MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Mr Mouse and Gang send postcards from their safari in Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom...

THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICKEY MOUSE!

Eighty-three today and still going strong!

Read a vintage interview with Mickey on his 60th Birthday on Brian Sibley: his blog.

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Ain't it the truth, girls...?

SNOW ON SATURDAY: Images of Miss White & Co

A few items of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs art that you might enjoy seeing in the film's 75th anniversary year...

And you can read my review of the two new Snow White books by J B Kaufman on Brian Sibley: My Blog. 

SNOW ON SATURDAY: Images of Miss White & Co

Russian poster for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

PUMPKIN TIME!

HALLOWEEN GREETINGS 

from 

Me and Jack Skellington

 

Photos: Brian Sibley © 2005

HISTORIC SKETCHES

What a wonderful discovery! A large sketchbook of quality art paper filled with vibrant character sketches by the finest Disney animators passed on from hand to hand, decade upon decade, across more than eighty years.

From Mickey Mouse – an aggregation of interlocking circles – perkily making his way up-river in Steamboat Willie to Rapunzel with a swirling tangle of graphite hair, this new-found volume is a treasure trove of legendary characters – animal and human – that we have encountered in some of the best-loved animated movies of all time.

Well, not quite...

Whilst, in truth, there never was such a sketchbook – a single collection of the work Disney's master animators bequeathed from generation to generation – the Walt Disney Animation Research Library's rich archive (in a sense, a very tangible version of the imagined sketchbook) has enabled the compilation of this sumptuous facsimile of something that didn't, but ought to have existed!

Published by Disney Editions, designed by Tim Palin and Alfred Giuliani with an introduction by noted animation historian, Charles Solomon, A Disney Sketchbook is, in the words of Disney Publishing's Ken Shue who contributes a Foreword, 'more of a visual "romp" than a "read"'.

And what a romp it is! 

  

 

There’s a multitude of styles: crisp, sharply-delineated sketches; wispy half-finished drawings that are scarcely more than ghost-traces on the paper; pictures swathed in heavy cross-hatching; drawings with a multiplicity of lines as the animator sought the best pose, the most convincing expression; sketches with the assuredness of artists confident of their characters, others that are searching to define the shape of figures, the position of action and the shade of emotion. 

 

The book gives us the playful cavortings of Pluto; the gay abandon with which hippos and elephants embrace the ballet; the charm of Snow White on encountering the Dwarfs or Prince Philip's first glimpse of Aurora; Alice captured in her wonderment of Wonderland; Bambi's amazement during his first exploration of the Forest...

...and Beauty’s Beast in mid-rampage...

Among the many graphic gems in the book's 152 pages are Hades schmoozing, Baloo laughing, Jaq and Gus scampering, Tigger bouncing and Tinkerbell preening...

...not to mention the classic sneers of Captain Hook, Shere Khan, Scar, Ursula and Jafar, the vast terrifying eye of Monstro the whale...

...and Maleficent as a dragon rearing and ready to attack with a torrent of hellfire...

A romp? Yes! But also a lavish testament to the graphic precursors to the figures we've come to know and love from cinema and TV screen.

One quibble: since many purchasers of this book will be Disney/animation buffs a discrete note of who-drew-what would have been welcome. I took an educated guess at quite a few, but it would have been nice to know whose handiwork I was admiring – as well as being a deserved compliment to the artists. 

Nevertheless, if Disney Editions should happen to come across a second Sketchbook, I for one would be delighted!  

For more information about the book: American readers CLICK HERE; British readers CLICK HERE

Images via Tim Palin's Blog where can read more details about the history of the publishing project that resulted in A Disney Sketchbook. 

You will also find additional images on my Brian Sibley blog.


All images are © Disney Enterprises, Inc 2012

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

One of the items in my Disney collection is a piece of sheet music for a ‘Novelty Fox-trot’ with words by Edward Pola and Music by Franz Vienna, published in London by Keith Prowse in 1933 and entitled...

This is a classic example of early British Disney merchandising which was not subject to the same rigours as were applied to the American products from the studio (and which are now universal); hence the surprising revelation that Mickey and Minnie Mouse had tied the knot – a story seriously at variance with official Disney lore which has always maintained that they are 'just good friends'!

The cover artwork is by Wilfred Haughton, a prolific British artist working for Disney in London who was responsible for much of the artwork in early Disney comics and annuals published in the UK.

The words of the song go like this...

It’s gala day, the day of the year,

The sun will shine, the sky’ll be clear,

The bells will ring, the people will cheer,

For the wedding of Mister Mickey Mouse.

There’ll be ducks and drakes, a waddl’ing goose,

A chimpanzee, the Zoo turn’d loose,

And ‘Peg-Leg’ Pete’s declaring a truce,

For the wedding of Mister Mickey Mouse.

The big brown bear will dance for all the company,

The whole affair will be broadcast by the BBC;

There’ll be fancy hats and fancier clothes,

A kangaroo with pretty pink bows,

And elephants with manicured toes,

At the wedding of Mister Mickey Mouse.

The band will play a one-step and a gavotte,

And then the fox will dance a real fox-trot;

Clarabelle the cow will jump right over the moon,

Then you’ll hear Pluto croon the latest tune.

Preacher man will see the knot is properly tied,

He’ll shake hands with the groom, and kiss the bride;

Then off they’ll go to find their gingerbread house,

Where they’ll be happy as Mister and Missus Mickey
Mouse.

And here's what it sounded like as performed in 1933 by  Harry Leader's band (not, as it says on the record label, Jay Wilbur)...

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

London Transport poster 1934, 'artist unknown' – although Disney might have had something to say about the bottom image!

The poster is an indication of the six-year old Mickey Mouse's international appeal in the '30s and (tailing a list headed by the legendary 18th century English pantomime clown, Joseph Grimaldi) the place he had already effortlessly secured within British pop culture...

Thanks to Didier Ghez at Disney History for the heads-up and if you'd like to order a print, visit The London Transport Museum.

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Sorcerer's Apprentice fridge magnet...

...but what happened to the sparkly Disneydust??

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck, abandoned by Mickey and Donald on Emborios beach on the Greek island of Kalymnos...

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

I'm currently on holiday on the Greek island of Kalymnos and this is my brand new beach towel!!

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Mickey Mouse Cut Out Doll Book (1933)

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Who lives in the Castle?

Sleeping Beauty?

Cinderella?

NO!

Open the roof and up pops ––– MICKEY!!

This novelty was made in China for Disneyland Paris and note the missing 'i' (apart from the 'dot) in 'Disneyland'!

UPDATE: 

Thanks to some help from my friend Richard Kaufman, I can now tell you that this is
one of a set of four McDonald's premiums from a child's "Happy Meal" in 1996 each featuring a Disney character in one of the park buildings.

The other toys featured Minnie in Minnie's House (Mickey's Toontown), Donald Duck in Space Mountain and Daisy Duck in It's a Small World.

SNOW ON SATURDAY: Images of Miss White & Co

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Oh, look!

An early greeting for my 63rd birthday on Saturday...

SNOW ON SATURDAY: Images of Miss White & Co

 Good for 'wishing credit' only...

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the first telling of the story that became known to the world as Alice in Wonderland.

You can read more about that event here.

Almost ninety years later, in 1951, Walt Disney made his famous animated film version of Lewis Carroll's original and to mark this special day, here are a trio of Carrollian/Disneyana collectibles...

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

British Mickey Mouse book, c.1934
Cover art by Wilfred Houghton (?)

SNOW ON SATURDAY: Images of Miss White & Co

Running Press Miniature Edition, 1992

GOODBYE, UNCLE RAY

The recent death of Ray Bradbury has left me very saddened as it brings to the end a 38-year friendship.

Back in 201), Decidedly Disney carried a blog post in celebration of Ray's 90th birthday, in which I focused particularly on Ray and his Disney connections.

You can read it here.

SIXTY GLORIOUS YEARS

Britain and the Commonwealth are currently celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the Accession in 1952 of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

To mark this event, decidedly disney, reproduces the cover of the British comic, Mickey Mouse Weekly (Vol 2 No 66 8 May, 1937), with a patriotic, flag-waving depiction of Mickey and Donald celebrating the coronation of Her Majesty's father, King George VI on 12 May 1937.