November 1 - Retta Davidson

On this day, in 1921, animator Retta Davidson was born in Arcadia, California. She should not be confused with another female animator named Retta Scott (because every company has two women named Retta, right?). After graduating from high school in 1939, Retta joined the Walt Disney Studio in the the Ink and Paint Department. Her work from this era can be "seen" in Pinocchio, Bambi, and Fantasia. The onset of World War II would change that.

As many of the studio's male animators were being drafted into various parts of the US war machine, the studio began to get desperate for people to continue making movies and therefore a profit. In 1941, the women of the Ink and Paint Department were invited to submit their own drawings to be considered as replacements. Retta became one of just 10 women to be promoted to animator. She would only be in the position a year, however, before the war would claim her as well. She went to work for the Navy for four years. In 1946, Retta returned to Disney and began working as an assistant animator to whoever was lucky enough to nab her for their project. She continued in this role until 1966, when, still reeling from the death of Walt, she left the studio to become a freelance artist.

Retta spent time in Hollywood creating television commercials and working with Chuck Jones on such projects as Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century. She would later move to Montreal, Canada to teach animation at Concordia College there and Sheridan College in Toronto. Retta would be a part of the team that produced the animated version of Lord of the Rings in 1978 and the team that created the 1981 Canadian animated movie Heavy Metal (which happened to feature the voice of yesterday's post, John Candy).

In 1980, Retta came back to the Disney family to help train a whole new batch of animators. She was given a coordinating animator credit on both The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. Retta continued as a trainer until her retirement in 1985. She would pass away in Carlsbad, California on June 12, 1998. She was 76.