MY ANIMATION DISC

As I've mentioned 

eleventy hundred and five times on this blog,

my first job in animation was at 

Buzzco Associates

back in 1990.

I was only there for less than a year,

but I learned a ton

and met many people who became 

good friends, 

heroes 

and 

mentors.

One of them was a guy named Gordon Bellamy.

He was an assistant animator on the theatrical short

Buzzco was making based on the Rudyard Kipling story,

The Maltese Cat.

Gordon couldn't have been a nicer guy.

He was in his early 50's.

Bright eyed behind little round glasses.

A comforting Southern twang.

Crimson suspenders.

Balding save the anachronistic rat-tail he wore

which gave hint to his musical tastes.

REM

Jesus Jones

Blue Aeroplanes

The English Beat

You know...

the stuff all us college kids 

were listening to at the time.

It was really strange

to have an

'old guy'

introduce me to

Nine Inch Nails.

(and awesome)

Anyway...

one day while we were working,

this conversation went down:

Gordon:  Hey, Tom.

Me:  Yeah?

Gordon:  You got an animation disc?

Me: Um... no.

Gordon:  Want one?

And I was all like--

Whaaaaaaaaaa?!?!

For those of you unfamiliar,

an animation disc is

the round frame for the glass that goes over a lightbox.

It has specified pegs that registered animation paper fits onto

and can turn to help the animator draw at any angle he or she wants.

Here's an example from the 

Beavis and Butthead years

at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions:

In this day of CGI and Cintiqs,

they're pretty much obsolete.

But back then,

owning an animation disc 

was like having your own car.

(Well, maybe a cheap used car)

They were expensive!

And Gordon was going 

to GIVE me one!

But not just any disc...

 Mr. Bellamy was handing 

his own personal disc down to me!

He had been looking for some 

young up-and-coming kid to give it to the same way

it had been given to him.

And to that person before.

On the back was a piece of tape with all

"the folks who this disc owned previously"

The first was legendary Disney animator 

Fred Moore!

Whoa...

How cool is THAT?!

The second owner was...

um...

Well...

See...

that piece of tape?

It eventually dried up and crumbled away.

And I don't remember who the 2nd person was.

It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.

The third person was Gordon.

But he passed away years ago 

so I can't even ask who gave it to him.

And the fourth was

ME!

Here it is today:

The sliding peg bar was gone long before I got it.

The bottom pegs have also gone missing.

They weren't the standard Acme used in my day,

so I had a plastic peg bar taped on the glass.

I can't find pictures of any of my home desks with the disc

except this one...

taken during some late night JJSP project.

The poor thing gets no love these days.

I can't even remember the last time I 

actually animated anything myself.

Even if I did,

odds are it wouldn't be on paper.

What's worse...

there's no enthusiastic young kid for me to hand it down to,

except maybe for nostalgic reasons.

But that's okay.

I think I'd have a hard time parting with it.

Wanna learn more about animation discs?

Wanna see an old desk I worked at?

Of course, you do!

So head on over to Imprint Magazine

and check out

J.J. Sedelmaier's comprehensive post

on animation discs and peg bars.

It's jam-packed with pics of animation gear 

from ages past!

(and my old desk at JJSP!)

And it's all right

HERE!