Prod. 2242 - Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip
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Released 10 days before Fantasia, on 11/01/40, this 2nd draft dated 5/16/40.
I suppose by now we all have seen the clip of Walt as Mickey and Billy Bletcher as Pete. It was available on the Disney treasures DVD: Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol.2. Someone uploaded it to YouTube.
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip isn't the best of Disney's output, not by a long shot, but it sure put Pomona on the map for me! A great place for antiquing! The short itself is abundantly available on YouTube.
In the draft we meet Andy Engman, Dick Lundy, Chic Otterstrom, Ken Muse, Ed Love, Marvin Woodward, Claude Smith and Nick Nichols.
Miffy is all finished, folks! Personally I think it is great, but I would have to, wouldn't I? The premiere is in Holland in January. Let's hope the audience likes it as much as I do!
Labels: Draft, Shorts_RKO
posted by Hans Perk at 9:00 AM
7 Comments:
Thanks for this post on this fun Mickey cartoon, Hans. I really like Ed Love's animation in this cartoon.
But most of all, Congratulations on completing your Miffy film - let's hope that there will be guaranteed success! So, if that's complete would that mean another feature draft could be coming up? :)
Hi Steven! Who knows... I don't! It depends on several factors, including how busy I will be with everything else, and at this time - I have no idea!
I always find it interesting to see animation by animators who are quite famous for their work outside of Disney's like Ken Muse, whom we all know to be a top-ranked Tom & Jerry animator. But alongside a slew of others (like Emory Hawkins), he never really got recognized for the volume of work he did for Disney.
Well, take your time with everything Hans!
The animators at Disney are interesting, yes. Bill Melendez certainly had a career outside of Disney - through to Warner Bros. - UPA and even making Charlie Brown shows. Well, Emery Hawkins never seemed to be too associated with any specific studio because he's been almost EVERYWHERE (MGM - Lantz - Columbia - Disney - Warner Bros, etc.)
It's a fun cartoon, and nice to see Mickey as the "plucky little guy". It's also welcome to have a cartoon where Pluto has plenty of screentime but very little of it is spent sniffing around or being the victim of slow-burn frustration. This makes it a lot livelier than most of its ilk. In fact, Pluto's more of a MacGuffin than a major character, although the "cat" sequence is a fun exploration of the idea of smuggling a dog onto a train.
Interesting mix of animators. Muse, Nichols and Otterstrom would be prominent on the later Pluto-centric entries. Marvin Woodward and Ed Love mostly stick to Mickey and Pete, respectively.
It's surprising how few effects animators are listed, with none at all on the shot of Pete's watch (credited to Ed Love).
There's a scene between 13 and 14 which isn't on the draft, where Mickey leaps onto the back of the train. Scenes 21-23 seem to have been shuffled a bit, with an extra shot added of Mickey trembling (perhaps taken from scene 23). Also not on the draft is the shot at the end, with Pete throwing Mickey's bags off the train.
Conversely, the second tunnel entry in the draft for scenes 63-4 was cut.
Ed Love's animation of Pete is strikingly similar to his animation in some of the earlier Tex Avery MGM cartoons, particularly the Wolf.
-Devon Baxter
What a thrill to open up your blog and see this draft posted.
That video of Walt doing the voices... awesome as well. Who can deny the genius of a man with such range.
As always, Thanks!
Congratulations on finishing Miffy. Completion of any film is a triumph, just in the act of completion.
he video of Disney and Billy Bletcher acting is extraordinary. Every take is almost identical. tough Disney does have some variations in his performance. It's hilarious to watch and very informative compared to how things are done today.
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