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.[…]
