Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Happy Birthday, Fred Moore!

Today Sept. 7, 2011 marks the 100th birthday of Disney animation genius Fred Moore. So let's celebrate and have a toast to Fred, whose beautiful work touched most of us in a big way. His natural, uncomplicated way of drawing and animating will be an inspiration for generations to come. And when it comes to appeal, everybody can still learn from Fred Moore.
I tried to pull together some of his drawings that most likely you haven't seen before.

There is a great Happy Birthday illustration with a self portrait.
The sketch of Mickey shows how much he made the character his own. The proportions, the action and the charm are wonderful.
Any drawings of the dwarfs show how confident Fred had gotten as an animator,
and how much he loved animating.
I don't know what the layout with the two kids was done for, a propaganda short or a poster? 
The poses of Jose Carioca and Panchito are from from an unproduced short.
Loose and so full of life.
The key drawings of the girl telephone operator ("Casey bats again" 1954) indicate how Fred handled the slow change into a somewhat graphic animation style at Disney.
Of course I had to add a few beautiful Freddie girls, they were popular then, and they are popular now.
The partial exposure sheet is for a scene from "The Three Caballeros" which was cut from the film. But it's fun to look at a real Moore X-sheet!

Fred influenced animation and its aesthetics in a profound way, and I know that my childhood was so much happier because of that.

Happy birthday, Fred!





















27 comments:

  1. I recently watched an interview with Don Bluth on Youtube, where he described Freddie Moore. It went something like this:

    "Here you had the Nine Old Men...Milt, Frank, Ollie, Marc, and the others, most of whom studied extensively at Chouinards. Then you had Freddie Moore, a kid who played baseball who one day walked in off the street and into the studio, sat down and started drawing...and stunned everyone at how good he was!"

    I thought the way Don described Freddie's natural talent was amazing. He was obviously born to draw. I love Freddie Moore's work! :)

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  2. When I was in high school there were kids who could draw so fluidly and naturally, but yet wanted nothing to do with art. It drove me crazy. I struggled then and still do struggle with it.

    At least Fred used his natural ability and the world is better for it. Happy Birthday, Mr. Moore

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  3. There is a feeling of youthful joy in Freddie's work. For me, that's what makes his drawings so much fun to look at.

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  4. And it's the birthday of Disney Comic genius Massimo Fecchi :D

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  5. That drawing of the kissing booth makes me wonder. Did Fred Moore have anything to do with the "Baby Weems" segment of "The Reluctant Dragon"? Those faces remind me of the baby.

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  6. Hey Andreas!

    I recently bought a Fred Moore drawing - I tell you, it felt like my birthday when I finally received it!

    I would love to share it with you and your readers.

    Where should I mail the scan?

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  7. Thanks for reminding us, Andreas! Fred Moore was a natural, and a genius, and an inspiration. And a great friend of two of my other favorites, Ward Kimball and Walt Kelly. What a crew - wouldn't it be great to go back in time and work with them?
    Dean

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  8. Thank you Andreas, I'm sure Fred would really appreciate this.

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  9. Your women are stylish and sexy. Your work is very fun and charming.

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  10. Now I know what I want to be when I grow up! Thanks Andreas and Happy Birthday Freddie!

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  11. Thanks Andreas for having this post! I have been a fan of Freddie's for years. I have to get Dave Pacheco to take me to the archives and see more of Freddie's work!

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  12. Big Happy Birthday Freddie the Master of Appeal! Thanks so much for the AWESOME work! That Pluto is crazy, how in the world did he get so loose with a 1-2 liners ?

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  13. The biggest of Happy Birthday's to Freddy Moore.

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  14. A very merry Un-birthday to you Fred. Sometimes I figure him as Little Hiawatha, crossing his arms as the Sorcerer's Apprentice while his boat sails into the sunset. Surrounded by his girls of course! It's good to hear you talking about his take on Mickey, Andreas! I always loved your animation in The Prince and the Pauper and in Fantasia 2000!

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  15. Thank you for posting these. It's a great tribute to him.

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  16. These drawings are wonderful. The photo of Freddie, so young and full of life, is also a treasure. I am speechless. I grew up as a kid in love with this style that he drew in Mickeys, the girls in Peter Pan, Casey at the Bat, Fantasia, and I had no idea it was Freddie Moore. What a miracle that he just appeared at Disney's, at 19 (i believe) and revolutionized Mickey Mouse and all the adorable females he drew so beautifully. Walt must have been in heaven knowing he had this genius. How lucky are all of us. By the way, if it had all been cgi then, then none of his drawings would have ever been seen, except maybe for a "The Art of Peter Pan" book. Drawings are not computer models. Thank goodness!

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  18. ...i raise my glass in deepest appreciation & gratitude for all that i have & will continue to learn from Fred Moore! ...thanks Andreas!

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  19. Fred Moore is excellent! The girls are perfect, as always. It's hard to believe that only NOW it has been 100 years.
    The switchboard lady is from "Football: now and then", actually, not 'Casey bats again'. Both of them are wonderful cartoons.

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  20. I've never seen audio broken down like that on an x-sheet before. It looks like the blue lines show accents in the dialogue, but are those red lines supposed to be where the accent holds and trails off? and what's the difference between the the straight red lines and squiggly ones that take up one frame?

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  21. I love Fred Moore's drawings so much! Just in those rough sketches of Joses Carioca, I can see all the personality and the expressivity of the character. He is a master!

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  22. What was the last picture about . Since it had something written??

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