At the time, Babbitt had created a reputation for himself after taking a merchant to court over a sales tax dispute of three cents.  Like Walt, he had an assertive personality; unlike Walt, Babbitt was known as a swinging bachelor around the studio.  His methods of flirtation included sharing eye-strengthening techniques to the bespectacled female staff –  before inviting them to his home for further practice.[3]  One day in 1932, Walt found out that his artists were hanging around Babbitt’s living room after work, and in the company of naked women!  In actuality, Babbitt had started a life-drawing class.

It began as Babbitt’s brainchild.  On occasions past, Walt had himself driven a few artists at a time to nearby Chouinard’s Art Institute.  Clearly, Walt understood the benefits of higher art, but Babbitt had his own idea.  He consulted his fellow animator, Texas-born and Chouinard’s-educated Hardie Gramatky, as to how to go about hiring a model on a freelance basis.  Gramatky helped Babbitt connect with Chouinard’s, and the school recommended a model. 

At the time, Babbitt was living alone in a sprawling villa in an area called Tuxedo Terrace.  The place had three bedrooms, two fireplaces, and, bachelor-fashion, was furnished with more cushions than actual furniture.  Thinking there would be little interest, Babbitt casually invited only a couple of the guys from his animation room to come to his place for an evening drawing session.  That night, all seven artists in his animation room turned up. Class was to be held the next week, as well, and Babbitt was then surprised to find fourteen Disney animators showing up at his door.  The week after that it was twenty.  Word of mouth had done its part, and the artists, ready to better their skill, were willing to sit in a crowded living room atop orange crates just to get some good drawing in.  Babbitt didn’t presume to play teacher, but as monitor he kept role, collected 60-cents-an-hour for the model and made sure all the virile young animators behaved themselves.[4]

The Disney Studio life drawing class.

One morning, Walt called Babbitt to his office and they had a conversation something like what follows:

Walt:   Art, I understand you’ve been conducting nude drawing in your home.

Art:     That’s right, Walt.  The boys are really getting a lot out of it. 

Walt:   Uh huh…  ya know, if the newspapers find out about a bunch of Mickey Mouse artists grouping together around a naked woman in a private house, the studio would be up a creek.

Art:     But it’s for the benefit of the studio, Walt.  We’re all learning and drawing 100% better as a result, you see.  Some of the guys, like Freddy, have never even had formal art training.

Walt:   Well, then we should hold these sessions here at the studio.  I’ll pay for it.  The fellas can use the sound stage after work hours.  How much do models get, anyway?

Art:     Um, a dollar-twenty an hour.  Plus carfare, you know.

Walt:   A dollar-twenty, eh?  All right.  Tell the boys we’ll start next week.[5]

It fell upon Babbitt to secure the models.[6]  For two months, Art monitored Disney’s art class on the sound stage after the voice actors and musicians had gone home.  Sometimes wisecracks would surface and the person would not be invited back – this being the occasional model.  Babbitt asked Gramatky again for a suggestion for an instructor.  Gramatky suggested Don Graham.  On November 15, 1932, Don Graham held his first Disney class.  He would forever credit Babbitt for it.[7]

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In Graham’s class, the other artists began to shift their conception of the limits of animation.  In the opinion of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, “Don was an exceptionally fine teacher.  Instead of criticizing your drawing, he made you think about why you were drawing it that way, stimulating a whole new way of thinking about art.”[8]