Martha Goldman Sigall was born on April 17, 1917 in New York. She spent much of her life in the animation business mainly working in the ink and paint department and other associated activities at various studios, eventually compiling over fifty years in the Hollywood industry.
Moving to California in 1926 where by chance living around the corner from Leon Schlesinger's Pacific Title and Art company, she ran errands for the staff at around the age of 12. On July 13, 1936, she became a painter at Leon Schlesinger Productions (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), starting out at $12.75 a week, then later an inker. After leaving Schlesinger, she worked at Graphic Films (a small Hollywood animation house which served as a precursor to UPA) and MGM studios in the Cartoon Department unit as an assistant in the camera room, as well as free-lanced on numerous projects from The Pink Panther to Garfield and ink and paint artist on Animalympics and Snoopy: The Musical.
She has received a Golden Award from the Animation Guild in 1989 and the June Foray Award from ASIFA-Hollywood at the Annies in 2004, and she was a guest of honor at the San Diego Comic Con in 2005. Martha has contributed to commentary on several Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs and documentaries reminiscing her memories at Termite Terrace.
Martha had every animation history book and a private collection of every Warner Bros. cartoon on VHS. Sigall not only worked with, and knew, many of the greats in the industry: Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Mike Maltese, Frank Tashlin, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, Leon Schlesinger, Irv Spence, and so on, but was personal friends with all of them, their wives, and their families. She loved talking about stories of how fun animation was and her days at Schlesinger's studio (she had co-edited the in-house newsletter in the early 40s!) and her later jobs during the golden age, that she wrote an autobiography/memoir, Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation (I highly recommend her book for those who love those old, black-and-white cartoons). In it, she reveals Leon Schlesinger was a genuinely nice man with a sense of humor and talks about Mel Blanc and many other people, some of whom, like assistant animator Harold Soldinger, no stories had ever been written. She has had wild experiences working and laughing with the Looney Tunes crew, partying with them on bowling and baseball nights and weekend scavenger hunts, and performing in the company's theatrical troupe.
She loved listening to light classical music, reading WatchWorks comics, and is a fan of Netherlands artist Edo Draaijer. She spent her final years of retirement in Culver City and was friends with many people in the animation community, such as Jerry Beck, Keith Scott, Stan Freberg, June Foray, Art Leonardi, Willie Ito, Dan Haskett, Nancy Beiman, Floyd Norman, Ken Duncan, Bob Kurtz, Tom Warburton, Jenny Lerew, Steve Hulett, Tom Sito, Mike Peraza, and Tom Ruegger.
Martha was more than an ink and paint girl. She was a bright link to animation's past. Someone who was there near the beginning. She cared for the work, she cared for her fans, she cared for the history that she embodied. She was a great person and will be truly missed. Now she is off to heaven to join her husband Sol and the rest of the Schlesinger staff.
Rest in Peace and thanks, Martha.
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