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Iwerks
Ubbe Ert "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and for having worked on the development of the design of the character of Mickey Mouse, among others. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney while working at a Kansas City art studio in 1919. After briefly working as illustrators for a local newspaper company, Disney and Iwerks ventured into animation together. Iwerks joined Disney as chief animator on the Laugh-O-Gram shorts series beginning in 1922, but a studio bankruptcy would cause Disney to relocate to Los Angeles in 1923. In the new studio, Iwerks continued to work with Disney on the ''Alice Comedies'' as well as the creation of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character. Following the first ''Oswald'' short, both Universal Pictures and the Winkler Pictures production com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flip The Frog
Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring characters, including Flip's dog, the mule Orace, and a dizzy neighborhood spinster. History Ub Iwerks was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios and a personal friend of Walt Disney. In 1930, after a series of disputes between the two, Iwerks left Disney and went on to accept an offer from Pat Powers to open a cartoon studio of his own, Iwerks Studio, and receive a salary of $300 a week, an offer that Disney was unable to match at the time. Iwerks was to produce new cartoons under Powers' Celebrity Pictures auspices and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first series he was to produce was to feature a character called Tony the Frog, but Iwerks disliked the name and was subsequently changed to Flip. Ub Iwerks planned to release the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Iwerks
Leslie Iwerks ( ; born April 22, 1970) is an American producer, director, and writer. She is daughter of Disney Legend Don Iwerks and granddaughter of Ub Iwerks, the animator and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. She has directed films including '' Recycled Life'' which was nominated for an Academy Award and '' The Pixar Story'' which was nominated for an Emmy. She is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and the International Documentary Association. Iwerks has also worked with non-profit organizations Save Our Seas, Safe Passage, NRDC, and the Sierra Club to raise awareness on matters affecting the globe. She currently helms Santa Monica-based production company Iwerks & Co. Biography Iwerks graduated with a BA from the University of Southern California and currently is a member of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Alumni Council. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Iwerks
Donald Warren Iwerks ( ; born July 24, 1929) is an American former Disney executive and co-founder of Iwerks Entertainment along with former Disney executive Stan Kinsey. He is the son of the animator Ub Iwerks (Walt Disney's original business partner and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) and father of Oscar-nominated documentary film producer Leslie Iwerks. Career In 1950, Iwerks joined the Disney company in the machine shop as a technician. In 1954, Iwerks worked as a camera technician for the film ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'', starring Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre. He spent the next 30 years driving film innovations for the Disney company. Notable contributions include the first 360 film techniques, 360-degree camera, and first Circle-Vision 360 film, ''America the Beautiful'', and developing the process for creating seamless live action shots with animated backgrounds. In 1985, after nearly 35 years at Disney, Iwerks left to form his own company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Whopper
Willie Whopper is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks Studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 14 shorts were produced in 1933 to 1934. History Willie is a young lad who tells of his many outlandish adventures, which are then depicted on-screen. His fantastic accounts are, in fact, outright lies or "whoppers". His stories are usually preceded by his catchphrase, "Say, did I ever tell ya this one?" The character's first-produced film was ''The Air Race'' (1933), in which Willie tells of how he entered and won the 1933 National Air Race—even receiving a kiss from Amelia Earhart in the end. The short reflects Iwerks' own fascination with aviation. One scene even involves a plane crashing into a "Fireworks" stand which, afterwards is reduced in spelling to "I WERKS" (the animator Ub Iwerks' last name). ''The Air Race'' was initially left unreleased becau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white gloves. He is often depicted with a Mickey Mouse universe, cast of characters including his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto (Disney), Pluto, his best friends Donald Duck and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete (Disney), Pete. Mickey was created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character was originally to be named "Mortimer Mouse", until Disney's wife, Lillian Disney, Lillian, suggested "Mickey". Mickey first appeared in two 1928 shorts ''Plane Crazy'' and ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'' (which were not picked up for distribution) before his public debut in ''Steamboat Willie'' (1928). The character went on to appear in over 130 films, mostly shorts as well as features such as ''Fantasia (1940 film) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iwerks Studio
Iwerks Studio was an animation studio based in Beverly Hills, California, headed by animator Ub Iwerks, in operation between 1930 and 1936. Financing Iwerks was working at Walt Disney Animation Studios when he accepted a contract with Disney's former distributor, Pat Powers, to leave Disney and start an animation studio under his own name. The Iwerks Studio opened in 1930. Financial backers led by Pat Powers suspected that Iwerks was responsible for much of Disney's early success. Newly hired animator Fred Kopietz recommended that Iwerks employ a friend from Chouinard Art School, Chuck Jones, who was hired and put to work as a cel washer. Despite a contract with MGM to distribute the cartoons, the Iwerks Studio was never a major commercial success and failed to rival either the Disney Studio or Fleischer Studios. In 1936, backers withdrew financial support from the Iwerks Studio, and it folded soon after. Characters Iwerks created the characters Flip the Frog, and late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now the Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy O. Disney, Roy. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steamboat Willie
''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released by Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the public debut of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, although both appeared months earlier in a test screening of ''Plane Crazy'' and the then unreleased ''The Gallopin' Gaucho''. ''Steamboat Willie'' is the third of Mickey's films to have been produced, but it is the first to have been Film distribution, distributed, because Disney had seen ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927) and became determined to produce one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons. ''Steamboat Willie'' is one of the first cartoons with Sound film, synchronized sound, and one of the first cartoons to feature a fully Audio post production, post-produced soundtrack, which distinguished it from earlier sound cartoons, such as Fleis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Skeleton Dance
''The Skeleton Dance'' is a 1929 ''Silly Symphony'' animated short subject with a comedy horror theme. It was produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. In the film, reanimated human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example of medieval European "danse macabre" imagery. It is the first entry in the ''Silly Symphony'' series. The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, and as a published work from 1929, it entered the US public domain on January 1, 2025. Plot The short film begins with an owl perched on a branch, in front of the full moon, then shows an empty graveyard with a church in the background. The minute hand on the church's clock strikes twelve, causing its bell to start tolling, which causes a group of bats to flee from the belfry. A dog howls at the moon, while two cats fight over a grave. A skeleton emerges from the grave and frolics, but at the sound of the owl, the skeleton hides behind a grave. Upset abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oswald The Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit, Oswald Rabbit, and Ozzie) is an animated series, animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studio. After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney created Mickey Mouse as a replacement to Oswald. In 2003, Buena Vista Games pitched a concept for an Oswald-themed video game to then-Disney President and future-CEO Bob Iger, who became committed to acquiring the rights to Oswald. In 2006, The Walt Disney Company acquired the trademark of Oswald (with NBCUniversal effectively trading Oswald for the services of Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer on ''NBC Sunday Night Football''). Oswald returned in Disney's 2010 video game, ''Epic Mickey''. The game's metafiction plot para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silly Symphony
''Silly Symphony'' (also known as ''Silly Symphonies'') is an American animation, animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the ''Mickey Mouse (film series), Mickey Mouse'' shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this include ''Three Little Pigs (film), Three Little Pigs'', ''The Tortoise and the Hare (film), The Tortoise and the Hare'', and ''Three Orphan Kittens'', which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the Multiplane camera, multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck, who made his first appearance in the ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon ''The Wise Little Hen'' in 1934. Seven shorts won the Acad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ComiColor Cartoons
''ComiColor Cartoons'' is a series of twenty-five animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by Iwerks Studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior company Celebrity Pictures (run by Pat Powers) had to distribute the films itself. The series was shot exclusively in Cinecolor. Most of the ComiColor entries were based upon popular fairy tales and other familiar stories, including ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', ''Old Mother Hubbard'', '' The Bremen Town Musicians'', and '' The Headless Horseman''. Production Grim Natwick, Al Eugster, and Shamus Culhane were among the series' lead animators/directors, and a number of the shorts were filmed using Iwerks' multiplane camera, which he built himself from the remains of a Chevrolet automobile. Filmography Copyright status Even though Metro Goldwyn Mayer published some of the shorts,The Comicolor cartoons are public domain due to copyri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
