110 Year Old Disney Legend, Ruthie Thompson, Shares Her Memories
Photo: Ruthie Thompson [Photo: Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images
Disney Animator, Ruthie Thompson, will have her 110th birthday on July 22nd. She recently joined a small, Cleveland based web series called Not-So Small World to reminisce about her work and life.
In her interview, Thompson talks about moving to Oakland, California in 1918. At the time another health pandemic was causing panic nationwide. But, according to Thompson, living through the 1918 pandemic has not made the 2020 pandemic any easier. She misses baseball.
Photo Source: Animator’s Magazine
Thompson started her career as an occasional child actor for some of Walt Disney’s earliest projects. She later joined the company’s ink and paint department. During the interview she talks about meeting Walt Disney after visiting his makeshift studio in his uncle’s garage. Thompson was one of the first two women invited into the Hollywood Camera Union. However, one of the most touching moments occurs as Ruthie recounts seeing a test screening of 1941’s Dumbo with the song “Baby Mine” for the first time. (animationmagazine.com)
Thompson recounts: “They showed the section where the Mama Elephant is in jail, and Dumbo can’t find his way around, and nobody’s paying attention to him. He was so sad, and he went to visit his mother, and she sang a lullaby to him … And there was this song, and the song was so beautiful that I came out of the theater whistling the tune. At the same time, Walt was coming back into the studio and into the animation building from lunch. And he said, “Did you like that tune?” And I said, “It’s beautiful.” He said, “We’ll keep it.” (animationmagazine.com)
Watch the full interview here.
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