Walt Disney Shows in Metropol 1939
Here I have again been like to see back in time, more
precisely 72 years back where I at Christmas 1939 for the very first time in my
life had the opportunity to see “Walt Disney's Christmas Show” in Metropol in
Copenhagen. As mentioned earlier, I had seen "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs" Christmas Day 1938 in KINO in Nakskov where I with my parents and
two kid brothers lived back then. We moved to Copenhagen on April 1st,1939. But the "dedication"
and “fascination” took place during a holiday with my maternal grandparents,
who in April 1938 was also moved from Bursø nearby Maribo to Copenhagen. They
had my cousin in care, and he was FDF scout and came in the clubhouse over on
Blågårdsplads where here occasionally
were shown earlier Chaplin films and early Disney cartoons in 16mm format, in
both cases dumb movies and without colors. But then, it was not better used, so
the mere fact that something was moving on the silver screen, was interesting and
exciting, and very good it was if the films simultaneously was funny, and that
was generally the case with both Chaplin’s and Disney’s films. The Disney
cartoons, the other children in the crowd and I then 10-year-old kid saw on
this occasion, were some of the glorious black and white Mickey Mouse films
from the early 1930s, and they were hilarious and at the same time exciting,
because it was competition between Mickey and Black Pete on which one of the
two who did their best to deserve Minnie’s favour.
But in Walt Disney's Christmas Show 1939, the 6 short
animated films that were shown at the occasion, all in brilliant colors. The
films in question was 1. "Den tapre Skrædder" (1938, “The
Brave Little Taylor "), 2. "Tyren Ferdinand" (1938;
"Ferdinand the Bull"), 3. "De tre smaa grise på nye
eventyr" (1939, "The Practical Pig"), 4. "Den grimme Ælling" (1939, "The Ugly Duckling"), 5. "Anders
And paa glatis" (1939, "The Hockey Champ") and 6. "Søspejdere"
(1939; "Sea Scouts").
It must be said that all six cartoons did a great and
lasting impression on me, but my favorites was "The Brave Little
Tailor", "Ferdinand The Bull" and "The Ugly Duckling".
Perhaps especially because there was an epic action in those three cartoons,
all the contents with a prelude and continuous action with a climax and a
final. The characteristic of the three films was also that apart from "The
Brave Little Tailor" in which Mickey Mouse is the main character, then
starred none of the familiar and otherwise incurred characters from the Disney
character gallery. But of course I thought also that the three other more
episodic cartoons were funny, with their many ingenious contrivances and gags.
At the corner of Frederiksberggade and Kattesundet, was in the years 1914-82 the venerable cinema "Metropol" where especially a children's audience since 1934 had been able to enjoy the annual "Walt Disney's Christmas Show" with the glorious, colorful short cartoons with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto and others, as always aroused jubilant joy. Newspaper ads for the Christmas show throughout the years, the same design and style, as seen on the ad to the left, but of course with different text for each year. In the photo at left is seen Metropol, as its entrance looked in many years, but obviously with changing posters and exhibition images. Source of photo unknown. In the photo to the right shows the cinema, most recently to shop for clothing company Hennes & Mauritz.
- Photo © 2001 Harry
Rasmussen.
In the photo at left the cinema BRISTOL in Frederiksberggade 25, as it appeared from 1939 until it was closed down in 1966. The drawing on the right shows BRISTOL's predecessor KINOGRAFEN's facade same place, and this probably looked like shortly before the theater temporarily closed in 1939 due to the conversion and then reopened December 26 of that year under the name BRISTOL. - The photo of BRISTOL cinema, from Politiken Press Photo and drawing from Politiken mention of KINOGRAFEN's opening oktober 9, 1906. The Danish Film Museum Collection. The two images are reproduced respectively. pp. 24 and 218 in Erik Norgaard: Moving images in Denmark - From the old cinema to modern times ... ". © 1971 by Erik Norgaard and Lademanns Publishing Companies, Copenhagen.
Probably inspired by Kinografen’s "Springtime
Show" in March, 1934, which also was shown short Disney cartoons, began
Metropol also, and at least since 1935 to have its "Metropol's Springtime
Show," which was shown in May and each performance was also of about 1
hour duration. At these Springtime shows had also been 6 of Disney short
cartoons. So far I've been able to find out, so ended Metropol with its
springtime shows in 1939, but I have not had the opportunity or the chance to
see these springtime shows, because as mentioned I first moved to Copenhagen in
April 1939 and then there was to begin with much more to think about than to
watch cartoons and movies.
As for Mickey Mouse, then they had on the title
"Mikkel Mus", been able to see this figure as a full-page cartoon
strip in the "Sunday B.T." from the newspaper's No. 5, 1931. As
everyday stripe under the same title, "Mikkel Mus", could the
character also be seen in the newspaper "B.T." from april 18,1934.
Here, for nostalgia's sake include the short Disney
cartoon that was shown at the Metropol's Springtime Show in May 1939. These are
the following delightful films: 1. "Mickey's Papegøje" (1938;
"Mickey's Parrot"), 2. "De smaa Havfruer" (1938;
"Merbabies"), 3. "Hollywood-Stjerneparaden" (1938, "Mother Goose goes Hollywood"), 4. "Anders
And spiller golf" (1938, “Donald's Golf Game"), 5. "Anders
Ands Tycho Brahesdag" (1939, “Donald's Lucky Day "), and 6. "Hunde-Udstillingen"
(1939; Society Dog Show ").
As for Metropol's Christmas Shows, so they began
probably in 1934, and at the first of these was shown the following short
Disney cartoons: 1. "Julenat" (1933, "The Night Before
Christmas"), 2. "Den legesyge Trofast" (1934;
"Playful Pluto"), 3. "Mickey
i Lilleputternes Land" (1934,
"Gulliver Mickey"), 4. "Den dovne Græshoppe" (1934,
"The Grasshopper and the Ants"), 5. "Rødhætte, Ulven og
de tre smaa grise" (1934, "The Big Bad Wolf"), and 6. This movie is unfortunately not managed to find the
title.
This year, 1934, Anders And (Donald Duck) debuted in "Den
kloge lille Høne" ("The Wise Little Hen"), but in Denmark
the quack-quack first appeared in Metropol's Springtime Show in April 1935 in
such films as "Mickey som Teaterdirektør" ("Orphans'
Benefit"). As the comic strip began "Anders And” (“Donald Duck")
in Denmark in “Dansk Familieblad” ("Danish Family Magazine") No. 49,
4th of March 1935, ie before he was seen in the Metropol's Springtme Show the
same year.
Back then in 1930 I did not so thought much on what
animators and other key employees of Disney, who was behind each short
cartoons, which at the time did not had names other than Walt Disney on the
credit list, which sounded "Walt Disney Presents ". So like most of
the audience I thought without reflecting about it, that it had to be Walt
himself, who drew all the films. An otherwise incredibly naive way of thinking,
which, however, was strongly supported by the publishing strategy judiciously
used from Walt Disney Productions. The common cinema-goer could or would not
care less about who had made the cartoons, If they just were funny and
entertaining, and it was the course. And "the brand Walt Disney"
guaranteed for quality films, because the big boss always wanted to make his
cartoons so technically and artistically perfect as humanly possible with the
creative and reproductive staff, he always had at his disposal.
There have over the years been said and written many
hard words about the powerful Walt Disney, especially about his personnel
policies and his right-wing political views, but you can’t take from him that he
was personally responsible for the production of a gradually large number of
both short and long entertainment cartoons. Most of the films, especially the
feature films, are of an exquisite technical and artistic quality. But for
critical and high-brow people, especially in the 1960s, for whom alone the word
and the concept of entertainment was and is a dirty word, there was talk about
movies with a banal artistic style and banal and trivial content. What the
critics did not see, or perhaps purposely closed their eyes? was that some of
the best and most creative people in his staff of employees, people who had
been with him ever since the early 1930s. These people were that in their daily
hard work helped to realize the ambitions and dreams of producing quality
cartoons that both they and their entrepreneurial employer had. In my personal
case, I will allow myself to say that the ambitions and dreams came true.
Among Walt Disney's great personal merits for his
production of cartoons, was the constant drive for producing increasingly
better cartoons. Money meant to him primarily funds to invest in the company,
which then added in a position to pursue the goals he had set for the
development of the cartoon medium. His ambition was high, especially in relation
to the cartoons, which others and he even produced in the late 1920s and the
first years of the 1930s. But shortly before production of the Snow White film,
which began in 1934, launched Disney a training program which was actually set
on the printer in the famous 8-page letter dated December 23, 1935 from Walt to the academic artistic supervisor,
Don Graham, which would prove to give particular his creative staff, a strong
lift in both artistically and technically. This lift came first the Snow White
movie for good, but also came to influence the subsequent long and short
cartoons. Thus, it is clear to all expert that there was a significant change
in quality and improved standard of Disney short cartoons from 1935 onwards, as
was also the case with the feature films, which already appears in the
"Pinocchio" and "Fantasia", both from 1940.
Walt Disney himself stopped up early to draw and
animate, he actually stayed up with it during the production of the "Alice
in Cartoon Land" series, leaving these functions to its closest trusted
employees, after which he concentrated on the films' production and
distribution. But in his younger days and years to come, he was, in addition to
being production manager, even active as an inspiration and mentor, particularly
when it came to story and storyboards, just as he personally could act and
characterize cartoon character's character and behavior pattern. It is also
known that he from the start of Mickey Mouse series and some years to come, was
even putting falsetto voice of Mickey.
Walt Disney was so much more than the filmmagnate as
envious and opponents would make him. And his efforts and importance as
producer of animated cartoons is adventurous and unique. From a modest start in
Kansas City in 1919, where Disney as only 18-year-old together with among
others his first creative collaborator, Ub Iwerks, produced the so-called
"Laugh-O-Grams", he ran - from 1923 along with his brother Roy
Disney, who in particular, served as economic advisor - the company
"Disney Brothers, Inc." on Kingswell Avenue in Los Angeles and up to
the famous company "Walt Disney Studios" with the address of Hyperion
Avenue on Sunset Boulevard, also in Los Angeles, and from there to the arguably
even more world famous cartoons enterprise "Walt Disney Productions"
on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, North Hollywood.
A great day: Walt Disney
payed in July 1959 a visit to the A / S Nordic Cartoon Films on Mosedalvej in
Valby. Here is Disney with follow in the studio, where Anton Fredsøe, Antti
Peränne and I, Harry Rasmussen, sat and worked. It is of course Disney in the
center of the image to the left of Walt Disney, seen Anton Fredsøe sitting at
his drawing desk, while hand of the lower left belongs to me, Harry Rasmussen,
who faces Disney and participate in the conversation. To the right is the
director of the Metropol Theatre and Mickey Mouse Corporation of Denmark,
Jørgen Jørgensen, and the Director of Nordisk Film Junior, Ove Sevel. Behind Jørgen
Jørgensen discerned Ib Steinaa (in dark shirt). - Photo: © 1959 Paul Dupont.
When in the above photograph we consider the elderly
and relaxed gentleman who stands in front of and with hands deep in his pockets,
one would not think that it's the world famous cartoon king Walt Disney. But it
is the words, and he was also very easy to talk to, and even though I was an
insignificant little Danish cartoonist and animator, so he turned also to me
because he wanted to know what it was I was drawing on lighting desk. It should
not be repeated here, for I have told about the cartoon story, see Danish
Cartoons 1950-1970 Part 2.
But as said, at the age of a 10 years old fan of
animated cartoons I did - of course - not think there was a large staff of
creative and reproductive employees behind the Walt Disney cartoons. Strangely,
for just a little knowledge and care about the making of an animated cartoon,
would indeed have been able to tell me - and others - that it was obviously
impossible for one man to produce even a short animated cartoon, which of
course also be produced in the course of a profitable time if you had to live
on. The fact was and is that there was a staff of about a dozen creative men
and a number of inkers and painters, plus the technical staff behind the
production of a short animated film about. 8-10 minutes. And the long cartoons
required of course an even larger staff of both creative, reproductive and
technical people who all had ROUP nails, to comply with the production time of
about 3 years for the long cartoon case.
It was not until sometime in the 1950s when I even
returned as a professional animator and later on as animation director that I really
began to interest me for who basically stood behind Disney's short as well as
long cartoons. It was so successful that after the great general strike at
Disney Studios in 1941, there was introduced credits for the work of the
creative staf behind him. In the long feature cartoon films there had of course
been credits in films ever since the Snow White film, but eventually were added
more and more features, which should also have the name of the film's credit
lists, somewhat the employee unions favoured contractual requirements. This led
eventually to that came so many names on the films that no mother's soul had
the time or bothered to read them.
This situation changed in 1970'-80's when there was a
number of books about Walt Disney cartoons in the market, and thus could
usually read about some of the more striking employees at Disneys, just as in
the 1980s, when the video became common and the Disney films began to appear on
VHS, could read credits on the films. It is the names of supervising directors,
sequence directors, story adaptators, storyboarders, character designers,
supervising animators, directing animators, animators, and also the names of
art directors, production designers, layouters, background painters and others
Later, most of the Disney cartoons, short and long, were available on DVD and
latest on Blue Ray.
On a long cartoons like "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs" was a fairly large staff of both creative and especially
reproductive employees. To take the names of the creative team in the
above-mentioned professional order so was David Hand supervising director,
sequence directors were Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, William "Bill"
Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen. Story adaptators was Ted Sears, Otto
Englander, Earl Hurd, Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Dick Rickard, Merrill
De Maris, and Webb Smith. Art directors were Charles Philippi, Hugh Hennesy,
Terrell Stapp, McLaren Stewart, Harold Miles, Tom Codrick, Gustaf Tenggren,
Kenneth Anderson. Kendall O'Connor and Hazel Sewell. Character designer was
Albert Hurter and Joe Grant. Backgrounds were created by professionals like
Samuel Armstrong. Mique Nelson, Merle Cox, Claude Coats, Phil Dike, Ray Lockrem
and Maurice Noble for. Supervising animators were Hamilton Luske, Vladimir
"Bill" Tytla, Fred Moore and Norman Ferguson. The fantastically
talented team of animators were: Frank Thomas, Dick Lundy, Art Babbitt, Eric
Larson, Milt Kahl, Robert Stokes, James Algar, Al Eugster, Cy Young, Joshua
Meador, Ugo D'Osi, George Rowley, Les Clark, Fred Spencer, Bill Roberts,
Bernard Garbutt, Grim Natwick, Jack Campbell, Marvin Woodward, James Culhane,
Stan Quackenbush, Ward Kimball, Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman and
Robert Martsch.
For the Disney short cartoon in the 1930s there was
only Walt Disney's own name on the films, so there were no credits to the
artists who had put creativity and effort to include the glorious short
cartoosn I saw in the Metropol Christmas Show 1939. But later, however, it
managed to track down the names of who were directors, animators and background
painters at the movies. That I found out the names of the Disney short films
before 1942 due in part to the Danish-Dutch animator and director Hans Perk,
which have particularly been interested in the production of Disney's long as
well as short cartoons dating back to the 1920s to present. In advance, I knew
that some of Disney’s earliest creative staff was people like Ub Iwerks, Carmen
"Max" Maxwell, Ham Hamilton, Hugh and Walker Harman, Lorey Tague,
Otto Wall Iman, Rudolph Ising and Fritz Freleng.
Later - around 1927 - came Wilfred Jackson, and when
the sound film just had been introduced at the time, he suggested that they
used a metronome to time (time measurement) animation of cartoon characters'
movements so that it is not, as before, was left to individual animators' own
sense of movements, speed and duration. That same year, 1927, came Les Clark
and Johnny Cannon to as animators. Disney and Jackson worked both as directors
of the films. 1928 Bert Gillett and a year later Jack Cutting, and the same
year musician Carl Stalling became employees as a composer and conductor.
1930 both Iwerks and Carl Stalling left Disney, Iwerks
to work as an independent cartoon producer and Stalling to become musical
director of Warner Brothers' cartoon series Looney Tunes - Merry Melodies, a
cartoon series, which incidentally was started by Hugh Harman and Rudolph
Ising. Instead, Disney employees Bert Lewis became musical director. For the
rest Iwerks turned in 1940 back to Disney, he went to work as a special effects
innovator and as such he developed include the Xerox Camera and the Matte
process, the latter was used in the production of "Mary Poppins"
(1964). Iwerks worked for Disney until his death in 1971.
In order to start production of long cartoons, there
was, in addition to those already mentioned above, during the 1930s a great
many new talents to Disney: animators, art directors, story, designers,
layouters, background painters, etc. Among these names include significant people
like - listed alphabetically - James Algar (animator), Kenneth "Ken"
Anderson (art director), Samuel Armstrong (background), Arthur "Art"
Babbitt (animator), Ford Beebe (assistant director), Mary Blair (art
supervisor) Preston Blair (animator), James Bodrero (character designer), Jack
Boyd (animator), Homer Brightman (story), Jack Campbell (animator), Robert
"Bob" Cannon (animator), Robert "Bob" Carlson (animator),
Claude Coats (background), Tom Codrick (background), Robert Cormack (art
director), Merle Cox (background), Marc Davis (animator), Al Dempster
(background), Philip Duncan (animator), Andy Engman (animator), Al Eugster
(animator), Norman Ferguson (animator), Frank Follmer (animator), Hugh Fraser
(animator), Clyde Geronimi (sequence director), Joe Grant (character designer),
T. Hee (sequence director), John Hench (background), Hugh Hennesy (art
director), Jimmie Hess (indtruktørassistent), Dave Hilberman (layout), John
Hubley (art director), Dick Huemer (animator), Ray Huffine (background), Kenneth
"Ken "Hultgren (animator), Al Hurter (character designer), Ollie
Johnston (animator), Bill Justice (animator) Milton" Milt "Kahl
(animator), Dick Kelsey (art director), Ward Kimball (animator), Jack Kinney (
sequence director), Eric Larson (animator), Gordon Legg (animator), John
Lounsbery (animator), Dick Lundy (animator), Don Lusk (animator) Hamilton
"Ham" Slink (supervising animator), Brice Mack (background) John
McDermott (animator) Daniel "Dan" MacManus (animator), Albert Hay Malotte
(layout), McManus (animator), Joshua Meador (animator), Fred Moore (directing
animator) Larry Morey (sequence director), Grim Natwick (animator ), Charles
Nichols (animator), Lance Nolley (art director), Kenneth "Ken"
O'Brien (animator), Kendall "Ken" O'Connor (art director), Art Palmer
(animator), Don Patterson (animator) Ray Patterson (animator), Bill Peet
(story), Erdman Penner (story adaptator), Charles Philippi (art director),
Elmer Plummer (story, character designer), Thor Putnam (layout), Stan
Quackenbush (animator), Wolfgang "Woolie "Reitherman (animator), Art
Riley (background), Bill Roberts (animator), Archie Robin (animator), George
Rowley (animator), Paul Satterfiels (animator), Milt Schaffer (animator), Retta
Scott (animator), Ted Sears (story adaptator), Hazel Sewell (art director), Ben
Sharpsteen (sequence director), John Sibley (animator), Webb Smith (story
adaptator), Fred Spencer (animator) Gerorge Stallings (story), Terrell Stapp
(art director) , McLaren Stewart (art director), Bob Stokes (animator), Gustaf
Tenggren (art director), Frank Thomas (animator), Riley Thompson (animator),
Harvey Toombs (animator), Vladimir "Bill" Tytla (animator), Don
Williams (animator), Cornett Wood (animator), Marvin Woodward (animator), Ralph
Wright (story), Cy Young (animator), Al Zinnen (art director). But of course
there were many other and more names, each of which contributed to the
production of Walt Disney short cartoon as well as long cartoons.
A significant portion of the above mentioned creative
employees, worked for Disney in many years, some throughout the rest of their
lives. Therefore the Disney Studios hardly could not have been such a bad job,
as some critics have sought to argue that these were, and it was certainly not
all employees who agreed with the criticism. That some of the one or other
reason, or become dissatisfied, is inevitable, it seems at any workplace around
the world. Criticism of Disney went among other things on his 'authoritarian'
and patriarchal leadership style, but you missed the great and indispensable
creative and inspirational significance Disney personally actually had in the studios right up until his death in
December 1966. But if the production of Disney cartoons should have been
settled and determined through the so-called employee-democracy, I doubt that
the films would ever have been made. And I think that many people other than me
would have been really sad, quite apart from the cartoon art and the story of
cartoons would have been poorer.
Moreover led Disney's plans and initiatives to
continually improve and develop its creative staff at all levels and planes of
production, to which were gradually established a set procedure for the
production of cartoons, not least for feature-cartoons. For many years it was a
mystery to all sorts of cartoon people how Disney and his staff went about to
create as lifelike character figures, as was the case and in any case
relatively quickly. This was actually already 'revealed' in the book "The
Art of Walt Disney," written by Robert D. Feild and published 1942. Later,
several other books, each in its own way helped to give an impression of the
work going on at the Disney's Studios, one of these books were for example the
bulky "The Art of Walt Disney - From Mickey Mouse to The Magic
Kingdom", authored by Christopher Finch and published 1975. But the book
of all books about the procedures that were followed during the production of
especially the long Disney cartoons - the so-called Animated Features - is "Disney
Animation. The Illusion of Life ", written with great personal insight and
love of the two now late Disney veterans Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, both
of which themselves belong to the category of animators at the highest level,
animation artists of a rarely seen format. These two gentlemen were also just
in the process of organizing the book when I in the summer of 1977 visited the
Disney Studios and had the opportunity to talk to them, who both friendly and
welcoming to little me from the little country in the far north, as Woolie
Reithermann felt sorry for, because in his view, it had been corrupted by
socialism and pornography!
(See about this in the section: A visit to the Disney
Studios in Burbank 1977).
The said and highly interesting and fascinating book
was published in 1982 and was immediately a hit with all sorts of cartoon
people with ambitions and dreams about making 'classic' cartoons with
'classical' animation. Yes, the book was actually a kind of "Bible"
for many because it showed in detail and reviewed the procedures which for
generations had been used in "The Sorcerer's Workshop" in Hollywood.
Also here at home was their most memorable artistic advice and technical
instructions followed to the extent that this was possible - Economy and talent
taken into account.
It was especially the very ambitious, enthusiastic and
talented people at A-Film, which also had learned a thing or two by Jeff Varab,
former key animator at Disney, but who was now living in Denmark and learned
from him for talented, inquisitive and ambitious young artists, several of whom
later had occurred within the Danish cartoon production. Even Jannik Hastrup,
Danish cartoon’s original and sovereign cartoon artist whose ambitions of
cartoons went in a somewhat different direction, got use to those people during
the production of its own long cartoons. But as an employer and instructor he
understood - but not always easy and simple - to keep a low profile and fit the
individual work of each cartoon into a whole. This resulted in the outcome of
several interesting and greatly seeing long cartoons.
As mentioned in the introduction, there were mainly
three cartoons in the Metropol's Christmas Show 1939, which I personally made
especially appreciated, and it was - and still is - "The Brave Little
Tailor", "Ferdinand The Bull" and "The Ugly Duckling"
. As regards to the former cartoons, so was Bert Gillett its instructor, while
Fred Moore was responsible for the animation of Mickey and Bill Tytla for the
animation of the giant. But both were assisted by the following many animators:
Don Patterson, Milt Schaffer, Les Clark, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, Riley
Thompson, Jack Campbell, Don Williams, John Tucker, Andy Engman, Frank Follmer,
Cornett Wood, Art Palmer, George Rowley, Archie Robin and John McDermott. As
well story, design, layouts, backgrounds, instructions as animation are of the
highest caliber, which makes this film one of the jewels in the long chain of
short bead-cartoons, Disney Studios produced in the 1930.
Among those employee names on this glorious short
cartoons were especially animators Fred Moore, Bill Tytla, Les Clark, Ollie
Johnston and Frank Thomas almost world-famous for their great talent and animation
art, not only on this one short film, but more such and especially on a wide
range of Disney's long cartoons.
In the short film "Ferdinand The Bull" the
credit list is as follows: Direction: Dick Rickard, assistant director: Ford
Beebe. Layout: Ken Andersen and Thor Putnam, and the animation was in the hands
of the following names: Hamilton Luske, Milt Kahl, Bob Stokes, John Bradbury,
Stan Quackenbush, Jack Campbell, Ward Kimball and Don Lusk. Here the names as
Art Director Ken Anderson and animators Hamilton Luske, Milt Kahl and Ward
Kimball, who later became world famous, at least among cartoon people and
cartoon fans.
In this gem of a cartoon that does not really have
much else than the title in common with Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of
the same name, was the plot written by George Stallings, while the film's
direction were carried out by Jack Cutting and Hamilton Luske, with Jimmie Hess
as his assistant. For Layouts stood Albert Hay Malotte and Dave Hilberman. The
animation was in the hands of the following names: Eric Larson, Stan
Quackenbush, Riley Thompson, Archie Robin, Milt Kahl, Paul Satterfield, and
Gordon Legg. For these people this movie was especially Eric Larson and Milt
Kahl highly valued by people with sense of cartoon art.
But as said, I could for that matter just as well have
referred to the three other short cartoons that were on the program in the
Metropol's Christmas Show at Christmas 1939, because these films, and many both
before and subsequent to those are all further details worth. But here I chose
to only mention three of the films, which is part of the reason for my lifelong
enthusiasm, yes, I will even allow me to use the word love, to Disney's short
as well as long cartoons. Something which I already long since have expressed
on the website http://tegnefilmhistorie.dk
. See about this in the section DANISH CARTOONS 1970-1980, where I mention my unforgettable
visit to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in the summer of 1977.
© 2014by Harry Rasmussen.
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