What a World
As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of famous great animation writer Michael Maltese.
With anyone that successful and that talented, I always wonder - when he was working on the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, did he know that going to work and earning a paycheck making cartoons would impact the world? That his jokes would be repeated continuously worldwide for fifty plus years? That his cartoons would inspire generations of new storytellers and artists?
Seemingly little things can have a big rippling impact on the world.
Now a few months back, I blogged about meeting June Foray at a WGA event, and asking her about Michael Maltese. Afterwards, I wrote it up as a quick blog post and didn't think much of it.
But then I got contacted by Michael Maltese's family. Thanks to his amazingly-awesome granddaughter, Lisa, I got to meet and spend an afternoon with Mr. Maltese's daughter, Brenda, and son-in-law, Dan. They shared so many stories with me, along with a folder filled with Michael Maltese's writings and artwork.
A few tidbits-
-I got to see Michael Maltese's original scripts to two of the comic books he wrote in the 1970s. From Daffy Duck and Road Runner #82, he'd written the stories "The Whole Tooth" and "Coy Decoy." Unfortunately, those Western Publishing comic books never credited the writer, so it was a real thrill to see two stories that were his. His scripts were entirely drawn, and in some cases, his script art was better than the published art.
-Among the items they'd saved were letters from people asking to buy Michael Maltese artwork. At first, I found the letters kind of crass. But then it hit me that the family wouldn't have saved the letters if they felt that way. In that sense, the letters were just another sign of how beloved he was by everyone.
-In 1977, Michael Maltese was a guest-speaker at Cal-Arts. The transcript of his speech and Q&A session was amazing. Not only did it include his thoughts on writing and art, but it included the names of the students who'd asked him questions. A couple kids named Brad Bird and John Musker...
-When Michael Maltese moved out to California from New York, he'd been promised a job at Disney - but when he arrived, there was no job, so he ended up at Warner. Decades later, his daughter was working at Disney. At a work party, Michael Maltese spotted Walt Disney, and confronted him about what had happened decades earlier. Maltese's daughter was mortified, but Walt Disney was very apologetic. It turned out Disney was a fan of Maltese's work.
There were so many stories - I can't do all of them justice. But just getting to hang out with the family was an amazing experience. Thank you so much to Lisa, Brenda, and Dan for their wonderful generosity.
The crazy thing is that I never would have gotten to get this close to one of my heroes if I hadn't blogged about him. A seemingly little thing like blogging led me to meet his family. Which leads me to my favorite story.
When Maltese's grand-daughter started her first week of work at Hanna Barbera, an older gentleman who worked there told her not to worry about her difficult job. No one's going to get hurt. It's only cartoons. The gentleman then relayed that he'd been told the exact same thing his first week at Hanna Barbera decades earlier... of course, by Michael Maltese.
Seemingly little things can have a big rippling impact on the world. Or maybe just come around decades later to impact your family.
What a world.
With anyone that successful and that talented, I always wonder - when he was working on the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, did he know that going to work and earning a paycheck making cartoons would impact the world? That his jokes would be repeated continuously worldwide for fifty plus years? That his cartoons would inspire generations of new storytellers and artists?
Seemingly little things can have a big rippling impact on the world.
Now a few months back, I blogged about meeting June Foray at a WGA event, and asking her about Michael Maltese. Afterwards, I wrote it up as a quick blog post and didn't think much of it.
But then I got contacted by Michael Maltese's family. Thanks to his amazingly-awesome granddaughter, Lisa, I got to meet and spend an afternoon with Mr. Maltese's daughter, Brenda, and son-in-law, Dan. They shared so many stories with me, along with a folder filled with Michael Maltese's writings and artwork.
A few tidbits-
-I got to see Michael Maltese's original scripts to two of the comic books he wrote in the 1970s. From Daffy Duck and Road Runner #82, he'd written the stories "The Whole Tooth" and "Coy Decoy." Unfortunately, those Western Publishing comic books never credited the writer, so it was a real thrill to see two stories that were his. His scripts were entirely drawn, and in some cases, his script art was better than the published art.
-Among the items they'd saved were letters from people asking to buy Michael Maltese artwork. At first, I found the letters kind of crass. But then it hit me that the family wouldn't have saved the letters if they felt that way. In that sense, the letters were just another sign of how beloved he was by everyone.
-In 1977, Michael Maltese was a guest-speaker at Cal-Arts. The transcript of his speech and Q&A session was amazing. Not only did it include his thoughts on writing and art, but it included the names of the students who'd asked him questions. A couple kids named Brad Bird and John Musker...
-When Michael Maltese moved out to California from New York, he'd been promised a job at Disney - but when he arrived, there was no job, so he ended up at Warner. Decades later, his daughter was working at Disney. At a work party, Michael Maltese spotted Walt Disney, and confronted him about what had happened decades earlier. Maltese's daughter was mortified, but Walt Disney was very apologetic. It turned out Disney was a fan of Maltese's work.
There were so many stories - I can't do all of them justice. But just getting to hang out with the family was an amazing experience. Thank you so much to Lisa, Brenda, and Dan for their wonderful generosity.
The crazy thing is that I never would have gotten to get this close to one of my heroes if I hadn't blogged about him. A seemingly little thing like blogging led me to meet his family. Which leads me to my favorite story.
When Maltese's grand-daughter started her first week of work at Hanna Barbera, an older gentleman who worked there told her not to worry about her difficult job. No one's going to get hurt. It's only cartoons. The gentleman then relayed that he'd been told the exact same thing his first week at Hanna Barbera decades earlier... of course, by Michael Maltese.
Seemingly little things can have a big rippling impact on the world. Or maybe just come around decades later to impact your family.
What a world.
posted by Eugene at 11:06 PM
1 Comments:
That's awesome!
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