It’s a Saturday morning. You’ve plopped your onesies-butt down in front of the parents’ brand new Zenith set and clicked over to Channel 4. With an over-flowing bowl of Freakies in your lap, you squirmed with excitement as the opening title blared. Yes, it is time for the Goolies Get-Together.

In 1970, the animation studio Filmation released the Groovie Goolies, an animated series that gave many years of syndicated life to the wacky monsters of Horrible Hall. Dracula, Frankie, and Wolfie opened each show with the unforgettable tune that still makes us want to beat xylophones with bones and learn to play the triple-decker organ.

From their crazy castle to the assaulting laugh-track, we loved everything about the Goolies. Even the Laugh-In style humor was hilarious at the time. And the original Goth pop-song in each episode had us rocking our pajamas off.

Chateau Grrr is now very honored to speak with one of the original animators of the Groovie Goolies, Louise Sandoval. Louise has been kind enough to share with us her history in the arts, her perspective on life as an animator in the late sixties, and her thoughts on the future of animation. Please welcome Louise Sandoval.

Louise, how old were you when you started drawing?

I started drawing as soon as I got a hold of paper and a pencil. I was told I started saying I was going to be an artist when I was 3 or 4.

How did you get your start in the art field?

Since I was a teenager, I had planned on being an Illustrator. I was first hired as an inker at Hanna-Barbera and then started night school at Art Center College of Design in L.A. It was the Illustration class that gave me the chance to paint Backgrounds on Jonny Quest at Hanna-Barbera. I fell in love with animation and illustration! Luckily, I’ve been able to do both throughout my whole career. This has been especially true for my six years at WMS.

At what point were you able to work on the Groovie Goolies?

I started working at Filmation in 1966 as an assistant animator. Two years later, as the Groovie Goolies was being produced, I got to start a two-year apprentice period actually animating. The Cartoonists Union had set this up as a two-year “apprenticeship”. At the end of the two years I was considered a “Journeyman Animator”. Journeymen Animators would work on all the series going through the studio.

How were you able to learn the trade?

I learned everything on the job at that time. Neither Cal Arts nor any animation school existed in 1968. I bugged the hell out of Hal Sutherland, the Head Director and one of the original Producers. Hal taught me dialogue timing.

How did your interaction with the Producers at Filmation influence your career in animation?

They gave me a chance to become an animator at a time when women were not given that chance. Even as an assistant animator, I was on trial and expected to match the same quota that the other assistant animators were doing. I bought an electric pencil sharpener and that gave me just enough extra speed. There were just two of us that owned one at that time.

Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland gave me a chance to do everything but camera shoots throughout the twenty-three years I was there. It was the only studio that did not outsource work. It was all in-house.

Was it difficult to learn on the job and keep up with quality?

I would pick up scenes from three or four directors at a time. The main thing was to meet air-dates. Lou Scheimer, the Head Producer, always said Disney was Neiman Marcus or Saks 5th Avenue while Filmation was more like Wal-mart. Most of our work was Saturday morning cartoons, not feature films.

The voice recordings were done in-house as well? Were you able to meet some of the Voice Talent?

Voice-over recording was done in the studio so I got to see a lot of the actors coming and going.

Did you also work on the cross-over piece, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig meet the Groovie Goolies?

I got a chance to animate a 50-foot scene of Daffy Duck with Hagatha for the T.V. special cross-over. I found that what I enjoyed the most was the acting. I really enjoyed animating a “dude with a ‘tude”. I loved Broomhilda also. She was actually a newpaper comic strip first (we had to leave out her cigar).

How do you feel the advent of the computer has affected the craft of animation?

Norman McLaren, the Canadian Animator, once said, “Animation is NOT the art of drawings that move, but the art of movements that are drawn.”

I love good animation no matter the technique. My favorite is anything Pixar has done. This is mainly because of John Lassiter. Twelve or thirteen years ago, he said in an interview, “Computers don’t animate; animators animate.” He understands that the computer is another tool along with pencils, paper, and an animation disk. I was introduced to him when I animating on He-Man. I wish I had gotten to know him.

On Pixar’s website, he shows how he combines the basics of traditional animation with 3D tools. Animation can be done directly in the computer whether 2D or 3D. It’s faster than doing animation on paper first. I did my first computer animation in Autodesk Animator in 1990. I loved the computer from the start.

What are the essential elements of animation that you would suggest a young animator know?

Timing, acting and then drawing, in that order, are the most important things about animation.

What other forms of art have you done in your career?

Since 1968, I was mainly an animator, but I have painted backgrounds, created storyboards, and done layout. I also love to sculpt. My first art teacher was a sculptor and did a lot of Bas Relief. I used to draw from them and then later I started doing some of the characters in clay. I later learned to carve in foam. I started doing glass and game art when I first met Al Thomas, the head of research and development at WMS.

With the computer programs we have now, I can do anything I ever did in paper and canvas. I only use paper when I’m not near a computer or when our computers were stolen.

Are there any horror classics that you have found enjoyable throughout your life?

There is a comic book artist named Bill Sienkiewicz that I like very much. He created a Poe Classic for the Classic Comics series in the 1990s. He does great pen and ink work.

Have you done any monster art since the Groovie Goolies?

I did get a chance to do a D&D type game at Westwood Studios and Bethesda Softworks. It was for the Daggerfall game. I had a ball doing mythological and dark type illustration. I was very influenced by Frazetta and Brom. I also liked Boris Vallejo (before Julie Bell).

Have you ever had any scary experiences yourself?

I don’t think I’ve had any experiences with ghosts or aliens or the like. I have had a couple of friendships that feel like past life connections. I haven’t been able to prove it, but I do wonder.

The Groovie Goolies influenced so many people, even myself. In fact, I can attribute much of the feel and friendliness of Chateau Grrr to influences like the Groovie Goolies. Are you surprised by the huge influence your work has had on so many monster-loving freaks?

I am so amazed at the influence our shows at Filmation have had. I never thought of the humor of the Goolies as being interesting to “all things Gothic”. One of my favorite characters in a TV series is Abby Sciuto of NCIS, but I don’t know if she would be considered “true Goth”.

A hearse-owning, coffin-napping forensic scientist? I think she qualifies!

Louise, thank you so much for your time and for all the art that has influenced and encouraged so many people.