Ub Iwerks: Part Two

Categories: Did You Know|Published On: March 28, 2003|Views: 3|

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Last week, we introduced you to Ub Iwerks – the man who, through both his
independent work and his work with the Walt Disney Studios, revolutionized the
fields of animation and special effects. Well this week, we have even more to
share. After speaking with one of Ub’s sons, Dave Iwerks, we have some gleaned
some new insights into just how extraordinary Ub was, and how instrumental he
was in bringing entertainment to where it is today. So, here a few extra details
you may find of great interest…

Let’s start in mid-1928, when Ub was
working with Walt Disney at Disney Brothers Productions, of which he had 1/3
ownership. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit had just been given to Charles Mintz, and the
two knew they needed a new character to put into the spotlight. So, in one
hour’s time, Ub drew four different, new characters for consideration. There was
a frog, a horse, a cow…and a mouse. After a little fine tuning, the mouse was
chosen, and the world would soon get to know Mickey Mouse – the character that
would change the face of animation and entertainment forever (ultimately,
however, each of Ub’s characters was put to good use: the horse became Horace
Horsecollar, the cow became Clarabelle Cow, and the frog became Flip the Frog,
Ub’s most popular character from his days on his own at the Ub Iwerks Studios).

So, once they had their character, Walt set to giving him a voice and
personality, while Ub worked on his design aspects. And in fact, the first three
Mickey Mouse films to be released, Plane Crazy, Gallopin’ Gaucho
and Steamboat Willie, were single-handedly animated by Ub.

But
as time went on and Mickey’s popularity began to grow, Ub began to contribute
more and more to the storyline aspect of Mickey’s adventures and the ongoing
development of his personality. This was the very beginning of the ultimate
falling out Walt and Ub would have. Ub started to meddle too much in what Walt
considered his territory, which, when combined with the entrance of Pat Powers
onto the scene, led to Ub selling his share of the company back and leaving to
start the Ub Iwerks Studios.

Once he left, he resurrected the frog
drawing he had done a few years earlier, and Flip the Frog was born. Ub also
created another character, a mischief making, lying little boy named Willy
Whopper. There were 34 Flip the Frog cartoons and 11 Willy Whopper
cartoons made during Ub’s time on his own, as well as nearly 35
Comi-Color Cartoons. These were brilliantly colored animated works that
were all based on fairy tales. These projects kept Ub busy through 1936, when he
left Ub Iwerks Studios. Until 1938, however, the studio would operate under the
name “Animated Films Corporation”.

For the next few years, Ub worked on
two Bugs Bunny shows for Warner Brothers Studios and did work in
advertising films. By now, however, Ub’s interest had started to shift from
animation to mechanics, which is where he focused the majority of his energies
when he returned to Disney in 1940. He almost immediately formed a new division
of the studio, the “Special Processes and Camera Department,” and set to
creating new innovations in production. He invented the “traveling matte” method
of animation, which allowed animators to combine their drawings with live
action. By the late ’50s, he had perfected this method, and the “sodium vapor
traveling matte” method won Ub his first Oscar. It took the original traveling
matte method to new levels of beauty and seamless transition, with the first
film to employ it being 1960’s Ten Who Dared.

Ub also created the
Xerox Cel process, which allowed animators to skip over the inking stage and
soon became an industry standard. In fact, dozens of inventions in the
field of animation and production can be traced back to Ub – from simple tools
such as the peg bar, which secured an artist’s work to his table for better
control, to utterly unique and complicated innovations such as Circle Vision –
where the audience stands in the middle of a theatre and watches the action on
giant screens surrounding them (if you’ve seen the shows in either Canada or
China in Epcot Center’s World Showcase, then you’ve seen Circle Vision). In
fact, Ub even pioneered the first 3-D films in the ’30s…with a camera set up
in the trunk of a Studebaker!

For his visionary achievements, Ub was
honored with the Kalmas Gold Medal Award, the highest technical award given, in
1964, and another Oscar for general contributions to the industry. He was
nominated for a third Oscar for his work on Alfred Hitchcock’s The
Birds, but was unfortunately beat by Cleopatra.

Of course,
these are just a few of his accomplishments, and, according to Dave, there are
so many more – so many that it would take several Scoops to give them all
their due credit. And, as we said last week, in this new age of computer
technology and animation, we can only imagine how the entertainment world be
different – and even more extraordinary – were Ub Iwerks still here.


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