Animation Artifacts &Bill Peckmann &Disney &Models 03 Mar 2010 09:05 am
Ferdinand Models
– Ferdinand the Bull was a precious little animated short. It originally started out as a “Silly Symphony”, but then they called it a “Special” film. It was adapted from a classic children’s book by Munro Leaf which was illustrated by his longtime collaborator, Robert Lawson. The book, published in 1936, created a bit of a stir in Europe where the Spanish saw it as a call for pacifism when they were involved in a violent civil war and were getting entrenched in what would become World War II.
In making the film, the animators who worked on it seem to have had a lot of fun. Ward Kimball led the way by caricaturing others (see below) as the bullfighters who parade into the arena. You can get a glimpse of this in the model sheets from the film. Disney, himself, was drawn as the matador leading the charge. (At least Walt thought it was a caricature of him; Kimball said no.)
In their book, Too Funny for Words, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote, “The parade of participants for the great bullfight in Ferdinand the Bull (1938) was a series of caricatures of animators and directors, with the animator who conceived the whole idea bringing up the rear and leering knowingly at the camera. It was rumored that Walt thought the matador was a caricature of himself, but the animator quickly denied giving the character any resemblance to his boss.”
The animator, Ward Kimball, took credit for caricaturing the cast, but said that the Matador was not Disney.
The short won the Oscar in 1938 as Best Animated Short.
Again, many thanks to Bill Peckmann for the loan of these models to post.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
Young Ferdinand
Mother
Bulls and scouts
The crowd in the arena.
Picadors and Banderilleros (obviously before Kimball got to them.)
Picador’s horse.
More Picadors and Banderilleros
I believe it’s Ham Luske leading, with Bill Tytla, Fred Moore and Art Babbitt following.
Michael Barrier corrected this (see comments) From left: Ham Luske, Jack Campbell, Fred Moore, and Art Babbitt
Jack Cambell leads these three, and I’m not sure of the others.
More from Mike Barrier’s comments: Tytla is the horseman at the middle. I believe the horseman to Tytla’s right is a caricature, too, but I can’t remember of whom.
Matador Walt Disney marches in front of Ward Kimball, bringing up the rear.
Ferdinand himself.
on 03 Mar 2010 at 12:47 pm 1.Michael Barrier said …
Not quite right–in the first frame enlargement, we’re seeing, from the left, Luske, Campbell, Moore, and Babbitt. Tytla is the horseman at the middle in the second frame enlargement. I believe the horseman to Tytla’s right is a caricature, too, but I can’t remember of whom. A wonderful thing about this cartoon is that the sense of caricature is so pervasive, especially in Kimball’s animation, even when specific individuals are not being caricatured.
on 03 Mar 2010 at 12:54 pm 2.Michael said …
Thanks, Mike. I’ve done some adjusting in the actual piece. That Tytla guy was a slippery character.
on 03 Mar 2010 at 1:04 pm 3.Daniel Caylor said …
Thanks Michael, these are gourgeous.
on 03 Mar 2010 at 6:22 pm 4.David Nethery said …
“Tytla is the horseman at the middle in the second frame enlargement.”
In second frame grab the middle horseman (on white horse) does not look like Bill Tytla to me. It appears to me that Tytla is the horseman on screen right. (broken down horse with bandages). Am I misreading the identifications?
http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/wp-content/Z/_pmatadors.jpg
on 03 Mar 2010 at 8:10 pm 5.Michael said …
The mustache on the middle horseman leads me to believe that Mike Barrier is right and that it is Tytla.
on 03 Mar 2010 at 11:28 pm 6.David Nethery said …
I don’t see it . The gawky looking guy in the middle (on white horse) doesn’t have the physique or “attitude” of the serious, brooding Tytla , but the figure on the right (on the broken down horse with bandages) has the Tytla attitude.
I can’t lay my hands on it right at the moment , but I believe this line up of caricatures is identified in Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s book “Too Funny For Words” and if that volume is consulted I believe it will show that the figure on the screen right is Tytla, not the figure in the middle of this image:
http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/wp-content/Z/_pmatadors.jpg
on 03 Mar 2010 at 11:58 pm 7.Paul Reiter said …
I think David might be right. Jeff Pepper did a post on the caricatures in this short before and he says the final horseman is Tytla according to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s “Too Funny for Words: Disney’s Greatest Sight Gags”.
http://www.2719hyperion.com/2009/02/animated-animators-ferdinand-bull.html
In any case, thank you Michael for posting these model sheets and thanks to Bill Peckmann as well.
on 04 Mar 2010 at 6:19 am 8.Julian Carter said …
I wonder if Kimball lied when denying the matador being a Walt Disney caricature. Because that matador sure looks like Walt Disney!
on 06 Mar 2010 at 12:22 pm 9.skyman said …
whoa, these are beautiful, any idea who drew them?
on 17 May 2010 at 12:02 pm 10.Nancy Beiman said …
Bill Tytla is the horseman on the right. He is animated in his ‘form versus force’ style.
Ward Kimball animated the scene and designed the caricatures. And he never denied that the matador was Walt Disney–everyone knew it at the time, including Walt.