With Prod. 2428 - Plight of the Bumble Bee

Just a quick addition to the current internet talk on the Mickey short for which we have seen the penciltest on YouTube, a scoop by Thad.
I received a copy of this 1972 recruitment brochure from Dave Smith during my first visit to the Disney Archives August 14th, 1978.
[I am mistaken! I received it in 1977 as part of a "keep drawing, then who knows, some day..." reply by Don Duckwall on some drawings I sent to the Disney studio. I still blush when I think of those!]

I only scanned the cover here: the drawings were taken from the modelsheet that Fred Moore drew for Prod. 2428, Plight of the Bumble Bee. I do have this modelsheet, but I happen to be on the wrong continent. Still, as they are some of my favorite drawings,
I thought you might like to see them. I certainly find them more appealing than the final designs in the film...

[Addition: I found a scan of the original sheet! It is numbered "850-" so it was photographed August 1950 - exactly 60 years ago. I went through my files and there it was! As you can see, in 1972 they used all of the model sheet, but they rearranged the drawings.
Thru the years, I have seen tracings of several of these Mickeys...]

By the way, I do have a draft for this film, but it is sadly very incomplete and all I remember is that the beginning of this film was animated by Hal King.

(I advise you to click the images to enlarge!)

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XVII) - Seq. 06.1 - Part "B" - Organ Chase

Directed by John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, assistant director Rick Rich, layout by Joe Hale. This FINAL draft of 3/18/77.

Animation of Crocs and Mice mainly by Frank Thomas, with five scenes by Ron Clements and two Medusa scenes by Milt Kahl.
With Frank being the supervising animator, he most likely planned each shot, then handed out some action scenes to Ron Clements.
My guess is that Frank had fun planning and animating this!

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XVI) - Seq. 06.1 - Part "A" - Mice escape from Crocs and Medusa

Directed by John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, assistant director Rick Rich, layout by Joe Hale.
This FINAL draft of 3/18/77.

Animated by Cliff Nordberg. Somehow it feels like Nordberg has the role that John Sibley filled some thirty years earlier...

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XV) - Seq. 006 - Madame Medusa and Mr. Snoops

Directed by Woolie Reitherman, assistant director Jeffrey Patch, layout Don Griffith, secretary Lorraine [Thilman? Davis?].
This FINAL draft dated 3/22/77.

Starting with scenes 101 to 123, we continues from number 1.
This sequence has animation by Milt Kahl (Medusa and Snoops), John Pomeroy (Penny), Stan Green and Dick Lucas (Medusa in Swampmobile), Jack Buckley (more fireworks), Cliff Nordberg (Evinrude and his boat load), Bob McCrea (Swampmobile) and Don Bluth (Mice).

Milt's animation is, of course, the highlight of this sequence...

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XIV) - Seq. 05.7 - Evinrude Segment (Devil's Bayou)

Directed by John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, assistant director Rick Rich, layout by Sylvia Roemer and Joe Hale.
Secretaries P[at] Lestina and C[harlene] Rogers.
This FINAL draft of 3/18/77.

Animation by Cliff Nordberg (Mice & Critters), Dale Baer (Mice), John Pomeroy (Penny), director Art Stevens (Evinrude) and Gary Goldman (Mice & Evinrude).

Spent yesterday walking some six miles around Copenhagen with friends from SoCal - it was fun, but oh, boy, are my feet tired!

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XIII) - Seq. 05.6 - Albatros Take-Off

Directed by John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, assistant director Rick Rich, layout by Sylvia Roemer and Joe Hale.
Secretaries P[at] Lestina and C[harlene] Rogers.
This FINAL draft of 3/18/77.

Animaton by Ollie Johnston (Orville), Milt Kahl (Medusa) and John Pomeroy (Penny), as well as Cliff Nordberg (Critters, Crocs and a shared Medusa scene), Dale Baer (Mice and Critters), Stan Green and Bob McCrea (Medusa in Swampmobile) and Dick Lucas (the Swampmobile itself).

It seems that the first few scenes have been moved around - and I bet you noticed the reuse on Medusa in this non-Woolie sequence!

Prod. 2519 - The Rescuers (XII) - Seq. 05.5 - Mice Land

Directed by John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, assistant director Rick Rich, layout by Sylvia Roemer and Joe Hale.
Secretaries P[at] Lestina and C[harlene] Rogers.
This FINAL draft of 3/18/77.

Animation by Frank Thomas (supervising), Bill Hajee, Chuck Harvey, Ron Clements and one scene by Cliff Nordberg.