A Moment of Reflection, Please...


Today marks the 40th anniversary of the passing of Walt Disney, on December 15th, 1966,
9:35 am PST. Whatever has been written or said about him throughout the years, it is undeniable that he has done more for our medium animation than any other person, alive or dead...

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Prod. CM20 - Mickey Cuts Up

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Mickey Cuts Up was directed by Burt Gillett and released 11/30/1931. It is found on Disney Treasures DVD: Mickey Mouse in Black & White Volume 1 disc 1. You may still find it here on YouTube. Have a look, if you need a clearer understanding of the following documents! Gillett left some documents pertaining Mickey Cuts Up behind, and I would like here to show a few of these that I recently lucked into. It is interesting to speculate in which order these were written - they seem to all be in Gillett's own handwriting and would probably date to late August or early September 1931. First we have two pages, numbered 1 & 2, with ideas linked to names, Otto and Webb, which to me seems to mean that the ideas were originally thought out by either Otto Englander or Webb Smith. There are interesting ideas that did not make the film - they are crossed out: "mower bumps up and down on hedge - trick cuts." Some were not crossed out and made it in the film: "Cuts down tre...
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Prod. CM8 - The Picnic

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Directed by Burt Gillett. Released 10/23/30, this FINAL draft dated 9/13/30. Animation by Dave Hand, Jack King, Charlie Byrne, Norm Ferguson, Dick Lundy, Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Ben Sharpsteen, Tom Palmer, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Cutting and Frenchy de Trémaudan. Found on the Treasures DVD Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Vol. 2 Disk 1 or on YouTube, though in very low quality here . A cute little film, this is actually a landmark in animation history. "Can I bring Rover?" Little Rover is, of course, none other than Pluto! Fergy's scene 27 is often "quoted" when discussing the origins of this the most famous of cartoon canines. It is very interesting to see the difference in drawing styles. Fergy tries to draw a dog and mostly does a very nice job. Compare this with e.g. Palmer's attempt in the final scene. It is a "funny cartoon balloon animal," a much more simplistic and symbolic way of drawing. Palmer, Cannon and Lundy seem not to be quite up to...
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Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 08.0 Boy Meets Girl

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Happy 4th of July, folks - to celebrate, here is the key sequence of the picture, the first one boarded! And it is a big one. With its estimated 925 feet (which is 10 minutes 16 seconds 16 frames), it was by far the longest one, the fourth sequence "ok to ink." Directed by Eric Larson, laid out by MacLaren Stewart. Animation by Hal Ambro, Iwao Takamoto, Marc Davis, Les Clark (Rose), Hal King, Walt Stanchfield, Don Lusk, Cliff Nordberg, Blaine Gibson (animals), Milt Kahl (Prince & Samson the Horse), John Lounsbery (Prince, Horse and animals). Scene 83 (Gibson/Takamoto) is the one being worked on in page 136 of Bob Thomas' The Art of Animation (1958). So who is the person with the pencil (and cigarette) also seen from the back in the picture on the following page? This FINAL draft of 10/29/58... Again, folks, feel free to comment! That's the way we learn things!
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