Document details

The art of Disney backgrounds and layouts is rarely discussed in history books. Ed Ghertner’s recollections of his rich career help us get a better understanding of this critical creative art form.

Didier Ghez: When and where were you born and what did you do before joining Disney?
Ed Ghertner: I was born in Texas in 1957. My dad was in the Army and he was stationed over in Germany. My parents came back to have me and I’m assuming my dad wanted to get out of there. He was, I think, three weeks off. I was born in Killeen, Texas, Fort Hood. Three weeks later my parents came home to Los Angeles and then I grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

As far as Disney, I have to go way back. My uncle, who I’m named after, worked at Disney Studios in the business end of things. Just as the strike hit in 1941, he left and started UPA. He owned part of UPA, and brought some of the artists with him over to UPA. They were going to open up an East UPA in New York, so he was sent back to find a studio. While he was back there he ran into what was David Hillerman’s company. At the time David was being looked at as a communist or a socialist and they were going to take his company away from him. So my uncle bought it from him. It was Academy Arts. He went back to New York and he brought Art Babbitt and Bill Tytla with him. They were doing commercials back there and in ’54 or ’55 he was walking down 42nd Street and had a heart attack and died. He didn’t own the place that long. That’s when Bill Tytla tried to come back and get his job back at Disney. That’s part of that history.

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