Original hand painted production animation cel of Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, and Georges Hautecourt from "The Aristocats," 1970; Walt Disney Studios; Numbered 45 in ink lower right; Set over a lithographic background; Walt Disney seal lower right; Size - Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, & Georges Hautecourt: 7 1/2 x 5 1/4", Image: 10 x 15 3/4"; Unframed.
To purchase this cel or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!
To purchase this cel or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!
Georges Hautecourt: "And how we celebrated your success. Champagne, dancing the night away..."
Madame
Bonfamille: "Oh Georges."
"The Aristocats," 1970 is an animated feature film produced and released by Walt Disney Productions. This was the last film project to be approved by Walt Disney himself, as he died in late 1966, before the film was finally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on December 11, 1970. "The Aristocats" featured the voice talent of Eva Gabor, Hermione Baddeley, Phil Harris, Dean Clark, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers, and Roddy Maude-Roxby.
The film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, and centers around a family of aristocratic cats. After the mistress's butler kidnaps them (to gain his mistress' fortune which was intended to go to the cats) an unlikely alley cat acquaintance helps them escape and be returned to their home.
Close up of the original production animation cel of Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, and Georges Hautecourt.
Duchess is a long-haired purebred white Turkish Angora cat with blue eyes (shining like sapphires) and wearing a gold and jeweled collar that is studded with diamonds. She is the mother of three kittens; Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse and her owner is the aristocratic Madame Adelaide Bonfamille. Duchess was voiced by Eva Gabor who was a Hungarian-born American socialite and actress. Robie Lester who was an American Grammy-nominated voice artist and singer, provided the singing voice for Duchess.
According to veteran Walt Disney animator Andreas Deja:
"Duchess was animated by quite a few artists, I would say that Ollie Johnston did some of the nicest scenes, educating the kittens etc.. Frank Thomas came up with good acting scenes as well, when Duchess meets O'Malley for the first time, and when she says goodbye to him at the end of the movie. Milt Kahl set her basic design based on Ken Anderson's drawings."
"Duchess was animated by quite a few artists, I would say that Ollie Johnston did some of the nicest scenes, educating the kittens etc.. Frank Thomas came up with good acting scenes as well, when Duchess meets O'Malley for the first time, and when she says goodbye to him at the end of the movie. Milt Kahl set her basic design based on Ken Anderson's drawings."
Original production animation cel of Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, and Georges Hautecourt.
Madame
Adelaide Bonfamille, also called Madame, is an elderly wealthy woman who
apparently was a famous opera singer (she said that she once played the
title character of George Bizet's Carmen, and was even seen dancing to
the aria "Habanera"). She is also the owner of Duchess, a white Turkish
Angora cat; along with her three kittens Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse.
Madame was voiced by the actress Hermione Baddeley, who also played a
maid in the Walt Disney feature film "Mary Poppins." Grace Godino was
the live action model for Madame Bonfamille. Grace was an inker at the
Walt Disney Paint and Ink Department and, at one point, was a stand-in
for Rita Hayworth. A bit of trivia: the name "Bonfamille" is derived
from the French phrase for "good family" ("bon" being the masculine word
for "good" and "famille" meaning "family").
Close up of the Walt Disney seal.
Close up of the production number.
"Here
is another character Milt Kahl didn't particularly enjoy animating, but
as usual he pulled it off beautifully. There was criticism at the time
as to why Madame Bonfamille in "The Aristocats" looked so realistic.
This lady was eccentric enough to will her fortune to her house cats, so
why not design her as a nutty old woman? Milt's response was that the
story guys thought of her as a beautiful, dignified elderly lady, as did
Ken Anderson. So he refined what they gave him, not changing the
character's concept. In an interview Milt said that it doesn't hurt to
do your straight, realistic job once in a while, knowing that you will
have other characters in the picture who are eccentric and more
entertaining. And of course Milt did pride himself for being able to do
assignments like this one that called for careful realistic handling.
"Realism is not the problem, it's the way (other) people do realism
that's a problem!" he said."
Georges Hautecourt is an old friend of Madame and serves as her lawyer. When he first meets up with Madame, he first believes that she wants to sue someone; but it turns out that she only wants to create a will. Georges at first thinks that she wants to leave her entire fortune to her butler Edgar, but Madame informs him that she wants to leave everything to her cats; and only upon their deaths would her estate pass to her butler Edgar. Georges Hautecourt was voiced by Charles Lane, a very distinguished American character actor who appeared in over 250 films. Milt Kahl expertly animated Georges Hautecourt, and stated that the character was one that "you could really get your teeth into!"
This is an absolutely fantastic cel of Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, and Georges Hautecourt. The cel appears as all three characters are dancing to the music from Carmen; reminiscing about the first time Georges met Madame. Just a beautiful original production animation cel of three characters of the film, and a great addition to any animation art collection! The dialog for the scene is below:
Georges Hautecourt: "Adelaide, that's music. It's from Carmen, isn't it?"
Madame Bonfamille: "That's right. It was my favorite role."
Georges Hautecourt: "Yes, yes. It was the night of your grand premiere that we first met. Remember?"
Madame Bonfamille: "Oh, indeed, I do."
Georges Hautecourt: "And how we celebrated your success. Champagne, dancing the night away..."
Madame Bonfamille: "Oh Georges."
This is an absolutely fantastic cel of Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, and Georges Hautecourt. The cel appears as all three characters are dancing to the music from Carmen; reminiscing about the first time Georges met Madame. Just a beautiful original production animation cel of three characters of the film, and a great addition to any animation art collection! The dialog for the scene is below:
Georges Hautecourt: "Adelaide, that's music. It's from Carmen, isn't it?"
Madame Bonfamille: "That's right. It was my favorite role."
Georges Hautecourt: "Yes, yes. It was the night of your grand premiere that we first met. Remember?"
Madame Bonfamille: "Oh, indeed, I do."
Georges Hautecourt: "And how we celebrated your success. Champagne, dancing the night away..."
Madame Bonfamille: "Oh Georges."
Adelaide, that's music. It's from Carmen, isn't it? That's right. It was my favourite role. Yes, yes. It was the night of your grand premiere that we first met. Remember? Oh, indeed, I do. And how we celebrated your success. Champagne, dancing the night away... Oh, Georges. Read more: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=aristocats-th
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