The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Jack Ryan Kinney (March 29, 1909 – February 9, 1992) was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts.

Early life

Jack Kinney attended John Muir Junior High School in Los Angeles, California (1925), and attended John C. Fremont High School (1926 – 1928) there with Roy Williams. Both Fremont football players, they would later be hired by Walt Disney in 1930 to work at the Walt Disney Studio on Hyperion Avenue. Often referring to himself as Kinney’s best friend, Williams would go on to star as the “Big Mooseketeer” with head Mouseketeer Jimmie Dodd on the classic 1950s television program, “The Mickey Mouse Club” (1955 – 1958).

Career

Kinney began his long career in cartoons at the Walt Disney Studios in 1931 as an animator on several shorts, including Santa’s Workshop (released on December 10, 1932), The Band Concert (released on February 23, 1935), and Moose Hunters (released on April 17, 1937). He then became a director of cartoons at Disney, including as a sequence director for both Pinocchio and Dumbo and especially as a director in the shorts department, where he directed many cartoon shorts, mostly those starring Goofy (his brother Dick created the stories for the shorts), although he also directed a few Donald Duck cartoons as well, including the Academy Award-winning wartime propaganda film, Der Fuehrer’s Face. He also served as director of most of the “package films” during the 1940s, including The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. In the mid-1950s, he supervised new animation used to tie some of the old shorts together for Disney’s television efforts.

In 1959, Jack left Disney to start (with his brother Dick) Jack Kinney Productions, an independent animation studio. Among other work they provided animation for King Features Syndicate’s 1960 Popeye series.
Death and legacy

In 1988, Kinney published a short memoir, Walt Disney and Assorted Other Characters: An Unauthorized Account of the Early Years at Disney’s. Kinney died on February 9, 1992 in Glendale, California at the age of 82. —Wikipedia

Director, writer, producer and narrator James “Jim” Algar loved the action and adventure associated with creating Disney’s nature and animal pictures. While directing the True-Life Adventure “The African Lion” in 1955, he lived among the lions of Kenya and while producing the feature “Ten Who Dared” in 1960, he challenged the raging white water rapids of the Colorado River.

Among the many hats he wore, however, the most important was that of storyteller. Jim penned five Academy Award-winning motion pictures for Disney, including “Nature’s Half Acre,” “The Living Desert” and “The Vanishing Prairie.”

As vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney once recalled, “Jim was a great storyteller, who made invaluable contributions to our animated classics, theme parks and especially, our nature films. He added tremendously to the Studio’s reputation for superior storytelling.”

Born June 11, 1912, in Modesto, California, Jim attended Stanford University, where he served as editor of the campus humor magazine, “The Chaparral.” He frequently drew cartoons for the magazine and soon developed an interest in animation and in 1934, after receiving his master’s degree in journalism, joined The Walt Disney Studios as an animator on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Walt Disney noted Jim’s talents and tapped the artist to direct the Mickey Mouse short, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which became the foundation of the 1940 animated classic “Fantasia.” Jim then went on to direct sequences in “Bambi,” as well as several wartime films produced by the Studio for the U.S. Armed Forces, including “Victory Through Air Power.” In 1949, he directed “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.”

After the war, when Walt decided to produce live-action films about animals and nature, he asked Jim to direct the first True-Life Adventure, “Seal Island,” which won an Academy Award for 1948. Other Oscar-winning films he contributed to include “Beaver Valley,” “Bear Country,” “White Wilderness,” “The Alaskan Eskimo” and “Grand Canyon.”

Jim also worked on 26 one-hour episodes for “The Wonderful World of Disney” television series, producing 14 episodes and narrating several, including “Wild Geese Calling.” He also contributed to such memorable feature films as “The Legend of Lobo,” “The Incredible Journey” and “Rascal.”

Among his many theme park contributions, Jim wrote and produced “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” for the 1964 World’s Fair and later, Disneyland. He also wrote and produced several of the Circle Vision 360 productions, including “America the Beautiful,” as well as “The Hall of Presidents” attraction at Walt Disney World.

After 43 years with The Walt Disney Studios, Jim retired on October 31, 1977.

James Algar died February 26, 1998, in Carmel, California. —Disney Legends