Retta Davidson
Perhaps some of you know about Disney’s first female animator, Retta Scott. Ms. Scott has a credit on the Disney feature Bambi. And I’m willing to bet she has been an inspiration for a lot of young women hoping for a career in animation.
Unfortunately, I never met Retta Scott. But I did meet and work with another Retta. And she, not Ms. Scott, is the subject of today’s column.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about animation having little appeal for women. Yet when I think back to my arrival at the Walt Disney Studio in the fifties, I recall an animation department filled with women. Animation had an appeal for a lot of young artists, and a fair number of them were women.
Sleeping Beauty was the feature film currently in production and the animation in this Disney movie required a high level of drawing ability and meticulous attention to detail. It seems women were particularly adept at doing this job.[…]
Parent contents
- Parent entry
- 1 - Ruth Disney Beecher (Dave Smith)
- 2 - Les Clark (Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston)
- 3 - Harry Tytle (Richard Hubler)
- 4 - James Bodrero (Milt Gray)
- 5 - Sylvia Holland - as remembered by Theo Halladay (Robin Allan)
- 6 - Retta Scott (Robin Allan)
- 7 - Retta Davidson (Jim Korkis)
- 8 - Retta Davidson
- 9 - Moe Gollub - as remembered by Mark Kirkland (Steve Hulett)
- 10 - Ben Sharpsteen (Richard Hubler)
- 11 - Lou Debney (David Tietyen)
- 12 - Jim Macdonald (David Tietyen)
- 13 - Charles Wolcott (David Tietyen)
- 14 - Bill Cottrell (Richard Hubler)
- 15 - Herb Ryman (Richard Hubler)
- 16 - Donn Tatum (Richard Hubler)
- 17 - Card Walker (Richard Hubler)
- 18 - Bob Sherman (Richard Hubler)
- 19 - Dolores Voght (Richard Hubler)
- 20 - Tommie Wilck (Richard Hubler)
- 21 - Welton Becket (Richard Hubler)
- 22 - Bill Anderson (John G. West)
- 23 - Robert Stevenson (Richard Hubler)
- 24 - Don Griffith (Christopher Finch, Linda Rosenkrantz)
- 25 - Floyd Gottfredson (Jim Korkis)
- 26 - Floyd Gottfredson (Tony Fischier)
- 27 - Al Taliaferro (Jim Korkis)
- 28 - Jack Hannah (Jim Korkis)
- 29 - Carl Barks (Jim Fanning)
- 30 - Blaine Gibson (Paul F. Anderson)
- 31 - Harriet Burns (Scott Wolf)
- 32 - Roy E. Disney (Charles Solomon)
- 33 - Correspondence with Frank Thomas (Göran Broling)
- 34 - Bud Hester (Didier Ghez)
- 35 - Ken Southworth (Didier Ghez)
- 36 - Dale Baer (Didier Ghez)