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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Ward Kimball anecdote...

Here is an anecdote that may be hard to verify - told to me by Børge Ring: "In 1968, when Ward Kimball had 'retired', he visited the Disney studio, walked through the halls, and imitated Walt's cough. It quickly became very quiet..." Does sound like Ward to me...

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posted by Hans Perk at 8:00 AM

2 Comments:

Anonymous Michael Barrier says...

One problem is that Kimball wasn't retired in 1968. He was still active in 1969, when I visited him at his office at the studio, and he was producing the "Mouse Factory" TV show a few years later. The studio's announcement of his death said he retired in 1973. I can believe the substance of the anecdote, but I'd bet that Ward imitated Walt's cough soon after Walt's death--when it really would have been spooky to hear it--and a long time before his own retirement.

Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 10:59:00 AM PST  
Anonymous Hans Perk says...

Good observation! Well, I can only say: I tell 'em as I hear 'em. You are probably right, too, when you suspect it wasn't too long after Walt's death...

I have a 1971 phone directory that the animator Fred Kopietz used to keep track of his studio collegues. Kopietz retired in 1971, so he kept this in his home in Arizona to write in. Following Ward Kimball's name he writes "let go"...

Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 11:07:00 AM PST  

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