Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Animator and director Donald Lusk was the last vital link to Disney’s
‘Golden Age’ of Animation.
In today’s blog we are going to discuss about great Disney Animator Don
Lusk who died on December 2018.
At the age of 20 in the year 1933 Lusk was hired by The Walt Disney
Company as an In-betweener.
Don Lusk contributed on many Disney animated films that are now
considered classics such as Snow White, Bambi, Pinocchio and Seven
Dwarfs.
Don Lusk Career as an Animator
Donald or Don Lusk career spanned more than sixty years starting from
1933 hired by Disney.
After joining Disney at the age of 20 he worked on Mickey Mouse shorts for
several years, as he used to work on detailing of Goofy’s character.
He also contributed in1938’s Ferdinand the Bull adapted from The story of
Ferdinand (1936) by author Munro Leaf.
At Disney he spent more than two decades and during this period worked
on most of the Disney features from Snow White to 101 Dalmatians along
with many shorts.
Don Lusk worked on 13 out of the 17 Disney animated features that were
released between 1937 and 1961.
For the film Pinocchio, Don Lusk worked on 2danimation for Geppetto’s
pet goldfish, Cleo.
In the 1940 film Fantasia, Lusk single handed animated the danse arabe
portion of Fantasia’s Nutcracker sequence.
Sketching of the fish doing her dance was quite a laborious work.
More than 1,000 artists and technicians were used in the making of
Fantasia, which showed more than 500 animated characters.
His creation on movie Fantasia is now acclaimed as one of the great early
works of animation.
In 2013 interview Lusk revealed that the final work was completed too
hurriedly and he was very dissatisfied with the finished version.
He contributed in the Disney studio’s innovation during its Golden Age of
Animation, as Disney developed techniques for mixing picture and sound,
animating the backgrounds and achieving bright special effects.
For this ‘Nutcracker Suite’ studio filmed professional dancers Joyce Coles
and Marjorie Belcher wearing ballet skirts that resembled shapes of
blossoms.
Lusk took part in 1941 Disney animators strike and took a break from his
career and joined military service with the U.S Marines.
Later he returned in late 1940s to work on films like Bambi, Song of the
South and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad etc.
Bambi released in 1942 during World War II and was Disney’s 5th full-
length animated film.
Lusk was allocated to the training film unit in Quantico, Virginia, where he
spent few years working with other enlisted animation artists such as Carl
Fallberg, Tom Codrick and Pete Alvarado.
After the World War end, Lusk returned to Disney to work on Alice in
Wonderland where Alice falls down in the rabbit hole;.
Flora and Merry weather throwing pink and blue pixie dust in the film
Sleeping Beauty and the nanny in movie 101 Dalmatians running out into
the streets and yelling for help after the puppies are stolen.
Don Lusk left Disney in 1960 to direct multiple cartoon films and series.
Lusk freelanced for studios like Bill Melendez and Walter Lantz before
moving to Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s.
Don Lusk took final retirement at the age of 80 in 1995 after his work on
the children’s TV show The Pirates of Dark Water.
He was nominated twice for the Emmy award for his work on The Smurfs
in 1988 and 1989 and for Pup in Scooby-Doo in the year 1999.
Don Lusk wasn’t simply an artist in the animation industry but a true
pioneer of the art form.
He helped to develop the art form of animation that inspired artists who
followed his footsteps.