Glen Keane Resigns from Disney Animation

[Magenta Panther]

Correct. He did become an alcoholic after WWII and his work (his animation) reflected it. He became, as Walt put it bluntly, deadwood; and was terminated.


Another person Walt fired???? Ward Kimball!!! Now, this occured because Walt had asked Ward to direct the movie "Babes in Toyland". When Kimball refused, Walt took offense (you didnt tell the boss no in that studio) and fired him. As Ward Kimball later told it, he literally got on his knees and begged for his job back inside of Walt office. This was in the early 60's. Kimball had traveled the country with Walt and had been at the studio since Snow White, and here he was getting fired.

Walt relented and hired him back, but at a price. Kimball was demoted to the animation drawing board to animate Ludwig Von Drake. It was, as Kimball described, humiliating at this point in his career.

According to Floyd Norman, a Disney animator who happily is alive and well and comments often on the "internets", Walt never fired Ward. He did take him off of "Toyland", but that was it. In Floyd's own words:

Correction. Walt never fired Ward. True, Kimball was removed as director of “Babes in Toyland,” but that’s a long and complicated story. Ward went on to work on other Disney projects, and Walt always respected Kimball. Forget the fan boy stories. I was there the whole time.

Quoted from Cartoon Brew.

Also, according to the Bob Thomas Disney biography, Walt tried his best to help Freddie Moore. He was fired and rehired several times in an attempt to straighten him out. But unfortunately, Freddie couldn't match the animation styles of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, which was more physics-heavy than Moore's animation, and Freddie took it much too hard, descending into alcoholism. How Freddie actually died is still a controversial subject. Some say he dropped dead on his own doorstep after a car accident. Pretty lurid and hard to corroborate. At any rate, Freddie was a gifted artist. It's sad that alcohol robbed him of his gift and shortened his career at Disney.

 

[WDWcouple]

Whoever was looking for 'The Sweatbox' documentary there is a rough cut on Vimeo... Watching it now

http://vimeo.com/39111006