News, announcements and information about Disney

January 16, 2003

by Sheila Hagen, MousePlanet staff writer

In the inaugural articles of a new series featuring those who helped to create the Disney entertainment empire, we look at five men who passed away in 2002, whose legacies live on in cartoons and movies that still delight audiences young and old.

William “Tex” Henson, David Swift, Chuck Jones, Buddy Baker, and Ward Kimball all worked at the Disney studios at some time in their careers. Short stay or lifelong association, however, all five left their indelible marks. Last week we looked at those first four, and this week we focus on Ward Kimball.

Ward Kimball

The man most associated with the magic of Walt Disney would have to be the irrepressible Ward Kimball. Because of his contributions to Disney classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, and Cinderella, as well as his passion for railroading, devotion to Dixieland music with the Firehouse Five Plus Two ensemble, and great sense of humor and non-comformity, Kimball is a much beloved figure in Disney history.

His career spanned nearly 40 years, creating unforgettable cartoon characters that inspire and delight each new generation that views them.

Although Kimball was known as one of the Nine Old Men (nine master Disney animators that were known as the “Supreme Court of Animation”), his style of drawing was completely opposite to the way the other eight men viewed animation. The eight were proponents and masters of what was known as “The Illusion of Life” (as Disney animation has been called), which called for animating a character from within based on personality. Kimball would instead draw his characters based on a satirical point of view and the exaggeration of human characteristics.

Ward Kimball working on characters from The Three Caballeros
Image © Disney

Kimball’s whimsical style can be seen in the title song of The Three Caballeros, supervising the funny and offbeat animation for it. A perfectionist by nature, Kimball would refer to this film as “the only animation I ever did that I’m uncritical of.” The Mad Tea Party scene in Alice in Wonderland is another example of his zany and madcap approach to animation.

Kimball had applied for a job at Disney in 1934 because he liked the Mickey Mouse short films. He presented a portfolio of his art and Disney was so impressed that someone would actually present examples of his art (which was not done at the time), they hired him on the spot just on principle alone.

Kimball’s first animation efforts were on Elmer Elephant and Toby Tortoise Returns. He went on to redesign Mickey Mouse, giving him the more modern look he sports today. Although his scenes were eventually cut from the movie, Kimball also worked on the 1937 movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

In the 1940s and ’50s, Kimball created the animation for the beloved Jiminy Crickett in Pinocchio, and worked on Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, Dumbo, The Three Caballeros, Pecos Bill, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and many other animated films.

In the early 1950s, Kimball led an experimental animation group that produced the first 3-D cartoon, Melody, and the Academy Award-winning Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, the first cartoon in Cinemascope.

During the late 1950s, when Russia was the first to put a satellite into space, Kimball wrote and directed three important shows for the Disneyland television series: Man in Space, Man and the Moon, and Mars and Beyond. Working with scientists Wernher von Braun, Willy Ley and Heinz Haber, Kimball’s films are credited as helping jump start the U.S. government’s space program and popularizing the concept with the American public. President Eisenhower even had a print of Man in Space flown to Washington, D.C. so that his military chiefs could see it. Man in Space received an Academy Award nomination.

In the 1960s and ’70s, Kimball animated Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, among other projects.

Ward's matadors from Ferdinand the Bull
Image © Disney

In addition to his talent in animation, he was quite renowned as a prankster and wit. Many, many stories about his various gags and pranks abound, some reaching legendary status. Some of the stories attributed to him are:

• Kimball once hid a number of the studio bicycles (ridden to the commissary for lunch from the different departments) in the hallway of a nearby orchestra stage so that no one would find their bikes. He then walked away, not even waiting around for the reaction.
• When Kimball would attend meetings of the Cartoonist Union, he would sometimes wear a Chinese Red Army communist uniform just to annoy the executives at Disney.
• In Ferdinand the Bull, Kimball drew the faces of the matadors filing into the bullring as caricatures of himself, other animators, and Walt Disney. Look for Kimball as the sword carrier immediately following the head matador (Walt Disney).

In the 1930s, Kimball became interested in model railroading, a hobby that continued to the end of his life. He started collecting steam locomotives and hosted annual railroading parties for his friends. In 1945, Walt Disney attended one of the parties and was immediately bitten by the railroad bug.

In 1949, Disney offered Kimball the train station set from the movie So Dear To My Heart. Kimball accepted, and the Grizzly Flats Railroad Depot was moved to his home.

As a founding member of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, Kimball could often be found at the group’s headquarters at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. In 1992, Kimball began donating his railroading collection to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Riverside, California, with the remainder going to the museum after his death.

As a tribute to Kimball, the Ward Kimball Engine No. 5 locomotive engine was dedicated in 1997 at Walt Disney World.

Ward Kimball with his trombone and Donald
Image © Disney

Another one of Kimball’s hobbies was Dixieland jazz. Along with other Disney employees, he formed the Firehouse Five in the late 1940s, which was later renamed to Firehouse Five Plus Two when they added two more members. Their popularity grew and they went on to record several albums, some of which can still be found on CD today.

For more information about Ward Kimball and his legacy, please read Al Lutz’s fascinating piece, “Disruptive Ward.”

For more information about viewing Kimball’s railroading collection at the Orange Empire Railway Museum, please read our Parenting In The Parks column, “All Aboard! Visiting the Orange Empire Railway Museum.”

All five men not only contributed their time and talent to the entertainment world, but their heart and souls as well. So when you find yourself quoting lines like “Boris darlink, is moose und squirrel,” or “What’s up, Doc?”, playing Pollyanna’s “glad game” with your children, being swept up in patriotic emotion while at the American Adventure attraction in Epcot or whirling around in a teacup at a Disney theme park, remember that without these five men, life just wouldn’t be so fun and so magical. Ave atque vale — hail and farewell to five who were masters of their realm.

Contact Sheila Hagen at sheila.hagen@mouseplanet.com.

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