Disney shorts director history

[Stumpos]

Since I did Warner Bros and Lantz, thought I'd try Disney next. I'll just do the directors since the animators do vary a lot. And this only concerns the shorts, NOT the movies.

1923: Studio opens and Walt Disney is the sole director, with Ub Iwerks ocassionally directing or co-directing from 1927-28.

1929: Walt Disney stops directing and hands the reins in two units by Ub Iweks and Burt Gillett.

1930: Ub Iwerks quits, with Wilfred Jackson taking over his director unit.

1932: A third unit opens up with David Hand as director there.

1934: Burt Gillett leaves for Van Beuran, with Ben Sharpsteen taking over his unit.

1937: David Hand stops directing shorts to move on to the movie side, with a returning Burt Gillet taking over his unit. Wilfred Jackson also moves on to the movie side of things (but his last short isn't released until Farnyard Symphony and Mother Goose Goes Hollywood in late 1938, with Jack King taking over his unit and exclusively directing the Donald Duck shorts.

1938: Burt Gillett is fired, with Bill Roberts taking over for his Mickey shorts and Dick Huemer for others. Ben Sharpsteen also moves to the movie side of things, with Dick Rickard briefly taking over his unit for only Silly Symphonies.

1939: Dick Rickard leaves and Jack Cutting directs the final Silly Symphony before Clyde Geronimi takes over the unit, primarily directing Pluto shorts now. Dick Lundy takes over the unit Huemer/Roberts were using and primarily directs Donald shorts like Jack King.

1940: A fourth unit opens with Jack Kinney as director, primarily directing the Goofy shorts.

1941: Dick Lundy briefly steps down, Riley Thomson takes over his unit and primarily directs the Mickey shorts.

1942: Riley Thomson steps down, Dick Lundy taking back the unit again and doing Donald shorts (since the Mickey shorts went on hiatus at this point).

1943: Dick Lundy leaves for Lantz and Clyde Geronimi moves to the movie side of things, with Charles A Nichols taking over Geronimi's unit for the Pluto shorts and Lundy's unit being vacant.

1944: Lundy's vacant unit is taken over by Jack Hannah, who became the second director for the Donald Duck shorts.

1946: Jack King's unit is dissolved due to budget cuts, though the last ones aren't released until 1948.

1947: The Mickey series resumes with Charles A Nichols also directing those shorts in addition to the Pluto ones.

1953: Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto shorts end, with Nichols and Kinney's units now working on Donald shorts.

1954: Charles A Nichols' unit is dissolved due to theatrical shorts winding down. Jack Kinney's unit also does the one off shorts in this period.

1956: Regular theatrical shorts end production, with Kinney and Hannah's units now dissolved.

How's this for analysis regarding the Disney units and how often they had directors do one character starting in the late 1930s?

 

[cheril59]

Hamilton Luske directed shorts from 1939-1968.
Wolfgang Reitherman directed "Goliath II" in 1959, and "Aquamania" in 1961, as well as the first two "Winnie the Pooh" featurettes.
John Lounsbery directed "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too".
Les Clark directed shorts from 1955-1973.

 

[Stumpos]

Hamilton Luske directed shorts from 1939-1968.
Wolfgang Reitherman directed "Goliath II" in 1959, and "Aquamania" in 1961, as well as the first two "Winnie the Pooh" featurettes.
John Lounsbery directed "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too".
Les Clark directed shorts from 1955-1973.

I only counted the 1923-56 shorts for simplicity sake so any shorts or featurettes after that didn't count as part of that official theatrical shorts era.

Hamilton Luske's shorts from pre-1956 were one Silly Symphony in The Ugly Ducking (though that unit seemed to be alternating in directors) and Mickey's Surprise Party (which was only produced for commercial purpose rather than for the same theatrical cartoon series).