A MOUSE CLUBHOUSE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
BLAINE GIBSON
talks getting his start at Disney in 1939

by Scott Wolf

If I had to choose one word to describe Blaine Gibson I'd have to say, "humble." He does not need to be. He is a mega talent. You can see him in some Disney television shows showing Walt Disney the Abraham Lincoln bust he sculpted. He sculpted for Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, The American Adventure, and even the iconic "Partners" statue of Walt holding Mickey Mouse's hand that appears in front of the castles at Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

But, before Blaine sculpted for Disney he was an accomplished animator on many of Disney's classic films.

He enjoyed working as a team with others and felt that everybody equally deserved the credit for the finished product.

In addition to his humility, another endearing quality is how easy it is to listen to Blaine. His voice and calm tone are like listening to the most wonderful college professor where you want to grasp on to every word.

It is such a pleasure to be able to share my Blaine Gibson interviews with you.

Scott Wolf: What were you doing before you worked for Disney and how did you get your start with Disney?

Blaine Gibson: Well, actually I was going to school at Colorado University. I didn’t finish my school there and I was running out of money and I didn’t think I could finish it. I was a little bit concerned because I had enough degrees to get a small teaching job. It turned out that my mother and my brother who graduated from Colorado University… both of my brothers did, my older brothers… so my mother and brother suggested, “Well, Blaine, why don’t you send in some drawings to Disney?” I said, “No use.” Because I hadn’t even had art school yet. Colorado University is noted for its engineers, not for its art department. But anyway, I did send in some drawings.

Since I was a farm boy I chose to send a boy milking a cow with a cat standing by which I was squirting milk into his mouth, which is very typical of us on the farm.

They sent it back and said, “Sorry, we can’t accept this without a release.” I didn’t even know what they were talking about. What they meant was they thought I was sending it in as an idea for a film… which it did turn up later in a film. Whether it was because of mine or just something that came along, but it could’ve been something that somebody had seen.

Anyway, the next step was they sent me a whole brochure of their own to fill out and send in and they were very precise on the kinds of paper I would use. I was only twenty years old so there was not a chance that I could have any of the ideas that they suggested I send in without it being Disney because they had Disney characters. They wanted Mickey doing something with Minnie, and they wanted Goofy pole vaulting I believe, and they had something for different characters, Donald Duck and so forth.

So I proceeded to fill out all of these things and then they said, “Send in some drawings of your own.” But specifically it has to be on regular typing paper. It has to be in HB lead pencil, and it cannot be shaded, it has to be just line.

Well, when you’re doing animation, the linear work is how they can tell whether you can draw. When you start shading in, that kind of fakes it. When you can draw you can do things that look like they’re in three dimension without it being shaded. So I tried to comply as closely as I could to all of their orders, and then they said you can send along a few of your drawings, finished in whatever manner you want, but these are the things we want you to do.

My thought was that part of it was seeing if the person would be able to take direction, because if you deviated from that, what would be the point? There would be an indication if whether a person had the ability to take direction, but that wasn’t the main thing, the main thing was to see if the person had the qualities of becoming an animator.

So everything I did, I chose to do be in action. That’s the way all of their characters were… pole vaulting, or skating or doing something of that sort. So I sent in some drawings, like they said they want a man and a woman skating. This was not a character, it was anything I wanted to invent. So I had a little teeny skinny guy skating with a big fat lady. In my own mind I thought it was kind of funny, and I sent them in and I’d forgotten about them.

I was chopping wood for my mother because I was a farm boy and I normally would have been out helping my dad, but I decided that I’d take a couple weeks off and do drawings and study and so forth, to send in to Disney. Well, anyway I had forgotten all about it and one day when I was chopping wood outside my mother came running up, “Blaine! Blaine! You’ve been accepted into Disney in the Animation department and you will be coming to an animation class.” It was in May. That had been quite awhile. It had been about two months since I sent my drawings in.

SW: What year was that?

BG: It was 1939. It was May of 1939.

The old studio was in Hollywood and it was on Hyperion Road, right near Glendale. So this was the place I was supposed to go. They didn’t send me money to pay for my train, so I didn’t have any money, so I borrowed money from a Rotary club and a woman who raised cattle, and her son was one of my best friends. Her husband was a cattle man and they were very wealthy. So she loaned me $200 and the Rotary club loaned me $200, and that was enough for me to get a new suit… which my wife later told me was the ugliest suit she’d ever seen. (we laugh) She couldn’t tell me then, but she couldn’t wait for me to get another one. I got it at Montgomery Ward.

Actually, everything began to click. My mother contacted a friend of hers who had a relative in Hollywood who would pick me up at the train station, and with the money I borrowed I was able to get clothes, have a little extra to go on when I got to Hollywood.

She picked me up and took me first to the head of one of the Hollywood banks. He was a very kind manager of the bank and said, “I’ve got a place at the YMCA for you for two weeks if you need it.” So that was all done for me. And I had enough money in the $400 that I had borrowed to live awhile. It was real good. This lady provided transportation for me for everything I needed. That was my establishment in Hollywood.

More from Blaine:
His move to Imagineering and Disneyland on opening day
Disneyland and Great Moments with Mister Lincoln
Pirates of the Caribbean - Creating the classic attraction
Sculpting for "Mary Poppins" and theme parks such as Epcot

See other interviews

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.