In this rare photo of Ward Kimball and Fred Moore, taken sometime in 1941, Ward is showing Fred some kind of gag drawing. It looks like Moore is working on Mickey and the Beanstalk, which later became part of the film Fun and Fancy Free. According to the model sheets the project at that time didn’t have a title yet, it was simply called “Mickey Feature”.
In the end the film’s running time was only 29 minutes. After many story treatments the crew just wasn’t able to stretch the material into a full length feature. Fun and Fancy Free, which didn’t get released until 1947, also included a featurette called Bongo.
(The photo was shown during a brief program about Disney history on CBS.)
Here are the two model sheets from Fred’s desk.
Hi Andreas, I may be wrong but it seems that a Smee statuette from Peter Pan is on his desk? Would that mean the picture was taken in the early 50's ?
ReplyDeleteRemember, Peter Pan was in story development in the early forties, then shelved before being produced in the early fifties.
DeleteThere are other Peter Pan statuettes there as well - from the right: Nana, Hook, and (I think) John.
DeleteModel sheets from 1940 can be seen on the late Michael Sporn's irreplaceable site - http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=1951
Here's information about the model sheet on Donald: the photo was used in the 1997 "Masterpiece Collection" video in the "making of" segment.
ReplyDeleteI finally saw Fun and Fancy Free earlier this year and I was amazed on their take on the classic story Jack and the Beanstalk. Hey Andreas I've always wondered what you consider to be the hardest sequences to animate from the films you worked on for the company?
ReplyDeleteTechnically Roger Rabbit was very challenging, because the animation had to match the live action precisely.
ReplyDeleteOther than that Gaston wasn't easy to do , because the dude was a villain and good looking at the same time. How far do you go with caricature?
That's very true. I always find it difficult when I am trying to write my own screenplays for stories I want to work on once I get my degree for animation, and the one problem I have is drawing out the main characters. I get that first perfect sketch and then trying to draw out the other poses and even the emotions I feel are a challenge for me.
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