote several well-received books about animation and his experiences at Disney.
As well as Norman, Disney Legends will honour:
- ABC president Roone Arledge, a man once named in a Life magazine poll as one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." Arledge turned ABC into the top news network by recruiting talent like Peter Jennings, Diane Sawyer, Sam Donaldson and Ted Koppel. He turned ABC Sports into a ratings powerhouse by creating ABC’s Wide World of Sports and NFL Monday Night Football.
- Controversial animator Art Babbitt. Babbitt developed Dippy Dog into Goofy, one of the studio’s major stars. He later animated The Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Gepetto in Pinocchio and the Stork in Dumbo. He was also one of the key figures in the bitter animator’s strike of 1941. Due to his leadership role in unionizing the animators, Walt Disney tried to have him fired 4 times in defiance of federal law. Babbitt later returned to the Mouse House but he and Disney were bitter enemies thereafter.
- Dick Huemer, a legendary writer and animator who wrote 1941’s Dumbo, 1942’s Der Fuehrer’s Face, and 1951’s Alice in Wonderland. He also directed and animated countless Disney shorts in the 1930’s.
- Michael Eisner was CEO of Disney from 1984 to 2005. His tenure turned the company into a world entertainment leader, but also brought on its share of controversy over his treatment of the animation program. He was ousted in 2005 by a cabal lead by Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold.
- Carl Borgiorno. Nothing’s coming up online on this guy, but the Mouse House seems to think he’s important.
- Marge Champion was a dancer who, as part of the Marge and Gower Champion husband-and-wife dance team, shot to prominence in the 1950’s. She also modeled for Disney on such movies as Snow White, Fantasia and Pinocchio.
As animator Mark Evanier dryly noted, "the best part is that Floyd will be inducted at a ceremony along with Michael Eisner, subject of at least a thousand unflattering Floyd Norman gag cartoons. Can't wait to see the photo of the two of them being enshrined together."
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