PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Norm Ferguson
Norm Ferguson
	Ferguson in 1942
Born	William Norman Ferguson; September 2, 1902; Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	November 4, 1957 (aged 55); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Animator
Employer(s)	Fables Pictures Inc. (1923–1929); Walt Disney Animation Studios (1929–1953)
Spouse	Gladys F. (m. 1924)
Children	1

William Norman Ferguson (September 2, 1902 – November 4, 1957) was an American animator for Walt Disney Studios and a central contributor to the studio's stylistic development in the 1930s. He is most frequently noted for his contribution to the creation of Pluto, one of the studio's best-known and most enduring characters, and is the artist most closely associated with that character. He is also credited for developing Peg-Leg Pete and the Big Bad Wolf.^[1] Ferguson, known at the studio as "Norm" or "Fergy", was the primary animator of the witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first in a long line of great Disney feature villains. He was also a sequence director on the film.

Career

After starting at the studio in 1929 as a cameraman, Ferguson switched to the animation department and rose rapidly, despite a lack of formal art training. His early animation of the dog who would become Pluto drew strong response at the studio and on-screen for giving the character a personality and apparent inner life that was considered a great step forward for the young art form of animation. Animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston paid extensive tribute to Ferguson's work in their 1981 book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, calling his famous "flypaper sequence" from the 1934 short Playful Pluto- in which the dog is stuck to a piece of flypaper- a "milestone in personality animation...through it all, his reaction to his predicament and his thoughts of what to try next are shared with the audience. It was the first time a character seemed to be thinking on the screen, and, though it lasted only 65 seconds, it opened the way for animation of real characters with real problems."

He is remembered for having worked "rough" and "loose", in animation terms, with a focus on feeling, action, and the character's personality rather than detail, structure, or formal draftsmanship. Fellow animator Fred Moore is quoted as having said of Ferguson, "He doesn't know that you can't raise the eyebrows above the head circle, so he goes ahead and does it and it gives a great effect." Animator Shamus Culhane remembered Ferguson as having produced a high volume of work- about 18 feet a week as opposed to the more average ten at the Disney Studios at the time. (A "foot" of animation- a measurement based on film footage- is sixteen frames).

Norm Ferguson served as a sequence director or directing animator on many of the classic Walt Disney features films from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 through the 1950s, including Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland.

Ferguson, who later in life suffered from diabetes, left the Disney Studios with his health and career in decline in about 1953. Immediately after a brief, unsuccessful stint with Shamus Culhane Productions, described by Culhane in his 1986 book Talking Animals And Other People, Ferguson died as a result of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California in 1957.^[2]

Ferguson posthumously received the industry's Winsor McCay Award in 1987 and was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend by the studio in 1999, along with fellow animator Hamilton Luske (also posthumous), among others. The two men are the subjects of chapter five in Thomas and Johnston's Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, titled "Cartoon Comes of Age: Norm Ferguson and Ham Luske."

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	supervising animator
1940	Pinocchio	supervising animator and sequence director	"J. Worthington Foulfellow" and "Gideon"
1940	Fantasia	supervising animator and director	"Dance of the Hours" segment
1941	The Reluctant Dragon	Himself
1941	Dumbo	directing animator and sequence director
1942	Bambi	supervising animator
1942	Saludos Amigos	supervising animator and supervising director	Pedro, El Gaucho Goofy, Aquarela do Brasil
1944	The Three Caballeros	Director and production supervisor
1950	Cinderella	directing animator
1951	Alice in Wonderland
1953	Peter Pan

Short films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1926	School Days	Animator
1927	Horses, Horses, Horses
1929	Mickey's Choo-Choo
1930	Cannibal Capers
	Frolicking Fish
	The Gorilla Mystery
	Arctic Antics
	Midnight in a Toy Shop
	Night
	The Chain Gang
	Pioneer Days
	The Fire Fighters
	Monkey Melodies
	The Picnic
	Winter
	Playful Pan
1931	Traffic Troubles
	The Birthday Party
	Mother Goose Melodies
	Blue Rhythm
	The Castaway
	Birds of a Feather
	The Moose Hunt
	The Delivery Boy
	The Beach Party
	Mickey Cuts Up
	Mickey's Orphans
	The Barnyard Broadcast
1932	The Whoopee Party
	Trader Mickey
	The Duck Hunt
	Flowers and Trees
	The Mad Dog
	Babes in the Woods
	Mickey's Nightmare
	King Neptune
	Bugs in Love
	The Klondike Kid
	Santa's Workshop
	Mickey's Good Deed
1933	Puppy Love
	Mickey's Pal Pluto
	Birds in the Spring
	The Pet Store
	Ye Olden Days
	Father Noah's Ark
	Three Little Pigs
	Old King Cole
1934	Shanghaied
	The Big Bad Wolf
	Playful Pluto
	Gulliver Mickey
	Orphan's Benefit
	Mickey's Steam Roller
1935	Who Killed Cock Robin?
	The Golden Touch
	Pluto's Judgement Day
	On Ice
1936	Mother Pluto
	Moving Day
	Alpine Climbers
	Mickey's Polo Team
	Mickey's Grand Opera
	Donald and Pluto
	Three Little Wolves
	Mickey's Elephant
1937	Pluto's Quin-puplets
1937	Moose Hunters
1938	The Fox Hunt
1939	The Practical Pig
	The Pointer
	Beach Picnic
	Society Dog Show
	Officer Duck
1940	Bone Trouble
1941	Pluto's Playmate	Animator and director
1951	Plutopia	Animator
	R'coon Dawg
	Cold Turkey
1952	Pluto's Party
1953	The Simple Things
1954	Social Lion
1958	To Itch His Own		Released posthumously

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Disneyland	Animator	Episode: Where Do the Stories Come From?

References

^ Steve Watts, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, University of Missouri Press, pg. 132
^ Michael Barrier interviews Corny Cole Archived 2016-08-24 at the Wayback Machine