Ub iwerks biography examples

The Hand Behind the Mouse: An Intimate Biography of Ub Iwerks

May 13, 2010
Ub Iwerks was the largely unacknowledged talent behind much of what Walt Disney accomplished. He first met Walt and started to work with him in Kansas City; when Walt went to Hollywood, Ub soon followed him. He created Mickey Mouse (and animated his first short, "Plane Crazy", all by himself -- 700 frames -- in just two weeks) and worked on Walt's Alice shorts and the Silly Symphonies as well before deciding to leave Walt's studio and go into business for himself. However, his cartoons, though technically excellent, never became as popular as those from Disney or Warner Brothers, and eventually Ub returned to Disney.

Here, his career changed, as he left animation behind in favor of invention and technical wizardry. I knew that he had played that role after his return to Disney, but I had no idea of the extent of it: the Xerographic process for creating cels, the Circarama and Circlevision cameras, matte photography, optical printing -- the list just goes on and on. Ub worked on films from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" to "The Parent Trap" to "Mary Poppins" (for which he won an Academy Award), and even Hitchcock's "The Birds".

The Hand Behind the Mouse would likely be interesting to any fan of film, but it's an indispensable addition to any Disneyphile's library.

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  • Ub Iwerks

    American animator and special effects pioneer (1901–1971)

    Ub Iwerks

    Iwerks animating his most famous co-creation, Mickey Mousec. 1929

    Born

    Ubbe Ert Iwerks


    (1901-03-24)March 24, 1901

    Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.

    DiedJuly 7, 1971(1971-07-07) (aged 70)

    Burbank, California, U.S.

    Resting placeForest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery
    Occupations
    • Animator
    • cartoonist
    • film producer
    • inventor
    • special effects technician
    Years active1919–1971
    Employers
    Notable work
    Spouse

    Mildred Sarah Henderson

    (m. 1927⁠–⁠1971)​
    Children2, including Don Iwerks
    RelativesLeslie Iwerks (granddaughter)

    Ubbe Ert Iwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks (UBEYE-wurks), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effectstechnician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and for having worked on the development of the design of the character of Mickey Mouse, among others. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney while working at a Kansas City art studio in 1919.

    After briefly working as illustrators for a local newspaper company, Disney and Iwerks ventured into animation together. Iwerks joined Disney as chief animator on the Laugh-O-Gram shorts series beginning in 1922, but a studio bankruptcy would cause Disney to relocate to Los Angeles in 1923. In the new studio, Iwerks continued to work with Disney on the Alice Comedies as well as the creation of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character. Following the first Oswald short, both Universal Pictures and the Winkler Pictures production company insisted that the Oswald character be redesigned. At the insistence of Disney, Iwerks designed a number of new characters for the studio, including designs that would be used for Clarabelle Cow and Ho

    Ub Iwerks-Disney’s First Imagineer…

    Finally, 2020 has arrived and for Disney fans and Guests worldwide, it herald’s in the greatest plethora of new shows, attractions, lands, enhancements and re-imagining in perhaps the Company’s history. EPCOT will experience 4 new neighborhoods, attractions like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, United Kingdom’s Cherry Tree Lane & Mary Poppins Attraction, new circle-vision movies and much more. In fact, EPCOT will showcase the largest addition of new experiences of all the parks. We saw the new Skyliner debut last year, Hollywood Studios finally unveiled the long-awaited land…Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with its two incomparable attractions, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers Run.

    To be honest, it is beyond the scope of this piece to name and detail all that awaits fans this year. Let it be said that these additions will cement the Disney Parks as the premier go to place for unrivaled storytelling, adventure and magic. But with that said, we must not forget the past, especially the people who made this future possible. One of Disney’s newest offerings is the Disney+ Streaming subscription service where fans can access any and all things Disney.

    Disney+ is where you can see a new six-hour documentary which chronicles the history of Walt Disney Imagineering. This research and development branch of the Disney company, was originally known as Walt Disney, Inc, or WED Enterprises. “The Imagineering Story is directed and produced by none other than Academy Award nominated producer and director Leslie Iwerks, granddaughter of Ub Iwerks, the man who gave form to Mickey Mouse himself. Ub was more than just the “Fastest pencil in the business”, he was an innovator, inventor and lifelong friend of Walt’s. For those who have never heard of this genius, and for those who have, here is a quick bio of the “Man behind the Mouse…”

    It would be impossible to mention any Disney character, past or pr

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    1. Ub iwerks biography examples

    Who Was Ub Iwerks?

    I recently added to my personal library a copy of Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerksby his son Don Iwerks.

    Today, the name of Ub Iwerks is fairly well known to most Disney fans but there was a time when he was at best just a small footnote in most histories of the Disney Studio. Even today, some people are unclear about his many significant contributions to the Walt Disney Company.

    Ub Iwerks finally got some wider recognition in the book The Hand Behind the Mouse: An Intimate Biography by John Kenworthy and Iwerks' granddaughter, Leslie.

    It is the perfect companion to Leslie Iwerks' critically acclaimed 90-minute film documentary, The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story.

    Leslie was only 1 year old when her grandfather died, but grew up hearing the stories of his contributions to the Disney empire yet found scant mention of these achievements in public records.

    As a fifth-grader, Leslie wrote a class report on the grandfather she barely knew but had heard about all her life. She said, “I thought, 'Wow! I have a famous grandfather, but no one knows it'.”

    At one point, the now well-known Ub Iwerks was just a small footnote in Disney history.

    To correct this situation, she eventually began the film documentary of her grandfather in 1990 as an independent project. However, the Walt Disney Company was understandably reluctant to share material and images that might dim the bright spotlight on their founder and which featured valuable trademarked images.

    Roy E. Disney who became something of a champion of animation history interceded on her behalf and the film became a Disney production as well as opening up the Disney vault for Leslie to have access to the company's material on Iwerks.

    “Walt and Ub were a great team,” Roy E. Disney said. “They had something special, those two. It just clicked.”

    When the Disney Studio began in 1923, it was rumored