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My first contribution to The Loaf explored the reasons why The Ringling School of Art and Design might lavish its cartoonists with a harem of top-notch professors, opulent resources, career training workshops, and even a brand-new student center.

What I found? Computer animation is, essentially, a cash cow. Parents send their kids to school with long-term results in mind, and in this respect Ringling is especially appealing: the school�s a hot zone for recruiters, a test tube for future Pixar babies where today�s young animators can easily become tomorrow�s game designers and Disney inductees.

What�s interesting about this phenomenon, apparently, is the sheer newness of it all. I was recently surprised to read that animation has not always been a lucrative industry; actually, it used to be no more a beacon of success than, say, oil painting or ceramics.

Neal Gabler, senior fellow at USC�s Annenberg Lear Center for communications, just released a new book on Walt Disney, already being hailed as the man�s definitive biography. (Seriously. Since it hit shelves a little under a week ago the media�s been all over this shit.) We�re all familiar with the Disney lore � the megalomania, the child-hating, the anti-Semitism, the post-mortem freezing (urban legend, Gabler informs us) � but what may come as a revelation is the fact that aside from Snow White, Walt Disney Studios was not only seen as a novelty enterprise; it was losing money, film after film. (Well, 1941�s Dumbo made money, but only because its budget was purposefully low. A few days ago, I hit Blockbuster for proof, and yes it looks thrifty.) In fact, it wasn�t until its 90s revival, when production started on little-girl porn like The Little Mermaid, that the studio started turning any profit. The Magic Kingdom was a desperate attempt in the 1970s to make up the difference.

Gabler�s book is outstanding. But long � 880 pages! For those interested in easing into it, I highly recommend Salon.com�s abridged sneak preview. But really, it should be required reading for Ringling�s incoming computer animation class, many of whom are destined for four years of coddling by the administration. It�s the only way we can smack some humility into �em, I say, or at least castrate their egos � one Type-A art student at a time.

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