Hamilton Luske

Born: Hamilton Somers Luske
Birthday: October 16, 1903
Location: Chicago, IL, U.S.
Alma mater: University of California – Berkeley
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1931-1967
Died: February 18, 1968

Ham Luske began his working life as a newspaper cartoonist in Oakland. With no formal art schooling, Luske was hired by Walt Disney Animation in 1931. His early projects included “Silly Symphonies” and “Mickey Mouse” shorts. Ham’s first major assignment was as the supervising animator of Snow White herself in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” He was assigned to make Snow White a more believable human and more realistic than any previous Disney character.

Because of Ham’s success with Snow White, he was assigned to co-direct “Pinocchio” as a supervising director alongside Ben Sharpsteen. He co-directed “The Pastoral Symphony” segment of “Fantasia.” Luske also served as the supervising director for the animated segments of “The Reluctant Dragon.”

Ham co-directed the films “Saludos Amigos,” “Make Mine Music,” “Fun and Fancy Free,” “Melody Time,” “So Dear to My Heart,” “Cinderella,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan,” “Lady and the Tramp,” and “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” He also directed an animated sequence for “Mary Poppins” which earned an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1964.

Directing the animated short “Scrooge McDuck and Money” in 1967 was Luske’s last major Disney role. The film was the animated debut of Scrooge.
Luske was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1999.

The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.