Art Babbitt: A Class of His Own
When I was a budding animation geek during the Disney renaissance of the early ‘90s, I marveled at how lead animators were cast for similar-type characters in different films. Some were adept at the villains; others portrayed the delicate female leads. I understood that animation truly is “acting with a pencil.”
Curiosity naturally led me to the classic Disney films of the Golden Age: that magical era of the ‘30s and early '40s that not only solidified Disney as a masterful purveyor of fantasy, but also sky-rocketed the art of animation to incredible new heights. There was Bill Tytla, whose characters were so intense they humbled you. There was Freddy Moore, whose childlike characters bounced with appeal. But there was one animator, Art Babbitt, who didn’t seem to fit in any category. I learned that he was responsible for the Queen in Snow White, Geppetto in Pinocchio, and the unforgettable dancing mushrooms in Fantasia.
To top it off, I read, Babbitt was single-handedly responsible for developing Goofy – not in a particular cartoon, but overall. He wrote an analytical essay on the inner workings of Goofy’s mind, and he invented the Goof’s unique walk: knees and ankles would pop backwards, a method Babbitt called “breaking the joints.” I acknowledged that this “father of Goofy” was an incredible talent who must have paved the way for the fabled “Nine Old Men” at Disney’s, and I filed the name “Art Babbitt” in my brain for future trivia contests.
One day I saw a unique animation picture: an old photo, angled downward at a blacktop lot where dozens of men and women carried picket signs. The signs displayed Disney cartoon characters, and one close enough to the camera had on it Pinocchio with the words “There are NO strings on me.” The caption below noted that this photo was taken during the “famous” 1941 Disney labor strike.
If it was famous, I had never heard of it. After gleaning bits from various non-Disney publications (this was pre-internet), I was able to piece the story together. The artists, led by top-animator Babbitt, wanted Disney to recognize an independent union. It was a long ordeal that eventually succeeded in making the Disney Studio a union shop, but Babbitt left, never again having the kind of opportunity he had under the Disney roof.
What a pity, I thought, that a brilliant artist – a groundbreaking lead animator and the father of Goofy – should be shunned by the Disney Studio. Then the impact of his efforts hit me: this man led what surely was one of the biggest Hollywood labor strikes in history, and led it to victory, no less. Art Babbitt indeed impacted animation in significant ways beyond the limits of the artist, or the innovator.
It wasn’t until years later that I became aware of another of Art Babbitt’s legacies.
Today, animators and artists at the Walt Disney Studios may attend in-house life-drawing classes after hours. Nickelodeon studios has unstructured figure drawing sessions throughout the year. Over at Pixar, classes are held twice a week in the Life Drawing Room. Blue Sky Studios offers life-drawing sessions every Thursday. When they return to work, the animators and CG artists point cameras at themselves. They record and study video footage of a scene for inspiration. All over the world, colleges teach animation classes to the future “actors with a pencil.”
Someone had to be the first to use live footage as animation reference. Someone had to be the first to bring art classes to animators. Someone had to be the very first master animator to teach a university-level animation curriculum.
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I thought about it and had to come back to point out that Art animated the Mushroom Dance, not Jules Engel. That is what Art would have wanted said here.
I really appreciate this article lauding Art Babbitt's accomplishments as an animator and an educator . His methods of teaching animation (disseminated via Richard Williams and the notes of various Williams studio animators who studied under Babbitt during those years) have had a major impact on how animation principles are taught .
One thing you should correct about this article is a rather off-handed , somewhat dismissive remark about Lester Novros on page 5: "Before Babbitt joined the staff of the University of Southern California, a single animation class was taught by ex-Disney inbetweener Lester Novros. "
The phrase "ex-Disney inbetweener" is a gross understatement about Les Novros's career and doesn't do the man justice. Google for Les Novros's screen credits on IMDB or on the "History" section of his company Graphic Films .com .
Les Novros , like everyone else , including "star animators" like Art Babbitt and Fred Moore , or Frank Thomas , started at Disney serving an apprenticeship on the lower rungs of the ladder as an assistant animator , so it would be just as accurate to refer to "ex-Disney inbetweener Frank Thomas" or "ex-Terrytoons assistant Art Babbitt" , but does that sort of description accurately sum up Frank Thomas's or Art Babbitt's subsequent careers and positions in the industry ? Not at all. Novros started off as an assistant at Disney, but by 1940 was credited as an animator on Fantasia ("Night on Bald Mountain / Ave Maria" sequence) . He left Disney during the 1941 strike and established his own independent animation studio, Graphic Films, which produced hundreds of educational , documentary, and advertising films in animation and live-action over the years. Novros was a central figure in establishing the Cinema Department of the University of Southern California .
Art Babbitt was a great inspiration for me. As an animator, as a teacher and most importantly on how you to live your life as an artist. He could have remained one of Walt's kiss-asses and done very well for himself. But he spoke out constantly on behalf of the low-paid and unappreciated of our field.
There are those became better animators than he, many became more rich and famous than he, but no one could deny Art Babbitt was a man who lived by his principles. I am ever thankful for his and Barbara's friendship, and all who ply the trade of animator should be thankful for all that he did for us.
I worked with Art at FilmFair at the end of his career and spent lunch hours with him every day. He was an old lion, but he was still a lion. He was very good to me.
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