ANIMATOR REELS: Ken Champin (Patreon)

Ken Champin (1911-1989) was one of Friz Freleng’s regular animators—he was part of his staff by 1940, indicated by a group photograph, but he did not receive an on-screen credit until Daffy—the Commando, released in 1943. 

During the 1940s, Champin freelanced in comic book stories for Sangor-published magazines in James Davis’ shop while animating at Warners. He continued animating for Freleng up until the early 1950s. His last credit in production order was Pests for Guests (#1302, released January 1955). Its dialogue track was recorded September 1952, so it is possible Champin left Warners to work for Ray Patin before the studio shutdown that occurred in wake of the 3D craze in films, which affected the studio by June 1953. (Furthermore, Manny Perez is credited on the remainder of Freleng’s cartoons leading up to the shutdown, after which he became an animator at Patin’s studio, as well.)

Champin’s comic book work expanded to Disney, MGM and Walter Lantz’s characters while working as an animator/director at Ray Patin’s studio on commercials; it seems his comic book work stopped around 1956 or 1957. By 1961, he was hired as an animation director at Film Fair, a commercial studio run by Gus Jekel, one of Fred Moore’s former assistants at Disney’s. Besides a sojourn animating at Bill Melendez’s studio (A Boy Named Charlie Brown), Champin remained at Film Fair until approximately 1975. Later, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng hired him on a number of their television specials as an animator. Meanwhile, his son Jim Champin served as an editor on Freleng’s television specials and compilation features. 

Here is a selection of scenes of Champin's animation, all from Friz Freleng’s Warner Bros. cartoons, unless otherwise noted. One characteristic trait in his drawing, particularly on Bugs Bunny, is how Champin tends to draw one of his ears slightly more bent than the other. 

Clips taken from: Kit for Cat (1948), Foxy by Proxy (1952), Curtain Razor (1949), Hollywood Daffy (1946; directed by Hawley Pratt), Bugs and Thugs (1954), Snow Business (1953), Pigs in a Polka (1943), Slick Hare (1947), Goo Goo Goliath (1954), Cracked Quack (1952), A Mouse Divided (1953), A Hare Grows in Manhattan (1947), Back Alley Oproar (1948), Wise Quackers (1949), Hare Splitter (1948), Little Red Rodent Hood (1952), His Bitter Half (1950), Racketeer Rabbit (1946), Stooge for a Mouse (1950), Stage Door Cartoon (1944), Tree for Two (1952), Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948), Dog Pounded (1954)