Ward Kimball was cautious when it came to people contacting him. He came across many people that would lie to him in order to get his autograph. When he thought he was signing something for a sick child or someone who gave him a sob story, only later to see that his signature and or gift was being sold for money. Actions like this is what made him wary of people contacting him.
Which is why when Dave Salas and Gerald Gaitan reached out to him, he told Salas to write him a letter and that he would get back to him. Days and weeks passed by and still no word from Kimball. Eventually Salas decided to try again, and this time he succeeded. He spoke with Kimball over the phone and told him about his letter. Kimball finally gave in and gave Salas his address and set up a time to meet.
Being an admirer of Kimball and his work, Salas took a gift to Ward upon their first meeting. Knowing Ward was infatuated with trains, Salas gifted Kimball with a hat from a train company that Kimball proudly wore in one of the photos he took with Salas.
Throughout Kimball’s career he was known as being a prankster of sorts. Out of all of Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men, he was the one known for telling jokes and being the funny man. In one photo where Walt Disney is looking over the shoulder of Kimball, if you take a look into the background, you can notice that Kimball had created a drawing of Walt Disney and had it hanging on his wall. Only this sketch was not a very flattering depiction of Walt. Kimball drew Walt with a huge nose and bushy eyebrows portraying the grouchiest of faces.
Ward Kimball had a ranch style home with a very lengthy backyard. In the back of his property he had his own locomotive that he would work on. He even had tracks laid out throughout the yard going as close up to his home as possible. His love for trains did not stop at his home, he would take that passion with him to the Walt Disney studios as well.
This passion inspired Walt to create the locomotive that now travels throughout Disneyland providing passengers with rides all day. Each one of the locomotives that is used in providing passengers with rides all day is actually dedicated to someone who influenced Walt. Ward Kimball’s name also appears on one of those locomotives.
Over the years Ward never lost his love for trains. In fact, in the early 1900s, he donated trains and rolling stock to the Orange Empire Railway Museum located in Perris, California.
Ward Kimball once said, "Becoming an animator is a growth process that involves basic curiosities for all things." Having a basic curiosity could mean many things. From wondering what something is to wondering what something could be. Upon one of their visits with Kimball, he shared one of his stories about how a character came to be. Salas and Gaitan sat talking with Kimball when suddenly, Kimball shot out of his chair! He began excitedly point to the backyard trying to get Salas and Gaitan to look at the cat that was running through his yard.
Kimball told Salas and Gaitan about how the exact same thing happened when Walt was visiting him one day. Walt had tasked Ward with creating a cat character for Cinderella. Unfortunately, all the cats Ward had presented to Walt were shot down and rejected. Until one day, Walt and Ward were sitting in Kimball’s living room when Walt shot out of his chair exclaiming, “That cat, that’s the one I want!” Just like that, that roaming backyard cat was the inspiration for the cat we now see in Cinderella.
One of the major things that Gaitan says he admired about Kimball, was his passion and open mindness. Here, we have this seasoned animator that has been working for one of the biggest animation companies, ever, and he always took the time to look and listen.
Salas had brought in a few of his students artworks for Kimball to autograph for them. One artwork in particular really stuck out to Kimball though. A few days after giving them back to Salas, Ward called Dave and asked him for that specific artwork back because he wanted to present it to Disney to see about it being made into a poster. This animator noticed the spark and talent in a student and went above and beyond for them. He did not care the age or where they were from, he saw the pure talent from their drawing and knew it was work worthy of Disney. Unfortunately, due to legal reasons, Disney was not able to accept the artwork.
What Walt wanted, dreamt of, had an idea for, Ward Kimball was able to bring it to life. Kimball is credited for creating countless characters such as Jiminy Cricket, Crows in Dumbo, The Three Caballeros, Jaq and Gus and Lucifer the Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter, the Hatter and his mad tea party, and the Cheshire Cat.
Ward Kimball was one of the animators who worked on Snow White. He worked on the scene where all the seven dwarfs were having dinner with Snow White or as everyone called it “the soup scene.” Kimball had worked on that scene for months, then Walt decided to eliminate the entire scene out of the original theatrical showing. This upset Kimball at first, but he trusted what Walt was doing and why. The lesson here is, that no matter what dream or goal you are pursuing, no matter how hard you work at something, obstacles and disappointments might come your way, try not to let them get in your way or discourage you, you never know what might be waiting for you around the corner. If Ward had let disappointment consume him, he would have never created the other characters we know and love today.
Not only was Kimball an animator, he was a talented jazz trombonist. He founded and led the seven-piece Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, in which he played trombone. Kimball and the Firehouse Five Plus Two could be seen and heard performing in the streets of Disneyland.
Salas and Gatian had the extreme honor of getting to know this legendary animator before he passed, but he wasn’t the only major influence they came to know. They also spoke with and visited on occasion Walt Disney’s “Renaissance Man,” Marc Davis, and his wife, “Seamstress to the Stars,” Alice Davis. The married couple who contributed and dedicated a lot of their work and lives to creating the characters we love to watch on screen as well as the ones we love to visit in Disneyland.
To be continued...