This blog is devoted not only to an analysis of various facets of the fantastic, the imagination, and creativity in popular culture, but also to the sheer enjoyment and celebration of these things. With this in mind I highly recommend a documentary that has aired a couple of times now on the Ovation channel titled Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story. For those who may not be familiar with Iwerks, he was a close friend and early partner and collaborator with Disney who was tasked with the creation of a new character that would eventually establish Disney Studios and cement animation’s reputation as a primiere form of entertainment for adults. It happened through the creation of Mickey Mouse, a cartoon character created by Iwerks as he locked himself into a room, later to emerge with the character and the first film in which he starred titled Plane Crazy.

As the documentary describes, Iwerks was a brilliant animator who constantly pushed the envelope with his willigness to try new things in his use of motion, perspective, as well as an exploration of the “dark side” of character animation. Iwerks was also gifted as a technical craftsman and was responsible for the design of several pieces of camera equipemnt and special effects processes, such as the sodium travelling matte, that was used with great success not only in Disney films like Mary Poppins, but also in Hithcock’s film The Birds.

It was a treat to watch this documentary that reveals a figure often hidden behind the success of Disney Studios and its better-known founder. A short sample of the documentary can vewed here.