Category Archives: Mickey Mouse

How Babbitt Changed Animation Methodology – Pt 2 of 4

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Art Babbitt

The Animation Technique of Breaking the Joints You must have noticed that if you wag a pencil in just the right way, it appears to be made of rubber.  It’s an optical illusion that makes a rigid object appear to move … Continue reading →

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Disney on Unfair List

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Art Babbitt

On this date in Disney history, the Walt Disney Studios was spotlighted for the U.S. government’s list of companies with Unfair Labor Practices (ULP).  As the Daily Worker trumpets, “Los Angeles Labor Council Places Products of Disney Firm on Unfair … Continue reading →

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1931 Disney Staff Caricatures & Profiles – pt 7

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Art Babbitt

Now, here are some people who worked especially closely with Walt: Carolyn Shafer knows Mickey a little too personally, Dick Lundy is a jack of all trades, and Wilfred Jackson is staying out of trouble.

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1931 Disney Staff Caricatures & Profiles – pt 4

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Art Babbitt

Next up in the cavalcade of 1931 Disney staffers: Tom Palmer can’t pronounce “black sheep”; Bill Cottrell fled for his freedom; and Rudy Zamora s your drug pusher.  

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1931 Disney Staff Caricatures & Profiles – pt 3

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Art Babbitt

Next up from Motion Picture Daily: Jack Cutting recognizes his nanny, Norm Ferguson pays homage to his New York roots, and Ben Sharpsteen shrugs his way through success.  

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1931 Disney Staff Caricatures & Profiles – pt 1

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Art Babbitt

Half by accident, half by definite purpose, I stumbled upon an auction of Disney memorabilia and in it was included a page of a magazine called Motion Picture Daily.  It had caricatures of Disney staffers from the early ’30s.  After … Continue reading →

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The Disney Training Program of the 1930s

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Art Babbitt

Assembled here are some quotations from primary sources about the training program that was in place at Disney’s in the early 1930s.  (Art Babbitt was part of Sharpsteen’s trainee unit from mid-1932 to early 1933.)  “…There were two of us … Continue reading →

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The Third Disney Task

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Art Babbitt

By early August, 1932, Babbitt had successfully proven himself among the ranks of the novice animation talent.  Ben Sharpsteen was probably impressed with Babbitt’s Pluto work on the previous assignment, so he gave him a few more Pluto scenes in … Continue reading →

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The Second Disney Task

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Art Babbitt

After Babbitt completed his first inbetweening test, news of his speed spread across the studio “like wildfire.”  Cartoons were, by their nature, expensive to make, requiring more time to produce six minutes of footage than a live action film required.  … Continue reading →

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Walt Disney Praises his Victor Camera

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Art Babbitt

An original ad, circa 1935, featuring Walt and Art.  From Art Babbitt’s collection.

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