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  • 2 days ago
Animator. Storyman. Troublemaker. At 80 years old, see how Disney Legend Floyd Norman, the first African-American animator at Disney, continues to impact animation and stir up "trouble" after the company forced him to retire at age 65.
Transcript
00:02Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare...
00:05People have often asked me,
00:06how did it feel about being the first African-American at Disney?
00:09Well, I wasn't even aware that I was an African-American.
00:12I was another artist looking for a job.
00:15There's always rumors of black people in Disney.
00:18It's always like, no, I think there is one.
00:21I was told as a kid, you know,
00:23hey kid, you can't get a job at the Disney studio, you know?
00:25They don't hire blacks.
00:27I don't know, people just assume that.
00:28And because I want to do it, I just went there and applied for a job, and I got it.
00:32And when they told me I'm going to be working on the Jungle Book,
00:34I thought, how am I going to do this?
00:36Now he's upstairs with Walt Disney,
00:37and they're asking him to do the hardest thing of all,
00:40which is be funny.
00:41Come on, Floyd, be funny.
00:42But Floyd made it possible for others to say,
00:45well, if he can do it, I can do it.
00:46Now there's enough of us for us to be mad at each other.
00:49Hey, there you go.
00:50There's a black guy that I don't like.
00:52I've been an animator, layout artist, storyboard artist, writer.
00:56There's no one who had worked with Walt Disney
00:59and then gone to publications and then ended up at Pixar.
01:04Every time there's a great moment in animation,
01:06look around, there's Floyd Norman.
01:07He's like the Forrest Gump of animation.
01:09The kid's good, and he's only 79 years old.
01:13He's a very introverted, very humble-on-the-outside guy,
01:16but the truth is he's iconoclastic and he's a troublemaker.
01:19I remember on Mulan he'd put out a book directed at the money-grubbing aspect of our industry.
01:25And some people got very upset by them.
01:27That guy's a bad guy.
01:29He's a troublemaker.
01:30Don't hire him.
01:32Hi there!
01:33Floyd says to us all, we could do better.
01:37That's part of what makes him a legend.
01:38Disney has been a part of his life forever.
01:41And when he turned 65, Disney told him, you're out of here.
01:44I've never seen him more devastated in his life.
01:47He was in his prime.
01:49They should not have let him go.
01:51Perfect.
01:52We're talking about race has been an issue.
01:53Now ageism is a real big issue.
01:56He told me when I was a little kid, I would never retire.
01:58He's the biggest kid I know.
01:59He loves the studio.
02:00That's what has kept him young.
02:02If you love that and that's your life, you're not going to be stopped.
02:05The old guys have been beaten down.
02:07So they needed somebody that's maybe retired who can go in and raise help.
02:11Well, if you could press me wide, all the past you've left behind.
02:18You could watch the life you live, one frame at a time.
02:28That might not even show up because I'm a retiree, so...
02:32There we go.
02:32Let's go.
02:32I'll see you later on.
02:32Touch me.
02:32Let's go.
02:33Tip the lamp.
02:33But you're in a window.
02:33How did you answer that?
02:33How did we see you later?
02:34You're looking for this.
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