In 1933, at the age of nineteen, animation veteran Don Lusk started work at Walt Disney Productions after he drove past the studio on Hyperion, saw the big sign, and went in searching for a job. Thus began Mr. Lusk’s two and half decades as an animator at the Disney Studios, working on shorts, animating in Eric Larson’s unit on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and training the waves of newcomers who arrived at the studio during the late 1930s.
For Don Lusk, however, it was not a Golden Age. Dissatisfied with the studio’s wages and working conditions, Don went on strike with other staffers in 1941. When he returned inside the gates after the work stoppage ended, he discovered he was on a select list of employees that Walt had slated for layoff. Don, however, remained at the studio until 1960 as a journey animator, protected by his friend Eric Larson.
After Disney, Mr. Lusk continued his animation career at Walter Lantz and then Hanna-Barbera, remaining active in the industry into the 1990s. We spoke in the Fall of 2013, on the occasion of Don Lusk’s 100th birthday.
[...]
