Dumbo and other drafts...

...or getting around the limited posts shown when clicking on a label.

Michael Barrier, who unwittingly drove my desire for historical information on animation through the invaluable magazine Funnyworld when I first came in contact with it through my mentor Børge Ring in 1978 (where I also saw my first animation drafts) notes on his great site that "unfortunately, I haven't figured out to get to the earliest installments, but a full page of later posts of the draft comes up when you click on the label "Dumbo.""

If you look to the right column, there you find the "Archives" links.
In the case of Dumbo, the first posts are from April 2010, so pressing that link will show them.

This should give you access to most of the 630 earlier postings. Whenever there are too many posts to be able to be shown within a month, this can cause the last ones to "drop off," which has annoyed me for quite some time. In this Blogger template, I do not know how to add an "Older posts" link, and I tried updating to the newer template, but I had problems running the Javascript necessary for te conversions.

John V. wrote a very helpful comment: "As I eventually discovered, if some of the posts "drop off", then go to the last post displayed (this can only be done, I think, by clicking on the "comments" link, then on the title of the post) and on the right hand side of the page there will be links to the previous few posts. Then you can just continue to follow the posts back by clicking on each individual post title."

Hearsay - Sleeping Beauty at the Academy

As I noted elsewhere, I was not able to attend yesterday's first public screening of the newly restored print of Sleeping Beauty at the Academy. I have spoken with some of my dearest friends who attended, and I value their opinion greatly.

They found that the image was beautifully crisp, actually so much so that a few scenes seemed to be originally shot out of focus. Also, this restoration was made from the original three black and white Technicolor negatives, and there seemed to be some color variance, as some characters seemed to have slightly different colors from scene to scene. The fish that King Hubert fights with is beautifully blue, though, and when he put it back in his belt, it got a bigger laugh than ever before.

The sound was gorgeous, though for the cinema mixed by folks who are used to mixing realistic 5.1 mixes, while this film originally was produced with a kind of "fantasy stereo," a sort of caricature of real life sound. My friends recall the screening of the 1979 release (and following panel discussion which I believe included Frank, Ollie, Milt, Woolie and Marc!), and the mix there was more surrealistic. But the new mix is not bad per se, and the sound quality is amazing! The Once Upon a Dream number ended with a chord that they did not remember ever hearing...

Putting together a restoration of a Technicolor film with multichannel sound means making ethical decisions that are going to be based more on taste than on science, and with this in mind, my friends gave this restoration a "both thumbs up." Everyone will have things they would have done different, but in all, the new release seems to still be a good reason to finally invest in a Blu-Ray player! I for one am certainly looking forward to it - and also to seeing it in the cinema at the El Capitan later this year!

Rounding off Sleeping Beauty

Going out on a limb, I would think the perceived flaws in Sleeping Beauty's storytelling can be traced back to the film being quickly pushed into full production. Walt saw the costs rising and just wanted the film over with, especially since he had divested in so much else, including Disneyland. The story has been told somewhere that, in Bob Thomas' The Art of Animation (1958), the final photo of Walt in the corridor with Eric Larson was the moment he said that the film was growing way too expensive and something needed to be done, putting quotas in place and effectively relieving Larson of further supervising directorial duties and pushing the film out with the seemingly quite disliked Geronimi and "GI-Joe" Reitherman.

[Comment by Mike Barrier: "Actually, Hans, what Eric Larson told me and Milt Gray back in 1976 (in an interview I made available to John Canemaker) was that Walt was saying, when that photo at the back of The Art of Animation was taken, was this: "I don't think we can continue, it's too expensive." See p. 559 of Hollywood Cartoons." Thanks, Mike!]

Read John Canemaker's book Walt Disney's Nine Old Men on Eric Larson again for more on this. It seems he was not only a great animator, but also a very nice person, a stickler for details. I often found personally that the best directors weren't necessarily the best draftsmen, because they would not see the bigger picture.

The main critique of the film says it is cold, it lacks heart. This can well be by people who do not like Eyvind Earle's design style. But those who give it half a chance (and those who have studied the Duke of Berry's Tres Riche Heures) find it an appealing look back to the late middle ages and early renaissance, where they can find warmth in the love of the fairies and the humor of the kings, as heart-warming as any other film, save maybe Dumbo. As I said yesterday in a comment, Sleeping Beauty is a bit of an acquired taste. Let's hope, with the new Blu-Ray discs, a new audience will be found that acquires this taste. Sleeping Beauty deserves a loving audience!

Today seeing the first public performance of the newly restored Sleeping Beauty, and having finished the posting of the draft, I thought it nice to end this string of postings with a document that was stuck in the back of my draft. It is the film's "Character & Effx Sequence Preference Schedule" of 2/5/57. It shows the order and dates that the sequences were expected to be OK for Inking.

<< Click Here!

This is the time I urge everybody who uses this material to step up and comment. What did you learn you didn't know? Were there surprises? Did you expect someone to have animated something, and found it was correct - or not? Let's hear from you. To be honest, that is what makes it all worthwhile for me! You know, I COULD just sit in a corner and leaf through these by myself! It is my opinion that we ALL can learn from each other. So bring it on!

By the way, have you visited our homepage lately? You can find our showreels and clips from films in production. If you look around carefully, you can find a nice list of the 39 (THIRTY-NINE) theatrical feature films we have worked on since we started our studio in 1988, ten of which are completely our own productions! Yet we are largely ignored by the world around us, as "only" a Danish studio.

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 21.0 Girl Awakens and Ending

Directed by Gerry Geronimi, laid out by Tom Codrick and Ernie Nordli.

Animation by Milt Kahl (Prince, King Hubert), Marc Davis (Aurora, Queen), John Lounsbery (Kings) Jerry Hathcock, Ollie Johnston (Fairies), Bob Carlson (court crowd), Ken O'Brien (small Aurora and prince).

This sequence immediately starts with scenes by four of the "Old Men." Where they were lacking in the scenes before, here they are used in abundance.

Ken O'Brien was left with the unenviable task of being in charge of Aurora and Prince Phillip slowly descending the stairs - and waltzing in the last scene. The cleanups were blown down to a small size and inked. The re-registring of these alone must have been an awfully tedious task, of the kind where, when it is finally ok, nobody notices it, while the tiniest glitch can send a director through the roof. But he did it and therewith sends Sleeping Beauty off into the ages.

This FINAL draft of 7/1/58...

Tomorrow marks the latest reissue of the newly restored film, with a sold-out performance at the Academy in Hollywood (which I sadly cannot attend). Look forward to the upcoming Blu-Ray disc, folks, as you will get to see - and hear it as never before, mixed from the original four-track stereo masters originally recorded in Germany. You can now see it and know who animated what. Remember, you saw it here, first...

Finally, lets not forget that today is the 53rd birthday of Disneyland, and its landmark Sleeping Beauty's Castle, one of the most famous buildings in the world. Congratulations, Disneyland!

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 19.0 Fight

Directed by Woolie Reitherman, laid out by Basil Davidovich.

Woolie was at first considered an action director, which becomes very obvious here. We also see more of his time-saving reuses, which became his hallmark, quite infamously at times. And where the previous sequence was brimming with star animators and "Old Men," this one seems to use what then was considered the second string, though of course still very accomplished artists. It is quite impossible to pinpoint exactly who did what, as some of the artists did a bit of every character, it seems!

Animation by Ambi Paliwoda and Dale Barnhart (Maleficent), Ken Hultgren and Dick Lucas (prince & horse), Bill Keil (prince, horse, fairies, dragon), George Goepper (prince, horse, fairies, Maleficent reuse), Ted Berman (prince), Eric Cleworth (dragon). Effects by Dan MacManus and thorns by Al Stetter.

This sequence has a slew of famous images - it has so much we all grew up on, as it was shown so often in Christmas shows and the like. At least now we can read that the famous scene of Maleficent growing into a dragon is by effects animator Dan MacManus. It is interesting to see that a sequence as ubiquitous as this was not considered "worthy" of even one scene here or there by Milt, Marc, Frank or Ollie. Yet it works - it does the job - and we know it so well.

This FINAL draft of 11/5/58...
[Oh! I see I already posted this 7/6/06!]

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 18.0 Maleficent's Castle. Meeting of Maleficent and Prince. Escape from Castle.

Directed by Gerry Geronimi, laid out by Tom Codrick and Ernie Nordli.

Animation by Fred Kopietz, Les Clark, Frank Thomas, George Nicholas, Ollie Johnston, Bob Youngquist, Don Lusk (Fairies), John Sibley, John Lounsbery (Goons), Marc Davis (Maleficent), Milt Kahl (Prince), Jerry Hathcock (Raven, Goons, Prince, Fairies), Ken Hultgren (Prince on Horse), Jack Bailey, Cliff Nordberg, John Kennedy, Blaine Gibson (Raven). Effects by Dan MacManus.
And lots of "Music Room, Scene Planning..."

This sequence shows, like no other, the division between Acting and Action specialized animators. Or at least it shows how animators are cast that way. We find six of the "Nine Old Men", and such long-time Disney staples as Youngquist, Lusk and Nordberg, each of them deserving an article like the great one on Sibley by Pete Docter.

We also find Fred Kopietz, born in 1909, who started with Ub Iwerks in 1930, worked for Walter Lantz on Oswald and Andy Panda from 1933 to 1940, and for most of his life was assistant at Disney, with a few animation credits to his name, including on Jack King Donald shorts in the early 40s. Demoted to assistant again during the round of firings after Sleeping Beauty, he actually tendered his resignation in 1960, seemingly feeling that he was worth more than he was credited for. It seems he convinced the powers that be to at least raise his wage as Assistant Class I. He retired from Disney in 1971 and passed away in Sedona, AZ in 1992.

It certainly is very hard to make great pictures without good artists like Kopietz to assist the star animators, and they also deserve our attention. (I am thinking back on some great assistants I have had in "my days," like Søren Larsen and Jens Leganger...)

This FINAL draft of 7/2/58...
Mike Sporn posted storyboards and screen grabs from this sequence!

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 17.0 Prince Captured. Fairies Discover his Capture

Directed by Gerry Geronimi, laid out by Tom Codrick and Ernie Nordli.

Animation by Ken Hultgren, Milt Kahl (Prince & Samson), John Sibley (Prince & Goons), Marc Davis (Maleficent), Blaine Gibson (Raven & Fairies), Jack Bailey (Raven through scene), Harvey Toombs and Ollie Johnston (Fairies).

In Joe Campana's 4/3/57 Disney directory, Jack Bailey is in the shorts building, and he is tagged as "Mother Superior" by the person who originally had this directory. One wonders...

This FINAL draft of 6/12/58...

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 15.0 Fairies Put Castle to Sleep

Directed by Gerry Geronimi, laid out by Tom Codrick and Ernie Nordli.

Animation by John Lounsbery (Kings), Bob Carlson (Kings & Lackey), Bob Youngquist and George Nicholas (Crowd), Frank Thomas, Blaine Gibson, Hal King, Harvey Toombs, Les Clark, Fred Kopietz (Fairies), Milt Kahl (Soldiers), with effects by Jack Buckley.

This FINAL draft of 7/2/58...

Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 14.0 Girl Pricks Finger

Directed by Eric Larson, laid out by Mac Stewart.
Assistant director Geo Probert.

Animation by Harvey Toombs, Ollie Johnston, Hal Ambro, Hal King, John Kennedy, Don Lusk, Marc Davis, and one scene by director Larson. Effects by Jim Will and Josh Meador.

According to the 4/3/57 directory that Joe Campana posted, John Kennedy around this time shared room 1D-14 with Milt Kahl.
But this may be a typo, as Kahl was normally next door to Marc Davis, in 1D-4. Since Kennedy was in 1D, it seems unlikely he was effects animator. Does anyone know more about him?

This FINAL draft of 10/24/58...
I'm really quite surprised at how few ripples these documents make in the blogosphere. It's not like anyone has ever published these before.