Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks worked as a commercial artist in Kansas City in 1919 when he met Walt Disney who was in the same profession. When Disney decided to form an animation company, Ub Iwerks was the first employee he had due to his skill at fast drawing as well as being a personal friend. When Charles Mintz raided Disney's animation studio and stole the rights to their character Oswald the Rabbit, Ub was the only associate to remain with Disney. He served as the principle animator for the first Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies. Iwerks was so prominent in the production of these shorts that it was speculated that Ub was the dominant force behind the success of Disney Productions.

He was known as the fastest animator in the business in early sound period. He animated Mickey's first short, Plane Crazy (1928) by himself in only two weeks (700 animation drawings a day!).

The combination of Iwerks' rising ambitions, occasional differences with Walt and a tempting deal with Pat Powers to finance his own studio prompted him to break away in 1930. His studio was never a tenth of the artistic or financial success that Disney was. He simply did not have the creative talents of his partner and his characters, Flip the Frog and Willy Whopper were rather dull failures.

His studio was closed in 1936 when Powers withdrew his support.

He worked for Columbia starting in 1938 and worked for two years until he decided to return to Disney. The two men never commented on their renewed relationship but the reunion was mutually beneficial.

He developed new apparatuses and processes for the photography and optical compositing necessary to combine live-action and animated characters in films such as The Three Caballeros (1944), Song of the South (1946), and Mary Poppins (1964).

In addition to his skill as an animator, he became an expert in special visual effects. Outside of Disney, he did special effects work on such films as Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

The 1964 film "Mary Poppins," Ub Iwerks modified the technicolor camera that was used to mix live action and animation, also known as the "Sodium Vapor Process." This camera had a prism installed to separate the sodium vapor lights from the rest of the color. Ub Iwerks, Petro Vlahos & Wadsworth E. Pohl received an Academy Award in 1965 for its use in Mary Poppins. Alfred Hitchcock went to Walt Disney asking to borrow Ub to help make the film "The Birds." In 1964 Ub was nominated for a Academy Award for "Best Effects, Special Visual Effects", but lost to the film Cleopatra.

Biography in: "American National Biography." Supplement 1, pp. 290-291. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.