Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

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- Following the posts of the Cinderella Sunday strips, and taking a cue from the Milt Kahl Alice scenes I’ve posted, I am offering these Sunday strips of Alice In Wonderland. They were sent by Bill Peckmann from the excellent book he owns: Animated Features and Silly Symphonies.

They’re dated 1951, and each page contains 2 Sunday strips. Cinderella features artwork by Manuel Gonzales, penciler, and Dick Moores, inker. More of the gorgeous line work by Dick Moores.

Two Sunday strips per page:

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Once again thanks to Bill Peckmann for scanning these pages.

- George Baker‘s comic strip The Sad Sack appeared regularly in the Wartime publication, Yank, The Army Weekly. I grew up reading the comic book version of this strip, many years after WWII, and I had no idea, as a kid, that the comic had such a history. I only knew that I thought it was funny and well drawn.

The strip started in Yank, and, after the war, was syndicated by The Bell Syndicate. The strip was ultimately sold to Harvey Comics in 1957, and they produced the comic books.

This collection of strips, here, in book form, shows us the evolution of the character and we can see his growth. It’s a collector’s item of a book and another gem contributed here by the inestimable Bill Peckmann from his library. Many thanks to him for the loan and the scans.

The front cover of the book

The back cover.

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The book’s short introduction.

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- A couple of weeks ago, I posted the first half of a Cinderella comic strip that Bill Peckmann sent me from the book, Animated Features and Silly Symphonies.

This is a hard-to-get book, so it’s a treat to see these strips. They’re dated 1950, and each page contains 2 Sunday strips. Cinderella features artwork by Manuel Gonzales, penciler, and Dick Moores, inker. Moores, of course, took over the Gasoline Alley strip from Frank King. His line work was always beautiful and these strips show it off.

Here, we finish out the story started on October 14th. many thanks, again, to Bill Peckmann.

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- Here’s another follow up to the Albert Hurter book, He Drew As He Pleased (Simon and Schuster, 1948.)

Hurter, of course, was one of those exceptional European illustrators Disney brought into his studio in preparation for Snow White and Pinocchio. Hurter, as the title implies, was the master of his own fate, drawing designs which would be used generally to further the design of the features and Silly Symphonies.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for the loan of the book’s pages and the arduous task of scanning these illustrations.

To see the other posts from this book: Part 1, Part 2

- Here’s a book Bill Peckmann owns. It’s a book by Will Rogers (who was the greatest star of his time) that was illustrated by Grim Natwick and published in 1929.

I’ve decided to leave the text on the stills since you might be interested in reading it (as I was) even though it seems to cover every other double-page spread. I’ve also blown up a couple of the stills so you can get a better look. I love this period stuff.

(Click any image to enlarge)

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- Here is the final post of the Ferdinand Horvath catalogue of drawings. From 1934-1937, Horvath worked at the Disney Studios painting backgrounds, creating layouts, constructing three dimensional models, and designing characters and gags for over fifty Silly Symphonies and Mickey Mouse shorts.

He was one of those European illustrators, including Albert Hurter or Gustaf Tenggren and himself that Disney found in Europe and brought to America to inspire his staff artists.

Horvath also worked at Paul Terry’s studio on the “Aesop’s Fables” series. Leaving Disney, he designed models and layouts for Columbia/Screen Gems’ shorts. In 1940, he sculpted puppets for George Pal’s Puppetoons.

He was a versatile artist whose work was an inspiration for many Disney artists. The following booklet was published by Graphis Gallery and put together by Bruce Hamilton. The opening material explains itself.

Bill Peckmann sent me the pages of this booklet, and I thank him for keeping Horvath alive.

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- Bill Peckmann sent me the following strips from a rare book he has of Animated Features and Silly Symphony Comics. The copyright date is 1950. CinderellaSunday strips feature artwork by Manuel Gonzales, penciler and Dick Moores, inker. Moores, of course, took over the Gasoline Alley strip from Frank King. (These Gasoline Alley strips are so beautiful, I’ve posted some of them. I have a book somewhere, if I can find it I will put up more of them.)

Thanks to Bill Peckmann, for the Cinderella strips. Here are the first half of these strips. More will follow soon to conclude the story.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

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Ferdinand Hovarth was a versatile artist whose work was an inspiration for many Disney artists. He was a mainstay at the Disney studio from 1934-37. He was one of those artists brought in from Europe to draw inspirational art for the other designers and animators. Gustaf Tenggren and Albert Hurter also fell into this category. All three contributed mightily to the product the studio produced – particularly Snow White and Pinocchio. I can only think of Joe Grant as being the modern equivalent, for a short period.

This is the final installment of a catalogue published by Graphis Gallery and put together by Bruce Hamilton. The opening material explains itself.

The following booklet was
Bill Peckmann sent me scans of these pages, and I thank him for keeping Hovarth alive.

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- Heidi and I just came back from a short trip (4 days) to Martha’s Vineyard, where the weather was wonderful, the crowds were not bad – though they started to move in by Thursday for the weekend – the food was very good, and the escape from the world of animation was pleasant. The only film playing on the island that we hadn’t seen was The Switch, the Jennifer Aniston movie. We passed on it. Neither The Town (Ben Affleck) nor The American (George Clooney) were worth revisiting. So we didn’t even get to see a movie, never mind an animated movie.

I’ve come back to not much to report. Just as we were leaving, I learned that Bill Littlejohn had passed away. This brought me down a bit during the trip. I’d like to post a scene or two that he animated for the Hubleys. That might be the best homage I could offer for him. Look to Wednesday for the first of that.

It was exciting to receive a note from Jim Korkis telling me about his new book, The Vault of Walt. I had planned to write a bit about it, but nothing I could say could match Mark Mayerson‘s excellent column about it. I urge you to go read it. Then go to the Wade Sampson columns at the Mouse Planet. Read Wade Sampson’s Last Column.

Finally, buy the book. Anything Jim Korkis writes is a necessary addition to any animation library. When I’ve read it, I’ll write a review, but you already know that I’ll love it.

- Postcards . . . we’ve got postcards. Not trying to step on Ken Brown‘s toes, but Bill Peckmann sent me a few picture postcards that pull us back to another time and place. Here’s a sampling of those images. Interesting illustration.

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- Last week I posted the first of the displays from this beautiful book, He Drew As He Pleased. This, of course, is the work of Albert Hurter who was a key designer for the Disney studio during the mid thirties, particularly in the making of Snow White.

Interesting that this film showed up with commercials on ABC Family Channel last Saturday evening. It was a happenstance that got me to watch the film again, and then I watched it uncut and uninterrupted the next day in my studio.

For all the shaking lines and animation problems the earliest feature had, it’s still a gorgeous testament to brilliant animation. There are no cliches floating in the eyes of the characters. No hard edges right out of Cartoon Network or CalArts. It has its cliches of the period – which existed in live action as well – but the acting is brilliant, particularly in the dwarfs. I was also very impressed, this time, with the old hag. The witch is overplayed by Norm Ferguson, yet it’s done with imagination and resourcefulness. She comes right out of an opera – or do I mean a melodrama – and she’s loveable in her grotesque way.

The film has an innocence we’ll never see again, and it’s too bad.
Hurter had his part in that innocence, and the drawings are a fine display of all that’s good in the film.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for scanning his copy of the book for me to post. This is the first time I get to see the entire thing.

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“Optics . . .”

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“. . . And More Optics.”

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“Preliminary Sketch of Snow White.”

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“The Prince.”

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“The Witch . . . Hansel and Gretel.”

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“A Page of Devils.”

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“And Some Demons in the Making.”

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“Tyll the Jester and . . . ”

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“And Other Clowns . . . ”

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“Toby Tortoise Wins the Race.”

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“Captain Noah.”

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“And Other Passengers.”