Friday, March 22, 2024

Milt Kahl's Birthday

Today, March 22, is Milt Kahl's birthday. I have posted many tributes to Milt over the years, so here is something different.
As I pointed out before, Prince Phillip was his least enjoyable animation assignment. But as always he did a terrific job, the way he brought him to life with subtlety and humor. 
Years ago I was lucky enough to purchase all key drawings from a Phillip scene that ended up being cut from Sleeping Beauty. That scene has the Prince seated at the beginning, before he hears Aurora's singing in the forest. He gets up, walks screen left, then comes to a stop and looks to the right. He is trying to figure out where this beautiful voice is coming from. It might have been Milt's first production animation of the character, because the design looks different from the final version. As you can see in the first image, his face is a bit more stylized. 
Walt Disney asked for a change in the character design. Apparently Phillip did not look handsome enough in Milt's early version. 
The second image shows a few adjustments, particularly in the facial area. This look would become the final model, and I have thought that Milt drew this sketch as well. But in taking a closer look, I believe that somebody else did the "draw over". It is my educated guess that Marc Davis re-drew this Phillip pose.
There is an attempt to simplify the shoulders and the chest, and the line work reminds me of Marc's graphic style. 
As much as I prefer Phillip's final design, the first drawing is a masterpiece.
Then again all of Milt's drawings are.




 
Here is the link to my first first post on Milt Kahl years ago...:

Sunday, March 17, 2024

From Cruella to Disneyland



I remember years ago I just had to ask Marc Davis about his departure from Disney Animation after having animated the incredible character of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians
At that time he was at the peak of his craft, why didn't he continue his animation career? 
It turned out Marc had high hopes for a future project he helped to develop called Chanticleer.
It's story was based on a French folktale in which a rooster believed that his own crowing in the morning made the sun rise every day. Included were plenty of other anthropomorphic animals like a fox, an owl, a mole etc.
When presented to a group of executives, including Walt Disney, Marc remembered one of the execs exclaiming: "You can't get a personality out of a chicken."
And apparently that was the end of the meeting. An alternate project, developed by Bill Peet, called The Sword in the Stone got the green light instead. 
Soon afterwards Walt asked Marc for help with Disneyland. Upcoming ideas for new rides needed a humorous touch, and Marc moved over to WED. 
In the end Marc felt very happy and challenged with this new assignment, but I can't help but wonder how Chanticleer might have turned out. I do know that Marc's friend Milt Kahl was leaning more toward The Sword in the Stone.










Here is my first post on Chanticleer from 2012:

Monday, March 4, 2024

Ward Kimball 110

 


Ward Kimball was born 110 years ago.
Here is another pic taken during my last visit to his house in 2002. At age 88 he was still curious, passionate and of course...funny. Disney was so lucky to have one animator among his crew who constantly thought outside of the box. 
Here are a few visual reminders if his genius.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

A masterful Performance

This section from the 1938 short The Brave Little Tailor is often accredited to Fred Moore. Not so. Fred did work on later scenes where Mickey leaves the castle reluctantly, and when he is fighting the Giant.

But this extraordinary performance by Mickey in front of the King and Princess Minnie was animated by Frank Thomas. At the start of the film Mickey had proclaimed that he "killed seven in one blow". The audience knows that he was talking about flies, but everyone else believes he meant giants. And so this misunderstanding gets Mickey in trouble as he tries unsuccessfully to rectify the situation. 

It is the level of acting, feeling of weight and appealing draughtsmanship that completely captivates me. Most of Mickey's previous (and later) performances had roots in vaudeville. Physical, broad gags that made the audience laugh and connect with his personality. But this is  different. As close to an award winning performance as an animated character can get. 

I had the good fortune to discuss these groundbreaking scenes with Frank Thomas years ago, when I asked him wether Walt Disney had any specific reaction to his work here. I was sure that Walt saw this as a new artistic breakthrough for Mickey, and that he possibly complimented Frank. But no, Frank did not remember any particular praise from the boss. Just the fact that he liked and approved those scenes. Then again ....Walt was not known or handing out compliments very often.

I came across these rough animation drawings just recently, and I am trying to find more. If I do I will of course post them here. Frank ended up doing just about every drawing for the animation, he had full control over the performance. 

This is animation history worth studying.




















Thursday, February 8, 2024

Joy

 


Can't tell you how happy I am about MUSHKA's musical success. Richard M. Sherman kicked off our musical journey years ago by contributing the film's melodious theme as well as a beautiful song. 

Richard is the most inspirational, generous, down to earth genius you could ever meet. 

The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mushka


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Patrick Mate does Mushka

 


I just found out by accident that my friend Patrick Mate posted this illustration on his blog in November of last year. At that time we had a nice chat after the MUSHKA screening at CTN.

He added:  

I absolutely love it! Patrick is such an amazing artist. Always full of ideas, and he is comfortable in just about any graphic style. Here is a link to his gorgeous art:

https://patrickmate.blogspot.com


Monday, January 29, 2024

MacBadger Ruffs

 

You can't win them all. Recently Heritage Auctions offered this fine group of rough animation drawings of the character Angus McBadger from the 1949 film The Wind in the Willows. The auction item's description said that Bill Tytla drew these sketches and that they originate from the artist's estate.  

The thing is...these are Milt Kahl drawings. This particular film was in and out of production during the early 1940s, and that's when Milt drew them. There is a short window of time between the start of animation on April of 1941 and the beginning of the Disney strike on May 29, 1941. It was then when Tytla left the studio. He must have saved these roughs by the "junior animator", presumably because he liked the vitality in Milt's sketches.

Anyway I did not end up with these terrific drawings, I was outbid. But if the current owner would like to publish them here on this blog, please, leave a comment.