Walt Disney on Lux Radio, December 20, 1937

Seventy four years ago tonight, Cecil B. DeMille hosted the Lux Radio Theater presentation of the Song of Songs. The program, which starred Marlene Dietrich and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., occurred on the eve of the world premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Just twenty four hours later, both stars would be there at the packed Carthay Circle Theatre, with a host of other Hollywood elite, to see Disney's first feature-length film.

At the conclusion of the radio performance, DeMille welcomed a very young-sounding Walt Disney to the mic. The two chatted about opening night jitters, the making of the animated film, and the obligatory sponsor plug for Lux Flakes.


Listen to the entire Song of Songs Lux Radio Theater performance via the Internet Archive. Original airdate December 20, 1937. (Marlene Dietrich really gives an excellent performance.)



The following year, Walt was back on the air when Lux presented the first radio broadcast of Snow White (see earlier post).

Disney News Magazine (50th Anniversary - 1987)

In the 1987 Summer issue of Disney News magazine, none other than Snow White found herself pictured on the front cover. A feature article highlighted all the "50th" festivities and commemorative events that were planned as well as giving the history of the film and its making. The periodical also included a mini-poster and plenty of princess-related ads. As the cover proclaimed, 1987 was indeed "The Year of Snow White."

50th anniversary celebrations, the making of the film and the premiere...

[CLICK IMAGES TO READ]

Centerfold artwork "suitable for framing"...

The magazine also included Snow White 50th anniversary-related advertisements for:

• Special Edition Commemorative Passport
• Disney Collection Collectors Doll
• Silver Coin Proofset

Another article, Secrets of the Lost Film Vaults, focused on deleted scenes from Disney films. Animator Dick Huemer is quoted as he talks about the Snow White deleted soup-eating sequence and how it was first shown on the 1956 Disney television episode, The Plausible Impossible. "I worked on that show," he recalled. "We took those old pencil drawings and cleaned them up and shot them so the sequence could be used to entertain our audience on TV."

And finally an interview with Ollie Johnston, Remembering Walt. Ollie shares memories of his first job at the studio as an assistant to Fred Moore. Every week Walt would check in with them to see how the animation was coming along. "Walt would often get up and act out the personalities of the Dwarfs."

Johnston relates...

One time, Fred gave me a scene of Grumpy to animate, and when he showed it to Walt, Walt said, 'Hey Fred, you'd better watch out, this guy's going to take over from you some day!' I knew he was just trying to needle Fred, but it put me on cloud nine!

Charlie Chaplin Assists Disney Snow White Distribution

At the Disney Studio in the late 1930s, the Snow White project set such a new precedent of operations on so many fronts, that both Walt and Roy sometimes found themselves having to figure out just what their next step should be. When it came to feature-length motion pictures, they were very much like newcomers to the business of Hollywood filmmaking.












According to Neal Gabler's book, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, the Disney brothers did not know what to charge for a feature film, especially overseas. It was Charlie Chaplin that came to the rescue...

Chaplin offered to give the Disney's all his "records and experience," most importantly his ledgers from Modern Times, which permitted Roy to press RKO to "go out and ask Chaplin prices" and get the same terms in foreign markets as Chaplin had gotten. p. 271

Modern Times released 1936.

Thanking Chaplin after Snow White's release, Walt called it an "invaluable service" and wrote "Your records have been our Bible--without them we would have been as sheep in a den of wolves." p. 271

1938 Walt Disney Interview in Family Circle

This delightful little article, "Snow White's Daddy", appeared just about 73 years ago in the June 24, 1938 Family Circle magazine. The piece recounted the visit to the Disney Studio by writer George Kent. He went to have an interview with the man behind the success of Snow White, but Walt was busy. So Kent first got a personal tour of the facility by Clarence Nash (who only goes by the name "Ducky" in the article). At the end of the day after the majority of employees had left, Walt was finally free to be interviewed about Snow White. Yet as it turns out, it seems the two ended up talking mostly about Marceline farm life.

Images courtesy of Rick Payne via dadric's attic. Used with permission.

Walt Disney Honored in 1938 Stage Magazine

Orson Welles on front cover of Stage, June 1938.

In the June 1938 issue of STAGE: The Magazine of After Dark, Walt Disney was honored with their annual "Palm" awards for the entertainment industry. The glowing tribute is for his success with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Also included is an unusually nice photograph of Walt.

[CLICK IMAGES FOR A BETTER LOOK]

 
All images courtesy of the Rick Payne collection. Used with permission. See what Rick has for sale at dadric's attic.

Albert Hurter - He Drew As He Pleased

Front Cover He Drew As He Pleased. Image via Cohen Books and Collectibles. 

Albert Hurter, Walt Disney's first inspirational sketch artist, worked at the studio for a decade (1931-41) and played a key role in creating the "look" for many of the Golden Age films including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Sadly, he passed away in 1942. In his will, Hurter requested that Disney associate Ted Sears be employed "to assist in the collection and arrangement" of over 700 of Hurter's drawings for the printing of a book on his work. Sears did indeed compile the artwork and approximately six years later He Drew As He Pleased was published by Simon and Schuster (1948) with over 90 pages of illustrations.

It was commonly thought that the Disney Studio created the book as a tribute to one of its great artists. In the forward, Walt honors Hurter with the following tribute...

Albert Hurter was a master creator of fantasy. In his whimsical imagination all things were possible. The sketches in this book testify not only to his rare sense of humor but also to his genuine ability as an artist.

Yet, it was John Canemaker in his book, Before the Animation Begins, that brought to light the fact that it was actually Hurter himself who set aside the $5000 in his will for the completion and publication of the book. Albert was...

...in reality deeply proud of the unique art he made at Disney and was aware of its impact. And he wanted to be remembered for it.
From John Canemaker's Before the Animation Begins, p.24-25.

Today, He Drew As He Pleased is a hard title to come by. Some online booksellers offer it for sale, but the price for such a treasure is not cheap. Lucky for us, a few animation buffs have taken the time to post pages from the book. So now 63 years after it was first published and nearly 69 years after his death, here's a glimpse into Albert Hurter's Sketchbook.

Front Cover

Title Page

Albert Hurter photograph page. Image scan via Michael Sporn Animation Splog.

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]

The book was designed such that as you flipped though the pages--on the left would be (usually, but not always) a short blurb. On the right leaf would be the illustrations.

"For Albert there were no inanimate objects"

"Eyeball folk"

"Even melons came to life" (left)

"Preliminary sketch...Snow White and the Queen's Huntsman"

"The Prince"

"The Witch . . . Hansel and Gretel"; "A page of devils..."

"When 'The Reluctant Dragon' was in preparation, these medieval studies appeared...each from memory. Albert never resorted to 'scrap'..."

"A pet character of Albert's who never quite reached the screen"; "Some of his last sketches. Not even hospital life could dampen his imagination"

"Between serious thoughts Albert succeeded in elevating the practice of doodling until it approached a fine art"

All illustrations and book text copyright 1948 Walt Disney Productions.;

These and many more pages from Albert's book can be seen at Joel Brinkerhoff. And for higher resolution images, see the post at On Animation.

Guthrie Courvoisier and the Rise of Animation Fine Art

It's 1938 and a San Francisco gallery owner is about to expand the concept forever of what the world thinks of as art. Guthrie Courvoisier is a leading art expert as well as an admirer of Walt Disney animation, especially the latest smash-hit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Courvoisier is certain that he can market and sell as fine art the thousands of individual inked and painted celluloid sheets that were created in the making of the film.

Courvoisier Cel Set-up, 1938.
Two different cels (Snow White + deer)
on hand-painted watercolor background
with airbrushing. Mounted on thin board.
Image via WorthPoint.

_____________

The "cel" defined...

A cel, short for celluloid, represents the action of usually one character in one frame of animated film. It takes 24 cels, photographed one at a time against a painted background, for each second of screen time...that's 1440 per minute.

Originally, cels were traced onto the front of clear celluloid sheets using ink and then painted on the reverse with specially prepared gum-based paints. They were intended to last long enough to meet production needs.The paints and inks were designed for easy removal, as early cels were washed and reused from film to film.

Prior to 1940 cels were made of nitrocellulose, an unstable and flammable material.

Source: p.59 Tomart's Illustrated Disneyana by Tom Tumbusch, 1990.

_____________

A new way of looking at it...

While the marketing of film-themed products was nothing new to Walt and Roy Disney, the concept of selling the actual artwork was. Prior to this, cels were simply washed clean or thrown out when the film was completed. It was Guthrie Courvoisier who convinced them of the potential market for this animation art. On July 19, 1938, the Disney brothers granted Courvoisier Galleries exclusive rights to sell Snow White cels in galleries and museums around the world.

Image via Tomart's Illustrated Disneyana by Tom Tumbusch, 1990.

_____________

The Cel Setup Department...

A special 20-person crew of Disney artists from the animation department was set up at the Disney studio under the direction of the late Helen Nerbovig to assemble and prepare the art. The program was so successful the art was being sold almost as fast as they could get it ready. After only one year, demand was actually growing beyond Courvoisier's ability to meet it. Source: Courvoisier Galleries

Ink and Paint Supervisors Helen Nerbovig (pictured standing) with Leota Richards. 
Image courtesy of Stuff From the Park.

The Disney crew would cut the characters from the cels and tape them to specially prepared backgrounds. These backgrounds ranged from hand-painted scenes similar to those in the film to lightly airbrushed impressions. Others might be on wood veneer with painted scenes, airbrushed shadowing, or the characters name. Still other backgrounds were made of patterned paper.

A new clear cel sheet was placed over the piece, the background glued to cardboard, and then matted. These pieces today are referred to as Courvoisier cels or set-ups.

Grumpy Courvoisier Cel. Image via BiggerBids.

Dopey Courvoisier Cel. Images via McFabbs Emporium.

Witch Cel and Matching Background, circa 1938. Image via IbexGalleries.

The set-ups made at the Disney studio usually had several identifiers--two small labels on the rear of the art, a large label with the name of the film either printed or handwritten, a construction paper backing, and the name of the film or character handwritten on the front just below the mat opening. The studio matted the art and left the framing up to the gallery or new owner.

When the art was prepared by the Courvoisier staff [1940-46], they added an "Original WDP" monogram seal (shown above right) rubber-stamped at the lower right corner of the mat opening. Source: Courvoisier Galleries

_____________

The Courvoisier legacy...

Courvoisier tested the market with prices ranging from as little as $5 for a simple one character framed piece up to $75 for multiple characters and original painted backgrounds. Within a year, galleries from New York to London had sold over 8000 Snow White cels. By early 1939, the program was expanded to include cels from other Disney films as well as the sale of backgrounds, animation drawings and storyboard sketches.

Courvoisier Cel Set-up, circa 1938.

Image via Acme Animation Galleries.

Today, animation pieces from the Golden Age are recognized not only as historically significant, but also as a form of fine art. These once "ephemeral" drawings and paintings are still with us because of the visionary efforts of Guthrie Courvoisier.

_____________

A light overview of the Courvoisier set-up ...

Video posted by ArtInsightsGallery.