A. Film L.A. test

To end the year with a bit of a bang, here are some pertinent pages from the June 10, 1983 internal Disney Newsreel. They outline the "Where the Wild Things Are" test, which can be viewed on YouTube here . There is also mention of the Brave Little Toaster, a film that ultimately was made outside Disney, directed by Jerry Rees (who was, with Bill Kroyer , one of the animation directors on TRON). I find this article especially poignant as I have just yesterday revisited Glen Keane's baby Rapunzel (now called Tangled, to make it more appealing to a male audience) in 3-D, which has a trailer for John Lasseter's Cars 2 in front of it (also Smurfs and Mars Needs Moms - Oh, boy, I'm countin' the days - NOT!). Whereas Cars 2 seems to be all about car racing (and thus selling toys to boys), Rapunzel was without a doubt the most beautiful, poetic and luscious CG movie I have ever seen, with amazingly controlled acting and animation, believable characters that never mov...

Folks, I just found a posting about adding links to older posts at the bottom of the page, which I implemented - it works!!!

Directed by Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson, assisted by Jacques (Roberts). Layout by Terrell Stapp and Thor Putnam. This draft dated 10/16/40. (Final page: Directed by Sam Armstrong, layout Blair/Plummer, dated 10/2/40). A John McManus effects tour-de-force. I always liked the story that the last scene was delivered to the cinema on the afternoon of the premiere, after there having been an earthquake and no time to re-shoot it... This, of course, concludes the draft for Prod. 2004, Walt Disney's Fantasia. I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe learned something new! {News Flash! Steven Hartley has begun posting the mosaic for Fantasia!] As always, remember my "Standard Disclaimer" on drafts (see most of my earlier drafts). That's the one on drafts not being historical documents and not always correct and not always showing the Directing Animator etc. etc. They do give an interesting insight in the inner workings of the studio, the unit system (like the Jaxon unit in thi...

Directed by Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson, assisted by Jacques (Roberts). Layout by Terrell Stapp and Thor Putnam. This draft dated 10/3/40. Character animation by Bill Tytla, Bill Shull, Bob Carlson, Les Novros and (Don) Patterson. Effects by Cornett Wood, Frank Follmer, John Reed, John McManus, Sandy Strother, Ed Aardal, Don Tobin, Josh Meador, Milt Shaffer, Miles Pike, John Tucker and Jack Harbaugh. This is, of course, one of Bill Tytla's masterpieces, Chernobog on the mountain top. Actually, this is much the same unit as the Stromboli sequence in Pinocchio and several sequences in Dumbo: Jaxon, Roberts, Stapp and Tytla... Funny how scene 20 ia credited to its footage. Must be a typo...

Directed by Sam Armstrong, assisted by Lloyd Richardson. Layout by Lee Blair and Elmer Plummer. This draft dated 10/2/40. Deems Taylor's introduction to the last section, comprised of Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria.

Directed by T. Hee, assisted by Larry Lansburgh. Layout by Ken O'Connor. This draft dated 9/9/40. Character animation by John Lounsbery, Hicks Lokey, Preston Blair, Howard Swift, Norm Tate, Hugh Fraser, Art Elliott and Harvey Toombs. Effects by Cornett Wood, George Rowley, Brad Case, Jack Gayek, Jim Will, Ed Aardal, George DeBeeson, John Reed, [John?] Fitzpatrick (for the ? see a previous posting ) and Jerome Brown.

On the front of the A. Film homepage you can find this image, drawn by my friend Luca Fattore, of the "A. Film pigs" at their Christmas dinner. Merry Christmas, Everyone! Hope you get time to relax - and check out our homepage! I especially want to extend my best wishes to my trusty commenters, Zartok-35, John V. (thanks for sorting out my Pattersons, guys!) and Steven Hartley who just finished his Alice in Wonderland mosaic , as well as my "blog friends," first and foremost Michael Sporn, whose blog continues to be an inspiration for all lovers of animation.

Directed by T. Hee, assisted by Larry Lansburgh. Layout by Ken O'Connor. This draft dated 9/9/40. Character animation by [Ray] Patterson, Harvey Toombs, Howard Swift, Frank Grundeen, Hicks Lokey and Grant Simmons. Effects by John Reed, Brad Case, Jerome Brown, Cornett Wood, Vernon Witt, Josh Meador, George Rowley and Ed Aardal.

I'll keep this at the top for a while. It may be too late for your Christmas shopping, but there is always January. Here is my suggestion: Russell Schroeder's great books on the "lost treasures from the Walt Disney Music Library" are not only filled with great songs, but have interesting stories you may not find elsewhere, as well! Click the image to get to the page that shows how you can order them! (When Vol.1 came out, the late Roy E. Disney bought 3 copies!) For those of you who do not read sheet music, there exists software in which you can scan the pages and it plays the music back to you! More info: click the image!

Directed by T. Hee, assisted by Larry Lansburgh. Layout by Ken O'Connor. This draft dated 9/9/40. Character animation by Howard Swift, Preston Blair, Van Kaufman and Norm Ferguson. Effects by Cornett Wood, Brad Case, Jack Gayek, George DeBeeson, Jim Will and Ed Aardal.

Directed by T. Hee, assisted by Larry Lansburgh. Layout by Ken O'Connor. This draft dated 9/9/40. Character animation by Howard Swift, Jerry Hathcock, Hugh Fraser, Norm Tate and George Nicholas. Effects by Cornett Wood, Brad Case and Jack Gayek.

In a comment on a posting about Mickey's Orphans on Michael Sporn's ever-inspiring blog , it was asked what the size of the storyboard drawings shown is. I happen to have some pages of this paper, and scanned one. It isn't a great work of art, but it shows the sheet, a standard sheet of 9.5" x 12" animation paper with three red rectangles printed on it. The rectangles are precisely 3" by 4". Hope this answered that question... The rough sketch of a beached Clarabelle Cow is by Burt Gillett...

Directed by Sam Armstrong, assisted by Lloyd Richardson. Layout by Lee Blair and Elmer Plummer. This draft dated 10/2/40. Deems Taylor introduces the "Dance of the Hours" segment...

Directed by Ham Luske and Ford L. Beebe (Jr.), assisted by Erwin Verity. Layout by Hugh Hennesy. This draft dated 7/24/40. Character animation by John Elliotte, Bernie Wolf, Bob Youngquist, Murray McClellan, Jack Campbell, Bill Justice, Milt Neil, Don Lusk, Ward Kimball, Don Towsley, Sewell (see previous) and [Ross?] Wetzel. Effects by Jack Gayek, Fitzpatrick (see previous), George Rowley, John Reed, Don Tobin and Sandy Strother (where did that last S come from?). I am uncertain about the function of Ambi Paliwoda, Art Palmer, and Walt Kelly (misspelled Kelley). They should all rank as character animators, but their "position" on this draft is as effects animator.

Directed by Ham Luske and Jim Handley, assisted by Jack Bruner. Layout by Ken Anderson. This draft dated 7/23/40. Character animation by Bill Justice, Fred Moore, Eric Larson, Walt Kelly, Bernie Wolf, Lynn Karp, Art Babbitt, Fred Madison, Don Towsley, Bob Youngquist, Sewell (see yesterday), Jim Moore, Ward Kimball and Ambi Paliwoda. Effects by Bob Martsch, Brad Case, Jim Will, Jack Harbaugh, Josh Meador, George Rowley, Jack Gayek, Don Tobin, Cornett Wood, Jerome Brown and Harry Hamsel.

Directed by Ham Luske and Jim Handley, assisted by Jack Bruner. Layout by Ken Anderson. This draft dated 9/16/40. Character animation by Jack Bradbury, Sewell (see note), Lynn Karp, Murray McClellan, Walt Kelly, Bernie Wolf, Eric Larson, Bill Justice, Bob Youngquist, Ward Kimball, Milt Neil, Don Lusk and John Elliotte. Effects by Ugo D'Orsi, Frank Follmer, Jack Gayek, Paul Kossoff, George Rowley, (see note 2) Fitzpatrick, Cornett Wood, George DeBeeson, Ed Aardal, Miles Pike and John Reed. (Note: Alberto Becattini has a John Sewall who was animator during this era, and, of course Hazel Sewell, Walt's sister-in-law who married Bill Cottrell, and who was in charge of Ink and Paint in the early Mickey years. Alberto has a question mark behind animation in her name. I must admit I lean towards John Sewall here. They could have spelled his name wrong, based on Hazel being well known around the studio...) (Note 2: Alberto mentions only Art Fitzpatrick, who was Babbitt's assistant...

Directed by Ham Luske and Ford L. Beebe (Jr.), assisted by Erwin Verity. Layout by Hugh Hennesy. This draft dated 9/11/40. Character animation by Jack Campbell, Ollie Johnston, Bill Justice, Milt Neil, Bernie Wolf, John Elliotte, Bob Youngquist, Fred Moore, Jim Moore (unless this is a typo), Art Palmer and Amby Paliwoda. Effects by Harry Hamsel, Don Tobin, Josh Meador, George DeBeeson, Jim Will, Frank Follmer, Miles Pike, Paul Kossoff, Cornett Wood, Jack Gayek, Dan McManus, George Rowley, Art Fitzpatrick, Brad Case and John Reed. Ward Kimball called this "a candy-box sequence..." [I decided against a typo for Jim Moore for the simple reason that if it had been Fred Moore all of it, they would simply have written "Moore." Adding the "F" implies that there also is another, "J." Elementary, my dear Watson...]

Directed by Ham Luske and Ford L. Beebe (Jr.), assisted by Erwin Verity. Layout by Ken Anderson. This draft dated 9/6/40. Animation by Lynn Karp, Walt Kelly, Bill Justice, Bernie Wolf, Jack Bradbury, Eric Larson, Murray McClellan, Don Towsley and Fred Madison. Effects by Jack Gayek, Ed Aardal, George Rowley, Brad Case, Josh Meador, Cornett Wood, Vernon Witt, Dan McManus, Harry Hamsel, Don Tobin, Frank Follmer and Ugo D'Orsi.