By Alan Ricardo Olivas Torres
We’ve often seen or heard a few famous names that we can immediately link to a show, movie, or cartoon, such as Walt Disney, Michael Bay, or Warner Brothers. However, some artists may have created gems that inspired many people in their childhoods and never got the recognition they truly deserved. Such is the case with Don Bluth, an Irish animator who was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. This name may not sound familiar to many, for he was a hidden gem that worked at Disney during their Bronze Age of Animations (1970-1988). He helped to create many iconic movies, such as Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers, and many more. Keep in mind these are just a few during his Disney years. His repertoire is far more extensive and more diverse than one might think. This article aims to show Don Bluth’s journey in his life. Starting as a young animation fanatic, all the way to becoming a legendary animator and an inspiration many strive to become. And hopefully, this portrait might trigger a spark in many to help them go beyond what they believe they can do, for a goal in life doesn’t have to be the end; it could sometimes mean the start of something bigger.
This article will be split into three sections, each showing a different part of his life. We’ll start with his beginnings in animation, including his years at Disney and some work he did during his time with them. These years were nonsequential – and can be years apart – but we’ll talk about them all as one subject. Then I will discuss his independent years, creating his own company, where he directed and assisted in various artistic mediums and practically went head-to-head against the giant mouse. Then I will close with his current whereabouts thanks to a brief interview with his close friend, former student, the lead administrator of his university, and the vice president of Don Bluth Studios, Lavalle Lee McGuirk. Before we start with his work life, it is important to know about his early life so that we can begin to understand his work and legacy.
Image caption: Don Bluth (Courtesy of Don Bluth, Facebook)
Personal Life and Professional Work at Disney
Donald Virgil Bluth was born in El Paso on September 13, 1937. He grew up in a family of seven children and was exposed to art at a young age. His mother was an artist, and his father was a private investigator. Early in his life, his family had a farm, and after a day of hard work, he would ride his horse to the nearest theater to watch Disney movies. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was the first movie he saw, a funny coincidence since he was the second of seven children. However, it was not this coincidental connection that brought him to admire this movie but rather the animation itself. This was the beginning of his love for the artistic world of animation and his fanatism about Disney. After seeing more animated films, Bluth started to work on his artistic side by drawing all the characters of the movies whenever he could. From memory of the film to copying characters from cartoon magazines, Bluth worked on giving each character a personal touch, developing a style that would stand out. He dreamed of someday giving his characters life by working in a big studio such as Disney, to the point of annoying one of his brothers who heard him speaking of his dreams and goals nonstop, even when it was bedtime. His brother, out of annoyance, called him an idiot and a dreamer, but Bluth only listened to the word “dreamer,” thinking of it as a compliment, “...I liked the dreamer part. God bless the dreamers; without them nothing happens. I think my brother unintentionally paid me a compliment” (donbluth.com).
Bluth continued to develop his skills as an artist and animator throughout his teenage years and eventually attended Brigham Young University in Utah to study fine arts. After the first year into his studies, he brought a portfolio of his work to a Disney studio in Burbank. He was hired shortly after that as an assistant animator and immediately put to work on his first big film, Sleeping Beauty. Thanks to Bluth’s team, the movie was a success in its animation quality. And one might think that after this success, Bluth was ecstatic and ready to go for the next animated film, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In 1957, only two years after Bluth had achieved his childhood dream, he left Disney. And the only reason he had for this was that, in his own words: “I left because I found it kind of boring. I didn’t want to do it.”
However, do not think that this was the end of his career with Disney, for he still worked on more movies with them in the 1970s. During his hiatus from animation, he traveled the world on a mission for the Mormon church in Argentina for two and a half years, finished his degree in college, and started directing plays in his own theater; this last one we will see in greater detail when we talk about his independent work. But even after doing all of these projects, Bluth still felt like animation was his calling; it was just a massive part of his life. Though he was mostly focusing on his theater plays, he still worked in The Sword in The Stone movie as an assistant for Disney.
All this while, he also working for Filmation, another animation company, helping to create The Archies and Sabrina shows. But to Bluth, these kinds of shows were “trashy art” since they were only after money and were not friendly towards a young audience, which was the primary type of public for anything involving animated characters. Bluth decided that if he was going to animate for a living, he better do it right and towards what he felt did justice to his work, so in 1971, he returned to Disney. This time, there was a new training program that he had to go through. This new program was barely an obstacle, for he achieved the rank of animator in only two months; Bluth was the first and fastest of his group to reach this rank. Of course, he was immediately put to work and lent his talent to the films that were already in progress, such as Robin Hood and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, released in 1973 and 1974 respectively. After finalizing those movies, Bluth was promoted to directing animator and put to work on Rescue Rangers, released in 1977. In that same year, after completing that film, he was moved to another department while keeping his title of animation director for the movie Pete’s Dragon. All his excellent work made it possible for him to eventually reach the title of producer-director, in which his first project would be the animated film of The Small One, although it was not a full-length movie and is barely known today. Regardless, this was proof of Bluth’s progress and quick rise in the ranks. His style, directing, and ideas were seen and idolized by many, both in his animation teams and by the public who saw his work.
Despite his quick rise in the company, Bluth still felt like there was a lack of love for his job and the company. In an interview for his biography, he recalled and explained this experience: “It was all much different because Walt was gone. It was a committee running the place. The pictures did not look very good. And I was no longer encumbered with the romantic film over my eyes. I could see a little bit more clearly” (John Cawley, The Animated Films of Don Bluth).
Before we jump to the next stage 
of his life, his independent years, we must see how Bluth left Disney for good, but not empty-handed. On September 20, 1979, Disney lost eleven members from the animation department, who were currently working on The Fox and The Hound film. They resigned to create a rival company. This group’s resignation was led by Don Bluth of course, but not with the malicious intent of hurting the company, but instead due to the disputes about the training practices and artistic control issues that had been brewing for the last few months within Disney. There is an article by The New York Times that covers this story. And within this coverage, both Bluth and the company’s executive vice president, who was Ron Miller at the time, were interviewed and shared their thoughts about the situation. Bluth had this to say: There were too many committee decisions. Everything got done by vote. (…) There is a sincere desire on the part of Disney to perpetuate the art of animation, but the studio wasn’t teaching. On The Small One I was desperately trying to make people come up to the quality we needed. Several others felt as I did, and we decided not to keep making life miserable for the studio.
Image caption: Courtesy of Don Bluth
Meanwhile, Ron Miller only blamed the lack of loyalty and called their resignation “bad timing” because the company still had to finish The Fox and The Hound and would have to delay the release. In the interview for The New York Times, he only had this to say: It’s like getting rid of a thorn. They complain of our training program, but, if it hadn’t been for our training program, Mr. Bluth wouldn’t have had all those trained people to go with him. (…) We develop the finest artists in the field of animation in the world. It’s typical of artists to want to spread their wings.
Bluth’s decision wasn’t towards the mentality of hurting the company by leaving; instead he felt like the team would not be happy if they continued working with Disney, eventually affecting the rest of the units. But this wasn’t the only reason the rest of the animators had for leaving, for most of them were stuck with the title of animator and had no chance to climb the ranks. This was especially true for the female staff, who had been doing the work of assistant animators without the appropriate title or salary and had no opportunity at all to get a promotion. And although some of the staff decided to pursue a career of their own, most chose to follow Don Bluth, helping create his new company, Don Bluth Studios.
Life after Disney, The Independent Years
This animation studio was created thanks to the collaboration of Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. They started from Bluth’s garage, long before leaving Disney, since a full studio was out of their budget, but they made it work. Many thought they were being shrewd by copying Walt Disney since he also started the same way, but it was just coincidental and somewhat ironic. They wanted to revive the classical style of animation Disney used to have with their first feature film Banjo the Woodpile Cat. This film had been in the works since 1973, and since Disney had no desire to approve its production, it was up to Don, Gary and John to give it life. The movie was completed and released in 1979, shortly after leaving Disney. Soon after, they started working on a new feature film, The Secret of NIMH, and a featurette short film, Xanadu; both were released in 1982, hoping to compete against Disney. This idea of competing against such a big company was not to overtake them, but to make them put effort into their work. Bluth knew they had no chance realistically, but if they weren’t seen as competition, there would be no drive to try harder from either studio. Unfortunately, Don Bluth Studios had a short-lived life since NIMH didn’t do as well as they hoped, financially at least. So future projects were quickly out of the question to work on. In the end, Bluth had to file for bankruptcy.
However, just one year later in 1983, our three musketeers – Don, John and Gary –formed the Bluth Group company to work on an idea they had for a film, but this time in a game format: Dragon’s Lair. This game had massive success in arcades and is seen as a hidden gem by various animation and video game fanatics. Shortly after, they released Space Ace, and both titles were sold to multiple arcades throughout the nation. What set these games apart from others was their quick time events. It was more of an interactive animation where you must choose the correct path for the main character so it can reach the goal. One had to avoid, attack, move, jump and more – quickly! We are talking about time frames no longer than two seconds. Was it infuriating and confusing? Yes, but it was exhilarating when one succeeded, for you were able to see the end of these interactive movies. These arcades were doing so well that a sequel was in the works for both of them. However, not many knew of the issues the arcade market had: lower traffic, less income, and eventual massive economic crashes in 1985. This left the newly founded company, Bluth Group, having to file for bankruptcy.
But this still didn’t stop Bluth, for his talent was noticed by Morris Sullivan, a businessman who believed in the importance of the classic animation style. With his help and Bluth’s talent, they formed Sullivan Bluth Studios and almost immediately worked on a film deal with none other than Steven Spielberg himself. With Spielberg, he managed to get a deal for a feature film, An American Tail, and even started a studio in Ireland for Bluth to own and work on any future films. After its debut in 1986, An American Tail became the highest-grossing animated film on release, giving Spielberg and Bluth the thumbs up for their next movie, Land Before Time, which was released in 1987, and it did just as good at the box office. This gave Bluth ease of mind and he worked in Ireland in his new studios, where he was given an agreement with a European company to work on more animated films, the first being All Dogs Go To Heaven, released in 1989. That same year, they started working on their next full-length film, Rock-A-Doodle, released in 1991. Production and creativity felt non-stop for Bluth, for he later released two more films, A Troll in Central Park and Thumbelina, which many believed was strongly influenced by Tinkerbell from Disney’s film, Peter Pan.
Image caption: Courtesy of Don Bluth
While in Ireland, Bluth still helped animate and direct most of the movies, for he wanted to set an example of leadership. But he didn’t want to always stay in his studio, for he also had a theater back in America, where many famous plays had begun their run before Broadway. Two of the most famous plays he directed and helped to produce were The Sound of Music and The Music Man. Many sources are relatively brief when it comes to Bluth on a theater production, for it was short, outside his expertise, and not really a subject he talks or remembers much about. But it’s important to talk about how many things this man worked on throughout his life; it’s like his creativity just would not allow him to stay still. But before we conclude this article, we still are missing one thing that needs to be talked about: his current whereabouts. This man has not stopped working, even after the COVID pandemic.
Bluth’s University and Lavalle Lee McGuirk
Don Bluth currently has a university in Arizona where he educates everyone in the traditional style of animation. Although limited in capacity, this experience is unique since Bluth teaches everyone in person. He does not accept digital drawing methods because he wants everyone to learn the true essence of animating. Even through the pandemic, he educated everyone, virtually of course, since he did not want to risk his health due to his advanced age. After so many years, Bluth launched the new Don Bluth Studios in 2020, with this university in mind as its main project to educate and create a new generation of artists who will help with the renaissance of hand-drawn animation, for he wanted this craft to be remembered even after he is gone.
And in this university you can talk to his first student, a close friend and vice president of the newly founded studios: Lavalle Lee McGuirk. Lee was kind enough to conduct a brief informal interview where he talked about his experience as a fan and student of Don’t Bluth, which he permitted me to mention in this article.
Lee met Don Bluth during an Indiegogo campaign in 2016 to remake Dragon’s Lair for new-generation systems. Lee wanted to give these games he grew up with the love they deserved by bringing them to high definition and new-era quality. Bluth caught wind of the campaign and personally helped Lee with the development of the game. During the campaign, Lee became a student of Bluth, and with time they started working together on future projects. They worked together, still producing plays in Bluth’s theater, which is open to the public once again, and even mentioned that Bluth’s theater was used to create other works, such as Wizard of Oz. Although not shown in the theater, the musical aspect of it was worked within the walls of his theater.
Helping Bluth create his university and with various other administrative roles within it, Lee mentioned that most students that have attended and graduated ended up working for big animation studios such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and good old Disney. Many students were fans that just wanted to work closely with Bluth, but ended up realizing this experience was much more than that, it was witnessing a legacy being passed down to future generations.
Due to lack of time, Lee also summarized his experience with Bluth as a laidback experience, for they knew rushed work was always messy and unprofessional. “It was like growing up with a friend, in a world of our own,” he said.
Image caption: Courtesy of Don Bluth
Conclusion
We have talked about Bluth’s life, how he went from being a fanatic with a dream, all the way to making it come true just to realize he could do far more. His independent journey was quite the experience with two failed studios, but he still pushed on until he made it big in the industry. And his current whereabouts, where he is educating a future generation of traditional artists to continue the legacy that he loves so much. This man has fallen and risen repeatedly, all for the love of his craft. His journey is nothing but a message I hope you, dear reader, take to heart. That it is okay to have a dream or a goal in life. We all have one at some point. But don’t let that be your end goal, because when you reach that dream, what’s to stop you from going beyond it? Don’t settle forever. Instead, become a dream for others to reach, for in the words of Bluth: “God bless the dreamers; because without them nothing happens.”
