Harman-Ising Employees, Late 1937/Early 1938

[Author’s note: this blog will profile a few of the Harman-Ising employees listed on the roster below in future posts.]

Following the 1933 Harman-Ising payroll records, we jump forward to 1937, during the arduous period when Hugh and Rudy’s distributor, MGM, terminated its contract with their studio in February after a three-year arrangement.

Here is a handwritten employee sheet, dated approximately September 1937, when the studio closed after a legal dispute with Metro over cartoons that had yet to be delivered. Meanwhile, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was in an urgent rush to meet its December premiere, so Walt borrowed all thirty of Harman-Ising’s inkers and painters, along with background artists Don Schaffer and Art Riley. In return, Disney outsourced a Silly Symphony, Merbabies, to Harman and Ising, keeping them financially afloat. 

 

 

An annotated guide listing the artists on the sheet, including the top margins of the first page. (The "IB" signifies an in-betweener, and the "A" close to Anthony "Tony" Pabian's name implies an assistant animator, but the "C" label next to Bill Tracy and Sandy Walker's names puzzles me.)

Story Department
Jonathan “Mo” Caldwell
Jack Cosgriff
Charles McGirl
Jerry Brewer

Music
Scott Bradley
Barbara Wirth [exposure sheets]
Clarence Wheeler

Backgrounds
Don Schaffer [loaned by Disney until November 1, 1937]
Art Riley [loaned by Disney until November 1, 1937]
Bob Gentle

Layout
John Niendorff
Don Smith
Maurice “Jake” Day
Lee Blair [color stylist]
Martin Provensen

Animation
Jim Pabian

Mel Shaw
Carl Urbano
Pete Burness
Rollin Hamilton
Tom McKimson
Lee Blair
Manuel Moreno
Tony Pabian

Frank Tipper
Merle Gilson
George Grandpre
Paul Murphy
Dick Marion
Thomas Byrne

 

Assistant Animators

Casey Onaitis
Mike Lah
William Smith
Al Coe
Francis Smith
Bill Tracy
Sandy Walker
Edwin Fourcher
Ernest Lynch

In-Between Dept.
Jack Miller
Thurston Harper
Al Pabian
Dick Kinney
Thomas Barnes
George Miller
Pepe Ruiz
Tom Armstrong
Frank Scheidenberger
Al Bertino
Alden Bicheno
Bill Tracy
Sandy Walker

Camera
Herman F. Ising
Max Ising
Paul Sprunck [effects]

 

Misc.
Walter Elliott [sound technician]
L. R. Weckerly [office accountant]
H. McLemore [secretary]
Lenore Cady [office]
Gwendolyn Wells
Harry Binder [maintenance]
James Cook [photography]
Howard Hanson
Jerry Baldwin 

A. H. Pickett 

F. S. Patterson

 

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Here is a Harman-Ising employees' contract list, which also lists staffers not under contract "to whom notices were sent on 9-30-37." 

 

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Harman-Ising’s business manager, Gordon Wilson, issued this notice to the animation department. The two columns are divided between animator and assistant animator. Note that animators Frank Tipper, Merle Gilson, George Grandpre, Paul Murphy, Dick Marion, Thomas Byrne are not present in the document, indicating that they were laid off from H-I. Surviving studio production papers imply that Frank, Merle, and George quickly found jobs at Walter Lantz.

Thanks to Mark Kausler for lending the production materials for this post.