Ub Iwerks of name of birth Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24th 1901 - July 7th 1971) was an organizer and producing American. It is especially known for its work with and for Walt Disney, of which graphic design of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It was born with Kansas City, Missouri. Its name is of origin Dutchwoman but it made it modify at the beginning of the Années 1920.

Biography

Iwerks and Disney

Ubbe Ert Iwerks meets Walt Disney in Kansas City towards the end 1919 and together they create in January 1920 the company “Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists”. The company périclite but the duet is soon engaged by “Kansas City Film AD Company” (advertizing film company of Kansas City) and works on primitive advertizing animations for the local cinemas.

In 1922, Disney launches Laugh-O-Grams, Inc. , which produces animated short films based on the popular fairy tales and of the stories for children. Among the employees, one finds Iwerks. But in July 1923 the studios go bankrupt. Disney leaves for the California and gives up everyone. It will make come the majority from his former collaborators of which Iwerks as of October 1923, when that a contract will be signed for the series Alice Comedies.

Iwerks works on many cartoons of which the new series of Walt, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ( Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ). The style of his drawing is recognized.

In 1928, Walt Disney undergoes a reverse with its distributer on this series and loses the rights of them. He even discovered that he had never had them and than the majority of its team would remain near the distributer. Iwerks remains faithful to Walt Disney and to start again itself in animation one needs a new character, it will be Mickey Mouse .

Some of the first cartoons of Mickey Mouse were almost entirely animated by Iwerks. It was during many years the best friend of Walt Disney and passed almost all its career with him. Iwerks and Disney had a disagreement and their friendship suffered from it when Iwerks accepted a contract with a competitor to leave Disney and open a studio of animation to its own name.

At the end of 1929, Disney requires of Iwerks, in addition to animation, to carry out cartoons of Mickey Mouse. Iwerks carried out the drawings but inking was carried out by Win Smith. It did it January in March 1930.

In spite of its long amitiée with Walt Disney, Iwerks remained in the shade of his/her friend because of an unobtrusive character and very reserved. But for a long time Walt exasperated Ub which however kept silence. The fact that Walt refused with its organizers to put their names at the credits of films and with also of the cartoons prevented any possibility of recognition.

Iwerks launches its own studio

In 1930, Disney changa of distributer to the profit of Columbia Pictures, giving up Stalemate Powers. Financial investors carried out by Pat Powers suspectaient that Iwerks was the person in charge of the majority of the first successes of Disney. They propose in Iwerks in March 1930 to cofinance its own studio. Iwerks at the beginning of April 1930 leaves the Disney studios with right before the exit of The Cactus Kid , the last short film of Mickey Mouse in which it takes part.

The Iwerks Studio opened shortly after this same year. Although, during a time, animation at Disney suffered from the departure of Iwerks, it started again quickly when Disney engaged of new stimulating young people.

Iwerks then creates a character close to Mickey and Oswald, Flip the frog . The style and the scénarii are close to those of the preceding achievements of Iwerks and do not manage to thwart the success of Mickey Mouse. The films are distributed either by the Subway-Goldwyn-Mayer or by Celebrity Pictures, company of Stalemate Powers. The Flip series the frog stops in 1933 at the end of 38 episodes. Then the studio launches out in traditional stories like Jacques and magic bean (1933) or the brave man small tin soldier (1934).

The studios of Iwerks were not great success and failed in their fight against the studios Disney or Fleischer. The investors withdrew their financial aid with Iwerks in 1936 which closed its studios quickly. After that, Ub Iwerks worked during a time for the Columbia Pictures before turning over to Disney in 1940.

Of return to Disney

After its return to the Disney Studios, Iwerks mainly worked to develop visual special effects. He would be the creator of the process of combination of catch of real sight and animation used in Mélodie of the South ( Song off the South ) and would have to help to improve the Caméra multiplane.

He is regularly present in the credits of cartoon films for the special effects of cameras.

Most known of works of Iwerks after Mickey Mouse the frog created for its own studio is Flip. Flip has more than one small resemblance to the characters that Iwerks drew before, Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Iwerks was known for its fast work with the drawing and animation like its direction of eccentric humor. The organizer Chuck Jones, which worked for the studios of Iwerks in its youth, said qu'" Iwerks was nut (but) spelled behind " (Iwerks is phonetically the palindrome of screwy , i.e. nut ). Ub Iwerks died of an heart attack with Burbank in California.

Documentary, the hand behind Mickey Mouse: history of Ub Iwerks ( The Hand Behind the Foam: The Ub Iwerks Story ) was carried out in 1999.

Catalog of films

• the integral of the Alice Comedies

• the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit of 1927 and 1928
• the Mickey Mouse of 1928 to 1930
• the Flip the frog of 1930 to 1933

August 1st

Simple: Ub Iwerks