A. Film L.A. test

Ha! The feature film Valhalla had its premiere in 1986. It was the reason for my move from Holland to Denmark. Now I find that at this address, one can buy cells from this production, signed by the director, Peter Madsen. Funny, though - I animated the scene with the kid and the sword, my A. Film business partner Karsten Kiilerich animated the scenes with Thor "..when NOT to use it!" Compare the poster that is for sale to the one on the page that I linked to first. Peter redid the poster completely in bright colors, as the distributor didn't think they could sell the film with the more subdued one. There is a world of difference: we all still love the original one! Not much artwork still exists from this production, and not only because it was Xeroxed using a Canon NP10 cold copier, so the lines chip of the cells. Actually, most artwork was sent to the garbage dump when the owner of the rights, Danish distributor Metronome (then owned by musician and music producer Ben...

Directed by Burt Gillett, released 01/28/1932. Animated by Johnny Cannon, Dave Hand - with Andrew Hutchinson and Gerry "Jerry" Geronimi, Norm Ferguson, Jack King, Ben Sharpsteen - with Chuck Couch and Harry Reeves, Frenchy de Tremaudan, Rudi Zamora and Dick Lundy. 8,791 drawings... Went and saw the Kay Nielsen exhibit here just north of Copenhagen, on its last day. WOW! A truly amazingly gifted artist. And lots of art to look at! The good folks at the museum were justly humbled by the fact that there was no catalog. The only comfort they offered was the fact that there will be a book by Colin White about Nielsen, which was supposed to be issued during the exhibit. It will be available in English from London and Chicago, the Danish page says, and I just checked, it is planned to come out around - maybe just after - Christmas. The Danish publisher will distribute it in the US also. [Nov. 2009: date now shows as February 2010.] [Jan. 2011: date now March 2011.] This was the Dis...

Directed by Burt Gillett, released 11/04/1931. Animators: Dick Lundy, Dave Hand, Norm Ferguson, Tom Palmer, Jack King, Gerri Geronimi, Frenchy de Tremaudan, Ben Sharpsteen. Hand and Sharpsteen seem to have coached a number of junior animators and assistants: Sizzle (?), Tat (?) Frank Kelling, Chuck Couch, Joe D'Igalo, Andrew Hutchinson, Hardie Gramatky, Jack Cutting, Marvin Woodward, Charles Byrne(s) and Harry Reeves. These were exiting times: the films got better for so did the people making them! But the core was this small group of a few key men... Good thing Frank Kelling didn't live in Denmark - in Danish, a Kelling is an old hag... Say, does anyone know more about Sizzle and Tat? [Update from comments posted and sent to me: Sizzle was Cecil Surrey as found in previous postings, and Tat was Daniel Tattenham, a one-time animation studio head, see here .]

Directed by Burt Gillett and released 08/18/1931. A plethora of animators, most only doing a single scene: Joe d'Igalo, Les Clark, Tom Palmer, Frenchy de Tremaudan, Dick Lundy, Jack Cutting, Frank Tipper, Norm Ferguson, Cecil Surr(e)y, Charles Byrne(s), Johnny Cannon, Hardy Gramatky, Jack King, Ed Benedict, Rudy Zamora and Harry Reeves. A great little film that is on the Disney Treasures DVD "Mickey Mouse in Black and White". I have never been so busy, folks! Therefor I have a very VERY erratic posting schedule! Remember to check Didier's blog for Silly Symphonies drafts, which are copies of documents in the Disney Archives. And remember to get J B Kaufmann and Russell Merritt's book Silly Symphonies! They have used all known drafts and put this info (condensed) in their very interesting book!

Directed by Dave Hand and animated by Marvin Woodward, Hardie Gramatky, Dick Lundy, Johnny Cannon, Gerry Geronimi, Bob Wickersham and Bill Roberts. Released 11/17/1934, this final draft is dated 9/19/1934. By special request. The form of this draft, with 23 lines per sheet, is a bit different than the later one with 10 lines. Its data has not been entered as originally intended, but it does reflect in form the earlier hand-written drafts, with the screen footage indicated on the left of the scene number...

This draft is called The Arctic Trappers, dated 1/11/1938. Directed by Ben Sharpsteen, released as Polar Trappers 6/17/1938. Animation by Art Babbitt, Al Eugster, (Vin?) Hoskins, Ed Love, Woolie Reitherman, Shamus Culhane, Bob Wickersham, one scene by Stan Quackenbush and effects including Cornett Wood.

Another very well known short film, released 06/20/1936 and one production number up from Thru the Mirror, Moving Day was directed by Ben Sharpsteen and animated by Paul Allen, Al Eugster, Marvin Woodward, Woolie Reitherman, Art Babbitt and Fred Spencer, with a duck scene by Don Towsley and two effects scenes by Cy Young. This second draft is dated 2/4/1936. Ol' Peg Leg Pete's first appearance in color, and with two legs, too! Gee, I've been busy... Not only with work, but also performing songs from Russell Schroeder's great book Disney's Lost Chords at the NFFC convention in Anaheim and in the Hyperion Bungalow on the Disney Studio lot! What great songs these are, and what fun to perform these on the property where they were written some 60 years ago... Before that, after Annecy, I visited Washington DC, and saw the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibition in Montreal, which was GREAT. Though I often find the European premise far-fetched, the art was astounding! C...