Not really, yeah no. Animation didn't exist that much. They didn't have an..animation classes, you know? They had at nighttime I took night classes with Don Graham who, he used to teach. In fact uh animation had hit in Disney, at Disney at uh to all the animators, key animators, that they would continue their education with Don Graham because Don was one of the best teachers that I ever met. Best, best in America anyway, you know. And, uh, he um he was doing this work for Disney and he said Jimmy why don't you get into animation. He was always saying animation is a good field. I said, "Aw geez. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and all that kind of..." And he says, "No no there's a new movement. Called UPA, you know, and they are breakaways from Disney and when there was this Communist hunt and uh strikes, you know, on Disney. And so a bunch people went and started UPA Pictures. They did these wonderful classic stuff. So I found out what we were doing and I took an interest in that right away, you know.
Date: June 29, 2012
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Chris Komai, John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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