Gus & Jaq (WCP2-06)
Riley A. Thomson was an artist of the "second generation" of great Disney artists, along with Manuel Gonzales and Jack Bradbury. He began his career in 1935 working as an animator for Warner Brothers in Friz Freleng and Tex Avery's unit. Thomson left in 1938 to join the Walt Disney Studios, where he worked on several of their animated shorts, among them the Mickey Mouse cartoons 'Brave Little Tailor' (1938), 'Mickey's Surprise Party' (1939) and 'Mickey's Birthday Party' (1942), the Donald Duck short 'Officer Duck' (1939) and the Silly Symphony 'The Ugly Duckling' (1939). He worked on the animated feature 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937) and the iconic 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' segment in 'Fantasia' (1940). From the early 1950s on, he began drawing comics with Disney characters for Western Publishing.
After about 30 stories with the 'Duck' characters, Thomson took over the 'Brer Rabbit' Sunday page from Dick Moores in late 1950, which he continued until 1959. He also briefly drew the 'Mickey Mouse' daily strip. Between 1957 and 1959 he returned to animation, but worked in Walter Lantz' studio, animating on the 'Woody Woodpecker' series. Riley Thomson (also known as Riley Thompson) died in 1960.
