Ralph Ayres, one of the key figures of British animation in the post-war era. He was born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England on the 28th November 1914. He learned to draw at the Junior Technical College but was self-taught as an amateur artist. He was apprenticed to a local firm Emanuel Spence as a plumber, after which he went south for work. After the 2nd World War he joined Walt Disney's former director
David Hand at Gaumont British Animation in Cookham on Thames,a part of J Arthur Rank organisation and
helped in the production of the Animaland series of cartoons. These featured various animal characters such as Ginger Nutt, Corney Crow,
Dusty Mole etc. Ralph was director of the second unit of the production team. Ralph was invited to join the Disney Organisation in the USA, but his wife Marjorie Porrit prevailed upon him not to go so he joined
John Halas at Halas and Batchelor working on cartoon features and shorts for cinema.
He next went freelance producing animation sequences for product
advertising in Cinemas, and also for television commercials, working
from his studio in Cookham Dean. He continued to do contract work for
mainstream cinema especially main title sequences most of which were
uncredited. His last major known contribution to old style animation
was in
Watership Down (1978). Interestingly, some of the
David Hand Animaland characters
also appeared in comic strip form in the Daily Herald the predecessor
to the SUN newspaper.
All his working life Ralph Ayres collected bits and pieces of animation
artwork from conceptual sketches and individual cells, to masters,
negatives, film fragments, reels, etc. These ranged from early bits of
Felix the cat, through Disney material, the Cookeen fairy and included
copies of the Animaland films. Carefully recorded they were kept in the
"Archive room" of his home. He had always hoped these pieces of what he
believed was an important artform would be preserved for posterity.
Unfortunately when he died on the 4th April 1979 nothing was done to
secure the collection for the national film archive. His widow
Marjorie, still alive in a nursing home aged 94 years as at February
2004, unfortunately became increasingly disturbed and delusional and
control of her affairs were handed over to a local solicitor. When it
became necessary to admit Marjorie to a nursing home the house was sold
and the contents dispersed including unfortunately the wonderful
archive.
It is possible that the copies of the David Hand cartoons that were
rediscovered a few years back came from this source, but, maybe the
Ayres copies and the rest of the archive are out there somewhere in the
Maidstone or Cookham area just waiting to be found in some junkshop or
second-hand dealer's garage.
