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Montr\u00e9al-born Leo Salkin started his career at age 19, after graduating from Hollywood High School, at Walter Lantz on March 3, 1932. Hired as a cel washer at $17.50 a week, he also helped out with camera. He learned ink and paint on the job, while studying \u201cinbetweening on my own time.\u201d This was in the depths of the Great Depression, so for him \u201cto get any sort of job in 1932 was an astonishing feat.\u201d Along with learning how to animate, he \u201clearned about gags. As a matter of fact, there was no way you could have avoided learning about gags: They were the life blood of the place.\u201d He later wrote about his experience at Lantz as a gag writer for The Art of the Animated Image: An Anthology<\/em>, edited by Charles Solomon and published by the American Film Institute; the book is out-of-print, but his article, \u201cWorking for Walter Lantz in the 30\u2019s: A Reminiscence,\u201d has been posted online by Animation Resources. <\/p>\n Salkin then moved over to Mintz, where he worked on Krazy Kat and Scrappy cartoons, followed by a stint at Disney. He stayed there until after the 1941 strike, when he walked the picket line, at which time he was earning $60.00 a week. He left Disney for Columbia Screen Gems during Frank Tashlin\u2019s brief but fabled reign and did a short stint at MGM animating under Tex Avery. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he went to New York to work for ventriloquist Paul Winchell in the early days of live TV. In 1948 he was hired as a writer by Jerry Fairbanks Productions, a well-established producer of live-action theatrical shorts that was segueing into TV. <\/p>\n