Nine Old Men
The nine old men was a take on the Supreme Court-that's what FDR called the SC, Disney liked
that so he called his nine key animators that too.
1. Les Clark 1907-1979. Born in Ogden, Utah. Mentor was Ub Iwerks. He worked at a
candy store that Walt frequented, and he asked him for a job. He started working a few
days after graduating HS. Known for loyalty and determination. Debut was the first
symphony cartoon The Skeleton Dance. First of the Nine Old Men.
2. Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman 1909-1985. Born in Munich Germany, the family moved
to Kansas City in 1911. Began working for Disney in 1934, he was a pilot during WW2,
he was known for action sequences. Directed several disney films, he took the
leadership after Walt passed. His three sons provided voices in The Jungle Book, Winnie
the Pooh films, and Sword in the Stone.
3. John Lounsbery 1911-1976, born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Began working with disney in 1935,
assistant animator on Snow White.
4. Milton (Milt) Erwin Kahl 1909-1987, born in San Francisco. Began working at Disney in
1934, considered the finest draughtsman of the Disney animators. Brad Bird was a
protege of him. Animated Shere Khan, The Prince in Snow White, Peter Pan, fairy
godmother, etc.
5. Eric Larson 1905-1988, born in Cleveland, Utah. He started working with Disney in 1933.
Began a recruitment training program in 1973 for the new generation of Disney
animators including Brad Bird, Don Bluth, Tim Burton, and John Lasseter.
6. Marc Fraser Davis 1913-2000, Born in Bakersfield CA. Responsible for Tinker Bell,
Maleficent, cruella de vil, aurora, cinderella, alice, snow white. He became an Imagineer
and worked on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, the Country Bear
Jamboree (originally meant to be at Mineral King) Tinker Bell was based on Margaret
Kerry.
7. Ward Walrath Kimball 1914-2002, Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Started with Disney
in 1934, preferred comical characters rather than realistic human designs. Characters
included Jiminy cricket, Gus from Cinderella, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat. Responsible for
three Disney TV shows about outer space. Founded and led the Firehouse Five Plus
Two-he played the trombone. He liked trains
8. Frank Thomas 1912-2004 born in Fresno, CA. At Stanford he worked with his lifelong
friend Ollie Johnston. Joined disney 1934, member of the Firehouse Five Plus Two
(played piano) Dwarves crying over SW, lady and the tramp eating spaghetti, wizard’s
duel between merlin and Madam Mim in SITS. Several memorable villains, Lady
Tremaine in Cinderella, Captain Hook. He also did WW2 training films.
9. Ollie Johnston 1912-2008, born in Palo Alto, CA. Hobby was steam trains, inspiration for
Walt’s train in his backyard and in Disneyland. Characters include, Baloo in Jungle Book,
Arthur in SITS, Smee, Three fairy godmothers.
Controversial Disney
Mickey’s White Gloves-considered racist because the white gloves were originally associated
with minstrel shows.
The three little pigs-anti semitic and racist, the big bad wolf disguises himself as a jewish
peddler, the antagonist was a black wolf. Eventually redesigned to a fuller brush man.
Fantasia-racist, in the pastoral symphony segment, two black centaurette characters were
depicted in a stereotypical manner, and those scenes were removed in the 60s.
Dumbo-racist, the crows portray African American stereotypes. The lead crow is named Jum
Crow and is voiced by a white man imitating a southern african american dialect. Also, all the
circus workers were African american.
Saludos amigos-outdated cultural depiction, goofy is an american cowboy shown smoking a
cigarette.
Make mine music violence/depiction of gun use
Song of the South/Splash Mountain-racist movie romanticizes the life of slaves and reinforces
stereotypes.
Alice In Wonderland-drug use, the blue caterpillar is shown smoking a hookah and underlying
subtext of drug use
Peter Pan-racism for bad portrayal of Native Americans
Lady and the Tramp-Racism involved with the cats Sia and Am portrayed with asian stereotypes
since they are siamese cats
White Wilderness-portrayal of animal cruelty, things were not accurate
Swiss Family Robinson-racism, the pirates antagonist were the only poc,Yellow and brown face
Jungle book-monkey king is depicted as an african american
Pirates of the caribbean-sexist, original presentation had the pirates selling women off in shakes
Haunted mansion, dead body/suicide.
C.V. Wood-Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood. Hired by Walt to be the VP and GM of Disneyland. After
the opening, Walt and CV’s became strained, he left shortly after in 1956. After this, his role in
Disneyland was omitted from all company records and histories.
1941
The artists strike-May 28 Art Babbitt led the strike -they felt that Disney had treated them unfairly
and that there should be pay increases. After Walt left for the South America tour (left August
11), Roy cleaned things up.
The biggest character for WW2 Propaganda was Donald Duck
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor 12/7/41, the armed forces move into the studios the next day
12/8/41. The main propaganda films he made were Reason and Emotion, Education for Death,
Chicken Little, Der Fuehrer's Face, Victory Through Air Power. He also made military training
films for the war effort and to keep his artists busy.
Mickey Mouse and the D-Day Password-big meeting for generals and high ups. Maybe the
D-Day password?
