Disney's "Nine Old Men", Animation Guru's

Animation played such a crucial role in Walt Disney's ability to hit the silver screen. His ability to story tell, create, visualize and venture where no other had gone at the time in the early 1930's was amazing. Walt's ability to catalyze the many elements necessary to succeed in the entertainment industry was a major factor in his bringing life to his characters. Diverse personality and behavioral traits were instilled in each character that allowed you to have feelings for that particular character. Landscapes were impressive! Using a new process that brought 3D(depth) to the table, thanks to Ubbe Iwerks' invention of the multi-plane camera which, employed the use of multiple panes of glass. Landscape stills, sketches, storyboard, layout all leading to the finished painted product on canvas, film and plate glass brought together realism. Eyvinde Earle, Trey Finney, Peter Ellenshaw, Tyrus Wong, Joshua Meador and Mary Blair all with their own unique style of creativity and skills were immensely awe inspiring. Then comes Walt's illustrious "Nine Old Men". Nine guys from different ethnic backgrounds, were the artistic hands behind Walt Disney's imagination. The animators drew what Walt desired and described through storyboard concepts, models and translations.

These highly talented artists were sent by Walt to train at the elite Chouinard Art School in California, Learning such intricate aspects of animation such as animal studies and behavior plus human anatomy. As soon as their training had completed, they had refined the 12 basic principles of animation which includes techniques such as squash and stretch, exaggeration, staging and timing. Walt titled them as the core animators at Walt Disney Productions. The job of these select animators was to take what was in Walt's head and transfer it to paper.

The "Nine Old Men" were as follows: Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsberry, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, Eric Larson and Les Clark. These core animators were to have a profound impact not only on the creation of many of the characters in Disney films but the success had by these as well.

Here is a brief synopsis of some of the achievements the Nine Old Men are credited with as they matured and mastered the animation trade.

Les Clark was a key player at Walt Disney Productions. The reason for this is that he was the only member of the nine to animate Mickey Mouse from his inception along with close Disney friend and colleague, Ubbe Iwerks. Les joined the Disney team in 1927 and remained a crucial part of Disney animation all the way up til "Lady and the Tramp" in 1955. He began his career as an in between drawer for Ubbe Iwerks and Wilfred Jackson on "Steamboat Willie" in 1928. His first film debut as an animator came in 1929 with the first "Silly Symphony" The Skeleton Dance.

Marc Davis, who is one of my all time favorites joined Walt Disney Productions in 1935 and jumped right in on the creation of Walt Disney's first full-length animated feature which premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937. Also to his credit was his creation and animation of Bambi and Thumper, Cruella de Vil and my favorite, Tinker Bell from "Peter Pan" in 1953, Maleficent and the Raven from the 1959 full-length feature "Sleeping Beauty". Not only did Marc play a crucial role in both full-length and animation short cartoon characters but also went on to be the creative character designer for The Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion attractions at Disneyland in California just to name a few.

Ward Kimball started his Disney journey in 1934. As is the case with the other Nine Old Men his resume was long and distinguished. He was also responsible for animating some of the lesser known characters in Snow White but then went on to give life to Figaro and Jimminy Cricket in the 1940 feature "Pinocchio". Lucifer, Gus and Jaq from the 1950's feature "Cinderella" as well as responsible for the outrageously funny and weird Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter from the adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" in 1951. Ward was kind of an outlandish and unique animator which was evident in much of his work.

John Lounsberry began his Disney animation career in 1935 where he worked under the guidance of Norm Ferguson, another popular and well respected animator in the Disney arsenal of talented artists. John was mainly responsible for some of the lesser known characters such as Ben Ali from the 1940 feature film "Fantasia" which was a musical of sorts released in multi-channel sound collaborated through a new process simply called "Fantasound". John resume also includes George Darling from 1953's "Peter Pan, Joe, Tony and some of the dogs from 1955's "Lady and the Tramp", the Kings in 1959's "Sleeping Beauty" and the Elephants from Rudyard Kiplings story about a man cub in the jungle called "The Jungle Book" in 1967. He later went on the direct Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too and the Rescuers in 1977.

Milt Kahl started in 1934, again with his start working on Snow White. From there he was responsible for animating the villainous tiger Shere Khane from the 1967 feature "The Jungle Book", Edgar the Butler from the 1970 film entitled "The Aristocats" the Sheriff of Nottingham in the hilarious film "Robin Hood" in 1973 and villainous Maddam Medusa from "The Rescuers" in 1977.

Frank Thomas began his career with Walt Disney Productions in 1934. His start, similar to that of the other members of the "Nine Old Men", began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(1937) which took roughly two years to complete. He worked on many of the animals in Snow White. Following that, some of his other works include Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in the 1950 film "Cinderella", the Queen of Hearts in the 1951 film "Alice in Wonderland" and Captain Hook from the Film "Peter Pan" released on February 5Th, in 1953 by RKO Pictures. Frank Thomas also branched out to diversify his portfolio by co-writing an artist bible on animation with Ollie Johnston entitled " The Illusion of Life" which is a very good book for those of you who who are into drawing and animation or love Disney in general! He also co-wrote "Disney Villains" and " BAMBI...The Story and the Film" with Ollie as well.

Ollie Johnston, as I mentioned above co-wrote the "Illusion of Life" animation bible, "Disney Villains" and BAMBI...The Story and the Film with Frank Thomas. Ollie got his start back in 1935 with Snow White and became directing animator with the 1940 film Fantasia. He received the highly acclaimed Disney Legend Award by the Disney Company in 1989. Some of his more popular works include animating the stepsisters from "Cinderella" in 1950, Mr. Smee from "Peter Pan" in 1953 and Prince John from "Robin Hood" in 1973. He was the last surviving member of the illustrious "Nine Old Men" passing away in 2008.

Eric Larson was one of the first to jump on board with the Disney Productions as his career began in 1933. He was involved with the "Whistle While You Work" sequence in "Snow White", Figaro the cat from "Pinocchio", Cinderella from "Cinderella" in 1950, Brer Rabbit, Bear and Fox from the Uncle Remus stories. Unfortunately, this film never made it to video or DVD due to its racial slurs. This was truly a fascinating and enjoyable film however, as it was a clever mixture of live action and animation combined. Due to Eric's talents he went on to train some of the promising artists in the 1970's and 80's working for the Disney Company. Talent such as Glen Keanne who would later go on the be a lead animator on "The Little Mermaid" in 1989, "The Beauty and the Beast" in 1991 and "Alladin" in 1992.

Last but not the least was Wolfgang "Wollie" Reitherman. He got his start in 1934 and instantly began work on several animated short films including "The Band Concert" and "Music Land" in 1935. Some of his other contributions were providing the Headless Horseman Chase sequence from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in 1949, the Crocodile from "Peter Pan" 1953 and Maleficent as the Dragon from "Sleeping Beauty" in 1959. From 1961 to 1977 he went on to direct several animated films. "101 Dalmations" in 1961, "The Sword in the Stone" 1963, "The Jungle Book" 1967, "The Aristocats" in 1970, "Robin Hood" in 1973 concluding with "the Rescuers" in 1977. As if that weren't enough to fill a resume, he also provided voice talent for such characters as Mowgli from "The Jungle Book", Christopher Robin in the "Winnie the Pooh" films and Wart from "The Sword in the Stone".

So there you have it! Walt Disney's core animators back in the day simply known as "The Nine Old Men". It was through their talents, skills and having the luxury to have Walt as their guide and story teller that we have been able to experience and enjoy the many full-length animated feature films and shorts produced by the Disney Studios. Fortunately we will be able to continue to enjoy them as well for years to come. Disney animation is not only enjoyable for kids, but the kid in all of us as well.

Thanks to "The Nine Old Men" and everything they brought to the table as many a person has been able to experience and relive part of our childhood everytime we put the movie in a hit play...