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Saturday, August 13, 2016

Original Production Animation Cels of King Hubert and King Stefan from "Sleeping Beauty," 1959


Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cels of King Hubert and King Stefan set on a lithographic background from "Sleeping Beauty," 1959, Walt Disney Studios; Size - King Hubert: 5 3/4 x 4", King Stefan: 8 1/4 x 3", Image 9 1/2 x 13 1/2"; Unframed.

"Sleeping Beauty" is a Walt Disney animated full length feature film and was based on "The Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault and "Little Briar Rose" by The Brothers Grimm. The film was the sixteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and it was released to theaters on January 29, 1959 by Buena Vista Distribution. This was to be the last Disney adaptation of a fairy tale for many years, both because of its initial mixed critical reception, and because of it's under performance at the box office. The Walt Disney studio did not return to the fairy tale genre until 30 years later, with the release of "The Little Mermaid" in 1989.

"Sleeping Beauty" was directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the supervision of Clyde Geronimi. The story was written by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. The film's musical score and songs, featuring the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, was under the direction of George Bruns. Arrangements and/or adaptations were derived from numbers from the 1890 "Sleeping Beauty Ballet" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In addition, Igor Stravinsky's music compositions were also adapted into the film. "Sleeping Beauty" was the first animated film to be photographed in the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process, as well as the second full-length animated feature film to be filmed in anamorphic widescreen; following "Lady and the Tramp" four years earlier. In select first-run engagements, the film was presented in Super Technirama 70 and 6-channel stereophonic sound.


Original production animation cel of King Stefan without the background.

King Stefan is humble, a loving father, and is married to Queen Leah. When Maleficent appears in his castle's throne room, he remained silent but with a stern and intimidating expression. However, after Maleficent casts her curse on Princess Aurora, he commands his palace guards to "Seize that creature!" For the rest of the film Stefan is mostly seen as a soft-spoken man; especially during his scenes with the more boastful King Hubert. King Stefan, was the first Disney King not to have grey hair, and was animated by John Lounsbery and voiced by Taylor Holmes.


Original production animation cel of King Hubert without the background.

King Hubert seems to be a very jolly character; and his Queen is never mentioned in the film. Hubert has one son Prince Phillip, and is good friends with Princess Aurora's father, King Stefan. In one scene, Hubert becomes angry at Stefan due to a perceived slight against his son Phillip. This leads to a fight with Stefan, and they use fish as weapons instead of swords. However, they both soon realize that the whole encounter is silly and laugh at their foolishness. King Hubert was animated by John Lounsbery and voiced by Bill Thompson.

This is a great two original production animation cel setup of King Stefan and King Hubert. Both Kings are full figure and have wonderful expressive poses. A great addition to any animation art collection!

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