November 17 - Les Clark

On this day, in 1907, Leslie James Clark was born in Ogden, Utah. Les and his family moved from Utah to Idaho before finally settling in Los Angles, California. He attended Venice High School and had a job in a local ice cream shop where he had hand lettered all the menus. There were two brothers, by the name of Walt and Roy, who frequented the shop and had complimented Les on his menus. Les finally worked himself up to asking Walt for a job. Walt asked for more examples, Les showed him some and Walt said Nice lines, show up for work on Monday. And just like that, the first of what would become Walt's Nine Old Men had joined the studio.

Photo borrowed from moma.org

Les' temporary position began in the Ink and Paint Department. He would also occasionally operate the camera. He eventually started working under Ub Iwerks and had become an accomplished in-betweener by the time the studio was developing a new mousy character. Les helped animate Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie and, after Ub left the company, would become the expert on drawing the cornerstone character of the studio. He refused to rest on his laurels, however, and continuously took art classes in an effort to hone his talent.

When it came time to launch the Silly Symphony series, Les was an integral part of the team, animating the iconic dance of The Skeleton Dance. He would continue his fancy footwork when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was in production as the animator charged with making the dwarfs dance with Snow White. For the next few decades, Les would have a hand in every major animation project the studio did. From Pinocchio to Make Mine Music, he was a lead animator. Starting with Song of the South, he began to fill the directing animator role and did so on Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. Les was a sequence director on Sleeping Beauty and contributed to 101 Dalmatians.

Photo lifted from exploratorium.edu

After the completion of Sleeping Beauty, Walt asked Les to transition into a new role as the director of special projects for the burgeoning television department and the educational films the studio was beginning to produce. Les spent the final two decades of his career with Disney creating things like Donald in Mathmagic Land, Donald's Fire Survival Plan and shorts on topics as varied as The Social Side of Health and one called VD Attack Plan.

After 48 years of making magic with Disney, Les retired in 1976. Just a few years later, he would pass away from cancer on September 12, 1979 in Santa Barbara, California. For his immense body of work, the plucky Venice soda jerk would become an official Disney Legend alongside his fellow Nine Old Men and his one-time mentor Ub Iwerks in 1989.