Walt and Lilly: A Love Story
It was January 1924, and Walt was working on the Alice Comedies. He needed to hire a new “blackener”, also known as an Ink and Paint girl. He asked his employee Kathleen Dollard who recommended her friends younger sister, Lillian Bounds. Lillian remembers Dollard telling her, “I have a job for you, but I’m telling you about it on one condition: don’t vamp the boss.” The deal was, Lilly could apply if she didn’t marry the boss. We all know how well that worked out. The Interview Lilly decided to interview “since the studio was within walking distance from where [she] was living.” Her niece Marjorie Sewell walked her there so she didn’t get lost. When Lillian first met Walt, she remembers him wearing a brown coat, sweater, raincoat and pants. She recalls, “I had no idea of vamping him, I never had such a thought in my mind. He didn’t even have a suit.” She was offered $15 a week, which, according to inflation is about $213.75 a week today. She took it and began working for the Disney