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Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company. He received over 80 awards as animation director and animator, but is most famous for creating Goofy. Art Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on such films as The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), and The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), among others.
Early life Babbitt was born in Omaha, Nebraska in the Little Bohemia section of town near the Bohemian Cafe restaurant, but moved to Sioux City, Iowa after he finished kindergarten. When his hard-working father had an accident on duty and became paralyzed as a result, Art decided to move to New York to take on the role of breadwinner. Career Art Babbit is credited with creating Goofy Art Babbitt began his career in New York City working for Paul Terry's Terrytoons Studio. But in the early 1930s he moved to Los Angeles followed by his fellow Terrytoon colleague Bill Tytla, and got a job animating for the Walt Disney Studio. His first important work was a drunken mouse in the short "The Country Cousin"(1936).[1] At the Disney Studio, He animated the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Geppetto in Pinocchio, Zeus, Vulcan, and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, and the stork in Dumbo. Most notably he is credited with creating the character of Goofy. Cartoonist Strike Despite being one of the highest paid animators at Disney, Babbitt was sympathetic to the cause of lower echelon Disney artists seeking to form a union. Most of the strikers were in-betweeners, cel painters, and other less-well paid employees, who in 1941 began industrial action in pursuit of better working conditions. As a top animator, Babbitt was one of relatively few well-paid artists to join the strike, and he became one of the strike leaders.[2] For his part in the strike, Babbit earned Walt Disney's everlasting enmity. Disney was forced to re-hire Babbitt after the strike was over, along with many other strikers, but by now the two men hated one another. Babbitt worked with director Jack Kinney, another "Goofy man" (meaning that they worked together on the Goofy shorts), as Disney began to look for ways to be rid of Babbitt. "If he gets in your way, let me know", Disney said to Kinney. Babbitt was fired more than once but was re-instated, taking his case successfully all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, and winning a handsome settlement. [3] WWII After serving with the Marines in the Pacific in World War II, Babbitt returned to Disney for a time, following an unfair labor practices suit brought by Babbitt against Disney. Disney was forced to rehire him after the war, but Babbitt did not stay long. Along with some other former Disney strikers. Babbitt left Disney and went to join the United Productions of America (UPA), a new studio which pioneered a modern, simplified form of animation. He worked on many of their famous award winning shorts, including the lead character Frankie in "Rooty Toot-Toot"(1951), and won many awards.[3] In the 1950s he was part owner of Quartet Films, where he did commercials, including the Cleo winning "John & Marsha" spot for Parkay Margarine. Later he was part of Hanna & Barbera's commercial wing. Known in the animation world as one of the art's most accomplished teachers, in 1973 Canadian animator Richard Williams brought Art Babbitt to his London studio in Soho Square to deliver a series of lectures on animation acting and technique that subsequently became famous among animators. Some of Babbitt's final work was on the characters King Nod and Phido, the vulture, in Williams' film "The Thief and the Cobbler". In 1991 Disney Company chief Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt, contacted Art Babbitt and they ended the long feud. Art's former rivals, the pro-Walt animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, gave Art a warm and moving eulogy at his funeral service. Family life His first wife (1937 1940) was Marge Champion, a dance model in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His second wife was Dina Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor. His third wife, who survives him, is actress Barbara Perry. Babbitt died of kidney failure March 4, 1992, at the age of 84. Legacy In the late 1980s a British television documentary titled "Animating Art" was broadcast, celebrating Babbitt's life and work. The documentary was produced and directed by Imogen Sutton (Richard Williams wife), and features extensive interviews with Babbitt and his then employer, Richard Williams.[4] References - Kinney, Jack, Walt Disney and other assorted characters - An unauthorised account of the early years at Disney's, Harmony Books, New York, 1988
Notes External links es:Art Babbitt fr:Art Babbitt it:Art Babbitt he: ja: pl:Art Babbitt ru: , fi:Art Babbitt
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