"Ward is one man who works for me I am willing to call a genius" —Walt Disney
Ward Kimball (1914-2002) hardly needs an introduction to animation and cartoon fans. One of the legendary Nine Old Men (Walt Disney's trusted inner-circle of animation directors), Kimball was the lead animator of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, the "Pastoral Symphony" in Fantasia, the crows in Dumbo, and the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. In the mid-1950s, he turned to directing, and was responsible for a seminal trio of TV documentaries about space exploration for the Disneyland tv series. Two of his short films at Disney also won Oscar—Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (1953) and It's Tough To Be a Bird (1969). His Disney career is documented extensively in John Canemaker's book Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation.
Kimball was prolific outside of the animation studio as well. He was the leader of a successful Dixieland jazz band called the Firehouse Five Plus Two. The group released a dozen albums over its twenty-plus year existence, and also played a regular gig at the Mocambo nightclub in Hollywood. Kimball was also the nation's first private owner/operator of a full-sized steam railroad in a residential backyard. Among other things, he published a successful humor book called Art Afterpieces, was an exhibiting painter, created a new brand of moving fine art called "Kinetic Constructions," and drew cartoons for the Horseless Carriage Gazette magazine for over twenty years.
A four-part article recounting a visit to Ward's house: part ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR
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ESCALATION
My 1968 short protesting LBJ's escalation of the war in Vietnam.
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WARD KIMBALL WITH TOM SNYDER
An amazing 45-minute interview from Tom Snyder's NBC talkshow Tomorrow, ca. 1978.
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WARD AND GROUCHO
A clip from Kimball's 1954 appearance on You Bet Your Life.
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WARD KIMBALL DOCUMENTARY
The full version of this early-80s documentary about Ward is now posted below. A big thanks to myspacer LooseToon for posting the missing segment online.
I don't know if it needs to give the wishes to disappears Kimbal or to the manager of the Space, therefore I round off and I give my best wishes to all..;)
Ward Kimball! I love that classic Disney animation, the nine old men, etc. Groundbreaking work! I got into writing by way of animation; I tried to do it all by myself, took too long, just stuck to writing the stories instead... If you get a chance, check out the first chapter of my sci-fi/fantasy novel, Mainframe. It is in my blog. Thanks for the add!
