Dick Huemer

While as an artist-illustrator living in The Bronx, New York, Huemer first began his career in animation at the Raoul Barré cartoon studio in 1916. He joined the Fleischer Studio in 1923 where he developed the Koko the Clown character. Later he moved to Hollywood and worked as an animator and director for the Charles Mintz studio. He subsequently moved to the Disney Studio, where he remained for the duration of his career, except for a 3-year hiatus from 1948-51 when he pioneered animated TV commercials and created the The Adventures of Buck O'Rue comic strip. Some of Huemer's most creative work was done in partnership with Joe Grant; examples include Fantasia (story director), Dumbo (screenplay), and several propaganda films to advance the U.S. war effort during World War II. Atypically, Huemer and Grant submitted Dumbo to Walt Disney not as a completed storyboard, but as a series of storyboard "chapters," each ending in a cliffhanger. This was intended to pique Disney's enthusiasm for the project, and it worked. Dick was at the Disney organization from April 16, 1933 to February 28, 1973.