Pre-Strike Tales from Disney

Isn’t it great to hear stories from people who worked on the old theatrical cartoons, especially before World War Two? Some people have had the foresight to interview June Patterson, known at the Disney studio as June Walker. She’s the widow of Ray Patterson, who’s probably best-known for his animation on Tom and Jerry. You may have seen her name as June Patterson in the credits of the old Grantray-Lawrence Spider-Man cartoons from the ’60s.

Here’s the first of a three-part interview with her. You should be able to click on the other two parts after the first one is finished. There’s about three minutes of introductory material.



June’s mother worked as a bookkeeper at Disney and a cousin was Les Clark, one of the Disney studio’s first animators. She and Ray married in 1944. It was long union, ending with his death on December 30, 2001.

In trying to find out about their wedding, I found Ray’s marriage certificate—to his first wife.



Remarkably, Antoinette Love wasn’t related to any of the other Loves in the animation business at the time. She was from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Harry Love (at Mintz) was from New York City and Ed Love (at Disney) from Pennsylvania. It’s unclear when she and Ray divorced; they were still together in the 1940 Census.

Hurrah to the folks at The Corner Booth for conducting this interview and preserving first-hand animation history.