Interviews

1. Dream of Being an Artist

2. Loss When Leaving for Manzanar

3. Camouflage Net Weaving in Manzanar

4. Developing Art Skills in Camp

5. Return to Los Angeles

6. First Portfolio & Disney Interview

7. Interactions with Walt Disney

8. Moving to Hanna-Barbera after 15 Years at Disney

9. Disney vs. Hanna-Barbera

10. Development of Scooby Doo TV show

11. Designing Scooby Doo’s Character

Takamoto,Iwao

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

Dream of Being an Artist

I was so serious about the true craft of being an artist or a draftsman, painter, that I think I was a half-dreamer and loved to tell stories. One way of expressing that, since I tended to be somewhat shy like so many Nisei were, especially in a mixed group to be able to verbally express stories, it was a heck of a lot easier to be by yourself in your own room and draw the thing. So that was where any kind of art activity took place more than anything else it was generated by a desire to tell stories.

Date: August 6, 1998

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Janice Tanaka

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Iwao Takamoto (April 29, 1925 – January 8, 2007) was a legendary animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera, most famously designing Scooby Doo in the late sixties. Incarcerated at Manzanar after graduating high school, Iwao leveraged his art skills into a job at Disney upon returning to Los Angeles, working on classic animated films like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. He would go on to mentor other Japanese American animators such as Willie Ito, who worked with him on Lady and the Tramp. After leaving Disney for Hanna-Barbera in 1962, Iwao continued animating, as well as producing and directing films like Charlotte's Web (1973) until his retirement. (June 2021)