Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cel of Timothy Q. Mouse over a Courvoisier air brush background from "Dumbo," 1941, Walt Disney Studios; WDP stamp lower right; With original Courvoisier Gallery label; Size - Timothy Q. Mouse: - 3 1/2 x 3", Image 8 1/2 x 7"; Unframed.
“Dumbo, the 9th wonder of the 'univoise'! The 'woild's' only flying elephant!”
―Timothy Q. Mouse
The Walt Disney full length feature film "Dumbo," released in 1940, introduced to the world one of the greatest characters in the Disney pantheon, Dumbo the flying elephant! Dumbo was the only character in the film who never uttered a single word, and yet he is one of the most remembered Disney stars. All of his feelings were conveyed through body movements and facial expressions. The extraordinary animation skill needed in order to do this with a human, but in this case a baby elephant, can not be underestimated.
Close up of the Timothy Q. Mouse original production animation cel.
The Disney Studio animation artists were still fairly new to feature animation, having only started in 1937 with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The film prior to "Dumbo" was "Fantasia," with one of the most successful sequences being "Night on Bald Mountain." Here again, the main character Chernabog, a huge winged devil, sitting on top of a mountain, commanding the undead below, and never uttering a single word; made a huge impression on the viewing public.
Original Walt Disney Productions Courvoisier Galleries stamp.
The Disney animator Vladimir "Bill" Tytla created the devil-giant for "Fantasia's" "Night on Bald Mountain," and for the next film he was given the task of animated the film's star, Dumbo. He said:
"I gave him everything I thought he should have," said Tytla. "It just happened. I don't know a damn thing about elephants. It wasn't that. I was thinking in terms of humans, and I saw a chance to do a chracter without using any cheap theatrics. Most of the expressions and mannerisms I got from my own kid. There's nothing theatrical about a two-year-old kid. They're real and sincere- like when they damn near wet their pants from excitement when you come home at night. I've bawled my kid out for pestering me when I'm reading or something, and he doesn't know what to make of it. He'll just stand there and maybe grab my hand and cry... I tried to put all those things in Dumbo."
Certainly the greatest theme of "Dumbo" was the wonderful friendship between the mute baby elephant Dumbo and his unlikely friend, a mouse name Timothy. Various Disney animators were involved with the creation and animation of Timothy Q. Mouse including Fred Moore, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Ward Kimball. Edward S. Brophy was an American character actor, voice artist, and comedian; and he provided the voice for Timothy Mouse even though he was not credited in the film for the role.
This is a wonderful original production animation cel of Timothy Q. Mouse that was originally sold through Courvoisier Galleries. Timothy is eyes and mouth open, with his hand and index finger pointing up in the air. He has been placed on a hand airbrushed hay pile background, stamped with the WDP Courvoisier Galleries stamp. A great addition for any animation art collection and the cel comes with the original label, indicating that there were only 36 similar Timothy setups created.
"I gave him everything I thought he should have," said Tytla. "It just happened. I don't know a damn thing about elephants. It wasn't that. I was thinking in terms of humans, and I saw a chance to do a chracter without using any cheap theatrics. Most of the expressions and mannerisms I got from my own kid. There's nothing theatrical about a two-year-old kid. They're real and sincere- like when they damn near wet their pants from excitement when you come home at night. I've bawled my kid out for pestering me when I'm reading or something, and he doesn't know what to make of it. He'll just stand there and maybe grab my hand and cry... I tried to put all those things in Dumbo."
Original Courvoisier Galleries label.
Certainly the greatest theme of "Dumbo" was the wonderful friendship between the mute baby elephant Dumbo and his unlikely friend, a mouse name Timothy. Various Disney animators were involved with the creation and animation of Timothy Q. Mouse including Fred Moore, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Ward Kimball. Edward S. Brophy was an American character actor, voice artist, and comedian; and he provided the voice for Timothy Mouse even though he was not credited in the film for the role.
This is a wonderful original production animation cel of Timothy Q. Mouse that was originally sold through Courvoisier Galleries. Timothy is eyes and mouth open, with his hand and index finger pointing up in the air. He has been placed on a hand airbrushed hay pile background, stamped with the WDP Courvoisier Galleries stamp. A great addition for any animation art collection and the cel comes with the original label, indicating that there were only 36 similar Timothy setups created.
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Greg, I just purchased one of the 36 from this setup at a local estate sale. Thanks for your blog and the information.
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