The Legacy of Ken Harris
I’ve posted an article, with the help and permission of Greg Duffell, on Chuck Jones’ greatest animator (and in many ways, Warners’ greatest animator), Ken Harris. You can read it here.
I’ve posted an article, with the help and permission of Greg Duffell, on Chuck Jones’ greatest animator (and in many ways, Warners’ greatest animator), Ken Harris. You can read it here.
Nicely put, Thad (and Greg!). Ken Harris is easily my favorite Warners animator hands down. And THE Chuck Jones animator. And spite of how much I like Chuck’s direction, I never once got the impression that Chuck was “controlling” Harris to get his animation to look the way it did. I always felt Harris’ style, like any great animator, looked that superb from Harris’ OWN mindset, not simply from copying the work of his boss, Chuck Jones, as closely as possible. It takes the work of more than one great artist, sometimes, to make work look this wonderful!
I was actually surprised when I first saw the reel and didn’t see any footage from the Rabbit-Season Duck Season shorts.
This is possibly the most gripping animator’s reel you’ve put together, since Ken’s work is exceptionally strong, AND it’s used on material worth of such good animation (unlike a lot of Tyer’s footage).
Plus there’s that chestnut, the Mississippi Hare dance.
Thank you for such insights! That reel is especially helpful - I always like to identify animators in Jones’ cartoons, and I’ve had trouble recognizing Harris’ style in the past, but now I know what to look for.
This was a great article Thad. Both Bob McKimson and Rod Scribner under Bob Clampett will remain my favorites in animation but Ken Harris was excellent too. I think one of my favorite Harris animations was definetly Ma Bear’s dance number in “A Bear For Punishment”. The contrast between’s Ma’s depressed face and the vibriant dancing was frickin’ hilarous.
Ken Harris’ animation is so solid, I can almost feel the character he’s animating. Thanks for another great reel, Thad (and a helpful one, at best). I don’t get why some ‘fanboys’ consider Harris’ animation to be weak either.
I loved the article on Ken Harris. I always thought his animation was great. That animators reel had some fantastic. My favorites, which I though had the best acting, were the scenes with Charlie Dog, as well as Daffy and the butler. Hilarious and brilliantly executed.
I once told Bill Melendez about an old Ken Harris interview I read online where he noted Emery Hawkins & Bill as his favorite Warner Bros animators. Bill responded, “God bess old Ken, that’s an honor coming from him”.
That was a great article, right on point. Harris’ animation is amazing. If he had worked for Clampett would he be considered a “weak” animator?
Those are some great Ken Harris scenes. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg too. It’s too bad you couldn’t fit those other scenes in.
Hey, Thad, are you able to spot Harris’ work in Tashlin’s cartoons from ‘37-’38? I’m going to take a wild guess and say that maybe one example is in Have You Got Any Castles when the title song is being performed.
David-
I don’t know at all. Greg may know. Ken also animated in Friz’s unit.
Kevin-
Good point. You’re right of course.
Ken Harris was an amazing animator. “No Barking” is unique because the only animator credited for working on the entire cartoon is Ken Harris-and every scene looks amazing.
The show reel-Harris animated some of the most classic and funniest scenes. I always loved the scene in “A Pest In the House” where Daffy was telling that joke to the poor tired hotel guest. I’m not surprised that Harris did that scene.
To me Harris,Virgil Ross and Bob McKimson,were the kind of “skilled” animator all units had to have.
Great reel ! Harris’s animation is stunningly good and it’s great to see some of his best work collected on a single reel. (looking forward to Part 2 ! ) The article by Greg Duffel and Thad says what needs to be said. Harris’s work is so strong and he adds so much to Chuck’s poses . Where anyone gets the idea that scenes like those were merely “inbetweening” Chuck’s poses is beyond me … someone who could say that has never really understood what goes into animation (and inbetweening) vs. character layout poses. Jones did brilliant poses , totally supporting his animators by showing clearly what he intended for the scenes, but he wouldn’t have got the results he did without animators like Harris.
I’m afraid the “not a very good draftsman” rumors are fed by posting drawings like This one and this on the well-intended website devoted to Ken’s work. Those drawings are obviously not production animation drawings , but were quick doodles probably done for fans asking for a drawing, probably done very late in his career , so the drawings are a pale reflection of Harris at the top of his game. I wish more of his animation roughs from his peak period were available to view. The same website shows some walk cycles done by Harris for “The Thief & the Cobbler” and those drawings are great .
Why don’t you just rename your blog “John K. is a dick and he’s wrong about everything”? :)
I think it’s easy to write off Ken Harris (especially if you’re a John K. sycophant) because his faces are not pleasing at all. It’s there that all he seems to be doing is dull in-between work for Jones’ drawings. It’s the movement of the characters that he does best and what he does is really subtle. Subtle in a way that could just make art within the contraints of Jones’ original drawings.
I wouldn’t rank him higher than McKimson though, just for lack of force of personality, which maybe was just a result of Jones grinding him down so much. But I also do think he rolls the heads around because he can’t hold the poses, I don’t think you’ve pointed to an example that disproves that point.
“Not pleasing”? “Head rolling”? That describes a lot of other animators’ work, but nobody working at the Warner studio in the golden era. “Can’t hold poses”? There’s tons of examples. Try looking at any of those Coyote clips. That Mama Bear dance is the king of a “held pose” and belies any “head rolling”.
McKimson had more of a personality, sure, and it was one that was in favor of the dull and literal. He needed someone like Clampett to get rid of those cliches like finger-pointing and eye squints that plague all of his work after.
Thad,
In McKimson’s defense he seemed to have a flair for making characters melodramatic. Henry’s Hawk’s father in Walky Talky Hawky comes to mind. Of course all his best work was under Clampett.
Hey Ricardo-
I totally agree. A trait I like of McKimson’s own personality that it was so over-the-top in a hammy melodramatic way. McKimson had that finger-pointing fetish forever though. It vaguely shows up in even some of Clampett’s shorts, but he was obviously being told to cut back on it. He had the skill to advance the art of animation further than anyone at the studio did as animator, but he just didn’t have the incentive.