Painting a Panda

One of the more delightful books taking readers through someone’s personal history in the days of the great theatrical cartoons was “Life Between the Lines” by Martha Sigall. She was an inker and a painter, supposedly at the bottom of the cartoon hierarchy but someone who plays a vital role in getting cartoons onto the big screen.

Many years ago, one of the Los Angeles-area newspapers profiled another ink-and-painter—Marie Hines, in a piece about women at the Lantz studio. Naturally, that would also encompass La Verne Harding, the veteran animator who jumped to Hanna-Barbera in 1959 (presumably for more money) and later worked at DePatie-Freleng. Harding’s death in 1984 made it onto the national news wires. She disproved Walt Disney’s silly theory that women didn’t have what it takes emotionally to act with a pencil.

Anyway, here’s the story from the “Women’s Activities” page of the Valley Times, November 1, 1946.

Women Artists Happy in Make Believe Lantz-Land
By TIMPE
Curiosity took Gene Weber, a Valley Times photographer, and this reporter on tour of the Walter Lantz cartoon studios, located next door to the Universal-International studios. Curiosity, and a search for women who have embraced an artist's profession of a specified nature—that of cartoon musicals.
Old timer around these premises is La Verne Harding, a top-notch animator. LaVerne has been with her present employer since 1930. First in the inking department, then to in-betweening, she progressed to the fine accomplishments of animating in 1934.
“Cynical Suzy,” an original comic strip created by our pencil artist, ran for one year in a Los Angeles newspaper in 1932, and was then syndicated. The Harding ability is natural, as her only training was at a local art school some years ago.
The workaday life of an animator is a pleasant, ever changing series of imaginating and creating.
At present LaVerne is working with Dick Lundy, director of a Woody Woodpecker feature, “Solid Ivory.” As director, Lundy gives the animator his ideas on a certain scene already background drawn, to be filled in with the action of the cast. The animator must have the imagination and talents to envision and create that action for each scene.
Characters penciled by the animator join the cartoon production line that leads to the inking and painting department. Marie Hines, a twelve year employe of Walter Lantz, takes over in that field. Marie views a test reel of the pencil drawings and from it tries out a full series of trial coloring for the cartoon; counsels with the background man and director, a huddle with her own tastes and talents, then Marie goes to work on color-scheming. She designates all coloring for Lantz productions.
Marie began as a painter, went on to inking, setting syllables to music, camera work, a touch of office work and finally to the color model or painting department. An outside hobby, that of developing a more practical glaze for ceramics, has resulted in a glaze mixture process evolved by the Lantz veteran that heretofore had proven unsuccessful.
Among the dozen or so young women in the painting and inking department is the 19 year old daughter of Lowell Elliott, a Lantz employe of long standing. She is Patricia Elliott, working as an inker since her graduation from North Hollywood high, school in February, 1945. The winsome Pat studied for one year at Chouinard Art school. Her dreams of success will be realized when she becomes a full-fledged costume designer.
An inker’s duties are to trace precisely on celluloid the original drawings made by the animator in outlining ink. For any painting or drawing student, Pat will heartily recommend a phase of inking for the industry as a trainer.

Marie was born in Marie Martha Schmidt in Shelby County, Illinois on November 18, 1901. In 1920, her family was living in Denver, was in St. Louis by 1927 and California by 1931. By 1940, she was divorced and living with her two children at her widowed mother’s home. She died in Los Angeles on December 26, 1997.

Thanks to Devon Baxter for his help with this post