Tom Sito has devoted his life to creating animation and preserving the animation profession’s rich history. Tom was an animator and story artist at Disney during the studio’s second golden age, contributing his talents to classic films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas. In the years that followed, Tom spent time at both DreamWorks Animation and Warner Bros. His credits at those studios include The Prince of Egypt, Antz, Shrek, Osmosis Jones and The Looney Tunes Movie.

Tom served three terms as president of the Hollywood Animation Guild and his fascination with union history, particularly the 1941 Walt Disney Studios strike, resulted in Tom’s 2006 book Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson. Tom is a former vice president of ASIFA/Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society, and in 2010 he received one of the organization’s highest honors, the June Foray Award, in recognition of his significant lifetime contribution to the animation industry.

Tom is currently professor chair of the School of Animation and Digital Arts at USC and he recently appeared in the PBS American Experience documentary, Walt Disney. Tom is a consummate storyteller and in part one of our two part conversation, he shares with us some of the highlights of his animation career. Tom Sito is Tim's guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Enjoy!

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Nearly 50 years after his death, Walt Disney continues to fascinate us. A giant entertainment and media company that he co-founded thrives under his name, and dozens upon dozens of fansites, blogs and podcasts—including this one—exist because of what Walt created: a universe of fantasy and adventure where wishing on stars makes dreams come true and anything is possible with a little faith, trust and pixie dust. While many respect, even idolize Walt, he wasn’t without his detractors—no one who achieved as much success as he did is beyond reproach. For all his talent, creative vision and charisma, he could also be stubborn, short-tempered and distant. In other words, human.

Much has been documented of Walt’s myriad accomplishments in animation, live-action film, television and themed entertainment. That’s the easy part. More complicated is understanding what made Walt tick. What fueled his ambitions? Was his true nature that of the avuncular host TV viewers saw every week, or did he just use it to hide a deeper, darker persona? Many a historian and researcher has attempted to answer these questions with varying levels of success. Filmmaker Sarah Colt is the latest person to join the conversation. Her four-hour documentary, Walt Disney will air over two nights September 14th and 15th on PBS as part of the network’s American Experience series.

Sarah has worked in public television for nearly twenty years. She’s an Emmy Award winner whose directing and producing credits include the documentaries Henry Ford and The Polio Crusade, both for American Experience. In their conversation today, Tim and Sarah talk about how her Walt Disney project came to be and how she managed to make her film with the cooperation--but without the interference--of the Walt Disney Company. We also explore Walt Disney’s legacy and discuss how best to judge his 20th century persona through a 21st century filter. Sarah Colt is Tim's guest today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

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We hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend. Tim is at the Disneyland Resort this weekend, not only for Force Friday--did you get any cool Star Wars Merchandise?--but also here for the 10th anniversary of the Disneyland Half Marathon. His guest in the Lounge today has nothing to do with either of those events, but you're really going to like him. He's Disney Legend Bill "Sully" Sullivan and you're going to hear part two of Tim's conversation with Sully about his nearly 40 years with Disney.

Sully started out as a ticket taker on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland in 1955 and finished his career in 1994 as vice president of the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Between those times, he got to know both Walt and Roy Disney. He worked at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley in 1960 and the New York World's Fair in 1963 and '64. Last week, Sully told us much about those adventures and in part two of our conversation, he picks things up in October 1971 as Walt Disney World is closing in on its Grand Opening.

Sully also shares some of his fondest memories of both Walt and Roy, as well as the day he got the biggest surprise of his career: the letter from Michael Eisner telling him he'd been named a Disney Legend. It's part two of Tim's conversation with Sully Sullivan in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

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