About

History:
Art Babbitt, who lived here in 1940, was an American animator best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and also developed the character of Goofy. Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on such films as The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), and The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), among others. Babbitt began his career at Disney as an assistant animator, but his talent was spotted and he was soon promoted to animator. His first important work was a drunken mouse in the short “The Country Cousin”(1936), which won an Academy Award for the studio. At the Disney Studio, Babbitt animated the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a job described by Disney animator Andreas Deja as “one of the toughest assignments” on the film. It was on Snow White that he met his first wife, Marjorie Belcher, a dance model whose live-action performance was used as reference material by the animators for the role of Snow White.

On the film Pinocchio, Babbitt animated the character of Gepetto, and became a directing animator. Of all Disney’s films, “Pinocchio” was the feature for which Babbitt was most admired, and which he regarded as the finest achievement of the studio during the “Golden Age” of animation. Babbitt also animated the characters of Zeus, Vulcan, and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia. On the feature film Dumbo, Babbitt was again made a directing animator, and animated the character of the stork. When animating the stork, he made him resemble his voice actor, Sterling Holloway. Babbitt is also credited with developing the character of Goofy, a character which he later described in the 1987 documentary film “Animating Art”: “He [Goofy] was someone who never really knew how stupid he was. He thought long and carefully before he did anything, and then he did it wrong”.

During the 1930s Babbitt rose to become one of Disney’s best-paid artists, and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle despite the austerity of the Great Depression. His first wife (1937–1940) was Marge Champion, who developed her own strong career in Hollywood musicals. (Source: Wikipedia 2016)

1940 Census:
5700 Hill Oak Drive (Value $10,000): 1) Arthur Babbitt, head of household; white married male 32 years of age; born in Nebraska; artist, motion pictures; earns more than $5,000. 2) Marjorie Babbitt, wife; white married female 20 years of age; born in California; dancer, actress; stage and screen; earns $900. 3) Herbert R. McAlister, lodger; Negro married male 32 years of age; born in Oklahoma; car cleaner, railroad company; earns $1,200. 4) Marguerite E. McAlister, servant; Negro married female 29 years of age; born in Kansas; maid in a private house; earns $600.