Animation Artifacts 10 Jan 2007 08:20 am
Disney Bulletin
- For all the Fantasia historians out there, I’m posting the Disney Bulletin special edition for the initial release of the film.
The Bulletin, of course, was the in-house news organ for the studio. They give you entertaining information such as the weather that greeted the opening of Fantasia in New York City. (Scattered rains stopped just prior to the first screening and clear skies were predicted for the entire first week.)
You also get an answer to the question, “What’s a Fishinger?” on pg 2.
Then, there’s the grid iron picks of cameraman, Dick Blundell.
There’s a lot of amusement in here and a lot of information. We can’t really understand the history of animation without understanding the times the people were living through.
That’s the most pertinent part of the publication.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
The inimitable Hans Perk has posted on his site three homework assignments from the Layout Training Courses given at the Disney Studios during the Thirties. Hans links to the full lectures/courses he and I put up on our sites and suggests it’s valuable to actually do the assignments prior to reading the courses. And he’s right. I did these years ago, on my own, when I worked at the Hubley Studio and found my own understanding of Layout acutely altered by the lessons. (It was during this period that John Hubley actually was surprised by something I did on Everybody Rides The Carousel – something right out of the course – and he complimented me. A rarity for John.)
Thanks, Hans, for keeping these lessons alive. His site has become a vital part of my daily blog reading.
We’re only ten days into the New Year, and already three members of the animation community have died.
HELEN HILL
It’s getting difficult to look at the inestimably valuable Cartoon Brew for the bad news.
- As a follow up, I suggest everyone read Tom Sito‘s beautifully written obituary for Iwao Takamoto on his site yesterday.
- The NY Times posted their obituary for the artist today .
on 10 Jan 2007 at 5:18 pm 1.Tom Minton said …
Nothing has been said in his obits of the fact that Iwao survived the infamous “Sleeping Beauty” massacre layoff at Disneys. One had to be one hell of an artist to keep one’s job in that time and place. Iwao was the guy Walt Disney would call to see what kind of daily mood the unpredictable Milt Kahl was in. It took a master politician as well as a top flight draftsman to fill the position of being Kahl’s assistant. Iwao was both. May all of us in the business hold onto our abilities as long as Iwao Takamoto did.
on 11 Jan 2007 at 12:28 am 2.Amid said …
Wow! A real treasure trove of info for historians. I’ve seen a lot of the Warner newsletters but not the Disney ones. How often were these published? Weekly or monthly? And another thing—looking at those names in the newsletter, it boggles the mind to think that so many incredible and diverse talents worked under one roof. Just unbelievable.