Library

Just a small heads-up. One of the new things I'm starting to do on the site is to start transcribing a small library of Disney documents; initially that refer to the shorts directly but also some of the more general animation classes and bulletins that were passed around for the animator's continuing education. Many have been posted on Hans Perk's blog but I found a few more here and there and have a few in my own collection which I'll be posting.

You can see what I'm up to here : http://www.disneyshorts.org/library/index.html. As always, I'm interested in your comments or ideas.

"The Nifty Nineties"

http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1941/niftynineties.html

I'm reading Neal Gabler's biography of Disney right now (since my copy of Barrier's "The Animated Man" hasn't come in yet ... sorry, Mike ... it's next up!) One of the salient points that Gabler makes is how Disney's view of "Main Street USA" was an idealized version of his youth in Marceline, Missouri. And as much as all of Disney's shorts were idealized versions of reality, no where is his view of turn of the century romance and the times better seen than in the 1941 short "The Nifty Nineties."

Here was have a sepia toned introduction showing Mickey besides his Model T ... wandering through the park to the tune of "I Was Strolling Through the Park One Day" ... and then taking Minnie to the vaudeville show. Goofy rides by on a high wheeled bicycle as do all the ducks on a bicycle built for five. It's a rather idyllic scene.

Mickey and Minnie's romance, however seens to be almost a subplot. The highlight of the short is the vaudeville show and it seems that the artists had a lot of fun putting it together. It begins with a slide show of the song "Father, Dear Father" about a young girl pleading for her drunken father to sober up and come home. It was really rather an unexpected subject for a Disney cartoon. The show continues with a song and dance from "Fred and Ward : Two Boys from Illinois." The characters are caricatures of Disney animators Fred Moore and Ward Kimball; oddly named since Moore was originally from California and Kimball from Minnesota.

But one of the best thing about the short is the asbestos curtain that is shown before the show begins. Most of the ads on the curtains refer to various Disney artists; so we have "Wilfred Jaxson Feed and Fuel," a reference to Wilfred Jackson, one of Disney's earliest animators. Also noted are "Clark's Confectionery" for animator Les Clark, "T. Hee Shoes" for storyman T. Hee, "Gen. J. Sharpsteen Dentist" for animator Ben Sharpsteen, among others.

There is also one for "Walter D's Hats That Please", an obvious reference to Walt Disney himself. But one of my correspondents notes : It seems there is a hat manufacturer that uses the Disney name (I spotted their ads in the New Yorker Magazine, and it seems they been making hats longer than Walt has making cartoons) and probably Riley Thompson (or his gagmen) knew of this. So that gives that joke an extra edge.

It's a fun little short; certainly not one of Disney's best, and there's no real plot to it, but it's a nice pleasant way to spend seven and a half minutes.

Disney's Christmas Part 2 : Mickey's Orphans

http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1931/mickeysorphans.html

If "Mickey's Good Deed" represents the good side of Christmas, with Mickey's benevolence being rewarded in the end, "Mickey's Orphan's" shows the opposite of the spectrum.

It might be an interesting theme for another post, but the lack of parental responsibility seems to be an ongoing motif throughout the shorts. The kittens that Mickey rescues have a close brotherhood with the mice orphans that appear in "Orphan's Benefit" and "Orphan's Picnic" and both sets are as ill-behaved. Maybe, as some have posted, it was Mickey's fault for giving them presents of instruments of mass destruction, but throughout the short they make Mickey, Minnie and Pluto's Christmas a living hell. And even at the end they completely destroy their Christmas tree without a sympathetic thought about what they are doing. It's fairly humorous in a bent sort of way but it does tend to leave a bad taste in one's mouth.

There are two valid connections that we can make. One is to the 1936 Fleischer cartoon "Somewhere in Dreamland" where the poor boy and girl are given their dreams come true, but are at least grateful for their patrons. The other is the 1952 Disney short "Pluto's Christmas Tree" where Mickey's tree is destroyed again (this time by Pluto and Chip 'n' Dale) but there is a trio of carolers afterwards who arrive at Mickey's front door to redeem the evening.

Disney's Christmas Part 1 : "Mickey's Good Deed"

http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1932/mickeysgooddeed.html


I know it's a bit early for Christmas; we haven't even gotten to Thanksgiving yet. But I thought we'd get an early start and examine some of the Christmas themed shorts that Disney produced through the years. And since time seems to be against me (especially this time of year) we'd better get an early start.

"Mickey's Good Deed" was one of the first shorts where Disney dealt with Christmas specifically. (The first was the 1927 Oswald short "Empty Socks" which I have not had the chance to see and later "Mickey's Orphans" which we'll look at next week.) And it paints a fairly Dickensian view of the season with the poor and destitute helping each other while the rich get their just desserts. It begins with Mickey as a street corner musician playing his cello for what turns out to be a can full of nuts and bolts. To make matters worse, his cello gets run over by a passing car so even his last possibility of making any money to provide for himself at Christmas seems to be gone. But his love of Pluto is deep enough that when he is offered money for him, he refuses. At least for himself.

At this point it seems that Mickey has nothing. It's when he sees a family of destitute children and a weeping mom where his emotions overcome him and he realizes that there's one thing he has that they don't and that is hope. He sells the last thing he has, Pluto, to the rich family in order to provide a Christmas for the starving family. And at this point he really does have nothing in the way of tangible goods left to him.

Pluto, on the other hand, is ending up getting abused by the rich kid Adelbert. It's interesting to note the contrast between the poor kids who are grateful for the gifts given to them and the rich kid who has everything and is never satisfied with what he has. The father, finally tired of the abuse which reins him in as well, kicks Pluto out and gives the kid a well-deserved spanking. Meanwhile, Mickey is feeling a bit sorry for himself but then a newly freed Pluto finds him again. And with a turkey tied to his tail for dinner! So, Mickey's good deed ends up rewarding him in ways he didn't expect.

Why did this mean so much? Lee Suggs wrote in a comment:

Remember that the Christmas of 1932 was probably the worse time of the entire Great Depression. Hoover was still president, and it was probably impossible for most families to buy gifts for their children. They might not even be able to afford a Christmas Dinner. Most Americans must have felt pretty hopeless, and it must have seemed like things were never going to get better. Enter Mickey portrayed as one of them, in a situation similar to their own lives. By being selfless he is able to overcome his own hopeless situation to make a difference in someone else's life.

It's very heartwarming and it has a very simple moral: selfless good will be rewarded, evil will be punished. It didn't always end up that way though. Next week, in "Mickey's Orphans" we'll see how Mickey's big hearted ways turned on out just the opposite.

Identity Development

One theme that runs through a few of the Disney shorts (especially the later Silly Symphonies) is the idea of identity development. That is, that the lead character has to discover who he is and his place in the world. The paradigm for this idea is "The Ugly Duckling" made in 1931 and remade in 1939. The earlier version doesn't play much with the idea. It is simply the story of an outcast duckling who has to earn his place in his family by rescuing them from certain death. The later short, however, stays truer to the original story of a duckling who doesn't realize that he is going to grow into a beautiful swan.

"Elmer Elephant" is a good example of this. Elmer, teased unmercifully because of his big ears and prominent trunk is another outcast until he meets Joe Giraffe. Joe teaches him that he should be proud of who he is even though others may find him funny looking. And, indeed, it is because of his, the giraffe's, and the pelican's physically peculiarities that they are able to save Tilly Tiger from an all-consuming fire.

Another is "Lambert, the Sheepish Lion." A lion cub mis-delivered to a mother sheep, Lambert cannot understand why he is different from the other sheep. It is only after the flock is threatened by a wolf that he discovers his "lion-ness" and is able to use that to save the flock.

But the theme does have it's downside. There are also examples of where identity development shows characters trying to reach beyond what they were created for. In "The Country Cousin", Abner Countrymouse finds himself completely out of his element trying to fit in with the demands of city living and his attempts to grow beyond himself are thwarted. Of course, it would have also helped if he hadn't gotten drunk.

The theme reaches it's nadir, hoevever, in "The Flying Mouse." Here, a small mouse dreams of being able to fly. After saving a fairy, he is granted his wish for wings. But in the Disney universe that makes him "nothin' but a nothin'." It's rather sad that his dreams of reaching beyond what he was born with lead him to disaster. But it did give us a catchy little song, at least.

... and the worst.

http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1953/simplethings.html

"The Simple Things" (1953)

I'm trying to keep this blog as positive as possible and highlight the good things that came out of the Disney studios. But since last time it was all about the best, I thought I might as well get this out of my system and showcase what was probably one of the worst.

And it makes it doubly tragic that this was Mickey's last short; Disney couldn't even let him go out with a bang. What the thinking behind it was,I can't even begin to guess. It certainly wasn't a lack of imagination on the artists part. This was the same year that saw the secellent "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" and the 3-D experiment "Working for Peanuts."

But by this time Mickey has become too bland to support a short on his own. It's sad, really.

In lieu of a specific short of the week this time around, I decided to give a list of what I consider the ten best Disney shorts. They may not be the most popular, or the most historically significant, but just the ones that I enjoy the most, are the most entertaining, or for whatever reason.

Note : this list is subect to change at any time due to the whims of the author. These are only the top ten in my opinion; your mileage may vary.

1 : The Band Concert : I think this would be at the top of any Disney lovers list. Mickey's first full length appearance in Technicolor also had great gags, some nice dramatic action, lots of tension between Mickey and Donald and a lot of subtle touches that you don't realize unless you almost watch it frame by frame.

2 : Der Fuehrer's Face : I'll admit it; I've never been a big fan of Donald Duck (which is proabably why his sections of the website go untouched for inordinant amounts of time.) But this short is Donald at his best against a (thankfully, only seemingly) unstoppable foe. Plus it has the great opening song which became a big hit by Spike Jones.

3 : The Old Mill : I've talked about this one before as the very first post in this blog, so I won't repeat myself too much here. But for animation, mood and drama, this short is as close to perfection as you can get. All without a single word of dialogue.

4 : The Whoopee Party : A lot of the early Mickey shorts were just singing and dancing shows which got tiring after a few minutes. This one doesn't. It's a party with everyone involved. The cops show up and they join the party. Even the house itself joins in the dancing. Everything is tuned in to the music and dancing so at the end when the house falls down around their heads, all they can say is "whoopee!"

5 : Lonesome Ghosts : It's a toss up here between this one and "Clock Cleaners" but I give this one the nod from all the "trio"shorts just because of the way the gags set up. The house looks haunted. The artists were able to give it a real atmospheric feel that makes you think it could actually be full of spooks. And the ending is just a delight and doesn't feel forced at all.

6: Woodland Cafe : This was one of the first shorts that Ward Kimball worked on. It was an homage to old jazz clubs of the 20's and 30's. This cafe full of jitterbugging bugs has a bucketload of style, and some crazy music that just won't quit.

7 : Mickey's Good Deed : Here, Mickey is at his best. He's caring, self-sacrificing and the short (one of Disney's first Christmas themed cartoons) has a lot of pathos for those who deserve the better things in life. And very little for the ill-mannered Adelbert.

8 : Symphony Hour : Yes, you might have noticed that most of the shorts I consider the best revolve around music. That seems to be where the artists could really let themselves shine. There are few shorts where the plot is very involving and characterization can be such a subjective thing. But if there was music involved, it almost always made a top notch cartoon. This is no exception as the Spike-Jonesish shenanigans at the end was a omic highlight of the Disney shorts.

9 : Music Land : As if to cement the point made above, here is another one where the story is told almost completely through the medium of the music. And here, the medium is the message as the Isle of Jazz goes to wat against the Land of Symphony only to be joined by the Bridge of Harmony.

10 : Runaway Brain : This "late in the game" Mickey Mouse short was a shock to many, but a revelation to those who thought that Mickey had become too much of a cultural icon to be really interesting in the short format. Sadly, it was a one-shot deal, but it was an exciting break from his bland, nornal character.

That's it! I'd love to hear yours and the reasons behind them. Maybe if I get enough, I'll set up a special section of the website for them.