Ollie Johnston - Disney's Nine Old Men

Ollie Johnston (October 31, 1912 - April 14, 2008) was hired by Disney on January 21, 1935, four months after his friend Frank Thomas. He worked his in-betweener stint for just two months before being promoted as an assistant to Fred Moore on March 23, 1936.

Johnston at Stanford, 1931...

Fred Moore, one of the studio's most gifted animators, would sometimes get pinched by mood swings and creative blocks. Yet, Johnston (like Thomas before him) looked back with fond memories on his time as Moore's assistant, "It was the greatest learning experience I ever had."

Fred draws a sketch for Ollie...

When production began on Snow White, Fred (along with Bill Tytla) became a supervising animator for the dwarfs. Under Moore was a small crew of animators that included Frank Thomas, Les Clark, Dick Lundy, and Fred Spencer. Johnston's job was to supervise all the cleanup for this team's drawings.

One of Fred Moore's dwarfs...

Ollie would also attend...

...all of the "sweatbox" (projection room) meetings with the top directors and Walt who "criticized the hell out of Fred's stuff. 'Cause he was using Fred as his standard. John Canemaker's Nine Old Men p.214

A screen capture of the "sweatbox" from the RKO release How Walt Disney Cartoons Are Made (1938)...

During the final four months of production, most of the artists, including Johnston, worked from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm each day to get the movie completed on time. In addition to overseeing cleanup, Ollie was also handed small scenes to animate such as the dwarfs hiding by the bed.

At the conclusion of Snow White, Moore lobbied Walt to promote Ollie to junior animator. Johnston worked on sections for the Brave Little Tailor and was then teamed with Frank Thomas on Pinocchio. The rest is history.

In 1981 the two lifelong friends published their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. In 1995, they were featured in the documentary Frank and Ollie. Pictured below, the two reenact a pose from a photo (seen in Frank Thomas post) taken at Stanford nearly fifty years earlier.

Photos and dwarf sketch via John Canemaker's Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation, 2001.

Movie image scans copyright Disney.

Further reading:

• Mouse Planet 2008 article
• Disney Legends: Bio
• 50 Most Influential Disney Animators: Ollie Johnston

The Nine Old Men

1958 Photo: left to right, Kimball, Larson, Thomas, Davis, Johnston, Clark, Kahl, Lounsbery, Reitherman

Much has been written about the Nine Old Men and their larger-than-life animation achievements. These were not the first talented artists to work for the Disney Studio, yet they certainly became it's creative core for more than 40 years.

Probably the most definitive work on these 'conquistadors' of the Golden Age is John Canemaker's book, Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (Disney Editions, 2001, ISBN-10: 0786864966).

Front Cover

Canemaker recounts how Walt jokingly nicknamed this dream team after President Roosevelt's description of his contentious 1937 Supreme Court, "nine old men, all too aged to recognize a new idea."

Newspaper Cartoon, February 9, 1937, Brooklyn Citizen via New Deal Network.

Of course, the animators were neither old nor afraid of new ideas. Quite the opposite, they would be the leaders, taking the art of animation to new heights.

The Nine Old Men were:

• Les Clark (joined Disney February 23, 1927)
• Wolfgang Reitherman (May 21, 1933)
• Eric Larson (June 1, 1933)
• Ward Kimball (April 2, 1934)
• Milt Kahl (June 25, 1934)
• Frank Thomas (September 24, 1934)
• Ollie Johnston (January 21, 1935)
• John Lounsbery (July 2, 1935)
• Marc Davis (December 2, 1935)

1972 Photo: left to right, Kahl, Reitherman, Davis, Clark, Thomas, Kimball, Larson, Lounsbery, Johnston

Animator Les Clark was the first to be hired in early 1927. The rest of the group came in between 1933-35, just as things were heating up for the making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. From 1935-37, all nine of the very young "old men" would be involved.

Throughout this month, we'll take a closer look at what each contributed to the film and in what capacity they served the animation factory that was the Disney Studio of the late 1930s.

Further reading:

• "2002 Interview with John Canemaker" at The Laughing Place
• "Walt's Nine Old Men" from A Day in Disney History

"An Art in Its Making" - The Book

Front Cover and Spine

Stephen Ison's animation art collection is beautifully reproduced in the 1994 Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: An Art in Its Making. The 192-page hardcover features loads of stunning full-color images of the artwork along with an introduction written by Steve and text by Martin Krause and Linda Witkowski.


Synopsis by Gordon Flagg of Booklist magazine...

Krause provides a critically incisive account of making the film, from its inception through its three years in production to its wildly enthusiastic reception by audiences and critics. Witkowski supplies a detailed, fairly technical explanation of the animation process as well as a guide to the preservation and handling of animation art designed to appeal to serious students of the genre. The heart of the volume is a retelling of the famous story scene-by-scene by means of cel reproductions, pencil drawings, and other production art.

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From an email correspondence with Steve earlier this year...

Filmic Light: How did the Snow White...An Art in Its Making book come about?

Stephen Ison: It started out to only be a catalogue for the exhibition. I kept pounding on the museum “powers that be” that it needed to be a book. I won...especially after Hyperion Press wanted to publish it.

FL: Did you know authors Martin Krause or Linda Witkowski before the book?

SI: Yes. Linda Witkowski was the person I had known who helped/taught me about conservation and preservation of animation art. She had actually done her college Masters thesis on cel restoration and conservation. Linda introduced me to Marty who helped me convince the IMA that an exhibition of art from Snow White could be successful.

FL: How much were you involved with it?

SI: Pretty much, every aspect, whether they always welcomed it or not.

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The opening of the 1994 Indianapolis Museum of Art exhibit featuring Steve's collection was quite an event. Diane Disney Miller attended along with animator greats Ward Kimball (along with his wife Betty), Marc Davis, Joe Grant, Ken O'Connor, Maurice Noble, and Bill Justice. What an opportunity it was for the attendees to meet and chat with these legends...and to get autographs.

The title page from the book below comes from the Phil Sears Collection. It features the signatures of all of the animators mentioned above. In addition, it's signed by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston who could not attend the Indianapolis event due to an illness that Ollie’s wife was suffering from.

Signed Title Page. Book sold for $499 (USD) on August 30, 2010. Image via Phil Sears Collectibles.

[CLICK IMAGES FOR A BETTER VIEW]

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Steve's collection encompassed a wide range of animation art including "master backgrounds, concept art, cels, drawings, studio notes, character models, and various other items associated with the film." Here's a just a few of the dynamic images found within this handsome book.

Layouts and storyboard drawings...

Backgrounds and watercolors...

Cel set-ups...

Images copyright Disney/Hyperion Press/Stephen Ison

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In 1995, a "Disney Miniature Edition" was published. Same book, same number of pages, just smaller in size.

Front Cover, miniature edition

While both the original and miniature versions are no longer found via new bookstore channels, they are available from online resellers, often for a decent price. On a side note, it was about a decade ago that I stumbled upon a stack of 15 to 20 brand new shrink-wrapped copies of the full-size original, all dramatically reduced in price at a Barnes and Noble. I couldn't resist...I bought them all.

Original Edition:
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published by Hyperion Press (September 23, 1994)
ISBN-10: 0786861444
ISBN-13: 978-0786861446
Measures 10.9" x 9.6"

Miniature Edition:
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published by Hyperion Press (November 3, 1995)
ISBN-10: 0786861878
ISBN-13: 978-0786861873
Measures 5.5" x 4.7"