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Ub Iwerks

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Ub Iwerks
Iwerks animating his most famous co-creation, Mickey Mouse c. 1929
Born
Ubbe Ert Iwerks

(1901-03-24)March 24, 1901
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
DiedJuly 7, 1971(1971-07-07) (aged 70)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Occupations
  • Animator
  • cartoonist
  • film producer
  • inventor
  • special effects technician
Years active1919–1971[1]
Employers
Notable work
Spouse
Mildred Sarah Henderson
​
​
(m. 1927⁠–⁠1971)​
[3]
Children2, including Don Iwerks
RelativesLeslie Iwerks (granddaughter)
Signature

Ubbe Ert Iwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks (/ˈʌb ˈaɪwɜːrks/ UB EYE-wurks), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and for having worked on the development of the design of the character of Mickey Mouse, among others. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious relationship with his father, who abandoned him as a child. Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney while working at a Kansas City art studio in 1919.

After briefly working as illustrators for a local newspaper company, Disney and Iwerks ventured into animation together. Iwerks joined Disney as chief animator on the Laugh-O-Gram shorts series beginning in 1922, but a studio bankruptcy would cause Disney to relocate to Los Angeles in 1923. In the new studio, Iwerks continued to work with Disney on the Alice Comedies as well as the creation of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character. Following the first Oswald short, both Universal Pictures and the Winkler Pictures production company insisted that the Oswald character be redesigned. At the insistence of Disney, Iwerks designed a number of new characters for the studio, including designs that would be used for Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.

One of Iwerks' most long-lasting contributions to animation was a refined version of a sketch drawn by Disney that would later go on to become Mickey Mouse. Iwerks was responsible for much of the animation for the early Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons, including Steamboat Willie, The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House, before a falling out with Disney led to Iwerks' resignation from the studio in January 1930. Iwerks' final Mickey Mouse cartoon was 1930's The Cactus Kid. Following his separation with Disney, Iwerks, operating under Iwerks Studio, created the characters Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper along with the ComiColor Cartoons series as part of a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but the new studio failed to rival its competitors. Iwerks later directed two Looney Tunes cartoon shorts for Leon Schlesinger Productions and several Color Rhapsody cartoons for Screen Gems before joining Disney again in 1940, after which he worked with special visual effects on productions such as 1946's Song of the South.

Iwerks had two children, Donald Warren Iwerks and David Lee Iwerks, with his wife Mildred Sarah Henderson. Iwerks died of a heart attack in Burbank, California, in 1971 at age 70. Iwerks was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1989. His likeness has been featured in his granddaughter Leslie Iwerks' 1999 documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story as well as the 2014 feature film Walt Before Mickey, in which he is portrayed by Armando Gutierrez. Iwerks received three nominations at the Academy Awards, for which he won one. He also posthumously received the Winsor McCay Award at the 1978 Annie Awards and the Hall of Fame award at the 2017 Visual Effects Society Awards.

Early life

[edit]

Iwerks was born in Kansas City, Missouri.[4] His father was born in the village of Uttum in East Frisia (northwest Germany, today part of the municipality of Krummhörn) and emigrated to the United States in 1869 around the age of 14.[5] The elder Iwerks, who worked as a barber, had fathered and abandoned several previous children and wives. When Ub was a teenager, his father abandoned him as well, forcing the boy to drop out of school and work to support his mother. Iwerks despised his father and never spoke of him; upon learning that he had died, he reportedly said, "Throw him in a ditch."[6][page needed] He attended Ashland Grammar School, graduating in 1914.[4] Ub's full name, Ubbe Ert Iwwerks, can be seen on early Alice Comedies that he signed. Several years later, he simplified his name to "Ub Iwerks", sometimes written as "U.B. Iwerks".[a]

Career

[edit]

Disney work (1919–1929)

[edit]

Iwerks spent most of his career with Disney. The two met in 1919 while working for the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio in Kansas City,[7] and eventually started their own commercial art business together.[8] Disney and Iwerks then found work as illustrators for the Kansas City Slide Newspaper Company[9] (which was later named The Kansas City Film Ad Company).[10] While working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, Disney decided to take up work in animation,[11] and Iwerks soon joined him. There he[discuss] attached a motor drive to the camera with a switch that resembled a telegraph key, reducing the number of people needed to animate from two to just one.[12]

The title card for Trolley Troubles (1927), animated by Iwerks

Iwerks was responsible for the distinctive style of the earliest Disney animated cartoons, and was also responsible for designing Mickey Mouse.[13][page needed] In 1922, when Disney began his Laugh-O-Gram cartoon series, Iwerks joined him as chief animator. The studio went bankrupt, however, and in 1923 Iwerks followed Disney's move to Los Angeles to work on a new series of cartoons known as "the Alice Comedies" which had live-action mixed with animation. After the end of this series, Disney asked Iwerks to design a character that became Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.[14] The first cartoon Oswald starred in was animated entirely by Iwerks. Following the first cartoon, Oswald was redesigned on the insistence of Oswald's owner and the distributor of the cartoons, Universal Pictures. The production company at the time, Winkler Pictures, gave additional input on the character's design.

In spring 1928, Disney was removed from the Oswald series, and much of his staff was hired away to Winkler Pictures. He promised to never again work with a character he did not own.[15] Disney asked Iwerks, who stayed on, to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of frogs, dogs, and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were created at this time by Iwerks, but were also rejected. They later turned up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.[16] Ub Iwerks eventually got inspiration from an old drawing. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. Then, on a train ride back from a failed business meeting, Walt Disney came up with the original sketch for the character that was eventually called Mickey Mouse.[17][18] Afterward, Disney took the sketch to Iwerks. In turn, he drew a more clean-cut and refined version of Mickey, but one that still followed the original sketch.[19]

Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first few Mickey Mouse shorts, which was animated almost entirely by Iwerks

The first few Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons were animated almost entirely by Iwerks, including Steamboat Willie, The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House.[13][page needed] However, as Iwerks began to animate more and more cartoons on a daily basis, he chafed under Disney's leadership.[20] Iwerks also felt he was not getting the credit he deserved for drawing all of Disney's successful cartoons.[21] Eventually, Iwerks and Disney had a falling out; their friendship and working partnership were severed in January 1930. According to an unconfirmed account, a child approached Disney and Iwerks at a party and asked for a picture of Mickey to be drawn on a napkin, to which Disney handed the pen and paper to Iwerks and stated, "Draw it." Iwerks became furious and threw the pen and paper, storming out.[22] Iwerks accepted a contract with Disney's former distributor, Pat Powers to leave Disney and start an animation studio under his own name.[23] His last Mickey Mouse cartoon was Wild Waves (1929) and final Disney film was the Silly Symphony Autumn (1930).[24] (Powers and Disney had an earlier falling-out over Disney's use of the Powers Cinephone sound-on-film system—actually copied by Powers from DeForest Phonofilm without credit—in early Disney cartoons.)[citation needed]

After Disney (1930–1940)

[edit]
Main article: Iwerks Studio

The Iwerks Studio opened in 1930. Financial backers led by Pat Powers suspected that Iwerks was responsible for much of Disney's early success. However, while animation for a time suffered at Disney from Iwerks' departure, it soon rebounded as Disney brought in talented new young animators.

Despite a contract with MGM to distribute his cartoons, and the introduction of a new character named Flip the Frog and later Willie Whopper, the Iwerks Studio was never a major commercial success and failed to rival either Disney or Fleischer Studios. Newly hired animator Fred Kopietz recommended that Iwerks employ a friend from Chouinard Art School, Chuck Jones, who was hired and put to work as a cel washer.[13][page needed] The Flip and Willie cartoons were later distributed on the home-movie market[clarification needed] by Official Films in the 1940s.

Sinbad the Sailor, a 1935 ComiColor cartoon

From 1933 to 1936, he produced a series of shorts (independently distributed, not part of the MGM deal) in Cinecolor, named ComiColor Cartoons. The ComiColor series mostly focused on fairy tales with no continuing character or star. Later in the 1940s, this series received home-movie distribution by Castle Films. Cinecolor produced the 16 mm prints for Castle Films with red emulsion on one side and blue emulsion on the other. Later in the 1970s Blackhawk Films released these for home use, but this time using conventional Eastmancolor film stock. They are now in the public domain and are available on VHS and DVD. He also experimented with stop-motion animation in combination with the multiplane camera, and made a short called The Toy Parade, which was never released in public.[25] In 1936, backers withdrew financial support from the Iwerks Studio, and it folded soon after.

In 1937, Leon Schlesinger Productions contracted Iwerks to produce four Looney Tunes shorts starring Porky Pig and Gabby Goat. Iwerks directed the first two shorts, while former Schlesinger animator Robert Clampett was promoted to director and helmed the other two shorts before he and his unit returned to the main Schlesinger lot. Iwerks then did contract work for Screen Gems (then Columbia Pictures' cartoon division) where he was the director of several of the Color Rhapsody shorts before returning to work for Disney in 1940.

Return to Disney (1940–1964)

[edit]

After his return to the Disney studio, Iwerks mainly worked on developing special visual effects. He is credited as developing the processes for combining live-action and animation used in Song of the South (1946), as well as the xerographic process adapted for cel animation, which was used in 101 Dalmatians (1961).[1] He also worked at WED Enterprises, now Walt Disney Imagineering, helping to develop many Disney theme park attractions during the 1960s. Iwerks did special effects work outside the studio as well, including the birds for his Academy Award nominated achievement for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).[26] Iwerks' last credit for Disney was for perfecting the travel matte system for the Mary Poppins sequence "Feed the Birds"[1] Iwerks' most famous work,[1] outside animating Mickey Mouse, was Flip the Frog from his own studio.[27] While he was at Disney, he developed a variety of patents for applying Xerography for use in animation.[28]

Personal life

[edit]

Iwerks had two children with his wife, Mildred (née Henderson): Donald and David. Donald went on to work for the Walt Disney company and to found Iwerks Entertainment. His granddaughter is documentary film producer Leslie Iwerks.[29] David Iwerks became a portrait photographer.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]

Iwerks died in 1971 from a heart attack in Burbank, California, aged 70, and his ashes are interred in a niche in the Columbarium of Remembrance at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills Cemetery. The last project he worked on was the Hall of Presidents.[1][37]

Influence and tributes

[edit]

The Ub Iwerks Award for Technical Achievement, as part of the Annie Awards, is named in his honour.

A rare self-portrait of Iwerks was found in the garbage bin at an animation studio in Burbank. The portrait was saved and is now part of the Animation Archives in Burbank, California.

After World War II, much of Iwerks' early animation style was imitated by legendary manga artists Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori.

In 1989, Iwerks was named a Disney legend.

In the 1996 The Simpsons episode "The Day the Violence Died", a relationship similar to Iwerks' early relationship with Walt Disney is used as the main plot.

A documentary film, The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story, was released in 1999, followed by a book written by Iwerks' granddaughter Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy in 2001. The documentary, created by Leslie Iwerks, was released as part of The Walt Disney Treasures, Wave VII series (disc two of The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit collection).[38][39]

A feature film released in 2014, Walt Before Mickey, showed how Ub Iwerks, portrayed by Armando Gutierrez, and Walt Disney, portrayed by Thomas Ian Nicholas, co-created Mickey Mouse.

The sixth episode from the second season of Drunk History ("Hollywood") tells about Ub's work relationship with Disney, with stress on the creation of Mickey Mouse. Iwerks was portrayed in the episode by Tony Hale.

Filmography

[edit]

1922

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Little Red Riding Hood July 29 Laugh-O-Grams
The Four Musicians of Bremen August 1 Laugh-O-Grams
Jack and the Beanstalk September 4 Laugh-O-Grams
Jack the Giant Killer September 12 Laugh-O-Grams
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears October 4 Laugh-O-Grams
Puss in Boots November 3 Laugh-O-Grams
Cinderella December 6 Laugh-O-Grams

1923

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Alice's Wonderland October 16 Laugh-O-Grams

1924

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Alice's Day at Sea March 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Spooky Adventure April 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Wild West Show May 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Fishy Story June 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice and the Dog Catcher July 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Peacemaker August 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Gets in Dutch November 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Hunting in Africa November 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice and the Three Bears December 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Piper December 15 Walt Disney Productions

1925

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Alice Cans the Cannibals January 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Toreador January 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Gets Stung February 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Solves the Puzzle February 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Egg Plant May 17 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Loses Out June 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Is Stage Struck June 23 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Wins the Derby July 12 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Picks the Champ July 30 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Tin Pony August 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Chops the Suey August 30 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Jail Bird September 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Plays Cupid October 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Rattled by Rats November 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice in the Jungle December 15 Walt Disney Productions

1926

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Alice on the Farm January 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Balloon Race January 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Orphan January 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Little Parade February 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Mysterious Mystery February 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Charms the Fish September 6 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Monkey Business September 20 Walt Disney Productions
Alice in Slumberland September 29 Walt Disney Productions
Alice in the Wooly West October 4 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Fire Fighter October 18 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Cuts the Ice November 1 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Helps the Romance November 15 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Spanish Guitar November 29 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Brown Derby December 13 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Lumberjack December 27 Walt Disney Productions

1927

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
Alice the Golf Bug January 10 Walt Disney Productions
Alice Foils the Pirates January 24 Walt Disney Productions
Alice at the Carnival February 7 Walt Disney Productions
Alice at the Rodeo February 21 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Collegiate March 7 Walt Disney Productions
Alice in the Alps March 21 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Auto Race April 4 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Circus Daze April 18 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Knaughty Knights May 2 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Three Bad Eggs May 15 Walt Disney Productions
Poor Papa May 15 Walt Disney Productions
  • The first Oswald The Rabbit short produced by Walt Disney and distributed by Universal Studios.
Alice's Picnic May 30 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Channel Swim June 13 Walt Disney Productions
Alice in the Klondike June 27 Walt Disney Productions
Alice's Medicine Show July 11 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Whaler July 25 Walt Disney Productions
Alice the Beach Nut August 8 Walt Disney Productions
Trolley Troubles September 5 Walt Disney Productions
Oh Teacher September 19 Walt Disney Productions
The Mechanical Cow October 3 Walt Disney Productions
Great Guns October 17 Walt Disney Productions
All Wet October 31 Walt Disney Productions
The Ocean Hop November 14 Walt Disney Productions
The Banker's Daughter November 28 Walt Disney Productions
Rickety Gin December 26 Walt Disney Productions

1928

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
The Ol' Swimming Hole February 6 Walt Disney Productions
Africa Before Dark February 20 Walt Disney Productions
Rival Romeos March 5 Walt Disney Productions
Bright Lights March 19 Walt Disney Productions
Sagebrush Sadie April 2 Walt Disney Productions
Ride 'Em Plowboy April 16 Walt Disney Productions
Ozzy of the Mounted April 30 Walt Disney Productions
Hungry Hoboes May 14 Walt Disney Productions
Plane Crazy May 15 Walt Disney Productions
  • First Mickey Mouse cartoon ever produced.
Oh What a Knight May 28 Walt Disney Productions
The Fox Chase June 25 Walt Disney Productions
Tall Timber July 9 Walt Disney Productions
Sleigh Bells July 23 Walt Disney Productions
High Up August 6 Walt Disney Productions
The Gallopin' Gaucho August 7 Walt Disney Productions
Hot Dogs August 20 Walt Disney Productions
Sky Scrapper September 23 Walt Disney Productions
Steamboat Willie November 18 Walt Disney Productions

1929

[edit]
Title Release date Company Notes
The Barn Dance March 14 Walt Disney Productions
The Opry House March 28 Walt Disney Productions
When the Cat's Away April 11 Walt Disney Productions
The Barnyard Battle April 25 Walt Disney Productions
The Karnival Kid May 23 Walt Disney Productions
Mickey's Choo-Choo June 20 Walt Disney Productions
Mickey's Follies June 26 Walt Disney Productions
The Plowboy June 28 Walt Disney Productions
The Jazz Fool July 5 Walt Disney Productions
Wild Waves August 15 Walt Disney Productions
The Skeleton Dance August 29 Walt Disney Productions
  • The first "Silly Symphony"
El Terrible Toreador September 26 Walt Disney Productions
Springtime October 24 Walt Disney Productions
Jungle Rhythm November 15 Walt Disney Productions
Hell's Bells November 21 Walt Disney Productions
The Hunted House December 2 Walt Disney Productions
The Merry Dwarves December 19 Walt Disney Productions

1930

[edit]
Title Release date Series Notes
Fiddlesticks August 16 Flip the Frog
  • First Flip the Frog cartoon
  • Filmed in both two-strip Harriscolor, but widely released in B/W
Little Orphan Willie October 18 Flip the Frog Filmed in both two-strip Harriscolor, but only intact in B/W
Flying Fists September 6 Flip the Frog Filmed in both two-strip Harriscolor, but only intact in B/W
The Village Barber September 27 Flip the Frog First non-woodland cartoon
The Cuckoo Murder Case October 18 Flip the Frog
  • First Halloween-themed cartoon
Puddle Pranks December Flip the Frog
  • Final woodland-themed cartoon
  • This and Little Orphan Willie were never copyrighted
  • Only appearance of Flip's frog girlfriend

1931

[edit]
Title Release date Series Notes
The Village Smitty January 31 Flip the Frog First appearances of Flip's cat girlfriend and Orace
The Soup Song January 31 Flip the Frog Bandmaster Paul Whiteman is caricatured
Laughing Gas March 14 Flip the Frog Only appearance of the walrus
Ragtime Romeo May 2 Flip the Frog
  • First time Flip wears a hat
The New Car July 25 Flip the Frog
  • Starting with this cartoon, Flip's design slowly changes
  • Some plot elements in this cartoon are reused from a Disney Oswald cartoon, Trolley Troubles
Movie Mad August 29 Flip the Frog Caricatures include Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin
The Village Specialist September 12 Flip the Frog Only appearance of Mrs Pig
Jail Birds September 26 Flip the Frog First time Orace is Flip's horse
Africa Squeaks October 17 Flip the Frog No longer shown on American television due to offensive black stereotypes
Spooks September 21 Flip the Frog Second Halloween-themed cartoon

1932

[edit]
Title Release date Series Notes
The Milkman February 20 Flip the Frog
  • First appearance of the orphan boy
Fire! Fire! March 5 Flip the Frog
What a Life March 26 Flip the Frog First time Flip interacts with humans
Puppy Love April 30 Flip the Frog First appearance of Flip's dog
School Days May 14 Flip the Frog First appearance of the spinster
The Bully June 18 Flip the Frog Final appearance of the orphan boy
The Office Boy July 16 Flip the Frog
  • The secretary is a caricature of Joan Crawford
  • Contains inappropriate content
Room Runners August 13 Flip the Frog
  • Contains inappropriate content
Stormy Seas August 22 Flip the Frog
  • Possibly a withheld 1931 release
  • Final appearance of Flip's cat girlfriend
Circus August 27 Flip the Frog Copyrighted on September 7, 1932
The Goal Rush October 3 Flip the Frog
  • In the beginning, there is a scene considered inappropriate where the bandmaster shoots the clarinet player just for playing wrong
  • First appearance of Flip's human girlfriend
The Phoney Express October 27 Flip the Frog First "official" appearance of Flip's human girlfriend. She bears a strong resemblance to Fleischer Studios's Betty Boop. The original title for the cartoon was "The Pony Express", but later changed to "The Phoney Express" by Pat Powers
The Music Lesson October 29 Flip the Frog Only appearance of Flip's friends
The Nurse Maid November 26 Flip the Frog This cartoon has two racist scenes that do not appear on TV. There is an angry "Chinaman–Fu Man Chu" type with long fingernails trying to scratch the eyes out of Flip. Later, a cigar store Indian has gags with runaway animals.
Funny Face December 24 Flip the Frog In the public domain

1933

[edit]
Title Release date Series Notes
Coo Coo, the Magician January 21 Flip the Frog Cameo of the spinster at the beginning
Flip's Lunchroom March 4 Flip the Frog Only Flip the Frog cartoon to have Flip's name in the title
Technocracked May 8 Flip the Frog Possibly filmed in two-strip Technicolor or cinecolor
Bulloney May 30 Flip the Frog
A Chinaman's Chance June 24 Flip the Frog
  • No longer shown on American television due to offensive Chinese stereotypes
  • Final appearance of Flip's dog
Paleface August 12 Flip the Frog Final appearances of Orace, Flip's girlfriend, and the spinster
The Air Race n/a Willie Whopper The first Willie Whopper cartoon, though it was never released due to a plot hole. A remake, Spite Flight, was released.
Play Ball September 16 Willie Whopper The first official Willie Whopper cartoon
Soda Squirt October 12 Flip the Frog
Spite Flight October 14 Willie Whopper A remake of the unreleased Willie Whopper cartoon, 'The Air Race
Stratos Fear November 11 Willie Whopper
Jack and the Beanstalk December 23 Comicolor First Comicolor cartoon

1934

[edit]
Title Release date Series Notes
Davy Jones Locker January 13 Willie Whopper The first of two Willie Whopper cartoons to be filmed in Cinecolor
The Little Red Hen February 16 Comicolor
Hell's Fire February 17 Willie Whopper The only cartoon made by Ub Iwerks to have a curse word in the title. This is the last of the two Willie Whopper cartoons filmed in Cinecolor.
Robin Hood, Jr. March 10 Willie Whopper
The Brave Tin Soldier April 7 Comicolor
Insultin' the Sultan April 14 Willie Whopper
Puss in Boots May 17 Comicolor Two other prints exist.
Reducing Creme May 19 Willie Whopper
Rasslin' Round June 1 Willie Whopper Working title: Rasslin' Around
The Queen of Hearts June 25 Comicolor
Cave Man July 6 Willie Whopper Music composed by Bennie Moten and his orchestra
Jungle Jitters July 24 Willie Whopper No longer shown on American television due to offensive black stereotypes
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp August 10 ComiColor
Good Scout September 1 Willie Whopper
  • Music composed by McKinney's Cotton Pickers
  • Stereotypes of ethnic (Chinese, Jewish, Black) boy scouts
Viva Willie September 20 Willie Whopper Final Willie Whopper cartoon. After this cartoon, the rest are Comicolor cartoons.
The Headless Horseman October 1 Comicolor
The Valiant Tailor October 29 Comicolor
Don Quixote November 26 Comicolor Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1998[40]
Jack Frost December 24 Comicolor

1935

[edit]

All Comicolor shorts

Title Release date Notes
Little Black Sambo February 6 No longer shown on American television due to offensive black stereotypes
Brementown Musicians March 6
Old Mother Hubbard April 3
Mary's Little Lamb May 1
Summertime June 15
Sinbad the Sailor July 30
The Three Bears August 30
Balloonland (aka The Pincushion Man) September 30 This is known as both Balloonland and The Pincushion Man
Simple Simon November 15
Humpty Dumpty December 30

1936

[edit]

All Comicolor shorts

Title Release date Notes
Ali Baba January 30
Tom Thumb March 30
Dick Whittington's Cat May 30
Little Boy Blue (aka The Big Bad Wolf) July 30 This cartoon is variously known both as Little Boy Blue and The Big Bad Wolf.
Happy Days September 30 Last of the Comicolor cartoons, based on the comic strip Reg'lar Fellers. The last cartoon made prior to reorganizing the studio.

1937–1940

[edit]
  • Contract work to Leon Schlesinger Productions – two cartoons
  • Contract work to Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures – 17 cartoons (Iwerks was only personally involved with 16 of the Color Rhapsody series, the last cartoon in the deal was completed by Paul Fennell after Iwerks had left his own studio)
  • In 1940, Iwerks produced his last series, Gran'pop Monkey, featuring the art of British illustrator Lawson Wood.[41] Three cartoons were made: "A Busy Day", "Beauty Shoppe" and "Baby Checkers".[42]
Title Release date Notes
Skeleton Frolic January 29, 1937 Color Rhapsody
Baby Checkers 1940 (exact date unknown)
Beauty Shoppe November 13, 1940
A Busy Day 1940 (exact date unknown) Last Iwerks directed cartoon prior returning to Disney

Accolades

[edit]
Year Award Category Recognition Shared with Result
1960 Academy Awards Technical Achievement Award For the design of an improved optical printer for special effects and matte shots. — Won
1964 Best Effects, Special Visual Effects The Birds — Nominated
Academy Award of Merit For the conception and perfection of techniques for Color Traveling Matte Composite Cinematography. Petro Vlahos and Wadsworth E. Pohl Won
1978 Annie Awards Winsor McCay Award — — Won
2017 Visual Effects Society Awards Hall of Fame — — Won

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ For example in the opening credits of Little Black Sambo (1935)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Korkis, Jim (July 1, 2020). "Who Was Ub Iwerks?". Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. ^ "'Minitoons' from Cartoon Films LTD/ Animated Cartoons Inc". April 7, 2016. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  3. ^ "Mildred Sarah Henderson 1899–7 July 1971 (Age 72)". FamilySearch. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Lenburg 1993, p. 25.
  5. ^ "Ub Iwerks | American Animator and Special-Effects Technician". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  6. ^ Iwerks & Kenworthy 2001.
  7. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 46.
  8. ^ Gabler 2006, pp. 47–50.
  9. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 50.
  10. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 56.
  11. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 58.
  12. ^ Burnes, Av Brian; Viets, Dan; Butler, Robert W. (2002). Walt Disney's Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius. Kansas City Star Books. ISBN 9780971708068 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ a b c Maltin 1987.
  14. ^ Apgar 2015, pp. 34–37, 61.
  15. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 109.
  16. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 53.
  17. ^ Iwerks & Kenworthy 2001, p. 54.
  18. ^ Apgar 2015, p. 76.
  19. ^ Apgar 2015, pp. 80–81.
  20. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 143.
  21. ^ Gabler 2006, p. 144.
  22. ^ Not!, Ripley's Believe It or. "Wonderfully Weird Facts You Want To Know About Walt Disney". Lethbridge News Now. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  23. ^ Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. p. 53. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  24. ^ Ryan, Jeff (2018). A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt. Post Hill Press. pp. 181, 184. ISBN 978-1-68261-628-4.
  25. ^ Telotte, J. P. (2008). The Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252033278 – via Google Books.
  26. ^ Counts, Kyle B.; Rubin, Steve (Fall 1980). "The Making of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds". Cinefantastique. Vol. 10, no. 2. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  27. ^ Marks, Scott (May 19, 2016). "Fiddlesticks Flips Flip in First Color Cartoon". San Diego Reader. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  28. ^ "USPTO Search Results for Iwerks and Xerographic".
  29. ^ "Untold with Leslie Iwerks". Disney. May 12, 2020. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023 – via YouTube.
  30. ^ Iwerks, David Lee. "John F. Kennedy, Head-and-Shoulders Portrait, Facing Slightly Left". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  31. ^ Iwerks, David Lee. "Charles Richter with Seismogram". calisphere. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  32. ^ "Dave Iwerks Catches Great in the Eye of His Perceptive Camera". Hollywood Studio Magazine. Sherman Oaks, CA: San Fernando Valley Pub. Co. November 1966. Retrieved March 7, 2022. via: archive.org
  33. ^ Iwerks, David Lee. "Upton Sinclair, Half-Length Portrait, Facing Right". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  34. ^ "23 Things You Can Find in Walt Disney's Office Suite". Disney News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  35. ^ "Celebrating Ed Wynn: Walt Disney's Partner in Laughter". The Walt Disney Family Museum. January 19, 2017. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  36. ^ Copyright Office (1962). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Library of Congress. p. 224. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  37. ^ Spry, Jeff (February 1, 2020). "The Son of Mickey Mouse's Co-Creator Opens Up the Book on Disney Classics". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  38. ^ "The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (1999)". The Walt Disney Family Museum. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  39. ^ "The Hand Behind the Mouse: Stories of Ub with Don and Leslie Iwerks". The Walt Disney Family Museum. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  40. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  41. ^ Stanchfield, Steve (March 20, 2014). "'Beauty Shoppe' (1940) with Gran' Pop Monkey". Cartoon Research. Archived from the original on January 16, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  42. ^ Lenburg 1993, p. 88.

Sources

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Further reading

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