This just in from Jim Korkis:

[This is by a French painter who became a cartoonist, Roger "Tetsu" Testu 1913-2008.]

This week has been particularly rich in terms of breakthroughs, from all Disney history angles:

- I seem to have located an unknown series of interviews with Bill Tytla, in Quebec. It will still take time and efforts to get copies of them but I was thrilled by that re-discovery of tapes that had been forgotten for 41 years.

- I have mostly cracked the "Lars Plush Dolls" nut thanks to collector Mel Birnkrant.

- I received an outstanding article about the English Mickey Mouse Annual series, from David Gerstein that contains some outstanding material about artist Wilfred Haughton. That article will appear as a three-part series in the magazine Tomart's Disneyana Update.

There are a few more nuts to crack, though (it would not be fun otherwise): the Demolay comics are one, Ediciones Modernas from Mexico another. I made some progress on that last front this week also, when I received the Pluto flip book that you see pictured below and some photos of the Mickey one.

An exciting week, indeed.

This just in from George, one of the readers of the blog:

[Since you post such wonderful pictures of The Park, I thought I'd share some that I found at a local flea market a few years ago (I also sent them to "Stuff From The Park", I want everyone to see these shots). I collect Disneyland postcards, so I'm always on the lookout for any sort of photographic memorabilia of Disneyland, but these photos are really something else.

They were apparently taken by the very influential photographer and filmmaker Hazel Greenwald from Jerusalem. Hazel was responsible for creating the "Hadassah Archive", a photographic and film arts archive in Jerusalem used for educational and preservation purposes.

It appears she snapped these photos in the early years of The Park, pre 1960. She is documented as having been in the States during the late '50s. How she managed to photograph scenes in the park this empty is anybody's guess. Perhaps she was let in early, or just went on a very slow weekday?

I love these images so much, especially the Disneyland Band in front of the Tinker Bell Toy Shop. They're very artistically shot, and have a lot of depth. They're all 4x5.5 Inches, they're all stamped on the back "Copyright by Hazel Greenwald c/o Hadassah, Jerusalem", and they're also stamped with a series number "A77", except for the DL Band photo it's number is "A34". I bought all 5 photos, and duplicates, for $1!

I cherish them, and love to share them with friends and fans of Disneyland, I figured if you wanted to post them to your blog it would be an ideal venue to share them with the Disneyland fans I couldn't normally reach.]

This just in from Celbi Pegoraro:

[I though this is interesting to share as I wrote on my website. There is a 1985 trailer of Disney´s "The Black Cauldron" released on a Pinocchio VHS that year with a two seconds cut scene from the "cauldron born" sequence. (1:23 to 1:24)]

Do not miss today:

- Our First Conservationist: Walt Disney by Jim Korkis
- Happy 50th Birthday, "True Life Adventures!" by Jim Korkis
- More on Synchronizing Mickey by Hans Perk

Trip to San Francisco

It looks as if I will be travelling to San Francisco from June 21 to June 29. If any of you would like to meet me while I am there, please do let me know in advance.

This is by far the most famous magazine cover to have appeared following the death of Walt Disney. Mickey crying was drawn by the French artist Pierre Nicolas, whom I had interviewed many years ago. I had a chance to conduct a follow-up interview with him two month ago, on March 13 focusing mainly on the creation of this cover. Here are his answers.

Didier Ghez: Can you tell me something about the events that surrounded the creation of your famous Paris Match cover?

Pierre Nicolas: It’s relatively simple. The day that Walt Disney passed away I was called by Armand Bigle that was the person in charge for Disney in France and even at the European level, in the offices of the Champs-Elysées. He put me in touch with people from Paris Match who took me to the office on rue Pierre-Charron where Paris Match was published. There the redaction committee took place, which included Thérond, the director of the editorial board, Pigneau that did the layout, Bourgeas, the art director, Croizard, the associate editor, Collette Porlier and Mrs. De Saint Edvire. We discussed for a while about what should be done, because they wanted to do something about the death of Walt Disney and they were thinking about a cover. But as ever, when people speak about Disney, they want to put too much in. They wanted to remind people [on the cover] of each movie, each known character. But on the cover this would have been confusing. And it had to go to the printing house within the following hours. So I did not have time to do too complex a thing. So obviously I thought about creating the face of Mickey, thinking that it was the most simple and quickest idea. It was a bit of laziness but it was also a logical idea. So that is what I did. The only issue is that I was in the offices of Paris Match and there was not much there. They brought me to a small drawing office where I found some drawing supplies. It was at night! I had been called to the meeting at around 10.00PM and I finished the drawing around midnight or one in the morning, in a hurry. It had to go to the printer. I worked with some drawing tools that were not mine. I could have done much better with a full day in front of me and if I had been at home or at the Disney office.
In the following years, there was a party at the Club of the Art Directors to say that the Paris Match cover had received the award for best cover of the year. There was an award, of course, but to get it I would have had to spend 200 francs! So I refused. I thought this was amazing. I never even saw the award.

DG: This cover became very famous in the whole world. Were you surprised by this?

PN: It was the first, which might have made it famous. A few months or years after I received a phone call from a journalist from Paris Match who told me that the grandson of the CEO of Match had sold the original drawing of the cover in a gallery in New York, to someone called Andre Sheller.

DG: Walt Disney visited your offices once. Any special memories of that visit?

PN: No. He came only once and met with Bigle. Bigle introduce me, that’s it. Walt one entered my office by mistake while looking for Bigle and apologized in bad French. I found this funny as he seemed to blush. I thought it odd that such an important person would be so kind and would blush. But that’s it. I did bring him a letter from Bigle two days later at the hotel Plaza Athénée. I was never in contact with him, unfortunately.

Bob Cowan has launched his blog. If you love truly great stories about great animation art, you should go and check it out, and check it out, and check it out again. This blog is an asolute treat.

Bob also launched a blog about comic book art (non-Disney).

Do not miss today:

- The History of it's a small world by Wade Sampson
- Johnston/Peet Bd by Michael Sporn
- Mickey shots by Michael Sporn

- Tribute to Ollie Johnston in Flip Magazine

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Thanks to a Disney friend, I was able to see an old episode of the original Mickey Mouse Club television series that had an interesting segment that I had never seen before entitled “Karen in Kartoonland”.

As a kid, I loved (and still do) the “how to draw” cartoon character books. Apparently, Walt knew that the kids in his television audience loved to know how to draw Disney characters as well. When the “Disneyland” television series was being developed, one of the project proposals for that first year was a section entitled “Everyone Can Draw”. Supposedly, Roy Williams would handle the segment. The idea never developed any further for the show and Williams ended up using his cartooning skill at Disneyland itself delighting guests with quick sketches of Disney characters and on the Mickey Mouse Club.

In fact, for the original Mickey Mouse Club television series, the idea of a “how to draw” segment was revived.

The idea was going to be called “How To Draw” but by the time the project got going, little Mouseketeer Karen Pendleton had become popular so someone had the clever idea of calling the sequence “Karen in Kartoonland” and having her visit a Disney artist. The title was an allusion to Alice in Wonderland. The episode I recently watched had her visiting Disney artist Bill Justice who showed her how he animated Mickey Mouse and asked Karen to model facial expressions that he then duplicated on Mickey’s face.

Apparently, there were four “Karen in Kartoonland” episodes: January 19, 1956 (Pluto), February 2, 1956 (Mickey), February 16, 1956 (Things), March 1, 1956 (Jiminy Cricket).

For me, this is just another example of one of the many Disney “lost treasures” that should be included as an “extra” on some Disney DVD.]

This just in from blog reader Francesco Diella:

[I would like to know if you have or know where I can find theblack and white CBC interview with Walt Disney in video form.]

Could someone help him?

This just in from Are Myklebust:

[Referrering to the posting at Mark Sonntag's blog "Walt's early gig" (April 25, 2008)

Walt Disney quoted in Bob Thomas biography:

"The Newman was playing a Cecil B. DeMille picture, Male and Female, and all I had to work with was a standing photo of the stars Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan. Well I thought it would make a better ad if they were lying down, and that's how I drew them."

Could it be this photo (above)?]


[Here is another still from ”Male and Female” (1919)]

Bob Cowan keeps sharing with us his amazing collection. Today he has the following question:

[I was wondering if any of your readers would have any insight on the attached items -- subject, artist, etc.]

Any ideas? Of course the crucified Mickey is very likely to be a gag drawing. But what about the others?

Do not miss today:

- THE TIME IS 2:34. THE YEAR IS 1986 by Kevin Kidney
- Synchronizing Mickey by Hans Perk
- The Walt Disney Studio Grand Opening April 10, 1940 on Stuff from the Parks
- The site of the Walt Disney Family Museum has been updated

. I have also update the Disney Books Network. Unfortunately it looks as if the Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook from The Cowan Collection is no longer available (for legal reasons probably).

Tomorrow and Friday are holidays in Spain. The blog will be updated again on Monday.

Hans Perk has posted the following note on his blog today:

[Several blogs have already pointed the way to the book Working for Disney: 1936-1937, the Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook from The Cowan Collection, available through Blurb for $40 softcover or $48 hardcover. (Check out the PDF of sample pages following the link.)

Mine arrived yesterday, and I must say I am delighted, it was well worth the expense. The photos are wonderful, and most have been enlarged for better viewing. It also features lots and lots of drawings, and even a few Time Reports and Scene Instruction Sheets, the likes I have not seen before! The book itself is nice and tight, quite a surprise for a book that has been produced this way.

With Snow White on the cover, one can only hope that the Disney lawyers leave this alone, as it is presented at cost. Better make sure and get it before it is too late!]

I have received mine a few minutes ago and I second every one of the sentences above. A "must-have". In my universe, at least.

An other treasure from Bob Cowan's collection.

According to Bob:

[Disney and Leopold Stokowski were having trouble reaching an agreement for Stokowski's involvement in the film. Disney went ahead and started work on a "Bug Orchestra" that would play the music if an agreement with Stokowski was not reached. This is a Graphite and watercolor concept drawing of “Bug Orchestra.” A contract was signed and the "Bug Orchestra" did not appear in the film.]

James D. Marks submited the following two questions to me a few weeks ago.

[Please ask Diane if Walt shopped for the clothes he wore or did someone purchase them for him. His clothes were always very fashionable. He put together shirt, tie, jacket and pants which most of us wouldn't think of combining. He looked GREAT, always.

Also, did Walt stand on his tip-toes when photographed so he would appear taller? (I read that somewhere)]

Diane answered:

[Dad shopped for himself. He cared very much about his appearance, and often fretted with me that I was too casual about my attire. We see how, when success happened in the late 20's and early 30's, he became a really natty dresser.

He was much more conservative during my life with him. Have you seen the photo of him attired in an array of checks? With the black and white wing tip shoes? Quite dashing! Dad stood on his tiptoes sometimes in a humorous manner when standing with me and my sister when we were grown .. Sharon was 5'8". He also did so in our wedding photo, to see eye to eye with my husband, who is 6'5".

I appreciate your reader's observations!]

Do not miss today:

- Walt Disney autograph by David Lesjak
- The Rest of the Story by Wade Sampson

Here is a fun little article, "written by Julie Svendsen" about her father, Disney artist Julius Svendsen. It was oublished in the children's magazine Jack & Jill in September 1963.

The weather was wonderful in Madrid this weekend - almost summer-like - and we had a chance to walk around the Parque del Retiro on Sunday. Close by was a nice bookfair where I picked up this weird little book.

Published in 1943 by Editorial Molino, it proves that piracy was not born with the digital age. Disney's Three Little Pigs are used without credit and license in a story that features dozens of non-Disney characters.

Ironically Editorial Molino's artists were quite familiar with Disney characters and Disney copyrights though. Before the Spanish civil war they had been one of Disney's official licensees in the country (see my article about them in Tomart's Disneyana Update for more information on the subject).

Sunbathing at the Studio

One of the most enjoyable interviews I have conducted (over the phone) recently is a very long one with Joe Hale. The questions that Jim Korkis sent me did help a lot, by the way.

The second part of that interview happened yesterday and Joe mentioned (without my prompting him) a funny story related to the sunbathing photo I just posted on the blog.

The artists were accustomed to go sunbathing, nude, on the roof of the Studio. The Studio is 3 stories high as we all know. When St. Joseph's hospital was built in front of the Studio it was 4 stories high and someone apparently soon realized that the nuns working at St. Joseph had a wonderful view, from the 4th floor, of the artists in the nude.

No more nude sunbathing from then on.

Do not miss today:

- Bambiart by Michael Sporn
- Pluto Goes To The Dogs by Hans Perk