“I was born in New York under the signs of prohibition and Tammany Hall. The urge to draw substituting the proverbial spoon in the infant's mouth, I decided to be a bleck shipp. After studying life drawings at the Academy and various other social clubs. got tired of looking at contours and drifted into commercial business. The lure of the flickering funnies was irresistible so I entered the animation business with Mutt and Jeff. Then worked with Oswald the Rabbit, until Mickey asked me over to his studio.” -TP (June 20, 1931 edition of The Motion Picture Daily)