This just in from Gunnar Andreassen: [Enclosed art from another book published by Birn (1936).]
Probably also drawn by Wilfred Haughton.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A really beautiful day for me is a day when Michael Barrier decides to release one of his seminal interviews. We had four dry years until a few weeks ago when Michael started to publish about one interview a week. Yesterday saw the release of his (and Milt Gray's) Milt Kahl interview. I believe the only thing that could make me happier from a Disney-history-related stand point would be to see Michael publish some of his interviews with more obscure (or seldom interviewed) Disney artists: Aurelius Battaglia, Homer Brightman, Bob Carlson, Phil Dike, Carl Fallberg, Gerry Geronimi, Campbell Grant, Jerry Hathcock, Eustace Lycett, Cliff Nordberg, Martin Provensen, or Ralph Wright to name a few, as well as his interview with Tex Avery. I have a feeling that we might not have too long to wait. Beautiful days are here again.
Do not miss today: - Walt in Kansas - 1922 by Mark Sonntag
- The Miniature Worlds of Walt by Jim Korkis (Great article!)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I have to admit that I am really looking forward to being in June to be able to pick up Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1), then in October to get Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Trapped on Treasure Island" (Vol. 2). Granted, I have already read all of the Gottfredson strips, thanks to a half-bootleg edition released in East Germany many years ago, but what will make those two volumes (and the ones that will follow them) special is the quality of the 50-page of editorial content that each will contain. David Gerstein has done a spectacular job lining up the best Disney-comics historians (starting with himself) for the job and the visual documents he has unearthed will bring suprises even to those of us who know most about Disney history. Can't wait.
Do not miss today:
- Epcot's Japan Showcase That Never Was by Alain Littaye
- "You Can't Sue God" by Jeff Pepper
- Visiting the Magic Kingdom in 1971 by Jim Korkis
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
This just in from Gunnar Andreassen: [I found "A Trip with Mickey Mouse" for sale on eBay some months ago, but it was too expensive for me. Fortunately the description had some good scans of artwork. A very special book as the story takes place in Great Britain. I guess that the artist that made these drawings was the same that made the Disney drawings in "Princess Elizabeth Giftbook". AUTHOR: Walt Disney
TITLE: A Trip With Mickey Mouse
PLACE OF PUBLICATION: England [London]
PUBLISHER: Birn Brothers Ltd.
PUBLICATION DATE: [1935], First Edition
FORMAT: Hardback
PAGINATION: Unpaginated
DIMENSIONS: Height 25 cm x width 19.7 cm (1 inch = 2.5 cm)
DESCRIPTION: One of the earliest UK Mickey Mouse books.
Divided into the following sections :
The sights of London
At the Mansion House
The caravan
The open road
Mickey wins the race
The lights of Blackpool
A romance at Gretna Green
The wearing of the kilt
The man from the Isle of Man
The lands of shamrock and leeks
More fun in Wales
Mickey Mouse's secret
Mickey the swimmer
The captive balloon
The cricket match
Mickey's marching song
The end of the tour
Illustrated with colour plates of the following :
"Monument to the great fire of London 1666" (frontispiece)
Fun on the scenic railway at Blackpool
Piping through the Highlands
Mickey takes the salute at the changing of the guard
Also numerous drawings, many printed in black and a single colour]
My guess is that the artist was Wilfred Haughton.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
When Mike Van Eaton mentioned to CartoonBrew a few days ago that he was preparing an outstanding auction to take place on May 14, he was not kidding. I have just seen the catalog and this will be the Disney / animation art auction of the decade. Too much good stuff to mention it all in one post so I will show selected elements over the next few days. CartoonBrew mentioned the letter from Walt to Ub (the center piece of the auction) but there is a LOT more to discover. Believe it or not, the Herb Ryman section itself is 4-page long and filled with art I had never seen before.
The catalog will be online at http://www.profilesinhistory.com/ starting sometime in April.
Do not miss today:
- MICKEY MOUSE CHAPTER OF DeMOLAY January 1933 by Paul F. Anderson
- Mr. Lincoln & Lee Romaire on Daveland
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
One of the key Disney artists about whom we still know very little is director Nick Nichols. I had the chance to stumble upon an interview with him at the Disney Archives a few weeks ago. I believe it is the only interview with Nichols in existence and I am looking forward to getting a copy of it (it will then need to be transcribed and released in Walt's People, of course).In the meantime, here is an email I received today from Paul Trotter:
[I have run across information about Disney director Nick (Charles A) Nichols cartoon strips. Prior to his joining Disney he drew several strips including the Adventures of Peter Pen and Just Supposin about 1927-1937. He also sold a cartooning course. I've included some links below.
If you have not seen these before I thought you might find them interesting.
The Adventures of Peter Pen:
http://lambiek.net/artists/n/nichols_nick.htm
http://www.bpib.com/comicsproj/creditsAD.html
http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/03/king-of-smiles.html
(Of course the strip would have been syndicated not just in the paper listed in the above blog)
Just Supposin.
Cartoon Course: Here and here.]
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Jiminy Cricket - United Fund
This TV spot from 1958 is Production 5954, sequence 013
We find the following information on the animation draft from May 29, 1958:
Director: Nick Nichols
Assist director: Paul Carlson
Layout: X. Atencio
Secretary: V. Marcia
Animators: Cliff Nordberg
Harvey Toombs
Hal Ambro
Editor: Baker
And the X-sheet from May 14, 1958 tells is that the following individuals were also involved:
Andy Engman
Mary Flanagan
Johnny Bond
Grace Bailey
Mimi Thornton
Ted Baker
Katherine Kerwin
Do not miss today:
- Windows to the Past: A Four-Leaf Clover from 1939 by Jeff Pepper
- Windows to the Past: Gasoline Unsurpassed by Jeff Pepper
- A Visit With Walt Disney in May 1959 by Jim Korkis
- TV Radio Mirror Magazine - December 1954 by Vintage Disneyland Tickets
- Windows to the Past: A Four-Leaf Clover from 1939 by Jeff Pepper
- Windows to the Past: Gasoline Unsurpassed by Jeff Pepper
- A Visit With Walt Disney in May 1959 by Jim Korkis
- TV Radio Mirror Magazine - December 1954 by Vintage Disneyland Tickets
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Since Jim Korkis made us aware of their existence in an article he released many years ago under the Wade Samspon nom de plume, Paul F. Anderson, David Gerstein and I have been desperatly trying to locate the Disney comic strips created by Disney artist Fred Spencer for The DeMolay Cordon newsletter.
Paul has now stumbled upon 5 of the strips and has started to post them at his blog.
I believe I may have located a library in New York that holds a complete run of those strips and I think that David Gerstein will soon go and check in person whether I am right or wrong.
I have to admit that the number of previously unknown Disney-history-related documents we have unearthed in the past few years never ceases to amaze me.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Do not miss today:
- The Architect of Delight by Marcel Bonner and Stephen Daly (thanks to Jim Korkis for the link)
- DIXIELAND AT DISNEYLAND AT DHI ... Continued (2) by Paul F. Anderson
- DIXIELAND AT DISNEYLAND 1963 by Paul F. Anderson
- DIXIELAND AT DISNEYLAND AT DHI ... Continued (3) by Paul F. Anderson
- Roger Armstrong Remembers Life at Lantz, 1944-45 by Michael Barrier (not directly linked to Disney, but extremely interesting to read + Mike put a big smile on my face when he decided to post one more of his "interviews" in less than 2 months instead of reviewing a movie. Have you noticed that Mike has posted more interviews in 2 months than in the last 5 years? This is very, very promising!)
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