Disney &Models 02 Jun 2008 08:27 am
Kimball Models & Dwngs
- About a hundred years ago, it seems, John Canemaker gave me some copies of models and drawings by Ward Kimball. I’m sure at least a couple of these have been published in some of John’s books. His book, Nine Old Men, includes many other beautiful Kimball drawings, and I’d suggest you look there for more Kimball inspiration.
I once posted a couple of these, and I like them a lot. I’m posting them again and adding a bunch more that weren’t included. Ward was a brilliant artist with a very active and excited intelligence. His material from the 50′s is just excellent, and it’s always worth a look.
During the making of “Peter Pan” Kimball illustrated how Frank Thomas, Ward, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, Clarke Mallery (an Asst at the time) and Ollie Johnston would look as “Hook”.
When Ollie Wallace, a composer at the studio, went to hospital to have his appendix removed, Kimball made this card for Ollie. It was based on Rembrandt’s painting, “The Anatomy Lesson”. It got Wallace laughing so hard in the hospital that he burst his own stitches and had to have them re-sewn.
______________(Click any drawing to enlarge.)
These are the first rough sketches done for Casey Jr. for both Dumbo and The Reluctant Dragon. Eventually, a headlight cap was added and the eye lamps were eliminated.
The eyes were drawn on the boiler’s front.
Robert Cowan sent me this model of Casey Jr. which was used in the final film.
The caricatures above show
(L) Joe Dubin, the composer to “Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom”. Joe was a big fan of Mexico and its food. Every lunch would include a huge plate of Mexican “gut-bombs” and two Margaritas. He’d then come back to the studio to sleep through the story meetings.
(R) Gerry Geroniomi, a director on many of the Disney features.
The drawing above, as well as the next five, are rough models Kimball did for the animated section of a Disneyland TV show, “Alaska.” The drawings of the historical personalities were inspired by early photographs.
This drawing was a gift to Kimball from Rube Goldberg, who was an ardent Disney animation fan.
This final drawing looks like a Kimball storyboard drawing that was done for The Reluctant Dragon. It’s, of course, a self-portrait of Kimball. This also comes from Robert Cowan’s collection. It was previously posted on Jenny Lerew’s wonderful blog, Blackwing Diaries along with storyboard from Melody Time.
on 02 Jun 2008 at 9:55 am 1.Matt Jones said …
So good, so funny. The caricature of Joe Dubin & the one next to it are hilarious. The ‘Anatomy Lesson’ drawing & anecdote is literally gut bustingly funny! Wonderful post Michael.
on 02 Jun 2008 at 12:29 pm 2.Thad said …
I’d have bust a seam if I got that as a card too! Great stuff, Michael, thanks for sharing.
on 02 Jun 2008 at 3:15 pm 3.Emmett Goodman said …
Those “Hook” caricatures are terrific. Very similar to Ronald Searle’s drawings. Thank you for posting these, Mr. Sporn. A great amount of inspiration can come from a handful of Ward Kimball drawings.
on 02 Jun 2008 at 5:50 pm 4.biblioadonis aka George said …
Great stuff!
I am in the middle of Canemaker’s Nine Old Men and it is fascinating. A must read.
on 03 Jun 2008 at 10:56 am 5.Jenny said …
That collage is just too much! Love the use of the live action stats from the Peter Pan shoot…pretty cool. I wonder if they have more of those in the ARL?
Re: the Fred Moore scene: it”s a trace of a drawing by none other than David “Bud” Swift-onetime asst/junior animator in. the Ward/Fred/Kelly unit(well, not an official “unit” but a kind of a gang) around the time of Reluctant Dragon/Nifty Nineties; Swift drew a slew of panels on animation paper showing Fred going through his day-this is drawing #1 in the series-and pinned them all up like a board. At lunchtime O’Brien grabbed the lot and quickly traced them off so he could have his own copy, and he kept it for 40 years, sending Ward a copy in the 70s. He(O’Brien) showed them to me in ’81, along with a funny letter from Ward acknowledging receipt of the sequence.
It’s now owned by a private collector(not me), who lent me these 25 years after I first saw them to copy them all. I should post them, but it’s long!
Back on topic: God, Kimball is amazing.
on 03 Jun 2008 at 12:26 pm 6.Michael said …
Great info, Jenny. Thanks. I’d love to see the rest of the pics, but it does take a while to scan and post etc. Boy do I know that!
on 03 Jun 2008 at 11:53 pm 7.Eric Noble said …
“Those “Hook†caricatures are terrific. Very similar to Ronald Searle’s drawings.”
Actually Emmett, Ward Kimball and Ronald Searle were friends. According to Searle’s biography, Searle was at the studio for some reason and became lifelong friends with Ward Kimball.