It always appears to be that every time I see Cliff Nordberg's animation - its usually entertaining, wild and similar to what Ward Kimball would have done. Didn't Cliff Nordberg work in a Kimball style? I'm asking because, he worked closely with Kimball on Dum and Dee or the Mad Hatter and the March Hare in Alice in Wonderland and he did a big chunk of work on the film. He also worked under Kimball in Pecos Bill.
He animated the characters, Jasper and Horace in 101 Dalmatians under John Lounsbery.
He seems to have been a good animator who has been overlooked.
You can always count on a nice livley performance from Cliff Nordberg! Just about everything here is so hyperactive. It's wonderful, and very worthy and characteristic of him. I'm surprised someone else didn't get some of the early scenes, though.
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...
This just in from Børge Ring. It is not a Disney item, but fun, nonetheless: William Littlejohn animated Lucy and Snoopy for Melendez on the PEANUTS series and recounted: "At one time Charles Schultz (the author of the comic strip) complained: "You guys make a mistake when you animate Charlie Brown. You change the placement of his nose when his head turns from profile to front view!" "No Charlie...the change is YOURS!" "Ah...come on fellers, I know my own characters!" They invited him down to the studio, set him up in the attic at a lightbox and said: "Draw a Charlie Brown in profile and one where he looks into the camera. Then draw three stages in between the two where his head turns." At 7 o'clock that evening, when everybody was having beers and playing pool, a tired Schulz came down the stairs, jacket slung over the shoulder. He stopped briefly to say: "OK, you guys. You win..."
Between Sequence 3 and 3.1 we find Seq. 4.2, "Marionette Show." This being a musical number, the sequence director is Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson, assisted by Lou Debney. Layout by Terrell E. Stapp (1893-1979) and Thor Putnam (starting with a multiplane shot). Pinoke masterfully animated by Frank Thomas and later Ollie Johnston, Jiminy Cricket by Bernie Wolf, Don Towsley and Ward Kimball, Stromboli by Bill Tytla, Dutch Puppet by Jack Campbell, French puppets by Art Babbitt (the "singer") and Eric Larson (the "dancers"), Russian "Bomb Throwers" by Woolie Reithermann. As today's special treat, here is the entire Sequence. Frank's animation in this sequence is some of my all-time favorite, as it is an amazing acting job, a complete analysis of this little shy boy, who happens to be a puppet, being "pushed in the pooblic's eye." Jiminy Cricket is in a supporting role, cause "What does an actor want with a conscience, ...
It always appears to be that every time I see Cliff Nordberg's animation - its usually entertaining, wild and similar to what Ward Kimball would have done. Didn't Cliff Nordberg work in a Kimball style? I'm asking because, he worked closely with Kimball on Dum and Dee or the Mad Hatter and the March Hare in Alice in Wonderland and he did a big chunk of work on the film. He also worked under Kimball in Pecos Bill.
ReplyDeleteHe animated the characters, Jasper and Horace in 101 Dalmatians under John Lounsbery.
He seems to have been a good animator who has been overlooked.
You can always count on a nice livley performance from Cliff Nordberg! Just about everything here is so hyperactive. It's wonderful, and very worthy and characteristic of him. I'm surprised someone else didn't get some of the early scenes, though.
ReplyDelete