FROM 2007
FRANCIS XAVIER "X" ATENCIO
talks about his start with Disney

by Scott Wolf

Francis Xavier Atencio started out at Disney in animation but thanks to Walt Disney's keen perception of people's talents, he eventually ended up as a writer for some of Disney's most popular attractions.

Amongst his projects, X not only wrote the dialogue for the "Haunted Mansion" and "Pirates of the Caribbean", but he also wrote the lyrics for those attractions' popular songs including "Yo Ho (A Pirates Life For Me)."

X is a particular inspiration to me because of his positive outlook on life. I think he really lives by that old saying about when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. It is certainly evident in his professional life. He went to work for Disney as an artist but was asked to become a writer and today admits that he enjoyed writing more than being an artist.

I'm so pleased to share my interviews with you so you can learn about this wonderful man.

Scott Wolf: What were you doing before you worked for Disney?

X Atencio: I was raised and went to school in Colorado, a small town in southern Colorado, and when I graduated high school I came out to California to go to art school. I had a couple of aunts and a grandmother out here that I had freeloaded off of while I was going to school.

So I went to Chouinard Art Institute, one semester actually is all I went. I took a pre-animation course. They had teachers that came out to the studio once a week or maybe twice a week to have night classes with the animators. At the end of the semester the teacher told us to get a portfolio together and they’d take it out to the studio and have the animators critique it.

SW: That was the Disney studio that would critique it?

XA: Yes, over on Hyperion street, where the original studio was.

I went out to the studio and I wanted to get a summer job there, see if I could get a job on traffic to make some money to carry on with my education. So I was at the studio waiting for this interview with George Drake who was the guy that hired people and while I was waiting for him for the interview these other three guys showed up, too. And I thought, “Oh hell. What are my chances of my getting a summer job?”

SW: What was “traffic”?

XA: Traffic. A messenger boy. They called it the traffic department.

So he interviewed us all and he said, “I looked through your portfolio and I like what you’ve got. Would you like to come to work for us?” Holy Toledo, would I ever!

I was living with my grandma about… it must have been at least three miles from the studio in Hollywood. I ran all the way home, I didn’t wait for a bus or anything. I said, “I got a job at Disney!”

SW: What year was that?

XA: That was 1938.

Snow White had just finished. So that was really something. I was going to work for Walt Disney.

I guess about week later is when we started and we always had to test some things that we had to do… animation. And they had artists there from all over the country, from New York and Chicago…

It was a month’s tryout so to speak. So after the months time some of them didn’t cut it and they went home.

But, after that month tryout we went on for about another four or five months just doing animation tests. A waving flag, a bouncing ball, things like that… simple animation.

Then we went into production and I was attached to Woolie Reitherman. We were working by that time on “Pinocchio.” Woolie was doing the whale, Monstro the whale, so that was my introduction to production and doing in-betweens.

(NOTE: An animator would animate key frames and the person who did “in-betweens” would animate all the frames between those key frames.)

SW: So you worked on the Monstro scenes?

XA: Yeah. And Woolie was very particular on the drawing of this whale. He used to work over his own drawings so they looked like rags by the time he got through, but he wouldn’t let us get a new piece of paper. We had to clean it up.

SW: So you did in-betweening and clean up?

XA: Yeah, and that was my first introduction to it.

SW: On "Pinocchio"… what an introduction.

XA: I loved it. Woolie was great to work for.

SW: Did you immediately go into another film after that?

XA: Yeah, we went into "Bongo" (the animated short). I did a little on "Bongo."

SW: Did you stay with Woolie for each film?

XA: I stayed with Woolie until Uncle Sam called.

More from X:
His work in stop motion animation
Working on "Pirates of the Caribbean"
Disney attractions he's worked on

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.