"Over the years in animation, there have been a lot of great animators.
Ub Iwerks was one of those people. We know his work, but we don't necessarily know the man."
The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (in 5 parts on DailyMotion:
1,
2,
3,
4, and
5) tells of the life of Ubbe Eert Iwerks, from the formation of the friendship with Walt Disney when they met at advertisement studio in Kansas City, their artistic collaborations and Ub's 20 years of animation, to Iwerk's technical creations that kept Disney animated pictures ahead of other studios.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 31, 2012 -
14 comments
Mickey Mouse's early road to fame (yt playlist with ~160 videos) has some odd twists and turns. One of Walt Disney's early cartoon creations was
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the star of
Trolley Troubles (5:45, 1927) and other early shorts. Disney had big plans for the popular little rabbit, and wanted to increase his budget from Universal Pictures. Unfortunately,
Charles B. Mintz wanted to scale back the budget, and in the end
Universal kept control of Oswald Rabbit. Without Oswald, Disney needed something new. Jack Dunham, one of
Disney's Nine Old Men recalled animating Oswald and "
the one without the ears." Initially, this one was called Mortimer, but Lillian Disney, Walt Disney's wife, believed the name "Mortimer"
sounded too pompous and suggested the name Mickey, though
Mickey Rooney claims he was the inspiration. Either way, the mouse was
renamed Mickey in short order, and he starred in
Plane Crazy (
video, 6:00, 1928,
previously). By 1929, he was wearing his iconic gloves (and talking), in
The Karnival Kid (
video, 7:41). But Mortimer returned, as
Mickey's Rival (8:16, 1936), eventually getting
his own themesong (1:56, modern recording off of TV;
better quality song with a still image, 1:35) and again in
a modern short (1:30, 2000), amongst
other appearances. Then there's
Uncle Mortimer, who first traveled with
Mickey Mouse in Death Valley, though it's not always clear whose uncle he is. And in the alternate universe that is
Bloom County,
Mickey's fraternal twin is Mortimer (technically, he resides in
Outland).
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 27, 2009 -
10 comments
