Books &Errol Le Cain 27 Apr 2007 08:10 am
Le Cain – The Snow Queen
– I continue here to post some of the illustrations from another book by Errol LeCain.
Errol was a longtime artist at Dick Williams’ Soho studio. He was the force behind the design and backgrounds of Dick’s endless feature film, The Cobbler and the Thief. When I first saw a BBC documentary about Dick’s work in the early 70′s, I was hooked on his films and his ambitions and his love of animation. The shorts I saw by Dick, including Love Me Love Me Love Me, only increased that excitement. In the BBC doc, there Dick talked about Errol LeCain as someone he’d taken under his wing and had him do the brunt of the work on the short film, The Sailor and the Devil. The short clip from this film made me a LeCain fan, and I started collecting his books.
In 1959, Columbia pictures released an animated feature of The Snow Queen. This was a reworked Russian animated film – interestingly enough, Dave Fleischer gets the credit for the reworking. The film was voiced by Tommy Kirk and Sandra Dee, and it came to me at a very impressionable age. Sleeping Beauty had taken hold of me, and 101 Dalmatians was on its way. I fell in love with this beautiful Russian film – even in the reworked version.
When LeCain’s book was released, I scarfed it up. I wasn’t disappointed by the stunning illustrations. About half of them follow:
(Click any image to enlarge.)
on 28 Apr 2007 at 7:46 am 1.Stephen said …
His work is very inspiring, the color the detail the feeling of movement. I just love it
on 29 Apr 2007 at 2:49 pm 2.Firoz said …
Thank you for posting these – they are indeed wonderful, sumptuous illustrations!
on 01 May 2007 at 6:07 pm 3.B. Baker said …
Not that it matters, but didn’t Universal release THE SNOW QUEEN in the U.S.? Constantly on tv in the ’60s, millions of baby boomers probably still remember Art Linkletter’s live action introduction to the story.
on 01 May 2007 at 9:13 pm 4.Nancy said …
The Snow Queen was my favorite story growing up and I’ve just located a copy of the 1959 DVD which I’m looking forward to receiving. These are beautiful illustrations and also remind me of the Russian lacquer boxes that I’ve seen that are also made using Russian fairy tales.
on 01 May 2007 at 9:20 pm 5.Michael said …
Universal did, indeed, release The Snow Queen. I have an interview somewhere with Dave Fleischer talking about it. He liked to talk about his chart for storytelling, and he talked in this interview about how he applied it in the adaptation.
on 19 Sep 2007 at 12:40 pm 6.Josie said …
I was a close friend of errol le cain and worked with him on some of his books. His work is simply amazing. I am trying to locate a dvd of the bbc animated film he did of The Snow Queen. Can anyone help me?
on 19 Sep 2007 at 1:57 pm 7.Michael said …
Josie, I’ve seen about a minute of it and would like to see it, myself. If it ever shows up, I’ll let you know.
on 19 Sep 2007 at 6:08 pm 8.Mary said …
Oh my God! Thank you so much for posting photos of that book! I loved it when I was a kid, and have spent HOURS looking for the correct illustrator. I have given up several times, only to start looking again. I now know that I’m looking for a copy of the Snow Queen illustrated by Errol Le Cain. You made my day! Thank you!
on 26 Jan 2009 at 6:53 pm 9.Natasha Liu said …
I’ve spent hours looking for my favorite childhood snow queen illustrations and couldn’t find the right version until now! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
on 08 Feb 2009 at 4:10 pm 10.Jill Heppell said …
For the past 30 years I’ve looked at a “still” from the Snow Queen, signed by Errol, dedicated to me for my 21st birthday. My sister was lucky enough to have a beautiful, specially painted card for her 21st. My mum and my nan were the cleaners at Dick Williams’ studio in Soho Square and Errol was always my mum’s favourite. She would arrive late at night, when the studio was closed, but Errol would always be there, working his way through the night. My nan would say that he looked like he needed feeding up and would take in her famous bread pudding to keep him going through the late hours! I’ll always treasure my picture and find something different to marvel at every time I look at it. It brings back memories of my childhood, trailing around the old building after my mum and my nan – precious memories.
on 09 Mar 2009 at 5:39 am 11.Brigid Foster said …
I had this book as a child, but it was destroyed by rising damp when we stored it in our garage. I have thought of this book for YEARS – then found it today looking through the Amazon Snow Queen book list. Soooo pleased. I loved this book, and was inspired by the illustrations as a child. I’m now bidding for it on Ebay – please please please let me win the bidding!!!
on 10 Feb 2010 at 12:11 am 12.Amy said …
AHHHHHH! I have looked and looked and looked! This is the first time I’ve found precisely what I was looking for…the book w/ the illustrations that were so dear to me as a child! Thank you so much!