Cartoon Brew recently had a post about a cut song from "The Rescuers".
Here is the link:
I want to add a few visuals to that.
The song was sung by Louis Prima and the character was a bear, performing tricks at a zoo. Penny befriended the bear in this early version of the film.
Disney artist Fred Lucky started out with a few design sketches, Ollie did some
and then Milt Kahl took a crack at the bear.
As far as I know no animation was done on this character, but even these sketches by Milt are great to look at. Wouldn't it be fun to do a test scene from Louis Prima's track with this design?
Milt DID animate a few scenes with spectators at the zoo, though.
In one an overweight guy is sitting down on a bench, pushing people next to him
sideways away from him. A girl at one end takes a fall.
Another scene shows a man throwing a coin to a coke salesman. The coke bottle is handed to the nearest person to be passed on, but the bottle never reaches the buyer.
Here are a few key drawings from that section. I'll try and put a pose test together in an upcoming post.
By the way I am a huge Louis Prima fan, and discovering this "new" song is a real find. There is such an enthusiasm in everything Prima sang, he is one of a kind.
That's neat - it feels as though some of the facial expressions on the bear remind me of Baloo or Little John.
ReplyDeleteyeah, the bear was a bit like John Wayne was for other studios. Had to play serval roles, and like Tom Hanks in real life, with sometimes more and sometimes less heaviness.
ReplyDeletePrima song is great..thanks!
This is wonderful, Andreas. Sometimes the most fascinating Disney treasures is the lost and forgotten stuff!
ReplyDeleteSuch an awesome character with an awesome song, I really want to see him animated!
ReplyDeleteby the way...I've just did a pool- instead of pencil-test. My 4 year old son wanted to play 'baloo and mowgli swim down the river'...it doesn't work! Now I have to explain the plausible impossible...perhaps in the dead sea?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these rare drawings. I love how Milt designed the more caricatured human characters for that zoo sequence .
ReplyDeleteAndreas there was some animation done by Ollie. I recently saw a couple rough test scenes he did before it was pulled.
ReplyDeleteI had never seen sketches of Milt's as loose as that first set, I love the feel of those and the feel of spontaneity and process to the drawings. Really nice, thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteJamais vu ces dessins auparavant,merci andreas pour ce blog tres stimulant ... patrick from france.
ReplyDeleteRusty,
ReplyDeleteany chance we can see those Ollie tests?
The business with the spectators looks particularly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteWow, I had never seen these bear models, except one drawing. These are great, Andreas, thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteYes Rusty, we want to see those Ollie's tests of the bear, you've gotta show us.
Thanks Andreas for posting these awesome designs! Very inspiring
ReplyDeleteLooks like the bear would have been a blast to animate. Especially on that unicycle. That guys facial expression is priceless who didn't get the coke.
ReplyDeleteI like Louis Prima too. Especially "When you're smiling"
I found this clip of him preforming for the Jungle Book. It shows some nice footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV8HrpOu1FA
Thanks for posting!
This bear bring a lot of memories back! First of all he made me think of Bongo, then of the Country Bear Jamboree. There are a lot of characters simiar to earlier ones (after all the first version was Cruella with a crocodile skin): the milkman is Edgard from the Aristocats and the guy with the moustaches has something of Sir Kay from the Sword in the Stone. The song is lovely and so lighthearted compared to the one included in the Classic's soundtrack... Too bad we don't have the possibility to hear to "Someone's Waiting for You"'s early version. I adore how Lea Salonga interpreted it!
ReplyDeleteIf I can get a hold of them. I have to contact the person that has then and see if I can get copies.
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous...When I was a kid, being a Robin Hood nut, I got an album "Let's Hear It for Robin Hood", with Louis Prima, (as King Louie from "Jungle Book") singing songs from Disney's "Robin Hood" along with a few extras that may or may not have been meant for the RH film. On the back of the album, it mentioned Prima doing the voice of Louie the Bear for "The Rescuers." I eagerly awaited the release of "The Rescuers", and then wondered what had become of the bear character.
ReplyDeleteAndreas, Again, Thank you for this blog. I have been soaking up every post. Beyond inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAndreas, Let's get in touch.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you might appreciate this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cen9mOa_jAU
Huston Huddleston
Huston, I saw your new post earlier today.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sharing these unheard treasures.
I'll have a few more surprises up in the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteDeja,
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the decision not to use the bear could have been that there was such a tremendous focus on bear characters in previous films?