Autumn Squirrel

Silly Symphony CS-7 called "Autumn," produced ca. January 1930 and released 2/15/30, has long scenes of squirrels gathering nuts. Here is a drawing I have and a screengrab that goes with it. The specific animator is not known; the backgrounds are by Carlos Manriquez...
The drawing, an inbetween (note the arc for the nose!), does not fit entirely: e.g. the tail is a bit different. I suspect this was a reject that was kept by assistant Jack Cutting because of the drawing on the reverse side:

<< Click to enlarge!

Just WHY this drawing of small people looking up at the underside of Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson at his animation desk was made, we will probably never know for certain...

"Autumn" is an interesting Silly Symphony because it was the last one directed and (with Les Clark, Johnny Cannon and Jaxon) animated by Ub Iwerks and scored by Carl Stalling before they left Disney in the last days of January 1930. Their departure was a big blow for production, and though slated for a February 1st delivery, it opened in New York in the middle of April. [Thanks, Merritt/Kaufman!]