Happy 90th Sol

My family and I went to Culver City yesterday for Sol Sigall’s 90th birthday party. Anybody in animation or a fan of the history of animation should know Sol and Martha. Martha is a noted figure in the very fabric of that history from way before her first job at Schlesinger in 1936. But a lot of people in animation tend to overlook Sol because he never worked it the field.

Sol, along with his wife, was a member of an elite group of animation legends, a roundtable who met and partied together. In fact, Sol and Martha are the last 2 members of that group. Martha once told me that it is Sol’s love of all things animation that has kept her active in the animation community for all these years.

When I was a young man, studying for the gallows, I worked a summer as a lifeguard on a beach in Sarasota, Florida. One part of the beach was given over to the old retired people. Talking to other lifeguards it was common knowledge that the average retired person with nothing to do with themselves lasted about 3 to 5 years.

Both Sol and Martha retired in the 1970s and have been active in the animation community and with the Culver City Historical Society, the Afternoon of Remembrance committee and who knows what else ever since. What is their secret? There are a team, a very active team. Sol may not have worked in animation but he is an important person in the history of animation all the same. I have learned a lot talking to Sol. Happy 90th Birthday to a good guy and a great friend.