Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all.
That's what keeps me going: dreaming, inventing, then hoping and dreaming some more in order to keep dreaming.
Except for me, no one in my family could draw.
I never got tired of Tom and Jerry, but I did have a dream of doing more with my life than making cartoons.
While I have never been a regular churchgoer, I'm anything but immune to the power and the majesty of the religious experience.
Ted Turner sailed into the meeting, and I mean sailed. He holds himself as if he were at the helm of his sailboat, in the process of winning the race.
You keep pitching. Most of the pitches run wild. A few are caught.
I don't know anyone who enjoys going to the hospital. To help remedy this, I got an idea to create what a Laugh Room in the pediatric ward of hospitals.
Parents look at me like I'm somebody pretty important, and say, We were raised on your characters, and now we're enjoying them all over again with our children.
What about Mickey Mouse? Disney tried very hard to make him a star. But Mickey Mouse is more of a symbol than a real character.
Despite the rejection, and in violation of all the rules, I came back year after year.
Among the great glories of the MGM lot were the vast outdoor sets that had been constructed over the years.
I hope we don't get to the point where we have to have the cat stop chasing the mouse to teach him glassblowing and basket weaving.
I first pitched the idea of doing a series of cartoons based on Bible stories. They didn't much like it.
Friends don't necessarily made good business or creative partners.
Publicity gets more than a little tiring. You want it, you need it, you crave it, and you're scared as hell when it stops.
In those days, boxing was very glamorous and romantic. You listened to fights on the radio, and a good announcer made it seem like a contest between gladiators.
What the real world of 1941 needed most was the release and relief provided by laughter.
High-level, big-deal publicity has a way of getting old for me, but what never fails to thrill me is when I make personal appearances.
When animators weren't sleeping, they were drinking.
