THECARTOONCOLLEAGUES

Nothing much is known about Carl Barks' years as an employee at the Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1942. At the time he was not a particularly outstanding employee, and when he became famous several decades later, people tended to ask him questions about his comic book work instead. At any rate, by that time, Barks would have had trouble reminiscing that far back in time.
Undoubtedly, Barks met most - if not all - of the company's cartoon artists and writers from time to time. They all worked at Disney's Hyperion Avenue studios (see more HERE). Barks was situated in Annex #3 and worked with some of them in the same room, and at other times they met for conferences discussing upcoming or current film ideas, or they had storyboard meetings where new ideas were brainstormed or shown as sketches pinned up on large boards.
Making cartoons is a team effort, and Barks was seen as a good colleague who was quick to get ideas and jot them down on paper, and he was well liked by his colleagues. A simple proof of this are the numerous caricatures they made of him, some of which can be seen HERE.

If you want more information, in general or in detail, on Barks' studio years this website has several pages to chose from - The Cartoons and The Animation Years are examples. Also, you can see a selection of Barks' colleagues during his comic book years HERE.

Below is an alphabetical listing of a few of Barks' colleagues from his years of animation and scripting with emphasis on those that were periodically working with him (you can see many of them HERE in a special staff photo from 1932).

Homer Brightman (1901-1988)
Very versatile storyman for Disney from 1935 (Saludos Amigos, Three Caballeros, Cinderella and many Donald Duck shorts and newspaper strips). Also worked for Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker) and MGM (Tom & Jerry).

Leslie 'Les' James Clark (1907-1979)
Started at Disney in 1927 and stayed until his retirement in 1975. Worked as animator and director on most of Disney's feature films from Snow White (1937) to 101 Dalmatians (1961). Known as the first of the so-called Disney's Nine Old Men.

Charles 'Chuck' Couch (1909-1987)
Worked as animator, storyman, and so-called story developer. Worked uncredited with story director Barks on Self Control and Donald's Better Self. He later went on to dedicate his time to Disney's TV productions.

Otto Englander (1906-1969)
An immigrant, born Liska, to the USA in the late 1920s from the former Yugoslavia. Storyman on many feature films such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. Worked for MGM from 1942.

William Norman 'Norm' (and 'Fergie') Ferguson (1902-1957)
Started at Disney as a cameraman in 1929, but soon switched to animation. He was sequence director or directing animator on many feature films such as Snow White, Fantasia, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. He is perhaps best known for his shorts featuring Pluto.

Nicholas 'Nick' George (1910-1977)
Started at Disney as an in-betweener in 1931. Animator from 1931 to 1938. Storyman on both Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse shorts from 1938 to 1942 and (after military service) from 1945 to 1953. Worked for Western Publishing from the 1950s to 1970.

John 'Jack' Frederick Hannah (1913-1994)
Joined Disney from 1933 to 1959. Grew tired of being an in-betweener and animator and in 1938 got into the script department where Barks already worked. Hannah did not know much about storytelling but he was a whiz on cartooning thus the two men quickly became colleagues. In 1958 Hannah became a director on more than 75 shorts after King's death. Worked for Western Publishing from 1943 to 1947. Directed 14 Disneyland TV shows from 1954 to 1959.

Earl Hurd (1880-1940)
One of the pioneers in animation and patented inventor of cel animation. Worked as animator on the cartoons Dance of the Hours and Elmer Elephant as well as the feature film Snow White.

Kenneth 'Ken' Vernon Hultgren (1915-1968)
Started at Disney in 1936. Animator from 1936 to 1944 (and again from 1955 to 1957) on Snow White, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, and many other feature films. Also drew comic book artwork for Western Publishing from 1942 to 1944.

James 'Jack' Patton King (1895-1958)
Started at Disney in 1929. Animator and director for feature films such as Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Saludos Amigos. Directed Donald Duck shorts until his death when Hannah took over.

John Ryan 'Jack' Kinney (1909-1992)
Started at Disney in 1930 with his high school friend Williams. Over his 27 year career at Disney, Kinney worked first as an animator, then he was a sequence director on feature films such as Pinocchio and Dumbo, a shorts director, and also a supervisor overseeing animation production for TV.

Richard 'Dick' James Lundy (1907-1990)
Started at Disney in 1929 as an in-betweener and was shortly after promoted to animator, and later director. Worked on Snow White as well as 51 shorts mostly featuring Donald Duck. From 1943 he worked for Walter Lantz.

Theodore 'Ted' H. Osborne (1900-1968)
Started at Disney in 1931 and worked as a story writer (especially for the Silly Symphonies) until 1940. Usually credited as co-creator of the duck universe characters Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Harry Reeves (1906-1971)
Started at Disney in 1929 as an animator but later became storyman on numerous shorts starring Donald Duck and Pluto. Leader of the story department from 1939. Storyman on feature films such as Saludos Amigos, Fun and Fancy Free, and Cinderella.

Edward 'Ted' Sears (1900-1958)
Started at Disney in 1931. Storyman on most of the feature films spanning from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty. A very versatile artist who also wrote song lyrics for Peter Pan. Sears became the first head for the story department.

Benjamin 'Ben' Sharpstein (1895-1980)
Film director on feature films such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. Producer on several of Disney's True Life nature series such as Seal Island, The Living Desert, and The Vanishing Prairie.

Webster 'Webb' Smith (1895-c.1950)
Storyman from 1931 to 1942 on Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, and more. Went to several other cartoon companies from 1943.

Roy L. Williams (1907-1976)
Started at Disney in 1930 with his high school friend Kinney. Animator on Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies from 1930 to 1935. Then storyman until 1956 on Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck shorts, and co-host of the original Mickey Mouse Club from 1955. Posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 1992.