Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

– I notice that there were a number of sites today featuring articles and material about Ward Kimball, (e.g. here and here) and there’s the Ward Kimball/My Space page which I visited. Jaime Weinman has a post that presents thoughts which I certainly agree with. In fact, they could have been mine.

A year ago, I posted a couple of Kimball drawings. These came to me years ago (the 70′s?) via John Canemaker. The Bacchus drawing appeared in his Nine Old Men book. I have a few more drawings by Ward Kimball, and I thought it’d be nice to post a few of them.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Kimball’s work. On the one hand his persona as presented to the public was always annoying. He came off as the wacky cartoonist who just wanted to show you how wacky he was. (There was a hint of this in Chuck Jones, as well.) He obviously had a big ego and had good reason for it. There was no doubt that this guy could draw like a son-of-a-gun, and his animation was often breathtaking. It always sided more toward the cartoon rather than the real, and it had a style so different from the others. You had to admire it.

The crow sequence in Dumbo is brilliant, to say the least; the Mad Hatter in Alice is the heart of that film (though I wish it weren’t), and the Cheshire cat the most memorable part; and Toot Whistle Plunk & Boom is probably the best short done at Disney’s after WWII. However, there’s nothing I liked about the Oscar winning It’s Tough To Be Bird or Dad Can I Borrow The Car?. (This is a good example of Kimball’s personality entering the films.)
(Click any image to enlarge.)
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The interview Mike Barrier did with Kimball in 1969-1986 offers some good insight into the man and some excellent detail. It adds to the piece Canemaker wrote in The Nine Old Men. Many people have written about Kimball, but I think John Canemaker‘s book has to cover his career best. It brings him to life and gives us a good encapsulation of his life and work.
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The comic to the left is obviously and ad parody, but don’t ask me what this Mickey compilation model sheet is. What’s with all the type?

This was obviously a card for someone (Oliver Wallace?) who was operated on. I’m sure I’d have enjoyed something this funny if I was trying to recuperate.

This caricature tells you that there must have been some real competition among the animators as the Captain Hook character approached.

You can watch some Kimball clips on YouTube (until someone takes them down.)
Disney Family Album Opening and Part 1 and Part 2.
Escalation, an independent anti-war (Viet Nam) short
the Snow White soup eating scene P.T.
Thad Komorowski has posted quite a few clips from Kimball. Here are some:
Cinderella‘s Lucifer
Dumbo‘s crows
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood 1, 2, 3
The Three Caballeros

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