I just stumbled upon this very rare clip (see 0:27 onwards) which shows a float titled “The Court of Funnies,” which appeared in the Christmas parade sponsored by the Eaton Department store on November 17, 1934 in Toronto, Canada. The same parade also appeared in Montreal on November 24, 1934.

Happy 2022 to all of you! 

Thanks to François Monferran‎ for his heads up about this great video of Walt visiting the Swiss national exposition of 1964.

Great interview with Grim Natwick just found on YouTube by Todd James Pierce. Pure delight.

Since They Drew As They Pleased - Volume 5 got the official go-ahead a few weeks ago and is already written (yes, I wrote it way before getting the official greenlight), I am now working on Volume 6, which features Joe Grant, Tim Burton, Hans Bacher, Mike Garbriel and Mike Giaimo.

While researching the abandoned project My Peoples / A Few Good Ghosts on which Mike Gabriel worked for a short time, I discovered this clip, which I believe many of you will enjoy.

This just in thanks to Jim Korkis and Al Heiden.

Here is the additional information I have on this commercial in my notes:

Produced in February 1952
Director: Nick Nichols
Layout: Lance Noley
Backgrounds: Ralph Hulett
Animation: Bill Justice and Blaine Gibson

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[As you probably know Walt Disney only visited Sweden once.  A couple of days ago I found a Swedish newsreel from 1959 - that you might not have seen - about his visit to Sweden in connection with a film that was shot partly there: Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates.
He came to Stockholm, was received at the airport by a young girl with flowers and the director of the film and among others the chief of RKO there. He held a press conference at the balcony of his hotel.   He also visited the "Filmtown" and met with Ingmar Bergman - the famous Swedish director.

See 02.52 into this newsreel.

You might have read what Joakim Gunnarsson posted about this event on his blog a couple of years ago (two postings).]

 This just in from Garry Apgar:

[The other day in the comments section of your blog, "wdi33" asked if the newsreel footage in your Valentine's Day post was filmed at the Disney commissary in Burbank.

Looks like it was. Compare the horizontally striped wall covering in the screen grab above from the film footage with the striped design in the publicity shot below of the Studio Commissary from 1945.

Incidentally, according to news reports in the Los Angeles Times, the visit by members of the National Cartoonists Society (founded in 1946) to L.A. and to the Walt Disney Studio took place not in 1950 but mid-November 1949.]

This just in from Mark Mayerson:

[This looks to be around 1950. There are several views of Walt Disney together with syndicated cartoonists.]

I just stumbled today upon this rare footage of Walt and Lillian visiting the Swiss Expo64 in Lausanne on June 21, 1964. Not to be missed.

Do not miss this great report about Walt's visit to the Cleveland Zoo in 1961, courtesy of Bruce Bohner and Tom Livingston.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[Have you seen this scene from "Die vom Rummelplatz" on Youtube (Anny Ondra as Mickey Mouse in 1930) ?




Are Myklebust just made me aware of a Swedish poster version for this film, and this led me to finding this on Youtube. This was new to me - and a very funny performance.]

I just stumbled this weekend upon this clip of Walt arriving in the UK in 1935 and thought that many of you would enjoy it.

Walt in the Netherlands

Minnie's Yoo-Hoo



This just in from Are Myklebust:

[In 1929 the Disney studio made two short campaign films for the newly formed «Mickey Mouse Club”.

The first one was “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo”, a kind of “sing-a-long” film with some recycled animation from “Mickey’s Follies” (1929).

The other one was a little bit shorter film with animation of Mickey (and Minnie?) Mouse combined with some live-action shots of the vaudeville actor Lawrence Clinton “Noodles” Fagan (18?? – 1931). This film is however lost . “Noodles” Fagan was quite famous in his heydays (the 1910’s), but is completely forgotten now.]

Armchair Archivist: The Magic of Models and Miniatures!



In case you had not yet spotted this new episode.

Redux Riding Hood



I mentioned this short a few years ago and it has finally been posted online. Thanks to CartoonBrew for alerting us about it.

In the comments, Steve Segal says:

[This is one of the funniest and most original cartoons to come from Disney. They should bundle all their recent shorts and release them on DVD or Blu-Ray. They have a lot to choose from (in no particular order):

Oilspot and Lipstick
Off His Rockers
Harold And His Amazing Green Plants
Fun with Mr. Future
Soccermania
Petal to the Metal
Stand by Me
Recycle Rex
Lorenzo
Tangled Ever After
Destino
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater
Tick Tock Tale
Glago’s Guest
Let It Begin
The Ballad of Nessie
Super Rhino
Tiny’s Big Adventure
The Little Matchgirl
The Cat That Looked at a King
A Dairy Tale
One By One
John Henry
Three Little Pigs (1997)
Paperman

Some of these, like Moore’s other short Stand by Me, have never been released on home video, others are spread out on various feature DVD’s (not all of us want to purchase 3 Ninjas to watch Petal to the Metal). ]

I could not agree more.