Few people are fortunate enough to work for the same company for 70 years. When one works for a company for that long, to say they’ve achieved legendary status is an understatement. Burny Mattinson was employed by the Walt Disney Company for 70 years and throughout that tenure he juggled all kinds of jobs.
Mattinson was inspired to go into animation having been entranced by the craft when he saw Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) as a young boy. When he was old enough to start applying for jobs, he went to the Disney Studios with a portfolio the first chance he got in 1953. At the time, there were no openings in the animation department, but his portfolio managed to impress the then head of personnel, Ken Seiling, and he was fortunate to be given a job in the studio’s mail room as a “traffic boy.”
After working as a “traffic boy” for six months, his first feature job was as an Inbetweener (an artist who sees that every frame of the film is connected together) on Lady and the Tramp (1955). He did character animation on Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword and the Stone (1963) and again worked as an Inbetweener on 101 Dalmatians (1961) and Mary Poppins (1964). Unfortunately, he did not receive screen credit until a few years later, working as an animator on The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970), as well as the first two “Winnie the Pooh” shorts: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) and the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968).
In addition to his “feature” contributions, Mattinson also served as an assistant animator to Eric Larson, a member of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” helping to animate Professor Ludwig Von Drake for the Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1961-1969). Mattinson’s talent also caught the attention of Frank Thomas, another “Nine Old Men,” who suggested he design the opening title sequence for The Rescuers (1977).
By the time the 80’s rolled around, Mattinson listened to a “Disneyland” Album released in 1974 entitled An Adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Performed by the Walt Disney Players. He began to toy with the idea of adapting the album as a short film, Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1982) and pitched idea to the then Disney CEO, Disney’s son-in-law Ron Miller. Miller initially balked at the idea, but later relented when he heard what it meant to make the project to Mattinson and he even agreed to let Mattinson make his directorial debut in the project. The short film was a success and earned Mattinson a Best Short Film, Animated Oscar Nomination. He was later re-hired as a Director on The Great Mouse Detective (1986).
In the 90’s, Mattinson continued to work as a Story Artist on films produced throughout the Disney Renaissance period: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995). He was awarded the Disney Legend Award in 2008, and was hired yet again as a Story Artist on Winnie the Pooh (2011), Big Hero 6 (2014), Zootopia (2016), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the middle two of which both won Best Animated Feature Oscars. (“Ralph,” was also nominated). Mattinson’s last credit at Disney was a Story Artist for Strange World (2022) before he passed away at the age of 87 on February 27th, 2023. There will be a dedication to him in Disney’s upcoming animated feature Wish (2023) due for release in November of this year.
Burny Mattinson was beyond lucky to work for Disney for the past seven decades. Not long before “Winnie the Pooh” was released he pitched an idea for a feature-length film with Mickey Mouse as the main protagonist which unfortunately never surfaced. While that project never saw daylight, all the film projects Mattinson contributed to established Mattinson was an exceptional artist who never stopped doing what he loved. He was an inspiration to us all.
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