Here is a book I am really, really looking forward to picking up!

Retta Scott is known for being the first female animator at Disney, but we focus so much on this part of her career that we forget that she spent most of her time working in the Story Department. I would love to discover more about that other part of her career.

She is seen here working on an abandoned project from the mid-'40s called On the Trail, which would have been accompanied by a segment of Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite. In a short interview with Robin Allan, Retta mentioned having worked with James Bodrero on that specific project.

Did Gustaf Tenggren work very shortly for Fleischer's in Miami? We know that he lived for a short while in Miami after he left Disney in 1939 and one source mentions that he worked on the Fleischer short Snubbed by a Snob. Would any of you have any evidence that would support what remains for now an unproven theory?

And here is an article which was released in the magazine Click dated May 1939. Again, thanks to The Bulletin, we know that the artists featured here are:

Morman Ferguson
T. Hee
Otto Englander
Bill Cottrell
Ted Sears
Wilfred Jackson
Bill Tytla
Mike Holoboff

This article was released in the May 1939 issue of Redbook.

Thanks to a short piece released in the internal Studio newsletter The Bulletin dated April 7, 1939, we know that the artists and employees whose photos appear in the magazine are:

Campbell  Grant
Helen Ludwig
Dick Belcher
Paul Allen
Jack King
Ned Washington
Dick Rickard
Leigh Harline
Webb Smith
Al Perkins
Mary Weiser
Martharose Bode
Ted Sears
Sam Slyfield
Cliff Lamb

The key question now, of course is "Who's who?" Can you help?

Wonderful new blog discovered this weekend, linked to the early history of Disneyland and its main contractor, Arrow Development. Enjoy!

I have just received a copy of Charles Solomon's new book Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent. The text is highly readable and it is beautifully illustrated. Charles mentions that Sleeping Beauty is his favorite Disney movie and it shows.I especially enjoyed the chapter about the origins of the story.

There is nothing really brand new in this book in terms of sources or illustrations but the overall product is a very, very nice one and will really satisfy the casual Disney enthusiasts. It is a great gift and a book I like having on my shelves.

I also hope that one day Charles will consider writting an in-depth history about the making of the movie aimed at Disney scholars. One is allowed to dream :-) Until then, I will enjoy this volume, Bob Thomas' original Art of Animation and Pierre Lambert's artbook on "La Belle au Bois Dormant".

I am looking for good photos of Disney model sheets. Not any model sheets though. The ones I am  posting today all have one thing in common: if you look at them closely you will see that they all contain some initials below the production numbers and the initials of Joe Grant.

JM (for John Miller) on the Lampwick one, the two of Peter Pan
MP (Martin Provensen) on the horse from Reluctant Dragon.
AH (Albert Hurter) on Dumbo
DR (Dick Rickard) for the other model sheet of the Reluctant Dragon

Do you have others? I am especially interested in those which would contain the initials JM (John Miller), JW (Johnny Walbridge), WS (Walt Scott), JB (James Bodrero), MP  (Matin Provensen), and other members of the Character Model Department.

Please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com

I just realised that More Cute Stories, Vol. 4: 1964/65 New York World's Fair has just been released. I love Rolly's stories and will get my copy today.

Quite a few treasures, as always, in Heritage Auctions latest Disney auction, including a few story drawings from Mickey's Service Station.

Great photo of Walt in Paris during the 1935 trip to Europe, recently uncoverd by the Disney Archives. I wish I had had access to it for Disney's Grand Tour. Oh well...

Ferdinand Horvath's diaries

As some of you know, a month ago I had the opportunity of buying a very unique set of documents: the original diaries of Disney's concept artist Ferdinand Horvath. They cover his whole life and are a true treasure trove, which I will use (among other elements) as the basis for the chapter on Horvath in my upcoming book about Disney's concept artists. The diaries are mostly in German and are being translated by Hans Perk at the moment.

One of the entries I stumbled upon yesterday was in English. The entry for December 26, 1935 reads:

[Meeting with Walt and Bianca [Majolie], Conf. - Radio City Silly Symphony Ballet.]

I have a feeling they were discussing the abandoned Silly Symphony "Flower Ballet" but what I am wondering is why the mention of "Radio City"?

Any ideas?

This just in from Dan Cunningham:

[I put up a short post for Donald Duck's 80th Birthday, with a focus on Clarence Nash. The body text is relatively basic information, but at the end there's a download link to a PDF I've compiled from a 1991 Filmfax magazine article with some very good posthumous stories and quotes from Nash. Here's the link.]

Looking for Diana March

I am currently exploring the fascinating world of women in Disney's Story Department before WWII: Bianca Majolie, Dorothy Ann Blank, Grace Huntington, Kathleen Millay, Sylvia Holland, Ethel Kulsar, etc.

The Studio seems to have employed a writer in the late '30s called Diana March, who worked on the abandoned Don Quixote project. The only other thing I know about her (thanks to Arienne Tytla's autobiography) is that Diana married layout artist Art Heinemann.

Would anyone of you have anymore info about her? If so, could you email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

One of the hardest exhibition catalogs to locate these days...

Coming soon for those of you who read Italian and who are interested in Disney comic artists.

Another great photo of Walt sold on ebay recently...

Here is a book I am really looking forward to picking up this week. No illustrations, unfortunately, for obvious reasons, but the text is bound to be fascinating. Way to go David!