Check Out Thomas Sito’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Sito.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in Brooklyn NY (before it was hip), the son of a fireman. In school, I became an artist when I noticed the class artist didn’t get beat up as much. Originally I thought I’d want to make newspaper comic strips, but when a teacher showed me how to make animated films I fell in love! Later I found you could make a living drawing them, but you should move to LA because that is where the business was. After getting my start in NY, and Toronto I moved to LA in 1977. At LAX at midnight waiting for the FlyAway Bus to the Valley, my first encounter with a local was a big biker who kept asking me to say “coffee” in my Noo Yawk brogue. The LA cartoon community took me into their family. I worked for most of the big studios here. Here I am, this kid from Flatbush hanging out with Chuck Jones, Roy Disney, and Steven Spielberg. I was fortunate that I began my career when many animators of Hollywood’s Golden Age were retiring. I got to assist Grim Natwick, the Max Fleischer artist who designed Betty Boop. And Marc Davis, who created Maleficent and Cruella DeVil. They imbued in me a love of the legacy of Hollywood and Hollywood animation. That I was now part of that history. I was president of the Animation Guild Local# 839 and on the Board of Governors of the Motion Picture Academy. I now teach animators of the future at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the oldest film school in the world. I joined Hollywood Heritage, The LA Conservancy and have been a technical advisor on the Academy Museum of the Motion Picture.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There were the usual challenges for a new transplant. I had to learn how to drive. How to say Cahuenga Blvd. How not to freak out over every tremor under 5.0 on the Richter Scale. How to order fries “animal style”. I recall reading in the biographies of famous Hollywood stars like Henry Fonda and Harpo Marx the same comment.” I came out from the East expecting to stay a few months then go back. Forty-eight years later, I am still here!” Well, Now I have lived here over forty years, and can’t see living anywhere else. I feel part of the grand tradition that began when Cecil B. DeMille came out from the East went rented a barn to make a movie in 1914.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As an animator, I worked at Hanna-Barbera on Scooby Doo, Filmation on He-Man and She-Ra. I am known primarily as a Walt Disney animator. I drew animation for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King and Pocahontas. I helped set up Dreamworks and worked on The Prince of Egypt and Shrek. I am also known as a historian of my craft. I have published several books on animation history, including Drawing The Line: The untold story of animation unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson., Moving Innovation, a History of Computer Animation. and Eat, Drink, Animate, an Animators Cookbook.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Los Angeles has a proud history or movie-making that is renowned throughout the world. I wish we did more to preserve it for the future. Cities like New York and London are full of statues and plaques to show visitors where famous things happened. Here in LA, there is little to help you. You need to find out on your own. It took me some time to learn that Buster Keaton once lived in my neighborhood, or Gumby was created at my school. People come from around the world and wander the streets of Hollywood look for that Hollywood magic. When I go to London, Britons show me the London of Sherlock Holmes and Westminster. When I go to Rome I see the city of the Caesars and Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. We owe it to our visitors to show them the Hollywood they dream of. And not just at the major tourist centers, but all over the city. Where Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart had horse farms in the Valley, Where Amelia Earhart flew out from in Glendale, Where Errol Flynn as Robin Hood rode to the rescue of Maid Marion in Chico. The little warehouse in Van Nuys where Star Wars was begun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sito
• Other: Amazon.com Tom Sito

Image Credits
Headshot Image by Ramiro Cazeux, USC School of Cinema Black and white Desk shot 1990, Walt Disney publicity Filmation 1982 and Hanna-Barbera clo TheArchive of The Animation Guild Local 839, IATSE.