Disney &Frame Grabs 15 May 2008 08:08 am
Tent building
- Among the brilliant scenes in Dumbo is one that usually is overlooked in all the animation books. Yet, to me it separates this film from other Disney films, except, perhaps, Pinocchio. The tent building scenes are a brilliant mix of solid animation, excellent (and quietly hidden) effects, strong music and perfect screen direction. The sequence works extremely well on its own, but it works even better as a significant part of the film as a whole.
I sincerely doubt that Walt could have been in the studio when the sequence was built. Certainly, this espouses the Socialist politiical views of many of the strikers and one wonders what Walt thought of it. Presumably, because it has been developed as such an integral part of the film, the underlying political current of the sequence could hardly be lost, but it’s hard to miss the overall feel of it. Perhaps I’m completely wrong, and the feel of the piece can just be chalked up to a product of the period.
I would love to hear what other, more informed historians have to say about it.
Here, are frame grabs detailing the sequence.
__________________(Click any image to enlarge.)
on 15 May 2008 at 8:30 am 1.Doug Vitarelli said …
Well I can’t speak about the politics but as someone who has been a roustabout (Big Apple Circus) and helped raise a tent many times I can say that when 10 strong men can’t lift a center pole into position and the ground is too wet for a truck then an elephant is the answer. Those animals are unbelievably strong.
This is a great scene. And a great movie.
on 15 May 2008 at 10:45 am 2.John Dilworth said …
I like that you mention the socialist context of Dumbo’s tent scene especially as May is the anniversary of the ’68 French rejection of American capitalism and the “Soviet” form of Socialism. And I think also of Diego Rivera’s Socialist mural that was destroyed by Rockefeller, who had asked that the art symbolize the “upward” development of mankind. I amuuse myself with the positioning of the raising of tent and the liberation of “Dumbo” beside Disney’s iconography and economic mandate.
on 15 May 2008 at 1:36 pm 3.Jenny Lerew said …
I’m pretty sure I’ve read in more than one appreciation of Dumbo that does specifically single out this great sequence(I think Maltin in his “Disney Films” pays it tribute, for one).. But then again–is there a sequence in Dumbo that isn’t great?
In any case these frame grabs of yours are too much-wow! Fantastic. And it sure does deserve to be shown and discussed(and enjoyed)again and again.
on 15 May 2008 at 4:37 pm 4.Bill Perkins said …
Hi Mike. What I can tell you about this sequence is that the storyboard was done by Elmer Plummer (1910 – 1987) with whom I studied Life drawing under during my years at Cal Arts (1977 to 1979). Elmer was a childhood friend of both Lee Blair and Phil Dike and as they did, studied at the Chouinard Art institute in the late 1920′s and early 1930′s. In 1932 he was among a group of students who completed a mural in the schools outside patio-studio by visiting Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros – a contemporary of Diego Riviera and during the 1930s, aside from becoming a studio artist at Warner Bro’s he produced many California Style regionalist watercolours, becoming a member of the California Watercolour Society and as well creating watercolours for the Works Progress Administration in addition to exhibiting extensively. During this time he became close friend of Walt Disney’s and began his long association with Walt Disney Studios. In addition to his feature work (Fantasia, Dumbo, Make mine Music and Song of the South) he produced art and developed many of the gag and comic ideas for cartoon shorts featuring Goofy. After World War 11, he continued working on special projects for Walt Disney and taught art at the Chouinard Art Institute as well later, The California Institute of the Arts retiring in the early eighties and passing away in 1987.
Expanding on his feature work at Disney’s and Dumbo in particular, he played an instrumental part in the “Dance of the Chinese Mushrooms” sequence in Fantasia and as mentioned storyboarded the roustabout sequence in “Dumboâ€, a copy of which can be found in John Canemakers excellent “Paper Dreamsâ€. During my time at Cal Arts after a student viewing of “Dumbo†our layout instructor, Ken O’Conner mentioned that Elmer’s storyboard for the roustabout sequence was so complete thought was given to foregoing animating it and shooting the board with effects and camera moves only. Obviously the decision was made to animate it but what reached the screen owed a great deal to Elmer’s board and staging, as did “The Dance of the Chinese Mushroomsâ€. I can’t speak for his political leanings but thought your observation was a keen one. I am supposing that being an artist during the depression, working for the WPA and having exposure to Siqueiros as a student he may have leaned to the left (as many did then) in his thinking but whether or not that influenced the feel of the roustabout sequence would be conjecture on my part. If I feel safe one on comment it would be that certainly the visual styling, I feel, owes a debt to the styling and imagery found in the work of the Mexican Muralists of the time – again Siqueiros and Riviera. It is certainly a very strong sequence – deserving of the praise it’s received however as you mentioned it may also be nothing more then a product of the period.
on 15 May 2008 at 5:10 pm 5.Michael said …
Thanks, Bill, for the info on Elmer Plummer.
on 15 May 2008 at 5:12 pm 6.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Fascinating! Thanks for putting this up!
on 15 May 2008 at 5:30 pm 7.Bob Cowan said …
Michael- I was very struck by the sequence and your comments when I read this much earlier today. It is interesting that, in my mind, I was able to see the segments in between your screen captures – I could almost see movement! Two aspects crossed my mind when I was looking at the images: the coordinated group effort (including the human elements) and the sense of pride in accomplishment. At first, I thought it could be representative of the oppressed working class. But the next thought was of the work opportunities that came out of the Depression and the WPA (in a somewhat similar aspect as Bill’s comments above). Frankly, it may well be that all our efforts are a “product of the period.” Much as I’m a “product of everything that didn’t kill me,” how you view the world is influenced by World events and the immediate events around you. I was struck by Bill’s mention of the Mexican Muralists, because I had an impression of Benson’s murals of workers in the mid-west. Considering the state of technology at the time, the story board work was key — the real creative engine was the fantasy that could only come from time spent cultivating the “mind’s eye.” A great post — good images and good questions to make us all think! Congrats, Michael!
on 16 May 2008 at 2:45 am 8.Tom Minton said …
Had Cecil B. DeMille directed “Our Daily Bread” it still wouldn’t play as slick as this. Amazing how one of Disney’s best pictures was done when he was out of the country.
on 16 May 2008 at 7:20 am 9.Kellie Strøm said …
The idea that Socialist iconography fed into the images makes sense, but it always seemed to me that the lyrics pull in another direction, with “happy hearty roustabouts” who “throw their pay away”. In other words, happy with their lot, of limited ambition – the song could bee seen as reassuring to exploitative employers!
on 17 May 2008 at 9:47 am 10.Brian Sibley said …
It is a well testified fact that the scene in which the silhouetted clowns talk about “hitting the Big Boss for a raise” includes caricatures of some of the Disney strike leaders and in a sense that sequence and this stunning roustabout sequence are very much a reflection of contemporary American social mores – and especially issues about labour.
What is interesting is that roustabouts are anonymous faceless beings – strong but benign – yet they have, perhaps, a kinship with the similarly faceless (yet far more terrifying) ‘goons’ who work for the demonic Coachman on Pleasure Island in Pinocchio
on 25 Dec 2009 at 9:59 am 11.UA_ReMMeR said …
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
on 18 Apr 2010 at 3:17 pm 12.Steven Hartley said …
Who provided the animation on the characters, and who directed this sequence, because I really need info for the film, anyone who has the Dumbo draft, do you know any animation information for this wonderful sequence?
on 30 Apr 2010 at 4:57 pm 13.Steven Hartley said …
Since I checked the new posts for the draft, it seems that a lot of effect animators worked on it, and Jack Campbell handled the roustabouts…
on 02 May 2010 at 1:02 pm 14.John V. said …
I only really noticed this when following the scene with the draft… despite this being the “Roustabouts sequence”, they only appear in a few shots at the beginning and the end. I guess because they’re singing throughout the sequence, their presence is felt even when we don’t see them. While the sequence feels like it’s paying tribute to the anonymous people who work behind the scenes, in fact most of the screen time is taken up with the eminently visible circus animals.
on 27 Nov 2014 at 10:55 am 15.overwatch beta said …
There are a few simple things you can consider
as a GM when you begin to organize and plan your game that will keep you from finding yourself in the sticky situation I found myself in all
those years ago. Get ready to cast all that aside and take a quantum leap forward in MMO gaming.
Back when you opened that first game of a brand new horror game, and the
next day you had to buy another pair of pants and undergarments (depending on which brand you like).
on 30 Jun 2015 at 3:09 am 16.Lyman Lukens said …
Muchos Gracias for your blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Want more.