Document details

[Recording starts in middle of conversation]

(When Ken Anderson joined the Disney Studio a rule was in place that did not allow two people who were married to work for the Studio. Ken and Polly Anderson were already married and had to hide it.)

Ken Anderson: Hazel Sewell was the only one privy to this information. She liked Polly and she knew the truth. But Dorothy Powers, she didn’t know. Later on, when she found out, she was a little bit upset. Couples couldn’t work there. We couldn’t get a vacation at the same time because nobody was supposed to know and I didn’t dare look at her as I went by. But she insisted that I get this job. She said, “Why don’t you go in there and get a job?” I said, “I can’t do that. I don’t know how to cartoon.” We went back and looked at the sign that had Mickey Mouse and I saw three fingers. It’s a catch question: “How many fingers does he got?” So then I knew. Ducky Nash, the guy that voiced the Duck, interviewed me.

Woolie Reitherman: How did you manage to [live]?

KA: We lived in the lousiest apartment. Akim Tamiroff was the apartment manager, and his wife. We lived in Culver City and had to drive every damn day all the way from Culver City through to Hyperion. Luckily, the apartment bungalow that Tamiroff rented, Tamiroff happened to like Polly and me. All the rest of them were kicked out, but he let us stay. He knew damn well that we climbed in through the bathroom window and lived with a candle. He helped us eat, he and his wife. We had bacon and beans and all sorts of things

[…]