I&PG- 066, The Colorful #Herstory of Bianca Majolie

Welcome to the Ink and Paint Girls podcast where we celebrate women working in animation and explore representation behind the scenes and on the screen.

In an era where women mostly worked in the Ink and Paint Department, a young woman named Bianca Majolie was hired to (as one news outlet reported) invade "the strictly masculine stronghold" of the story department at Disney Animation. She was the first recorded woman to work as a storyboard and concept artist for the company. Her most remembered accomplishment was creating the Silly Symphony cartoon, Elmer Elephant, as well as was a source of inspiration for animators like Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston who sited her philosophies on pathos for how the studio's storytelling style eventually evolved. A lesson that the gag-driven storytellers in the room weren't ready for at the time!

Hosted by Rebecca Nelson and Cassie Soliday.
Additional research by Samantha Conroy @anim_heroine

-----

The episode artwork of Bianca Majolie was drawn and painted by the wonderful Madi Hodges. Check her work out at http://madidrawsthings.tumblr.com and https://www.instagram.com/madidrawsthings !

-----

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RESOURCES USED

Library Collections:

NYU Fales Library
John Canemaker Animation Collection
http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/cane/

Books:

Canemaker, John (1996). Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists. Hyperion Books.

Ghez, Didier (2015). They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age. Chronicle Books. 

Johnson, Mindy; Foray, June (2017). Ink & paint : the women of Walt Disney's animation. Disney Editions.

Websites:

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-silly-symphony-woodland-cafe-1937/

https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/worth-much-man-cracking-celluloid-ceiling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianca_Majolie

https://www.californiawatercolor.com/pages/carl-westdahl-heilborn-biography