On to the theater!

April 10th, 1940 was one month to the day the Nazi armies marched into Holland. More positively, it also was the day the new theater opened on the newly constructed Disney lot in Burbank...

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And another...

Here is the new Disney animation building in Burbank, about ready to be used, some time in 1939, with Camera, Ink & Paint and the power plant in the foreground. The corner of Alameda and Buena Vista is still a romantic country scene...

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More Pre-WDP Burbank

The following images were sent to me by Steven Worth of the ASIFA Archives, who graciously allows me to post them here. They were taken by the husband of ink & paint lady Helen Jordan.

The first image shows Buena Vista Street in 1938 - with grazing cows! Note the buildings: they are also seen in my yesterday's post! Then an image of the building site in 1938 and a near complete studio in 1939, and the last image shows the plowed fields along Alameda on the plot that would later become St. Joseph's Hospital. Cool, huh?

The 51 acres before WDP

The old polo field of the Black Fox Military Academy, then owned by the Burbank Department of Water and Power, was in 1938 sold to Walt Disney Productions for $100,000, as the location for the new Walt Disney studios. It was soon to be filled with KEM Weber's campus-like architecture--ground was broken for the new Animation Building February 1939--and the artists would move into the new buildings between December 1939 and May 1940. Compare this image with the aerial photo in my previous post on the subject. The image on the right has the Disney plot highlighted.

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Nurse!

Here we have musician Ollie Wallace in a situation with the studio nurse. Now - would this be the illustrious nurse/writer and Walt's confidant Hazel "Gil" George??? It's a fun photo, anyway...

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Dispatch Cover Letter

When the "Dispatch from Disney" was sent out to "the boys in the service," April 12th 1943, Walt added a cover letter like this one:

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Prod. CM21 - Mickey's Orphans Mosaic

Jeff Watson sent me another mosaic to upload on my blog, this time for Mickey's Orphans. Jeff writes: "There is a likely mis-attribution in the draft for scene 22: Gerry (Geronimi) is named and the action description is "Kittens on piano - belly-whopper stunt." However, scene 22 is just a closer-up version scene 19 which is attributed to David Hand. Since there is nothing in the footage approaching scene 22's action description, I'm pretty sure it's David Hand's work.

Also, scenes 32, 33, 37, and 38 are unattributed. I don't have a sense of who might have animated any of them. I'll give those scenes a closer viewing and see if I can relate them to either David Hand's or Hardie Gramatky's earlier scenes with multiple kittens. Maybe Gerry Geronimi got to work on these?"

Thanks again, Jeff!

Prod. US20 - The Flying Mouse

Though oftentimes crude in its animation, The Flying Mouse is both a sweet and a bit disturbing, haunting film. The bats that sing their song "You're Nothin' but a Nothin'" are a highlight in the film, just as the butterfly-fairy is a lowlight, and I do not know if I agree with the moral of this tale--stick to what you know even if you do not like it--but I do like the film as a whole. Its dated Technicolor charm far outweighs its drawing problems...

Directed by Dave Hand, The Flying Mouse was originally numbered US19, but was exchanged with The Wise Little Hen, Donald Duck's debut picture. The story was developed between July 1933 and March 1934 by Bill Cottrell and his staff, adapting it from Jean de la Fontaine's 1668 story "The Jay Dressed Up in the Peacock's Feathers." It premiered 07/12/1934 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York at a negative cost of $31,386.62, and it can still be seen on the 2001 Disney Treasures DVD "Silly Symphonies."

Music by Frank Churchill (who also wrote the song) and Bert Lewis, song lyrics by Larry Morey. Voices by Billy Sheets (bat), The Three Rhythm Kings (male voices), Marion Darlington (bird whistles) and Marcellite Garner (laughing mice). Backgrounds by Carlos Manriquez. As animators we meet Marvin Woodward, Cy Young, Bob Wickersham, Ham Luske, Hardie Gramatky, Fred Moore, Nick George, [Harry] Bailey, George Drake and Leonard Sebring.

Without Merrit and Kaufman's great book "Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies," this info would have been much, much shorter!This film has no doubt been timed to a beat throughout its entire length, as was usual (and essential) for all of Disney's pictures from Steamboat Willie and up into the 40's. Is somebody trying my Beatronome on this film? I'd like to hear your results!

Disney Employees in WW2

We have often seen the pin-up girls from the loose sheet that was in the "Dispatch from Disney", the little publication that was sent from the studio to all military personel around April 12th, 1943, accompanied by a letter signed by Walt himself.

Here is the backside of the pin-up page: it features a list of all Disney employees in the forces (or in detention, see Chris Ishii)...

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Prod. CM4 - The Fire Fighters Mosaic

Jeff Watson sent me these mosaics for The Fire Fighters.
Thanks, Jeff!
I am still having computer problems, but I will try my best to get some meaningful stuff uploaded!

Back, but with problems...

I'm having a bit of a computer problem, folks - so it is difficult for me to post stuff. There is lots more, but please bear with me as my postings may be very erratic in the next days (weeks???)

Prod. UM45 - Donald and Pluto Mosaic

Based on my posting of the draft of Prod. UM45, Donald and Pluto, Jeff Watson has made a mosaic, "Mark Mayerson Style," of this film, and here it is! Thanks, Jeff!

Jeff noted that there seemed to be some extra scenes in the beginning. Since these are all using the same background, it is my opinion that these are camera-cuts: within this (20 second) scene, there would be indications on the exposure sheets to move the camera abruptly to a new location, thereby giving the sense of a cut to a new scene. The animation just continues, the camera looking at a different spot...
Note: I may not be able to do any posting before April 4th or so! Check back - who knows!

Category Labels Revisited, etc.

I notice that if one presses a Category Label, only a certain number of postings show up. So if you press "drafts," you'll see no further than the Pinocchio pages! So far, I have posted 46 shorts drafts and nine bits from features (single page to whole segments), so if you are interested in these, please check the Archives links on the right!

Another note: after tomorrow I may not be able to post anything until April 3rd or 4th, by the way, as I'll be on a little trip. Tomorrow's posting will be pretty cool, though!

Average Animator Footage in 1938

Two and a half months after the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, on March 11, 1938, Producer/Supervising Director Dave Hand issued this memo called DEADLINES. Of course, everybody in the animation business has gotten memos called this, but here is an insight into just how much was produced by the (now) famous animators at Disney's in the Golden Age. Fred Moore stands out as missing on this memo, but otherwise it is quite a list of top talent. (Bernard Garbutt animated?)

Now, I do not remember when Disney changed to a 5-day work week, but let's say it was before this time: in this case Norm Ferguson had a weekly average of 35 feet, or 23 seconds 8 frames! Pretty high up we also find Fred Spencer, Frank Thomas and Bill Tytla, with 30 feet, or 20 seconds each. On the other end of the scale is Larry Clemmons with 10 feet or 6 seconds and 16 frames, followed by Ollie Johnston and Don Lusk with 12.5 feet or 8 seconds 8 frames each...Since the second page was a bit hard to read, I enhanced it for legibility, which is the image on the right.

Prod. 2005 - Reluctant Dragon Final Story

The Final Story Meeting on The Reluctant Dragon of 7/31/1940 gives us some insights that clear up some things, like the naming of Sir Giles. After this meeting, the film went in full production.

Note also that the music was by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey
(I believe Charles Wolcott also had a hand in the theme song), and not by Leigh Harline, though they wanted to get him to do it "if he is available."

Børge Ring mentioned to me that the opening of our Anna & Bella basically was the same as the opening of The Reluctant Dragon, and that he only realized this recently. We read here that it was Kimball who actually scored this one, following a pass by Walt...

Prod. 2005 - Reluctant Dragon Story (II)

Here is the second part of the transcription of the 7/24/1940 story meeting on The Reluctant Dragon. Note throughout these pages how Walt's remarks show his understanding of, what the characters are thinking. He is quick to grab an idea out of the air thrown up by another fellow, even if the idea wasn't very precise, and making it work, making it fit the continuity. This is where "Walt was his own best story man," as we have heard so often...

Prod. 2005 - Reluctant Dragon Story (I)

As an example of the driving force that was Walt Disney, here is the first part of the notes to the 7/24/1940 story meeting on The Reluctant Dragon, from T. Hee's onion-skin originals.
The following week would see the last meeting before animation was cast and animation began.

So... Kaj Nielsen did concepts for the dragon's cave...
I'd like to see those!

Prod. UM45 - Donald and Pluto

The first film to feature Donald Duck in a starring role, we find him as a plumber, with Pluto getting into scrapes with a magnet. Animated by Al Eugster, Shamus Culhane, Bill Roberts, Fred Spencer and Norm Ferguson, this short was directed by Ben Sharpsteen.
Released 09/12/1936... Folks, I will do my best to find more quality stuff to put up here, please bear with me if I lapse a day once in a while...