O'Malley in Stripes

 

I posted this image of Milt Kahl drawings before. Here is Thomas O'Malley, the alley cat from The Aristocats, drawn with stripes. It is hard to imagine that during a time of tight budgets at Disney (post Walt), the studio was even considering adding this pattern on to the character. It would have taken longer and it would have been expensive to bring O'Malley to the screen.

Here are a couple of realistic "cat with stripes" sheets. They come from the estate of Ollie Johnston, though I am not sure if Ollie drew these. He might have, because Ollie ended up animating a lot of scenes with O'Malley...without the stripes.

Disney in 1949

These are pages from a booklet that show what kind of character merchandise Walt Disney Productions was offering in 1949. As you know revenues from these products were essential in keeping the company afloat, particularly during the "lean" 1940s. The early 40s presented a very tough time because only Dumbo was profitable (and not by a lot). 

It is mind boggling to realize that Pinocchio, Bambi and Fantasia all flopped when first released.

I enjoy studying the quality control over these items. Most of them look actually very nice. There is a vitality and a sense of joy to them.

There are a lot of pages, so here goes: