The Christmas parties were orgies of drinking and singing and groping and pawing. Cartoon staffers invested their own money in preparatory liquor.

I learned long ago to accept the fact that not everything I create will see the light of day.

Los Angeles was an impression of failure, of disappointment, of despair, and of oddly makeshift lives. This is California? I thought.

Not once in six years did I make it to the office by 9 on the dot.

My last days at MGM were like the fall of the Roman Empire in fast motion.

When animators weren't sleeping, they were drinking.

Among the great glories of the MGM lot were the vast outdoor sets that had been constructed over the years.