The Animated Man (71 page)
Authors: Michael Barrier
79
. Lundy, 1973 interview.
80
. Chuck Couch, interview with Gray, March 22, 1977.
81
. Lundy, 1973 interview.
82
. Jackson, 1976 interview.
83
. Clark, 1976 interview.
84
. Al Lichtman to Roy Disney, February 15, 1932, WDA.
85
. Lichtman to Roy Disney, June 3, 1932, WDA.
86
. Roy Disney to Lichtman, July 28, 1932, WDA.
87
. Roy Disney to Lichtman, November 10, 1932, WDA.
88
. Jackson, 1976 interview.
89
. Don Patterson, interview, February 19, 1991.
90
. “Hollywood Man Builds Fine Home,”
Los Angeles Times
, June 16, 1932, AMPAS.
91
. Roy Disney, June 1968 interview.
92
. Notes from Hedda Hopper's November 9, 1964, interview with Walt Disney, AMPAS.
93
. From a copy of the outline in Sharpsteen's papers.
94
. From a copy of the outline in Sharpsteen's papers.
95
. From a copy of the outline in Sharpsteen's papers.
96
. From a copy of the outline in Sharpsteen's papers.
97
. Thomas,
Art of Animation
, 19. According to an unpublished manuscript by Don Graham, the first such storyboard was put together for
Babes in the Woods
, released in November 1932. The Graham manuscript, titled “The Art of Animation,” was commissioned by the Disney studio in the 1950s, but it was superseded by the book with a similar title by Bob Thomas; the title page of the Thomas book credits Graham for “research.” Dick Huemer, Ted Sears's colleague at the Fleischer studio
and, from 1933 on, the Disney studio, credited Sears with devising the first story-board while he was “story coordinator” at Fleischer's, but there is no evidence that Sears brought that idea with him to Disney's. “Huemeresque,”
Funnyworld
18 (Summer 1978): 15.
98
. Jackson, November 13, 1975.
99
. Arthur Babbitt, interview, December 2, 1973.
100
. Donald W. Graham to Christopher Finch, July 25, 1972, WDA.
101
. Phil Dike, interview with Gray, March 29, 1977.
102
. Bill Hurtz, interview with Gray, January 15, 1977.
103
. Lundy, 1973 interview.
104
. Walt Disney, “Growing Pains,” 36.
105
. From a copy of the outline in Sharpsteen's papers.
106
. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston,
Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life
(New York, 1982), 120.
107
. Ross Care, “Symphonists for the Sillies: The Composers for Disney's Shorts,”
Funnyworld
18 (Summer 1978): 42.
108
. Sharpsteen, 1976 interview.
109
. Jackson to author, August 22, 1975.
110
. Huemer, 1973 interview.
111
. Lillian Disney, Hubler interview.
112
. E. H. Gombrich,
The Story of Art
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983), 61.
113
. Paul Fennell, interview with Gray, December 7, 1977. According to the records for
Mickey's Mechanical Man
, Fennell animated a scene in which Mickeyânot Minnie, as he remembered itâis pounding the mat.
114
. Jackson, September 10, 1977.
CHAPTER 4
“This Character Was a Live Person”
1
. Letter to the editor,
Hollywood Citizen-News
, March 19, 1934, AMPAS.
2
. Ruth Waterbury, “What Snow White's Father Is Doing Now,”
Liberty
, November 26, 1938, AMPAS.
3
. Art Babbitt to Bill Tytla, circa November 27, 1933 (the postmark on the envelope), JC/NYU.
4
. “ âSnow White' to 31,000!”
Kansas City Star
, January 27, 1917, 1; “They Came in Thousands,”
Kansas City Star
, January 28, 1917, 1; “ âSnow White' Set Record,”
Kansas City Times
, January 29, 1917, 1. Walt Disney to Frank L. Newman Sr., January 21, 1938, WDA.
5
. Walt Disney, January 21, 1938.
6
. “Snowwhite Suggestions,” whose cover sheet is actually titled “Manuscript,” exists in the Walt Disney Archives in two copies, including one with Walt Disney's
annotations. He marked “OK” by the descriptions and suggested names of four of the dwarfs: Sleepy, Hoppy-Jumpy, Bashful, and Sneezy-Wheezy.
7
. Lawrance, “ âMickey Mouse'âInspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio.”
8
. Shamus Culhane,
Talking Animals and Other People
(New York, 1986), 113.
9
. Adamson/Huemer.
10
. Grim Natwick, interview, November 4, 1976.
11
. McLaren Stewart, interview with Gray, March 31, 1977; Eric Larson, interview, October 27, 1976; David R. Smith, “Ben Sharpsteen,”
Millimeter
, April 1975, 39; Jack Bradbury, interview with Gray, March 23, 1977.
12
. Goepper, 1977 interview.
13
. Larson interview.
14
. Sharpsteen to author, November 12, 1980.
15
. Ollie Johnston, joint interview with Frank Thomas, July 13, 1987.
16
. Douglas W. Churchill, “Now Mickey Mouse Enters Art's Temple,”
New York Times Magazine
, June 3, 1934, 12â13.
17
. A mimeographed syllabus for the lecture series and a two-page critique of
The Steeplechase
are part of the Burt Gillett collection in the Walt Disney Archives.
18
. From the preview dates as noted on Sharpsteen's copies of the story outlines for those cartoons.
19
. “Notes to Members of the Staff,” WDA.
20
. A typescript of the continuity is in the Bill Cottrell files at the Walt Disney Archives. Although undated, it appears to antedate the three versions of the continuity that Cottrell dictated himself.
21
. “The
Golden Touch
treatment,” an undated typescript, is in the Walt Disney Archives.
22
. Dick Creedon, “Snow White (tentative outline),” October 22, 1934, WDA. Creedon's authorship is reflected in a draft of the outline accompanied by his instructions to “Frances” to make fifty numbered copies. Creedon's pages of radio-flavored dialogue are part of the same file at the Walt Disney Archives but were apparently not widely distributed.
23
. Walt Disney, “ âSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Skeleton Continuity,” December 26, 1934, WDA.
24
.
Walt Disney Studio Bulletin
6, November 19, 1934, WDA.
25
. “Request for Original Gag Situations,” undated but probably distributed in mid-1935, WDA.
26
. Babbitt, 1973 interview.
27
. Sharpsteen to Tytla, December 2 and 23, 1933, NYU/JC.
28
. Marge Champion, telephone interview, December 2, 1993.
29
. Johnston, telephone interview, May 24, 1994.
30
. Graham to Finch, July 28, 1972, WDA.
31
. Larson interview.
32
. Campbell Grant, interview with Gray, February 2, 1977.
33
. Thor Putnam, interview, December 1, 1990.
34
. Homer Brightman, interview with Gray, February 14, 1977.
35
. Joe Grant, interview, October 14, 1988.
36
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
37
. Natwick interview.
38
. Adamson/Huemer.
39
. Adamson/Huemer.
40
. Cannon's memo is dated March 1, but it was typed by a stenographer on March 4; Disney replied on March 5, WDA. Cannon, who joined the Disney staff in 1927, left in 1940.
41
. Ken Anderson, interview, December 7, 1990.
42
. Walt Disney to Bob Wickersham, memorandum, June 1, 1935, WDA.
43
. Walt Disney to Babbitt, memorandum, June 1, 1935, WDA.
44
. “British Crowd Mobs Disneys,”
Los Angeles Times
, June 13, 1935, AMPAS.
45
. “Disney and Wife to Meet Notables,”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, July 20, 1935, AMPAS.
46
. Roy Disney, February 1968 interview.
47
. “Mickey Mouse Creator Returns in Triumph,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, August 2, 1935, AMPAS.
48
. “Walt Disney and Wife Home from Europe,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, August 6, 1935, AMPAS.
49
. Tytla to “Anna,” September 9, 1935, JC/NYU.
50
. Louella O. Parsons, “Walt Disney's Elaborate Plans; Will Spend Fifteen Months Making First Full Length Cartoon,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, August 11, 1935, AMPAS.
51
. Walt Disney, memorandum, “Action Analysis,” October 17, 1935, WDA. The memo was addressed to all the studio's directors, animators, writers, assistant directors, assistant animators, and layout men.
52
. Ham Luske, “General Outline of Animation Theory and Practice,” December 31, 1935, mimeographed, Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota Library.
53
. “Production NotesâShorts,” mimeographed, WDA.
54
. Walt Disney and Paul Hopkins to Tytla, memorandum, “Credit Rating âCock o' the Walk,' ” December 20, 1935, WDA.
55
. Walt Disney to Graham, memorandum, December 23, 1935, WDA.
56
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
57
. Churchill, “Mickey Mouse Enters Art's Temple,” 13.
58
. Ward Kimball, interview, November 2, 1976.
59
. Keith Scott provided the author with a tape recording of this program. According to Scott,
Hind's Hall of Fame
, sponsored by Hind's Honey and Almond Cream, was broadcast only in 1934.
60
. Dolores Voght, undated interview with Hubler, BU/RH.
61
. Marcellite Garner Lincoln to author, March 15, 1978.
62
. Walt Disney, “Mickey Mouse Presents,” in
We Make the Movies
, ed. Nancy Naumberg (New York, 1937), 260; Sharpsteen, 1976 interview.
63
. “Production NotesâShorts.”
64
. Walt Disney to Hopkins and others, memorandum, “Production Notes on Snow White,” November 25, 1935, WDA.
65
. Maurice Noble, interview, December 3, 1990.
66
. “Routine Procedure on Feature Production,” undated, photocopy, WDA.
67
. Champion, telephone interview.
68
.
Bambi
sweatbox notes, September 1, 1939, WDA.
69
. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston,
Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life
(New York, 1982), 320.
70
. Perce Pearce, lecture, “Acting and Pantomime,” March 9, 1939, WDA.
71
. Graham, action-analysis lecture, July 26, 1937, mimeographed, WDA.
72
.
Snow White
meeting notes, dwarfs personality meeting, December 22, 1936, WDA. Disney's continuity was extracted from these notes and hectographed for general distribution in the studio.
73
. Creedon, memorandum, “The Meeting and the Bed,” November 15, 1936, WDA.
74
.
Snow White
story meeting notes, sequence 6B, soup sequence, November 30, 1936, WDA.
75
.
Snow White
story meeting notes, sequences 11A and 11B, meeting and bed building, February 23, 1937, WDA.
76
.
Snow White
layout meeting notes, January 25, 1937, WDA.
77
. Lundy, 1973 interview.
78
. Robert Stokes, interview with Gray, March 9, 1977.
79
. Huemer, 1973 interview.
80
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
81
. Tom Codrick, lecture, January 19, 1939, WDA.
82
.
Snow White
meeting notes, “Layout MeetingâDiscussion of Sequence Problems,” February 22, 1937, WDA.
83
.
Snow White
meeting notes, sequence 3B, Snow White and animals in the woods, September 3, 1936, WDA.
84
.
Snow White
meeting notes, sequence 4A, dwarfs at the mine, October 2, 1936, WDA.
85
. Hand, “ âStaging' as Applied to Presentation of Story and Gag Ideas,” class conducted October 13, 1938. The transcript of this class, part of the Disney studio's “development program,” comes from a 1939 compilation called “Story Department Reference Material,” photocopy, AC.
86
.
Snow White
story meeting notes, Sequences 15A and 16A (SW dead to end of picture), May 6, 1937.
87
.
Fantasia
meeting notes [“Clair de Lune”], December 8, 1938, WDA.
88
. Thomas and Johnston,
Illusion of Life
, 471.
89
. Graham, action-analysis lecture, April 26, 1937, mimeographed, WDA.
90
. Pearce, “Acting and Pantomime.”
91
. Marceil Clark Ferguson, interview, October 10, 1987.
92
. Mary Eastman, interview, May 29, 1983.
93
. Margaret Smith, interview, December 2, 1990.
94
. Dodie Monahan, interview with Gray, March 28, 1977.
95
.
An Introduction to the Walt Disney Studios
(Los Angeles, 1938), 18, AC. This thirty-one-page booklet was “a brief outline of the studio's principal departments and an explanation to artists of its employment policies.”
96
. The exact figure is $1,488,422.74 in a March 29, 1947, balance sheet that Walt Disney Productions submitted to RKO during negotiations for a merger of some kind, RKO.
97
. Walt Disney, “Growing Pains,”
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers
, January 1941, 35.