Art Babbitt
Encyclopedia
Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American
animator
, best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company
. He received over 80 awards as animation
director and animator, but is most famous for creating Goofy
. Art Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on such films as The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937), Fantasia
(1940), and The Incredible Mr. Limpet
(1964), among others.
in the Little Bohemia
section of town near the Bohemian Cafe
restaurant, but moved to Sioux City, Iowa
after he finished kindergarten. When his hard-working father had an accident on duty and became paralyzed as a result, Art decided to move to New York to take on the role of breadwinner.
's Terrytoons Studio. But in the early 1930s he moved to Los Angeles followed by his fellow Terrytoon colleague Bill Tytla
, and got a job animating for the Walt Disney Studio. His first important work was a drunken mouse in the short "The Country Cousin
"(1936).
At the Disney Studio, He animated the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Geppetto in Pinocchio
, Zeus, Vulcan, and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, and the stork in Dumbo
. Most notably he is credited with creating the character of Goofy
.
. Babbitt then served as one of the union leaders and negotiators.
After serving with the Marines in the Pacific in World War II, Babbitt returned to Disney for a time, following an unfair labor practices suit brought by Babbitt against Disney. Disney was forced to rehire him after the war, but Babbitt did not stay long, and soon went to join the United Productions of America
(UPA) studio formed by other former Disney strikers. He worked on many of their famous award winning shorts, including the lead character Frankie in "Rooty Toot-Toot"(1951).
In the 1950s he was part owner of Quartet Films, where he did commercials, including the Cleo winning "John & Marsha" spot for Parkay Margarine. Later he was part of Hanna & Barbera's commercial wing.
Known in the animation world as one of the art's most accomplished teachers, in 1973 Canadian animator Richard Williams brought Art Babbitt to his London
studio in Soho Square
to deliver a series of lectures on animation acting and technique that subsequently became famous among animators. Some of Babbitt's final work was on the character King Nod in Williams' film "The Thief and the Cobbler
".
In 1991 Disney Company chief Roy E. Disney
, the nephew of Walt, contacted Art Babbitt and they ended the long feud. Art's former rivals, the pro-Walt animators Frank Thomas
and Ollie Johnston
, gave Art a warm and moving eulogy at his funeral service.
, a dance model in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
. His second wife was Dina Babbitt
, a Holocaust survivor. His third wife, who survives him, is actress Barbara Perry. Babbitt died of kidney failure March 4, 1992, at the age of 84.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
, best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
. He received over 80 awards as animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
director and animator, but is most famous for creating Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
. Art Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on such films as The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
(1937), Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
(1940), and The Incredible Mr. Limpet
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a 1964 American live-action/animated film from Warner Bros. It is about a man named Henry Limpet who turns into a talking fish resembling a tilefish and helps the U.S. Navy locate and destroy Nazi submarines. Don Knotts plays the title character. The live action was...
(1964), among others.
Early life
Babbitt was born in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
in the Little Bohemia
Little Bohemia (Omaha, Nebraska)
Little Bohemia, or Bohemian Town, is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Starting in the 1880s, Czech immigrants settled in this highly concentrated area, also called "Praha" or "Bohemian Town", bounded by South 10th Street on the east, South 16th Street on the west, Pierce Street on the...
section of town near the Bohemian Cafe
Bohemian Cafe
The Bohemian Cafe is located at 1406 South 13th Street in the historic Little Bohemia neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. Established in 1924, the cafe sits next to the Prague Hotel...
restaurant, but moved to Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
after he finished kindergarten. When his hard-working father had an accident on duty and became paralyzed as a result, Art decided to move to New York to take on the role of breadwinner.
Career
Art Babbitt began his career in New York City working for Paul TerryPaul Terry (cartoonist)
Paul Houlton Terry was an American cartoonist, screenwriter, film director and one of the most prolific film producers in history...
's Terrytoons Studio. But in the early 1930s he moved to Los Angeles followed by his fellow Terrytoon colleague Bill Tytla
Bill Tytla
Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla was one of the original Disney animators and is considered by many to be the best character animator to work during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation...
, and got a job animating for the Walt Disney Studio. His first important work was a drunken mouse in the short "The Country Cousin
The Country Cousin
The Country Cousin is an animated short film released on October 31, 1936 by RKO Radio Pictures. The winner of the 1936 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the film was produced by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, and animated by Art Babbitt and Les Clark...
"(1936).
At the Disney Studio, He animated the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Geppetto in Pinocchio
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
, Zeus, Vulcan, and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, and the stork in Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
. Most notably he is credited with creating the character of Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
.
Cartoonist Strike
Despite being one of the highest paid animators at Disney, Babbitt was sympathetic to the cause of lower echelon Disney artists seeking to form a union. For this he earned Walt Disney's everlasting enmity. After leaving the Disney company union and joining the "Screen Cartoonists' Guild Local 852", the regular union representing all of Hollywood animators, Babbitt was fired from Disney in 1941, an event that eventually led to the 1941 Disney animators' strikeDisney animators' strike
The Disney animators' strike was a labor strike by the animators of Walt Disney Studios in 1941.-History:The 1930s led to a rise of labor unions in motion pictures as in other industries such as The Screen Actors Guild which was formed in 1933. Animators of Fleischer Studios went on strike in 1937...
. Babbitt then served as one of the union leaders and negotiators.
After serving with the Marines in the Pacific in World War II, Babbitt returned to Disney for a time, following an unfair labor practices suit brought by Babbitt against Disney. Disney was forced to rehire him after the war, but Babbitt did not stay long, and soon went to join the United Productions of America
United Productions of America
United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio of the 1940s through present day, beginning with industrial films and World War II training films. In the late 1940s, UPA produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, most notably the Mr. Magoo series. In...
(UPA) studio formed by other former Disney strikers. He worked on many of their famous award winning shorts, including the lead character Frankie in "Rooty Toot-Toot"(1951).
In the 1950s he was part owner of Quartet Films, where he did commercials, including the Cleo winning "John & Marsha" spot for Parkay Margarine. Later he was part of Hanna & Barbera's commercial wing.
Known in the animation world as one of the art's most accomplished teachers, in 1973 Canadian animator Richard Williams brought Art Babbitt to his London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
studio in Soho Square
Soho Square
Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut...
to deliver a series of lectures on animation acting and technique that subsequently became famous among animators. Some of Babbitt's final work was on the character King Nod in Williams' film "The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated feature film, famous for its animation and its long, troubled history. The film was conceived by Canadian animator Richard Williams, who worked 28 years on the project. Beginning production in 1964, Williams intended The Thief and the Cobbler to be his...
".
In 1991 Disney Company chief Roy E. Disney
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney, KCSG was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder , and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors...
, the nephew of Walt, contacted Art Babbitt and they ended the long feud. Art's former rivals, the pro-Walt animators Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas (animator)
Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men....
and Ollie Johnston
Ollie Johnston
Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989...
, gave Art a warm and moving eulogy at his funeral service.
Family life
His first wife (1937–1940) was Marge ChampionMarge Champion
Marge Champion is an American dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. In addition, she also worked in film and appeared in a number of television variety shows.-Early years:...
, a dance model in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
. His second wife was Dina Babbitt
Dina Babbitt
Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt was an artist and Holocaust survivor. A U.S. citizen, she resided in Santa Cruz, California....
, a Holocaust survivor. His third wife, who survives him, is actress Barbara Perry. Babbitt died of kidney failure March 4, 1992, at the age of 84.
Legacy
In the late 1980s a British television documentary titled "Animating Art" was broadcast, celebrating Babbitt's life and work. The documentary was produced and directed by Imogen Sutton (Richard Williams wife), and features extensive interviews with Babbitt and his then employer, Richard Williams.External links
Retrieved January 2010- Dina Babbitt - Daily Telegraph obituary. Retrieved January 2010
- Animating Art at www.youtube.com Retrieved January 2010