Disney's Two Walts

Category: Thank You Ads Thank You Ads
Published: 01 November 2016 01 November 2016

By Barbara Jorgen Nance

I've been blessed with several mentors in my cartoonist career. At the top of the list, wearing a star-studded crown that reaches to the moon is Walt Stanchfield of Disney fame. If you were to Google Walt Stanchfield, you'd read about the two Walts that made Disney famous. Walt Disney and Walt Stanchfield, whose career goes back to the earliest of animated films.

Walt and I didn't meet until both of us left Los Angeles and moved up the coast to the Santa Ynez Valley. Walt beat me to it. Sherwood and I lived on the coast a few years before moving over the hill to Santa Ynez. I had already been working for Animated Cartoon Productions in Santa Barbara on educational health films. At the time I was also an apprentice to Bill Ziegler of Mary Worth comic strip. After moving over the hill to Santa Ynez, I started working with Alice Entertainment (International). I just loved Alice from our first meeting. She had purple hair and I was always tempted to dye my hair purple, but didn't. Would I have felt different about being a cartoonist if I had purple hair? Then I met Walt Stanchfield and he was mostly bald and I don't think purple hair would have impressed him. Walt Stanchfield and I were both fine artists as well as cartoonists. We had gallery shows together all through the 1990s. We became great fiends and spent a lot of time together, along with Walt's wife Dee and my husband Sherwood.

Walt's whimsy was contagious, even to my husband Sherwood. Walt and I were having one of many show openings at the Gallery Los Olivos. Our theme was all Ocean Art. Sherwood walked in with a bowl of live goldfish. He set the bowl down in the middle of our reception table and announced, GǣThe live entertainment has arrived!Gǥ The cameramen were there from Disney and we all had a memorable time.

Nowadays, my cartooning carries on right here on Grant County Beat and beyond. Most of my art has a whimsical take to it. I can't help myself. I just want to pass along a feel-good smile that reminds me of Walt. Quote from Walt: GǣYou must create! The injunction of life is to create or perish. Good physical and mental conditioning is necessary to do this. Remember this: The creative energy that created the universe, created you and its creative power is in you, motivating you always in the direction of creative expression.Gǥ

Walt's formula: GǣImpression minus expression equals depression. Our impressions cry out to be expressed on paper, canvas, in music, in poetry and animated film of course.Gǥ The list is infinite, like your imagination. Ponder on.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.