A few years ago, I discovered on eBay the mock-up of the never-released autobiography of artist Don Douglass, Another Book. I had never heard of him before and still know little his pre-Disney career. The book contains an interesting chapter about his Disney days, titled Five Years with Walt, which I thought deserved to be read by more people than just myself.
According to the book’s introduction, Don Douglass painted “since he was thirteen years old, when he had his first one-boy show and sold four paintings. He worked as a [cartoon background] artist at MGM for two years [probably from 1939 to 1941]. He then applied for work in the engineering department at Douglas Aircraft Co. and was hired to help organize an illustrated parts catalog department. In 1942, having heard that the Disney Studio was working on Navy training films Douglass put his samples together.” He was hired by the Mouse House on September 28, 1942. He left four years later on July 12, 1946.
At the Disney Studio, Douglass handled backgrounds for The Pelican and the Snipe and for the Bahia sequence in The Three Caballeros.
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