Art Babbitt: A Class of His Own
That person, on all three counts, was Art Babbitt. Much has been said about Babbitt as a remarkable animator and a tireless activist. What follows is the history of Art Babbitt and his involvement with – and invention of - animation education.
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During the Great Depression, many talented artists began seeking employment at Disney’s as a means to earn their bread and butter. New York animators like Babbitt had gainful employment and opted to move out west, usually with a pay cut, just to work on something that was pushing the limits of the medium. Babbitt had worked at Terrytoons on Farmer Alfalfa shorts like Noah’s Outing (1932), which did little more than bank on the novelty of moving comic strips. A lover of classical music, Babbitt had been following Disney’s Silly Symphonies ever since The Skeleton Dance (1929), and in July of 1932, at the age of 24, got a job working for Walt Disney.
At Disney’s, Babbitt shared an animation room with seven other animators, including wunderkind Freddy Moore. Men like Wilfred Jackson, Babbitt’s most frequent director, would begin tackling a short by posting a sheet on the animation floor’s bulletin board. It was a one-page summary of the proposed short with the cast of characters and pointed requests for gag ideas. Eventually, each conceived cartoon short would be discussed in the story room, a high-ceilinged foyer perfect to display storyboards as needed. Story meetings were open to all involved, and Babbitt joined Walt and the writing team many times as they perched atop a desk or in wicker chairs.
Babbitt took his work seriously enough to do what no artist did at the time – he studied live footage. With a 16mm camera he bought himself, he logged walks, runs, jumps and volleyball games on the Disney lot. In an age before a slow-motion button on a home video player, Babbitt, like Eadweard Muybridge, was analyzing how muscles moved. Disney legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston write, “It put him ahead of the others immediately, since he was able to create new actions beyond our understanding.”[1]
However, the use of the camera was for more than simply analyzing movement, and Babbitt understood this. He appreciated it as a tool towards bettering the art of animation. Frank Thomas tells a story in which Herb Lamb, the manager of production under businessman Roy O. Disney, cornered Babbitt and Thomas. In his spiffy suit, Lamb smirked and asked, “Why do you need people to draw pictures, when you have a camera?” Art-school-educated Thomas began to respond with a stuffy treatise on the value of art in society. The next moment Babbitt said, “Wait a minute, Frank, let me tell him:
“When you look at me, Herb,” he said, “you see something more than glasses, a nose and a mouth. You see something that says stubborn, you see something that says aggressive, you see something that says I fight for the things I believe in, no matter what.”[2]
Babbitt knew that rendering pure feeling was key to Disney animation – and he was able to communicate that to a left-brained suit.
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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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