Bill Tytla's Action Analysis Class, December 10, 1936

It's only been two days since we sat after hours in Projection Room #4 to witness the Dwarf story meeting. Yet tonight, here we are, at it again. This time, however, it's at one of the many Disney Studio night classes conducted by Don Graham. We'll "hear" animator Bill Tytla give a talk to those artists assigned to in-betweening and cleanup work.

The evening starts with the group watching a rough reel of the scene with the Dwarfs at the wash tub. Then Bill takes the stage. Now 75 years later to the day, here's Tytla's Action Analysis Class...

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Page images originally posted online in 2008 by Michael Sporn at his highly recommended Splog.

Dwarf Story Meeting Notes, December 8, 1936

It's 7:00 pm on a Tuesday night. For the next three hours, 26 guys are going to lock themselves into Disney Studio Projection Room #4 to discuss--with the seriousness of solving the world's most dire problems--the personalities and characteristics of the Seven Dwarfs.

In attendance were the film's supervising director David Hand, sequence directors Wilfred Jackson and Perce Pearce, dwarf supervising animators Fred Moore and Bill Tytla , animators Art Babbitt and Ham Luske, plus future "nine old men" Les Clark, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, to name just a few. Walt Disney, however was not present for this one.

These notes from December 8, 1936 offer a window into the Golden Age of animation as it was happening. Originally they were uploaded by Michael Sporn at his excellent Splog site. Now on the 75th anniversary of this meeting, these pages are re-posted here for your reading enjoyment.  

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Walpurgis Night on Bald Mountain

Walpurgis Night, a pagan holiday of pre-Christian Europe, occurs on April 30th, the eve of May Day. It was widely believed that this auspicious eventide marked the time when the veil is the thinnest between the two worlds of the physical and that of the spirits.

The "death of winter" in central and northern European countries is celebrated in modern times with the singing of songs and the lighting of bonfires--bonfires that in ancient days were set to keep at bay the dead and troublesome spirits that came out to walk among the living. In German folklore, Walpurgisnacht was the night that witches would gather to hold their revelments with the gods and demons on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Hanz Mountains of north central Germany.

This scene is brought to dramatic life in the brilliant Night on Bald Mountain segment of Walt Disney's Fantasia. The demon Chernabog rises from the top of Bald Mountain and summons to him all manner of ghost, skeleton, witch, and goblin. The demonic dance continues through the night until the toll of a church bell signals the dawn of May Day and the end of the Walpurgis revelries.

Image copyright Disney

The Night on Bald Mountain segment is a showcase for animator Bill Tytla, who gave the demon Chernabog a power and intensity rarely seen in Disney films. Noted actor Béla Lugosi served as a live action model for Chernabog, and spent several days at the Disney studio, where he was filmed doing evil, demon-like poses for Tytla and his unit to use as a reference. Tytla later deemed this reference material unsuitable and had studio colleague Wilfred Jackson perform in front of the cameras for the reference footage.Source: Wikipedia

While Wilfred Jackson is quoted as saying that Tytla used Jackson's own reference material rather than Lugosi's for the Chernabog character, others argue that it appears that probably both sets of of reference material were utilized.

Images via Classic Disney Scares on the Classic Horrors Film Board. Copyright Universal and Disney.

The Night on Bald Mountain segment from Fantasia:

Video posted by hellrazor227.

Below, the London Symphony Orchestra records Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain as part of the score for the World of Color show at DCA:

Copyright Disney.