THE BLAIR AFFAIR

Some of us just can't get enough of the wonderful art of Mary Blair (1911-1978), whose concept designs made a significant contribution to the look of several Walt Disney classic animated features and, later, elements of the Disney theme park attractions.

Much delight therefore in a new book from John Canemaker, Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair cataloguing the current special exhibition of the same title at the Walt Disney Family Museum...

The cover illustration from Mary Blair's concept art for the 1951 feature, Alice in Wonderland, is indicative of her hallmark style: dynamic in design and daringly vibrant in the use of colour.

 Although seemingly at odds with the Disney house-style (dictated by the predominant 'roundness' of animation art), Blair's dramatic layouts that focus on scale and boldly juxtaposition shapes into almost impressionistic collages had a powerful visual impact on a raft of Disney films including the South American features, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros...

...several of the compilation films, such as Make Mine Music, Melody Time and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, the live-action features Song of the South and So Dear To My Heart and a number of special shorts, notably, Susie the Little Blue Coupe and The Little House...

Blair's work for such films is well represented in this beautifully produced book as are her powerful designs for the trio of features that represent Disney's second 'Golden Age' in the 1950s: Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan...

Blair later returned to Disney to help design the it's a small world attraction for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, subsequently a permanent exhibit in Disneyland and all the Disney Magic Kingdoms...

Her designs of children in national costume (along with assorted animals and international landmarks) were perfect for the boat-ride through a world of peace and harmony devised by the Disney studio for the Pepsi-Cola sponsored UNICEF pavilion. Here are Walt and Mary with some of her drawings...

The book rounds out our appreciation of Blair with the inclusion of examples of her pre-Disney illustrative art, advertising art, fabric and mural designs and her notable work for the much-loved Little Golden Books...

John Canemaker's expert commentary combines an authoritative, critical text with an enthusiastic analysis and interpretation of Blair's art and a perceptive appreciation of its contribution to the world of Disney.

Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair by John Canemaker is published by the Walt Disney Family Foundation Press at $40 (but available at various on-line stores at considerably less).

! American readers can order a copy of Magic, Color, Flair here and British readers here.

A perfect companion volume will be found in John Canemaker's earlier work, The Art and Flair of Mary Blair: An Appreciation, originally published in 2003 and now updated and reissued by Disney Editions at $45.

Although there is a small degree of image overlap between the two books (and the colour reproduction of some of the pieces here is somewhat lackluster) it contains another wide selection of exceptional art that only celebrates Blair's talent but demonstrates exactly why Walt Disney was so excited by and enamoured of her striking visual imagination...

 

! American readers can order a copy of The Art and Flair of Mary Blair here and British readers here.

The exhibition Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco remains on show until 7 September 2014 and you can find more information including the facility to book tickets, here.

 

You can see more of Mary Blair's art on my Brian Sibley Blog.

A (SEASONAL) DREAM IS A WISH...

I sincerely hope that your
CHRISTMAS...

...will be a FAIRY-TALE
Come True!

Images: Tapestries and frescoes in Auberge de Cendrillon, Fantasyland, Disneyland Paris.

TRÈS BON

OK, some of the images are a bit off model-sheet (and Thumper seems to have got rid of his grey hairs!) but wouldn't it have been fun as a kid, back in the 'fifties, to have had a TV dinner off this jolly Disney tray?

Manufactured in Britain in tinplate metal by Worcester Ware, the tray measures 31.5cm x 41cm (12.5" x 16.25"). From the prominence of Peter Pan and the presence of both Cinderella and Alice, I would guess that this was produced in 1953.

FAREWELL, SWEET NIGHTINGALE

Ilene Woods

1929-2010

With the death, on 1 July, of Ilene Woods, who spoke and sang for the eponymous heroine of Walt Disney's 1950 animated feature, Cinderella, we lost another of those distinctive Disney voice talents who, whilst unseen, helped create characters who have endured across the generations.

It was chance that brought Miss Woods the role when her songwriting friends Mack David and Jerry Livingstone asked her to make some demo recordings of songs they were writing for a new Disney film. David and Livingstone had known the singer for some time having been guests on her thrice-weekly radio show in New York.

Ilene recorded the Fairy Godmothers magic song, 'Bibbidi-bobbiddi-boo' and Cinderella's songs, 'A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes' and 'So This is Love' and thought nothing more of it than as doing a favour for friends. However, when Walt Disney - who had already rejected several hundred possible voices for his new screen princess - heard Woods' recordings he instinctively knew that he had found his Cinderella.

Working on and off at the studio for a couple of years from 1948, Woods contributed more than just the voice to the character since Marc Davis sketched her during recording sessions and incorporated many of her gestures and mannerisms in his animation. It was Disney's personal idea - brilliantly realised by Woods in performance - to have Cinderella's rendition of 'Sing, Sweet Nightingale' accompanied by a harmonising choir of Cinderellas reflected in the soap bubbles rising from the bucket of soapy water with which she is scrubbing the floor of her stepmother's house.

I had the privilege of spending time with Ilene Woods a few years ago when I was making my BBC Radio series, Disney's Women, and I was struck by her unassuming modesty and her obvious delight in having contributed to one of Disney's finest fairy tales for the cinema.

"I didn't realise what I had," she told me, "until, many years later, an agent said, 'Ilene, that's the longest engagement you will ever have, because as long as children are born and movies are shown, they'll be hearing your voice.'"

It seemed an appropriate quote with which to conclude the obituary that I contributed to the London newspaper, The Guardian, and which you can read here.