Tony D’Orazi painted the ceiling of the St. Francis church in Missoula, Montana at the age of 22. At that time, his work was compared to the mural that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The mural still exists today, 80+ years later.
An article featuring Tony O’Dare about teaching drawing on the radio and his shift to television.
https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/127956/the-creativity-dna-one-family-three-generations
David F. D’Orazi is the author of “The In-Between Artist: The Story of Tony D’Orazi”, a candid reflection on his father’s life drawn from journals and scrapbooks dating from the early 1920s.
Vince D’Orazi started making movies on his parents’ VHS camcorder in the 1980’s. He received a 2017 Emmy Award as Co-Executive Producer of HGTV’s “Flea Market Flip,” and performs with his rock band.
Daniel D’Orazi started framing homes at 16, studied fine art in Florence, Italy, and now designs and remodels old homes in SoCal.
Ryan D’Orazi started as a sign painter, worked in the art and marketing world, and became an instructor at the Art Center in Pasadena. He is a professional graphic artist and web designer.
Michael John D’Orazi worked as a TV Production Assistant in Hollywood, then tended bar and surfed in Australia. He now teaches Braille to the blind and visually impaired in San Diego.
Join akaRadioRed for Creativity DNA: One Family, Three Generations!
Just punch in Davidfdorazi, on I heart podcasts, on the Divya Parekh’s show December 22nd, and hear the entire interview. I gave her some of my personal tips on being a successful salesman, and some stories about growing up with my dad, Tony D’Orazi, “The In-Between Artist” It was a fun interview. Enjoy! Happy New Year to all! And may it be a healthy year for everyone as well!
A link will follow!
What a great feeling it was to get into this Newspaper, “The New York Times” with 5.6 million digital viewers! Also there was 1.6 billion papers sold! Hope everyone enjoys the story of my dad, Tony D’Orazi “The In-Between Artist”
Happy New Year to everyone!
Sincerely,
David F. D’Orazi
This is a story I recently wrote about growing up in a house with mental illness, and how I survived., and ended up being a success. I learned from all my day to day experiences.
This article has been published in the current issue of iPain Living Magazine Winter 2021. It went out to digital subscribers yesterday. Here is a back link the digital version of the magazine. http://magazine.internationalpain.org/books/hoht/mobile/index.html#p=1
ENJOY!
Go to the Website, www.theauthorsshow.com, and look for the archived shows for December 11th , December 12th, and December 13th, and go to Channel 4 , David F. D’Orazi, “The In-Between Artist” and you can hear my interview on the worldwide podcast radio show. It was a great interview. Danielle Hampson is an amazing interviewer. Her show has been on the air, for 16 years and she is very will known worldwide.
I hope you enjoy!
Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! It was really fun talking about the Price is Right, in 1976, when I was so excited, and jumped on Bab Barker’s foot, accidentally on the Price is Right” game show on my recent interview, on the”500 Section Lounge Podcast on November 10, 2020.
I was interview by the MC Sam Sprunger, and his co-hosts, Matt and Chris.
When I won the big prize on “The Price is Right” game show. I happened to be there with my friend Greg Perkins. I was working in a grocery store at the time, and he had an extra ticket. I was picked out of 400 guests, and ended up winning the big showcase prize back then. I was interviewed for 30 seconds, and had to make the producer laugh, in a line of 400 people., and I did! And I know I was told to wear a colorful shirt. It was a red white and blue Golf shirt.
On that show I won the big showcase, an 18 foot Ranger speed boat, a stereo, and a microwave oven and a modern bunk bed set, that my 4 boys grew up in. They were really spacey looking. I also won a trip to Hawaii. Bob Barker was really mad , when I stepped on his foot. I was told before the show to be careful not to step on his foot. The first thing I bid on was the bunk beds, and I bid $925.00, and I was only $25 under what the cost. I won the bunk beds, and then in the middle of the show, I was able to spin the big wheel, and I got 65 and then 30, on the spin, and that is how I was able to go for the big showcase.
But I was so excited when I won the big showcase, I ran down to kiss the girls on the show, and see my prizes, and forgot about his foot. And that is when I came down on his foot, when I jumped up, since I was so excited. I had forgotten what he said. But it was all worth it.
I thought about my moment on “the Price is Right” after watching The Griswold’s National Lampoons European Vacation, on this Thanksgiving Day. We all have our moments! Just pinch yourself when it happens! This is what Anthony Robbins always said you should do.
Again, it was fun talking about this experience again, on my recent 500 Section Lounge interview.
Life is full of moments, and this was a great one, and I will remember this special moment for rest of my life. I have run into many people, in my lifetime, and they tell me they never met anyone, who won the big prize on “The Price is Right”, and now you do! Hope everyone had a Happy Covid Thanksgiving! I know I have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope you do as well. Thanksgiving is one day , we can reminisce, and talk about what we are really thankful for on this earth, as well as all those specials things that have happened up to this point in our lives.
Sincerely , David F. D’Orazi, Happy Thanksgiving 2020
Well, I just had another interview on ;
“The World of Work with Shep Cohen 4 o’clock eastern time. It should be posted soon.
I hope you enjoy the interview about my book, “the In Between Artist”, “The Life Story of Tony D’Orazi”.
Go to : The World of Work Radio WDVR on 89.7
and look for past guests , then look for November 20th, 2020
As soon as I hear, when it will be posted, I will let you know the date.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Best Regards,
Dave
Yes my dad “Tony D’Orazi” aka Tony O’dare, was one of the first cartoonists for Walt Disney for the first animated movie for Disney “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. In the notes that I was given by my mom twelve years ago, two years prior to her passing, my father wrote about the time he spent with Walt Disney in 1935. At that time, he saw an ad that Disney needed an In-Between Artist” for their first 80 minute animated film. It was an ad to become one of their first animators for their new film. He wrote about how when he got to Hollywood, he was excited about this opportunity to become one of four first cartoonist artists that would create the character Dopey for this first 80 minute animated film., “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. Walt Disney had only done short animated films, up until this time. When my dad Tony got there, he found that Walt Disney only had 4 openings and had a 1000 applicants. He was really surprised. But, he was determined, and he was chosen to be one of the first four cartoonists, (In -Between Artists) for the movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He mentioned that his supervisor at Walt Disney was a gentleman whose name was a man named Mr. Drake. And he told my dad Walt Disney always had taken their art and cartooning very seriously. He wrote that Walt Disney said he put all his artists back in school again.
Everyone always has asked me what is an In-Between Artist? An In -Between Artist , which was also called “inbetweening” is a term that was used to describe the artists who would generate the frames of animation between two key frames in order to give the appearance that the first image flows smoothly into the second image. This could be seven or ten drawings in between two positions. I didn’t realize this until I met a two retired artist employees that had just retired from Walt Disney, in Burbank, California, and they fully explained to me what an In-Between Artist and and what they did. They actually currently own a restaurant called John Sparr in Montrose, California. After that steak dinner there, I looked it up.
This was before the age of computer animation. For example it could be a number of pages that are flipped through from one body’s muscle position to the next position. This was done by flipping through the pages, from one cell to another.
Tony D’Orazi, felt this would be right down his alley, since he had already been the first famous celebrity radio cartoonist in Chicago in 1933 and 1934, teaching kids how to draw cartoons. At that time, his radio show was number one in the ratings This was when WGN Radio became a radio station in Chicago, and when radio first came out, before the age of Television. My dad Tony, was working with legendary Disney animator Art Babbitt. Tony said in his notes, that he really learned a lot from Art Babbitt. Also Tony’s training instructor who picked my dad to be one of the four first cartoonists, was Don Graham, who was known for establishing many of the principles that became the foundations of the animation process for Walt Disney would be made famous for. Tony mentioned that Don Graham, showed him how to make a drawing solid. He said he was an amazing artist and cartoonist.
Can you imagine, during Tony’s training in order to be chosen as one of the original cartoonists, for this Snow White Movie, my dad was making $10.00 per week during his initial trial period, and after he got the job with the other three cartoonists , he got a raise to $37.50 per week. That was lot of money back then. This entire story is all in the book. I thought I would share this experience my dad wrote about. Remember. this was all taken from his actual notes, he left behind, that I discovered about 12 years ago. He began his diaries in 1932.
All I know after all these years that have gone by, I am really proud of my father Tony D’Orazi, and all his accomplishments he had with Walt Disney.
I never realized until I wrote this story how famous my dad was, especially since he had been involved with Walt Disney’s first highest grossing film of all time in Walt Disney history, and was very instrumental in creating the character Dopey for the famous Walt Disney Film. I hope you enjoy or will the story, “The In Between Artist” in the future. I sure enjoyed writing this story, even though it took me five years to complete. I achieved my dream, being able to write this story, and actually getting to know how great my dad really was in his lifetime. To think that my dad actually toured the USA in Vaudeville and had shows in 37 states , and had one of Chicago’s top radio shows in Chicago, prior to his opportunity with Walt Disney. What a great life Tony D’Orazi , my dad had, and what a great cartoonist and artist he was during his lifetime. Thanks dad for leaving your notes behind!
It was truly worth all the hours I spent during the last six years putting this book together!