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Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators, known as Disney's Nine Old Men. Also, he was a jazz trombonist. He founded and led the seven-piece Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, in which he played trombone. ==Career== While Kimball was a brilliant draftsman, he preferred to work on comical characters rather than realistic human designs. Animating came easily to him and he was constantly looking to do things differently. Because of this, Walt Disney called Ward a genius in the book ''The Story of Walt Disney''. While there were many talented animators at Disney, Ward's efforts stand out as unique. Kimball created several classic Disney characters including the Crows in ''Dumbo''; Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat from ''Alice in Wonderland''; the Mice, Lucifer the Cat and Bruno the Bloodhound from ''Cinderella''; and Jiminy Cricket from ''Pinocchio''. He also animated the famous "Three Caballeros" musical number from the Disney film of the same name. In 1953 Kimball became a director and was responsible for the Academy Award-winning short ''Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom'', and three Disney television shows about outer space that put the United States into the space program. He received an Academy Award for the short animated cartoon ''It's Tough to Be a Bird''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=It's Tough to be a Bird )〕 Kimball was profiled by producer Jerry Fairbanks in his Paramount Pictures film short series ''Unusual Occupations''. This 35mm Magnacolor film short was released theatrically in 1944; it focused on Kimball's backyard railroad and full-sized locomotive. Kimball was also a jazz trombonist. He founded and led the seven-piece Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, in which he played trombone. The band made at least 13 LP records and toured clubs, college campuses and jazz festivals from the 1940s to early 1970s. Kimball once said that Walt Disney permitted the second career as long as it did not interfere with his animation work. Kimball appeared on the March 17, 1954 episode of You Bet Your Life, where Groucho Marx coaxed him into playing his trombone with the house band. He and his partner won $75 in their quiz portion of the show, including one Disney animation question that Kimball answered easily. Kimball continued to work at Disney until 1974, working on the Disney anthology television series, being one of the writers for ''Babes in Toyland'', creating animation for ''Mary Poppins'', directing the animation for ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'', and working on titles for feature films such as ''The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin'' and ''Million Dollar Duck''. His last staff work for Disney was producing and directing the Disney TV show ''The Mouse Factory'', which ran from 1972 to 1974. He continued to do various projects on his own, even returning to do some publicity tours for the Disney corporation. He also worked on the World of Motion attraction for Disney's EPCOT Center. Kimball also produced two editions of a volume titled ''Art Afterpieces,''〔''Art Afterpieces'', ISBN 978-0-8431-0366-3〕 in which he revised various well-known works of art, such as putting ''Mona Lisas hair up in curlers, showing ''Whistler's Mother'' watching TV, and adding a Communist flag and Russian boots to ''Pinkie''. While his only two acting appearances on film were an uncredited role as a jazz musician (with his Firehouse Five Plus Two) in ''Hit Parade of 1951'' and as an IRS Chief in Mike Jittlov's ''The Wizard of Speed and Time'', Kimball served as host of the "Man in Space" and "Man and the Moon" episodes of ''Disneyland'' in 1955 and 1956 respectively. He appeared as himself in an episode of the popular TV show ''You Bet Your Life'' hosted by Groucho Marx on March 18, 1954, which has been released on DVD. He hosted the second season of the 1992 PBS series ''Tracks Ahead''. That season has since been repackaged to feature current host Spencer Christian. As recounted in Neal Gabler's biography of Walt Disney,〔Gabler, Neal: ''Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination'' (Random House, 2007).〕 Ward Kimball was a key figure in spreading the urban legend that Disney had left instructions for his body to be preserved by cryonics after his death. Amid Amidi wrote a biography of Kimball, ''Full Steam Ahead: The Life and Art of Ward Kimball'' that was projected for publication in the fall of 2012.〔(Pre-Order “Full Steam Ahead!,” the Ward Kimball Biography )〕 However, publication of the biography was cancelled in February 2013, which Amidi believed was due to pressure from the Disney corporation.〔(Amid Amidi ): "Yes, Chronicle Books nixed the publication of my book.... Yes, it's my opinion that Disney’s pressure caused Chronicle to kill the project.... Yes, I am amused by the Disney Company's inept attempt to control the personal histories of its artists...."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ward Kimball」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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