Prod. 2272 - Symphony Hour

Yet another request - and another Riley Thomson film.
Layout by Harold Miles, who was also live action set designer.
Date of this final draft 11/3/1941, released 3/20/1942.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was inbetween those dates...

John McLeish was the voice of the announcer, with animation by Ken Muse, Marvin Woonward, Jim Moore, Bernie Wolf, John Elliotte, Ed Love and Les Clark, among others. Re-use from Society Dog Show...
And there is even a scene by the director!
The film is on Disney Treasures DVD: MM in Living Color Vol. 2.

Prod. UM7 - Building a Building

My all-time favorite film! The relation between Mickey and Minnie is heart-felt and sweet, especially in Dick Lundy's interchange "Box lunch - buy a box-lunch" "Haven't got any money!" "That's allright - try one!" The animators are basically the "standard group" that can be seen on the photo below. At this time, the idea of character casting was still new. It has become apparent for me that previously, scenes were dealt out based on availability of the artists, which possibly still was true in part here - my guess is Les Clark got the last scene because he was done with the first scene with the cart when the others were nearly done with all the other scenes - who knows. Ben Sharpsteen has a lot of scenes - but he may also here have had many assistants/junior animators under him...
This film was, as we have seen previously, used as an example of what was done right. Warmth, charm and humor. And it can be seen on the first Mickey Mouse in Black and White Treasures DVD...

Directed by Dave Hand, released Jan 7th, 1933 (same date as written on the draft).By all means feel free to comment! And have you seen the intro to our showreel yet?

Prod. 2236 - Tugboat Mickey

Another request...

Ken Muse, Rex Cox, Ed Love, Larry Clemmons and Ken Peterson are featured in this short where Mickey, Donald and Goofy are trying to rescue a sinking ship on the radio, not helped by a pelican.
Directed by Gerry Geronimi, Director's Pickup Date 3/23/39,
this final draft from 3/15/40. Released 4/26/40.

Char&FX Preference Schedule

Here is a little morsel of information: Disney's Character and Effects Preference Schedule of August 24, 1964. You don't see these too often, so here is one...
Woozies??? Maybe it's a copying error...

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Prod. 2232 - Donald's Dog Laundry

At last again a Donald Duck short...
This is the one with the 'Kitten Mitten!' Among the animators, we again meet Paul Allen, John Lounsbery, Ken Muse and Emery Hawkins. Also Claude Smith, Lee Blair, Lee Morehouse, Norm Tate, Johnny Cannon and Judge Whitaker. I'm glad to share this, as these men deserve the recognition that...erh...they deserve....

Directed by Jack King, this draft is dated 10/25/1939.
Released 4/5/1940, just before the Blitz in Europe...Went down to the shop and got me an HP Officejet...

Prod. 2264 - Mickey's Birthday Party

By special request...

It is especially interesting to see who animated Goofy...
Directed by Riley Thomson, this draft #6 dated 4/9/1941.
The film, a remake of CM-10 as posted just below (more on that later, as I have a later version of it), premiered 2/7/1942.After a hard week of Comic-Con and other things, and with hotel networking issues impeding my productivity, I finally found I could post as normal. That doesn't mean I will do so every day, though! Keep peeking in, and I will post new stuff every once in a while. in the mean time, if you want to get in touch re: A. Film L.A., the easiest way is probably by just mailing me at hp(at)afilm.com.

And good news: Amid's Animation Blast #9 and Cartoon Modern are some of the nicest publications of the decade! Buy! Pre-order! Now!
(The bad news: I didn't get to meet a lot of people who were at the Comic-Con, though I was there from Wednesday through Saturday...)

Gone Fishing...

Folks, I may not be able to do much posting during the next months, if any at all, as I will be gone! As A. Film L.A. moves closer to active life, I hope to have more fascinating adventures in animation past AND present to share, so I'll try to post, but I cannot promise anything - if I CAN figure out how to do it, it may take a few days, at least, for I do not yet know what kind of internet connection I will have. Between Comic-Con and the World 3-D Film Expo II, I have a lot to do in L.A., so - I'm off! Check back once in a while, or drop me a line if you want to be kept abreast of developments, blog-or-otherwise! Did you really read all 222 previously unpublished documents on this page so far?

Before you continue, make a mental note to put up a sign that reads "What is the character thinking, and why does he feel that way?"

Here it is, your moment of Zen...

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Shot in Holland in August 1984. Never shown before. Not much to add...

--Hans

Prod. CM-10 - Birthday Party (part)

Here is a little treat. This is the original type-written draft for Prod. CM-10, The Birthday Party, directed by Burt Gillett, released Jan. 6th, 1931. This is thus the original 1930 document!
Sadly, I only have the first page of this gem, with Jack Cutting (later the head of the International Dept.) appearing as animator, and Dave Hand appearing as Dave and as Hand. "Flohri" pencilled in at the top (and corrected) may indicate that this was the copy used by Emil Flohri, the background painter.

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Disney Tech Manuals from the 30's (II)

What I find particularly interesting about these manuals is the fact that the mechanics of animation was so closely linked to the mechanics of its recording. An animator would do a certain motion - a layout artist would draw the background and animation layout in a certain way - so it could be photographed, and preferably in the simplest way possible, though, this being Disney, that was not a goal in itself. What is more surprising, of course, is that we all still worked largely this way, even ten years ago. Still, the art without the mechanics - it cannot exsist. Here is the rest of the 1938 manual.