Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla (October 25, 1904 – December 30, 1968) was a Ukrainian-American animator known for his work during the Golden Age of American animation, in the Walt Disney Productions animation unit, Paramount's Famous Studios, and Terrytoons. In his Disney career, Tytla is particularly noted for the animation in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia (The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria segments) and Dumbo. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1998.
Early years
Vladimir Peter Tytla was born on October 25, 1904, in Yonkers, New York, to Ukrainian immigrant parents. His parents reportedly recognized talent in their son and encouraged it. In 1914, when Tytla was 9, he visited Manhattan and saw a vaudeville performance of Gertie the Dinosaur, which greatly influenced him.
- Cock o' the Walk, a Silly Symphonies short, first released on November 30, 1935. She shared his volcanic temperament, but admitted "My glass was half-filled with enthusiasm, his often half-empty with self-doubts. We were, however, definitely yin and yang". Their thirty-year marriage began on April 21, 1938.
==Continued Disney career== <!-- These headers need to be cleaned up -->
thumb|left|The villainous puppeteer [[Mangiafuoco#Stromboli (Disney)|Stromboli in Walt Disney's Pinocchio, primarily animated by Bill Tytla]]
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was eventually completed and premiered/released on December 21, 1937. Tytla was next assigned to animate Stromboli, an explosive puppeteer and kidnapper in Pinocchio. "Bill was powerful, muscular, high-strung and sensitive, with a tremendous ego," wrote Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in their book The Disney Villain. "Everything was 'feelings' with Bill. Whatever he animated had the inner feelings of his characters expressed through very strong acting. He did not just get inside Stromboli, he was Stromboli and he lived that part." Animator T. Hee saw Tytla so wrapped up in his work, that he quietly scurried out of the room.
Brave Little Tailor was a 1938 short featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Tytla animated the giant who was as dumb as he was huge. The character "became the model for all giants throughout the industry from gags to personality," according to Johnston and Thomas. Instead he had Wilfred Jackson (who is credited for the music of Steamboat Willie) act out the part for him, and that is what he used as a live-action reference.
thumb|right|The baby elephant Dumbo with oversized ears, animated by Bill Tytla based on his infant son Peter
Not one to want to be typecast as an animator who only worked the strongest characters, Tytla requested as his next assignment Dumbo, the baby elephant ridiculed and rejected because of his big ears. This time, his reference was his infant son Peter. The intent was to do something nontheatrical and sincere, to try to put the personality of a human child into that of an elephant so that it rings true. As an adult, Peter became a collage artist focusing on images made from photographs of junk cars.
The strike
While Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was hugely successful the following films had a hard time making money due to the war in Europe cutting of nearly 50% of their revenue. This led to staff layoff and broken promises with regard to job security, raises and bonuses.
While the top animators like Tytla and Babbitt were highly paid, they were all too aware of the low wages being paid to assistants and Film production people. Babbitt even went as far as paying his assistant out of his own pocket. But in early 1941, Babbitt was fired for union activities. The day after Babbitt led over 300 Disney studio employees in a strike, demanding union representation. To Disney's surprise and dismay, Tytla joined the strike line. "I was for the company union, and I went on strike because my friends were on strike," said Tytla. "I was sympathetic with their views, but I never wanted to do anything against Walt." The strike lasted over two months and was so divisive that it profoundly altered the course of American character animation. As the strike ended, America entered World War II and the Golden age was effectively over.
His next employer was Famous Studios, owned by Paramount Pictures. His directorial efforts there include several shorts: on The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a comedy feature film mixing live action and animation, directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Don Knotts as a fish. However, during this time Tytla became ill and a lot of the actual animation was completed by animation director Robert McKimson, Hawley Pratt and Gerry Chiniquy. All three of them are better known for their Looney Tunes work.
Following this Tytla suffered many small strokes, which left him blind in his left eye. On August 13, 1967, the opening night of the Montreal Expo's World Exhibition of Animation Cinema, featured a screening of Dumbo as part of an Hommage Aux Pionniers. Tytla was invited, but worried if anyone would remember him. When the film finished, they announced the presence of "The Great Animator." When the spotlight finally found him, the audience erupted in "a huge outpouring of love. It may have been one of the great moments of his life," recalled animation historian John Culhane. He was an atheist.
Filmography
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Credits
! Characters
! Notes
|-
| 1937 || Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs || Supervising Animator || || Credited as Vladimir Tytla
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1940 || Pinocchio || Animation Director || || Credited as Vladimir Tytla
|-
|Fantasia || Animation Supervisor - Segments "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" || || Credited as Vladimir Tytla
|-
| 1941 || Dumbo || Animation Director || || Credited as Vladimir Tytla
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1943 || Saludos Amigos || rowspan="2" | Animator || ||
|-
|Victory Through Air Power (Documentary) || ||
|-
| 1945 || Snap Happy (Short) || rowspan="24" | Director || ||
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1946 || Bored of Education (Short) || ||
|-
|Service with a Guile (Short) || ||
|-
|Rocket to Mars (Short) || ||
|-
|Sudden Fried Chicken (Short) || ||
|-
|The Island Fling (Short) || ||
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1947 || A Scout with the Gout (Short) || ||
|-
|The Wee Men (Short) || ||
|-
|Super Lulu (Short) || ||
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1948 || We're in the Honey (Short) || ||
|-
|The Bored Cuckoo (Short) || ||
|-
|Popeye Meets Hercules (Short) || ||
|-
|The Mite Makes Right (Short) || ||
|-
|Hector's Hectic Life (Short) || ||
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1949 || The Lost Dream (Short) || ||
|-
|Campus Capers (Short) || ||
|-
|Tar with a Star (Short) || ||
|-
|Leprechauns Gold (Short) || ||
|-
|Song of the Birds (Short) || ||
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1950 || Tarts and Flowers (Short) || ||
|-
|Jitterbug Jive (Short) || ||
|-
|Goofy Goofy Gander (Short) || ||
|-
|The Voice of the Turkey (Short) || ||
|-
|Casper's Spree Under the Sea (Short) || ||
|-
| 1956 || The Magical World of Disney (TV Series) || Animator - "The Plausible Impossible" || ||
|-
| 1964 || The Incredible Mr. Limpet || Supervising Animation Director: Special Piscatorial Effects || ||
|-
| 2000 || Fantasia 2000 || Animation Supervisor - Segment "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" || || Credited as Vladimir Tytla
|-
|}
See also
- Golden age of American animation
- Walt Disney Animation Studios
- List of animators