April 24 - Clyde Geronimi

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On this day, in 1989, Clito Enrico Geronimi passed away in Newport Beach, California. Born in Chiavenna, Italy on June 12, 1901, Clyde (as he was known) and his family  immigrated to the United States before he turned seven. Clyde began his career, briefly, at the Hearst Studio before becoming part of the early animation powerhouse of J.R. Bray in the early Twenties. He worked as an animator alongside Walter Lantz. Eventually Lantz moved up to the position of director and used Clyde as one of his lead animators on series like Dinky Doodle (not many people remember Dinky anymore but he did get a shout out in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). By 1926, Clyde was starting to get director credits himself with an occasional screenwriting nod to boot. When Lantz started his own studio in 1930 and began producing new Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts, Clyde continued to support his old friend, not knowing that only a year later, he’d be working for the guy who created, and painfully lost, Oswald.

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By 1931, the Bray Studio was completely out of the cartoon business (and almost out of business entirely). As a veteran animator, Clyde had no problem getting a position over at the Walt Disney Studio. He was immediately put to work in the Shorts Department. He worked on Silly Symphonies, Mickey Mouse cartoons, Pluto shorts, pretty much everything the studio was producing. In 1938, he was moved up to Director status and the promotion quickly paid off. He directed the Silly Symphony The Ugly Duckling and won the 1939 Oscar for Best Short Subject, Cartoon. Clyde’s work would win a second Oscar just two years later for the Mickey Mouse/Pluto short Lend a Paw.

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During World War II, when a large chunk of the studio was overseas fighting, Clyde was given the task of Segment Director on The Three Caballeros. After the end of the war, he was moved permanently into the Feature Department as a director. Over the next 14 years, Clyde directed segments on Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. He’d been bumped to a Supervising Director position by One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but he didn’t stick around long enough to see the film get released (he did still get a directing credit though). By that time the Shorts Department at Disney was gone and, after the release of Sleeping Beauty, the features were on seemingly rocky ground. Clyde figured he’d get out while he could.

In 1959, Clyde started a new career in television animation, mostly with United Productions of America. He spent the next several years directing episodes of The Dick Tracy Show, The Adventures of Mr. Magoo, The New Casper Show, and Linus the Lion-hearted, ending his career with Spider-Man. He retired in 1969, after nearly 50 years in the animation business.

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In 1979, at the eight Annie Awards, Clyde was presented with the Windsor McCay lifetime achievement award. It was presented to him by none other than his old co-worker, Walter Lantz. In 2017, for his 28 award winning years with the Walt Disney Studio, he was declared an official Disney Legend. His legend status was awarded posthumously, his children accepting on his behalf, for the Legend himself had quietly passed away at his home in Newport Beach, California on April 24, 1989. He was 87.