Ward
Kimball:
All Consuming Curiosity
by
Noell Wolfgram Evans
In July 2002,
the entertainment community had the misfortune of losing animator
Ward Kimball. Kimball was a Disney stalwart,
a stable at the studio for nearly forty years, one of the fabled “Nine
Old Men.” He was known far and wide for bringing a sense
of humor and humanity to his creations of Jiminy Crickett, the
Cheshire Cat, Pecos Bill and the Crows in 1941’s “Dumbo.” His
work in 1945’s “The Three Caballeros” is often
cited as a masterwork of animation. Yet if Kimball had never
picked up a pencil during his time at Disney, he would still
be heralded as a masterful employee, the guy everyone wanted
to be around, he would still be in Walt’s own words, “a
genius.”
Kimball took to drawing
at an early age, participating in two separate correspondence
courses in art. His family pushed him
to build on this experience in college, but he chose instead
to attend the Santa Barbara School of the Arts. There he had
the opportunity to expand on his artistic interests by exploring
sculpture and clay and other such items. Kimball enjoyed the
learning and experience of the school to the fullest. The story
goes that Kimball was never really interested in animation, he
always set his artistic sights on more classic works. One thing
that he was very interested in though was music, it was a passion
that he explored as often as he could. He was able to turn this
passion into money as he secured a job at a local movie theater
as the “conductor” of the on-stage children’s
band. This band played Saturday mornings as part of the weekly “Mickey
Mouse Fan Club” activities. Well one week Kimball stayed
after the performance and caught a “Silly Symphony.” He
says that he never realized how powerful and artistic animation
could be. He had always thought of animation in this sort of
standard 1920’s vein and the possibilities that he saw
in this short excited him.
So in 1934 he found
himself, portfolio in hand, at the doors of Disney. It didn’t take long for him to be hired and
sent with all of his enthusiasm and exuberance into the literal
basement of the studios to do inbetween work. This was the place
where new artists started, the first step if you will on the rung up the ladder. It was a ladder that he would climb quickly
as in 1936 he was named to an animators position. Remember that
the Disney Studio was nearly ten years old at this point, but
still really finding its way. As the studio grew and groped,
a group of animators really charged to the head of the pack in
terms of talent, thought, leadership, style and overall ability.
There were nine altogether who would go on to form the core of
Disney animation for the next thirty plus years. Eric Larson,
Les Clark, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnson, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis,
John Lounsberry, Wolfgang Reitherman and Ward Kimball make up
what is known as Disney’s Nine Old Men. (The group was
named by Disney in a reference to a Franklin D. Roosevelt remark
about the Supreme Court.)
Take away all of the
talents and interests and what you would have is a man who
insisted on enjoying himself. Kimball was known
far and wide through the studio as a prankster, a mischief maker,
a man who loved life and enjoyed it constantly. His detractors
would say that he was more interested in having fun than working
while others were quick to point out that his work was fun, everyday
he dealt with subjects that he loved and that gave off happiness.
How could he not be happy? There is of course also the technical
fact that Kimball was a prolific artist, capable of completing
his daily workload in short time. This left him with large amounts
of time to fill which he often did with practical jokes. One
of his best was recounted by Michael Broggie: “One early
morning he (Kimball) stocked all the restroom stalls in the Animation
Building with pants filled with newspaper padding to make them
appear occupied. It took several anxious hours for someone to
figure out they’d been duped by Kimball.” (Ward was
often aided in his fun by good friend and eventual Pogo creator
Walt Kelley.)
Kimball was the Disney
wildcard. He was the one with the loud personality, who would
organize football games in the hallway
and then wash off in the decorative office spittoon. He wore
loud outfits and was prone to sarcastic jokes. By many accounts
he was the kind of guy that you look forward to seeing at work
because you knew he’d help you get through the dull spots
of the day. This sort of overt happiness rubbed some of his co-workers
the wrong way but most took it in good stride. This feeling of
being in the middle was one that Kimball felt during much of
his career.
The title song sequence
of “The Three Caballeros” is
often described as the Kimball-est of Ward Kimball’s work.
In it, Donald Duck, Joe Carioca and Panchito sing and move wildly
tacross the screen, Donald walks off the screen to the right
and reemerges from the bottom, colors flash, characters change,
objects appear, disappear and then appear in a completely new
place. Its free expression and complete lack of reality was animation
that had rarely been seen by a Disney artist. Many of his co-workers
warned Ward that he had gone to far, that Walt would never go
for such a thing. As we now know of course, Walt did in fact
go for the sequence and in fact this style of animation now often
plays a prominent role at Disney. The story of “The Three
Caballeros” is a perfect example of Kimball’s style
both on and off the drawing board. While he rarely stretched
to such wild edges in his later work, he was always able to find
a way to inject that twist, to throw a spark into the character
to at the very least nudge them towards the line.
One of the things that makes Kimball such a special figure was
the way that he transcended one talent and pursued and refined
others. He did this not in a vacuum but as he did everything,
loudly in the open, attracting attention to himself and enabling
others to get involved with life.
Kimball never
lost his love for music; in fact it only grew. At Disney in
1948
he organized a Dixieland jazz band The Firehouse
Five Plus Two. Originally an after-hours jam band, they soon
found themselves playing for lunchtime dances on the studio lot.
These dances grew in popularity with both the attendees and the
musicians, so much so in fact that the boys decided to take their
act on the road. They began playing in local clubs and concert
halls and even on television programs like Disney’s Sunday
night show. Walt in fact was a huge supporter of the group as
he felt they were great goodwill ambassadors. The popularity
around the group continued to grow as records were made and the
concerts increased. It got to the point though to where it, as
Ward says, “Stopped being fun and started to be to much
like a job.” So the group for all purposes disbanded. Ward
though had plenty to keep him occupied.
His popularity and
influence in animation was met and if not exceeded by the excitement
that he brought to the railroads.
Ward was a railroad fanatic, he had one of the largest and most
important (for its rare items) model train collections in the
world. He even had full scale train cars that ran along track
set up in his backyard. He founded railroading clubs, wrote and
drew cartoons for rail focused magazines and worked hard for
the restoration and preservation of rail cars. He used his status
as a Disney animator to really bring support and prominence to
the hobby. In his passion he found Walt Disney. Disney was an
avid train buff himself who discovered in Kimball a sort of “soul
mate of the rails.” In fact, the only vacation that Walt
took with an employee was with Ward when the two traveled to
Chicago for a train show. Disney always had a fascination with
trains but it was perhaps Ward’s near obsession that helped
Walt focus on their history and importance and how that could
be translated to Disneyland.
On the topic
of Disneyland, in its initial stages Walt sent out a call for
ideas. He had
conceived of including a place called
Tomorrowland but he was unsure of exactly what should go there.
It was Kimball who approached Disney with an idea as to how that
space might work. He had just finished reading a series of articles
in Collier’s magazine which were written by Werner von
Braun and dealt with America’s entry into space. Disney
immediately took to the articles and decided that von Braun might
be the one to help him fill in Tomorrowland and so a meeting
was set up. During this meeting a number of things were discussed,
including von Braun’s interest in doing a space centered
television program. Disney saw this as a great chance to get
some important material into his weekly show while promoting
his park in a roundabout way.
Kimball, who was dabbling
in some live action directing at the time, jumped at the opportunity
to work on these programs alongside
men like von Braun whom he admired. There were three programs
created: 1955’s “Man in Space” and “Man
and the Moon” and 1957’s “Mars and Beyond.”
All of the episodes
were widely popular, it’s even reported
that President Eisenhower requested copies of the programs for
governmental use. These programs are an amazing mix of live action
and animation. They are scientific without being heavy-handed,
forceful in their opinions but still fun. They have been cited
by many as being their first foray into these topics and they
also, it can be argued, went a long way towards preparing America
for the space program.
It is impressive enough for a person to have an influence over
any one area in their life but when you consider that Kimball
influenced animation, music, railroads and the space program,
all in his own fun-loving renaissance way, it just makes the
man seem that much more remarkable.
During the span of
his career, Kimball won numerous awards including the 1953
Oscar for “Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom” which
is a masterpiece of limited animation as well as holding the
distinction as the first cartoon produced in CinemaScope. In
1969 he received a second Oscar for directing “It’s
Tough to Be a Bird.” In 1989 he was named a Disney Legend
and in 2000 he won a Sparky Award. There were other awards and
citations over the years but Kimball’s greatest reward
may have been a coin toss between his influence over the publics
perception of space or his interest and influence in the spirit
of railroading. Or maybe it would be the joy he brought music
lovers or the laughs he gave to his co-workers and friends. It’s
a true testament to the man, that there are so many choices.
If you believe that the car is the modern day horse, then the
tram might be considered the modern day train. So it is somehow
appropriate that when you are heading into a Disney park you
generally take a tram, it just seems right, to ride Ward Kimball
into Disney.
More
Work
Wards work can be found in the characters and scenes mentioned
above and also in the following (among others):
>
Peter Pan (1953) – His
work can be found in the Indian Chief and several incidental
characters.
> Cinderella (1950) – He created Lucifer the cat.
> Through Air Power and Education for Death (1943) – Military
war cartoons.
> The Reluctant Dragon (1941) – See Ward’s work
and Ward at work.
> Fantasia (1940) – The Pastoral Symphony is Ward’s
contribution.
Note
The
title of this piece is taken from advice given by Ward Kimball
which appears
in the book “Walt Disney’s Nine Old
Men and the Art of Animation.”
“Develop an all consuming curiosity for things both exotic
and ordinary. Read, observe, analyze, become involved…study,
practice, delve, probe, investigate and above all, be flexible.”
--
Noell Wolfgram
Evans is a freelance writer who lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has
written for the Internet, print and had several plays produced.
He enjoys the study of animation and laughs over cartoons with
his wife, daughter, and newborn son.
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Media FX and may not be reused for any purpose without expressed
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