Frank Thomas […] was working on Robin Hood at the time of this interview.
Frank Thomas: You were asking when I started working in earnest on Snow White. Walt would never tell when he was starting something seriously; he would just put someone on a new assignment. He had one thing in mind and he’d tell the fellow something else because he was trying to see if the fellow was ready for it. He’d put a girl, a feminine figure, in several shorts, like The Goddess of Spring or Cookie Carnival, where he wanted real girl action. He brought Grim Natwick out from the east, because he had a reputation for being able to draw girls. We didn’t know what Walt had in mind. We thought, “Gee, he’s sure making it tough to make these cartoons.” And then he did King Midas, which was a human character. Through the whole time he was thinking, “Are these guys ready? Who have I got? I could put him on this and him on this, but who have I got? Who can do this for me?” […]
