ANIMATOR REEL: Don Williams (Patreon)

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Here’s a special Sunday surprise for all of you—an animator reel profiling the work of Don Williams! 

Williams started in animation in the early 1930s at Walter Lantz’s studio on the Universal lot. Shortly after, he was recruited to Leon Schlesinger’s studio when Warner Bros. opened up its own animation studio in 1933. In August 1936, he was hired at Walt Disney’s studio and left February 1938, according to the late Dave Smith, founder of the Walt Disney Archives. He found a job at Cartoon Films, Ltd., formerly Ub Iwerks’ studio in Beverly Hills, which produced theatrical entertainment shorts and commercials.

Throughout the 1940s, he went through transient stays at different studios, including MGM, Walter Lantz, and Warner Bros. For what seemed like a prolonged hiatus during the 1950s, he went back into animation at Hanna-Barbera on a freelance basis. This continued until 1963, when he was hired at DePatie-Freleng, his longest stay during his entire career as the studio’s lead animator on their theatricals, television specials, interstitials and commercials. He continued to work at DFE until his death in 1980.

This reel incorporates most of his work from the 1940s at Warner Bros. and Walter Lantz, with select scenes from the early to mid-thirties at Leon Schlesinger’s studio; the latter of which has been confirmed by Larry Tremblay and Mike Kazaleh, respectively. Williams usually gave his characters a “blocky” appearance, and the movement seems slightly choppy. When he animated for Warner Bros. in the mid-1940s, he implemented a dry-brush smear technique that makes his footage more recognizable. His work for DePatie-Freleng is not included in the video—a reel has already been compiled and edited by YT user (and good friend) “tiny crow,” which can be seen here.

Clips used:

Mouse Menace (WB/1946), Abou Ben Boogie (Lantz/1944), Walky Talky Hawky (WB/1946), Chew Chew Baby (Lantz/1945), The Field Mouse (MGM/1941), What Makes Daffy Duck (WB/1948), I’m a Big Shot Now (WB/1936), Doggone Cats (WB/1947), The Sliphorn King of Polaroo (Lantz/1945),Bowery Bugs  (WB/1949), The Foxy Duckling(WB/1947), Riff Raffy Daffy (WB/1948), The Beach Nut (Lantz/1944), Acrobatty Bunny (WB/1946), Holiday for Drumsticks (WB/1949), Wild Honey (MGM/1942), The Pest That Came to Dinner (WB/1948), Dough-Ray Me-Ow (WB/1948), Catch as Cats Can (WB/1947), Two Gophers from Texas (WB/1948), Mexican Joyride (WB/1947), Crow Crazy (Lantz/1945), When I Yoo Hoo (WB/1936), The Stupor Salesman (WB/1948), Lonesome Ghosts (Disney/1937), Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence (WB/1933)