Backgrounds in 1931
as drawn by then animator Jack King in 1931. |
Not long ago, March 18th to be precise, Mike Barrier described below photo, and told the story of Emil Flohri (1869-1938), the background painter we see sitting there, with his assistant Carlos Manriquez standing next to him. Until Mique Nelson joined around July 1931, this was the entire Background Department, on Hyperion Ave.!
Carlos Manriquez (10 April 1908 - Mexico, May 81) actually joined Disney before Flohri, late 1928 or early 1929, but I seem to remember reading that he left the studio around 1933 after he could not get a requested raise because he was not deemed good enough. On the other hand, Manriquez had a Disney Social Security Number, between Claude Coats and Vern Papineau, and that indicates that he still was on the Disney payroll in November 1936! He later had a studio in Mexico, and painted backgrounds for Warner shorts.
<< Click to enlarge... |
It is interesting to look at details in this picture! Here we see on the left the background that Manriquez is holding - on the right a frame grab from scene 2 of the Mickey Mouse short CM-13 The Moose Hunt (rel. 5/8/31), as animated by Dave Hand.
If Manriquez was just finishing this background, which looks to be so as there is no writing on it yet, this would date the photo to around April 1931! Manriquez would just be 23 years old.
On this blog we have met Flohri before, on the draft of CM-10 The Birthday Party, released five months earlier than The Moose Hunt. The background on Flohri's table is a bit of a puzzlement to me, as I have tried to look through all of 1931's shorts for it, without any results. Here it is, adjusted for perspective... [See below!]
(Comments are welcomed!)
Another interesting detail are the crusty old books on Flohri's shelves: I can just make out (after refocusing the image) that the spines read "Judge," so they may very well be bound versions of the magazine that Flohri himself illustrated, as described by Mike Barrier!
He had his claim to fame, his portfolio, right there!
<< Click to enlarge... |
If you like this stuff too, check out any of my previous 500 postings - that's right, the posting on "The Blend" was number 500!
Labels: Other Disney
7 Comments:
I'm working on a book on Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman, and have several bound volumes of Judge like that. Flohri is all through them. He wasn't one of the main guys at Judge. His stuff is a bit stiff and realistic compared to Zim and Sullivant and Flagg. Good draftsman though.
congratulations on the 501st post!
it does make me wonder at times just where the real draftsmanship in animation is heading when i look back at these fine works of art...
no matter how good the digital media has been for animation, you cant argue with craftmanship like this, working on such large media!
great post!
I love these types of posts and often spend time looking at what else is in a photo - what's in the background, or on a desk, or on a bookshelf. As noted, you can usually locate some interesting bits that are to me (and you too), fascinating.
In one photo I have of Disney artist Hank Porter, visible pinned to the wall beside his desk is a color chart of sorts - he has painted Dr. Martin's watercolor paint in a single stroke on a piece of paper, and has labeled the stroke with the name of the color.
Insignificant perhaps, but, Porter's son and daughter both told me their father was colorblind. His daughter told me he colored his illustrations using shades and tones to guide him.
I think, perhaps, this color chart pinned to the wall was Porter's way of knowing what the various colors would look like on the finished product, at least in his mind's eye. The chart guided his paint selection.
Congrats by the way on your 500th! You are to be congratulated for a job well done!
This is great photo, without my dvds in front of me to check I'll take a stab at guessing the BG. I think it is from an early Silly Symphony.
Thanks, prwilliams and David for your kind words, and thanks, Mark - the long pan BG has now been identified by Alex Rannie as being from CM-8, The Picnic. It is used in two long dancing scenes with Mickey and Minnie, sc. 20 (20-00ft) and 26 (24-02 ft), with animation by Wilfred "Jaxon" Jackson. My draft has the date 9/13/30, while the official release date is 10/23/30.
I spent Sunday going through all the 31 & 32 Disney shorts without finding the BG posted. Of course, I should have gone back to 1930, but I was having too much fun. Here's to Alex Rannie.
The whole site is fascinating to me, Hans, as a Disney alumni. I was at the Studio from 1956 until 1967, working first as John Lounsbery's assistant; it was through his complete unselfishness that I then was shuttled over into animation. I came to New Zealand in 1967 and set up my own studio doing television ads. It is marvelous seeing and reading these things. I treasure the drawings I saved over the years; they are inspiring. Keep up the good work.
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