Prod. CM23 - The Grocery Boy

Happy 92nd Birthday, Mr. Mouse! The last of your film drafts I posted was CM-17, here is the next one I have, CM-23, [The] Grocery Boy.Animated by Dave Hand, Tom Palmer, Rudy Zamora, Ben Sharpsteen, Les Clark, Jack King, Albert Hurter, Johnny Cannon, Gerry Geronimi, Dick Lundy and Gilles Armand "Frenchy" de Trémaudan, plus Harry Reeves, "Hutch" and Johnny Cannon under the supervision of Ben Sharpsteen.


On Alberto Becattini's site we find that "Hutch" was:

HUTCHINSON, Andrew Charles (“HUTCH”)

- Animator/Director/Producer/Story: LEE-BRADFORD c23-25 (Red Head Comedies 23/25)

- Animator: TED ESHBAUGH c30-31/32-43 (The Wizard of Oz 31, Goofy Goat Antics 31 [for VAN BEUREN], Cap’n Cub 45); DOUGLAS LEIGH 40s (Animated Advertising Displays)

- Assistant Animator: DISNEY 31 (Silly Symphony 31 [The Fox Hunt, The Ugly Duckling], Mickey Mouse 31-32 [The Duck Hunt 32, The Mad Dog 32])


Premiered on 2/11/1932 and can be found on the Treasures DVD Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2, disk 2, in the From the Vault section because of Al Hurter's sc. 47.


Congratulations also to Miss Minnie Mouse on her birthday!


It has been a while since I last posted anything here, even after having finally relocated myself in SoCal a year and a day ago! I have to do this more often again! I admit, since my old mentor Børge Ring passed away I lost some incentive for posting Mickey drafts. Is anyone else still interested in them?

Prod. CM17 - Fishin' Around

Happy 90th Birthday, Mickey Mouse!
Let's celebrate with another animation draft, the one "next in line" in my files. (Next was CM-16, Blue Rhythm, which I posted in 2007.)

Directed by Burt Gillett, released 9/25/1931.Animated by Les Clark, Jack King, Norm Ferguson, Hardy Gramatky, Dave Hand, Dick Lundy, Charles Byrne, Ben Sharpsteen, Tom Palmer, Johnny Cannon and Jack Cutting. Music by Bert Lewis.

I love Fergy's under-water slow-motion scenes, though there is little under-water feeling left in the later scenes that seem to incorporate animation from The Moose Hunt. I am not normally Dick Lundy's greatest fan, but I very much enjoy the little dance the fish do around the can of bait. Fun to see scene 16 as "Hands' [sic] old drawings" in the draft. I'm not to sure about the moral of this story, but hey - it's 1931! The Hebrew-looking "No Fishing" sign raises a lot of questions that probably better stay unanswered...

In July/August of 1931, the animators will have started getting used to working in the new L-shaped "Animators Building" at the studio on Hyperion Avenue (they moved in around May), even though Walt in early July still had not moved into his new office. The new buildings were not all finished at the same time, so while Burt Gillett and Bert Lewis are at work in their new Music Room, just outside their window the sound stage is still under construction. This is a period of steady growth for Walt's studio. From the small crew of nine people moving into Hyperion Avenue in February 1926, to 18 working on Oswald, then being reduced to ten working on the first Mickey films, in mid 1931 the staff had already grown to about 73. When Walt said that "it was all started by a mouse," it was the simple truth: without the success of Steamboat Willie we may only have heard of the name Disney as a small studio that operated in Hollywood from 1923 to 1928. Small wonder that Walt kept the script of Steamboat Willie in his desk all his life (where archivist Dave Smith found it in 1970).

Prod. CM-15 - Mickey Steps Out

Directed by Burt Gillett, released 7/7/1931.Animated by Jack King, Johnny Cannon, Norm Ferguson, Dave Hand, Harry Reeves, Ben Sharpsteen, Tom Palmer, Frenchy de Trémaudan, Dick Lundy, Hardy Gramatky, Rudy Zamora, Charles Byrne(s), Les Clark, Marvin Woodward and Jack Cutting. (15 animators on 39 scenes...) The person transcribing the draft must have missed scene 33 - maybe by Frenchy (Minnie), Hardy (Pluto) and Hand (cat)?

A very happy musical endeavor. But it seems that the PC-Police has struck against the Ben Sharpsteen's last scene in later copies. After the screen has gone black from soot, all characters are black-face; Minnie yells "Mickey!," Mickey yells "Minnie!," Pluto comes out of the top of the stove and yells, Al Jolson-like but in a gravelly voice "Mammie!" and the cat comes out of the stove pipe and ends saying "Yippie!" and smacks Pluto on the head with the lid of the stove... There is a YouTube version of the entire short including this scene, but I refuse to link to anything that has the wrong aspect ratio!
When will people learn?

One of my most intriguing possessions from the "Kentucky Cache" is this little cheat sheet that Burt Gillett made, folded and used for a "Talk on Basic Principles of Motion Pictures and Sound." It is undated, but will have to be from around June 1931, with Mickey Steps Out as the "Big New Thing," but also including material from the earlier CM-7 "The Gorilla Mystery," CM-10 "The Birthday Party" and CM-14 "The Delivery Boy." Esther Campbell whistles "Valse Parisienne" from today's film, and note the preview with Bert Lewis accompanying Minnie (Marcellite Garner) and the bird (Esther Campbell).
Please contact me if you have developed a WORKING time machine!

Prod. CM-14 - The Delivery Boy

Directed by Burt Gillett, released 6/13/1931.Animation by Johnny Cannon, Rudy Zamora, Jack Cutting, Harry Reeves, Norm Ferguson, Frenchy de Trémaudan, Dave Hand, Dick Lundy, George Lane, Tom Palmer, Chuck Couch, Jack King, Hardy Gramatky, Les Clark, Frank Tipper, Bill Mason and Charles Byrne(s). At this time, Burt Gillett's musician was Bert Lewis.

Since Tom McKimson was Fergy's assistant, I surmise that "Tom" and "Palmer" here are the same person. Lane is here misspelled as Lano.

Bill Mason, who seems to have been born in England and died in 1937, is identified by Alberto Becattini, though he doesn't seem to appear in studio records otherwise. Alberto has this info on him: "Animator: DISNEY c31-33 (Silly Symphony 31-32 [The Cat’s Out 31, The Spider and the Fly 31, Babes in the Woods 32]); SCHLESINGER/WARNER BROS. 33 (Buddy 33 [Buddy’s Day Out]); LANTZ 35-37 (Oswald the Rabbit 36-37, Meany Miny and Moe 36-37)"

This is a fun film, and it becomes apparently clear that Jack King ain't no Fergy, whose Pluto scenes are highlights!

It so happens that there are several images that can throw a light on the production of this film, because the new L-shaped building that was finished mid-1931 was taken in use during this time, and it clearly was thought to show off the beautiful new premises! First we have the "Music Room," the director's room:
We have seen the animators in their room already; here, Johnny Cannon is at a desk that has the layout for scene 27 on its pegs.
Now - this scene was, according to the draft, animated by Rudy Zamora (on the photo to the right of Cannon), so this may indicate that the animators aren't posing at their own desks...
So it seems that the question posed in this image, that I prepared some years ago, might have been the wrong one.
(Sitting L-to-R: Dave Hand, Johnny Cannon, Rudy Zamora, Les Clark; standing: Walt Disney, Tom Palmer, Ben Sharpsteen).
Note that Walt is wearing the same outfit in both images...

Prod. CM13 - The Moose Hunt

Directed by Burt Gillett, music by Bert Lewis, released 5/8/1931.
In other words, I am two days late for its 87th anniversary...Animated by Jack King, Dave Hand, Norm Ferguson, Les Clark, Dick Lundy, Tom Palmer and Ben Sharpsteen: the usual suspects.

Yes, this IS the film with Tom Palmer's "Dead dog scene" ending with Pluto saying "Kiss Me!" Since this film was released May 8th, it was likely animated late March-early April 1931. Here is an image of some of the animators in their new building (the L-shaped one) while the film was just released, in May 1931. L-to-R: Dave Hand, Dick Lundy, Norm Ferguson and Les Clark.Both Hand and Lundy have their May 1931 calendars prominently placed - thanks, guys! Les Clark has three photos pinned up - two of the building of the building they are in, and one of one of the small Fauchon & Marco advertisement cars parked in front of the billboard across the street...

Added note: we have seen a BG from this film before!

Prod. CM12 - The Castaway

Over the coming weeks I intend to post a few more very early Mickey Mouse drafts, especially for my old mentor and friend Børge Ring.

Here is an early draft for this Robinson Crusoe-type Mickey Mouse film directed by my favorite director, Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson, released through Columbia on 4/6/1931.We find as animators: Jaxon himself, Charlie Byrne, Rudy Zamora, Cecil Surrey ("Sizzle"), Johnny Cannon, Gilles Armand "Frenchy" de Trémaudan, Jack Cutting, Les Clark, Dave Hand and Dick Lundy - with Norm Ferguson sharing two scenes with Jack Cutting.

On page 18 in Ross Care's must-have book about Jaxon, one can read how he (Jaxon) asked Walt to "handle" a whole film by himself, with which he meant "animate a whole film." Walt, however, thought he wanted to direct a film, and gave him the assignment of pulling together several previously discarded musical Mickey scenes, having him put them to music by a new composer Walt wanted to try out, Frank Churchill. This eventually became "Shipwrecked Among Animals," later renamed "The Castaway," and resulted in Jaxon "getting stuck" in the role of director.

Prod. 2443 - Gull Crazy - a.k.a. The Simple Things

Originally called internally Gull Crazy as a reference to the Gershwin show (and Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland film) Girl Crazy, the film The Simple Things is considered the last Mickey Mouse short made during Walt Disney's lifetime.

Directed by Charles Nichols, laid out by Lance Nolley with as secretary Beulah May "Bee" Selck (who started at Disney in April 1937 and whom we know to have been assistant director and editor during the war years). The film itself adds to the credits: written by Bill Berg, backgrounds by Ed Starr, music by Paul Smith.
Released 4/18/1953. This FINAL draft of 1/25/1952 (!)

Animation by Marvin Woodward, Norm Ferguson, George Kreisl, Fred Moore, Charles Nichols (the director), George Nicholas and Dan MacManus (effects). Sadly Fred Moore died, age 41, on 11/23/52, between the date of this draft and the release date of the film.

A lot can be said about the quality of the animation, so I will not comment a lot on that. The film is lifted by the thought process of Pluto, but the animation of him at times seems to be outdated when looking at the other characters. Mickey at times is pretty badly drawn, his model isn't too exciting either. But once in a while there are great scenes, so we can't really blame Fred Moore or Norm Ferguson for that matter. Marv Woodward's and George Nicholas' scenes aren't among their best (to say it mildly). As a whole this film is pretty uninspired, not a great (temporary) ending to Mickey's acting career in the Disney shorts.

I do like the song, though - I find it hard to shake. Paul J. Smith (1906-1985), though mainly noted for his work on the True Life Adventures, has worked for Disney since 1934 - his official starting day was the same as that of assistant director Lou Debney, father of the great composer John Debney. Paul Smith later worked together a lot with writer Gil George, who was actually Disney nurse Hazel George. Check him out on IMDb - his list of credits is incredible!

The film The Simple Things is found on the Treasures DVD "Mickey Mouse in Living Color Part Two" and can be seen on YouTube, as well.

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Busy as always, I am currently editing A. Film's latest Olsen Gang CG film that will be released in Denmark in October 2013.
Sorry I have so very little time to upload stuff here!

Prod. CM8 - The Picnic

Directed by Burt Gillett.
Released 10/23/30, this FINAL draft dated 9/13/30.
Animation by Dave Hand, Jack King, Charlie Byrne, Norm Ferguson, Dick Lundy, Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Ben Sharpsteen, Tom Palmer, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Cutting and Frenchy de Trémaudan.

Found on the Treasures DVD Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Vol. 2 Disk 1 or on YouTube, though in very low quality here.

A cute little film, this is actually a landmark in animation history. "Can I bring Rover?" Little Rover is, of course, none other than Pluto! Fergy's scene 27 is often "quoted" when discussing the origins of this the most famous of cartoon canines.

It is very interesting to see the difference in drawing styles. Fergy tries to draw a dog and mostly does a very nice job. Compare this with e.g. Palmer's attempt in the final scene. It is a "funny cartoon balloon animal," a much more simplistic and symbolic way of drawing. Palmer, Cannon and Lundy seem not to be quite up to the standards that Walt was striving for during this period. Maybe this went for most anybody. Then again, with Ub Iwerks gone only some seven months before this film was animated, everything was up for grabs, in this for the studio so incredibly important yet oft forgotten period - and Fergy led the way.

Dave Hand starts off with some very clear simple statements in the very first scene (until it gets a little weird), but he also gets quite a bit of technical animation in this film, with cycles upon cycles. And don't you just love the sound effects during the rain pour? "Blubblubblub..."

We have seen the background to Jaxon's scenes 20 & 26 before, on Emil Flohri's desk in the first Hyperion Ave. studio in 1931!

Prod. UM12 - Ye Olden Days

Directed by Burt Gillett, music by Frank Churchill.
Released thru United Artists on 4/8/33.

Sadly the first page is missing on my copy, but what is left shows us the following animators: Ben Sharpsteen (supervising Art Babbitt, Marvin Woodward, Ham Luske, Johnny Cannon and probably more), Norm Ferguson, Dick Lundy, Les Clark, Tom Palmer and Jack King.

Sharpsteen was in charge of the up-and-coming animators in this period, which is why so many scenes bear his name. As an example, scene 21 has only his name indicated, but we have seen recently that it was animated by Ed Love. Only with access to more documents like this animation layout can we find the actual credits for Ben's scenes. [Addition:] Seconds ago I was thumbing through the Layout & Background book in the Archives series, and here I see that scene 11 is by "Ben/[Harry ]Reeves, while the layout for scene 33B has "Ben/[Jack ]Kinney" written on it!

Prod. CM20 - Mickey Cuts Up

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 tree - disclose owl on 2nd cut" and "mower biting rear end - zigzag tail."
(In the film, this tail is missing on one of the cels, and since it is repeated once, it blinks on two frames).
I find these pages especially intriguing!
Then a page with story ideas that all appear in the film. "Cut tree - return - cut branches tree - leaving owl [then added later:] HOOT."
This seems to be an attempt at a continuity for the chase.

<< Click to enlarge!

A list of possible scenes for the first part of the film, not quite like how they turned out in the end, with Pluto being mowed because he stops to scratch instead of bumping into the wall.

<< Click to enlarge!

Finally we see a kind of script for those first scenes, that in red has possible scene divisions indicated. As you will see, it does not completely follow the actual final story. E.g. Pluto knocks into a wall, not a tree. Also we read that "hedge nods head - surprised look of Mickey" which was not executed as clearly as written here...

<< Click to enlarge!

The short was eventually animated by the usual suspects: Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Gerry Geronimi, Jack King, Dave Hand, Norm Ferguson, Tom Palmer, Dick Lundy and Ben Sharpsteen, who was in charge of a group of junior animators, which very likely included Marvin Woodward, Chuck Couch, Hardie Gramatky, Harry Reeves and Dick Williams. This draft of 11/25/31...We can compare Fergy's sc. 20 and Hand's sc. 28, as both show the cat watching, then sneaking. Clearly Hand has tried to very logically "figure it out," making for quite mechanical movement, while Fergy has drawn what it feels like when a hungry cat sneaks up on a bird!

The background department at the time existed of Emil Flohri, Carlos Manriquez and Mique Nelson.