Original Production Animation Cel of Cinderella from "Cinderella," 1950

Original hand inked and hand painted production animation cel of Cinderella set on a lithographic background from "Cinderella," 1950, Walt Disney Studios; Numbered 21 in ink bottom right; Size - Cinderella: 6 x 5 1/2", Cel 12 1/2 x 15 1/4", Image 9 x 13"; Unframed.

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"High above
Oh, sing sweet nightingale
Sing sweet nightingale, high" - Cinderella

The 1950 Walt Disney feature film "Cinderella" was based on the French version of the tale by Charles Perrault, entitled "Cinderella" and written in 1698. The film was the second in the series of great Princess films developed by Disney, the first being Snow White in 1937. The character of Cinderella is usually front and center in the pantheon of Disney Princess merchandise, perhaps because she is the only Princess not to be of a noble blood line who ended up marrying a Prince and becoming royalty.

Close up of the original production animation cel of Cinderella.

Cinderella was animated by both Marc Davis and Eric Larson, however the two animators had different perceptions of the character, with Davis preferring elegance and Larson opting for simplicity. This actually worked in the film's favor, resulting in Cinderella being a much more complicated character than her predecessor Snow White. As with other Disney films, the studio hired actress Helene Stanley to perform the live-action reference for Cinderella. She would later return to the studio for the characters of Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty," 1959 and Anita Radcliffe in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," 1961.

The entire original production animation cel of Cinderella.

According to Christopher Finch, from his book "The Art of Walt Disney":
"Disney insisted that all scenes involving human characters should be shot first in live-action to determine that they would work before the expensive business of animation was permitted to start. The animators did not like this way of working, feeling it detracted from their ability to create character. The animators understood the necessity for this approach and in retrospect acknowledged that Disney had handled things with considerable subtlety."

Production number on the original production animation cel of Cinderella..

About 400 women and girls auditioned for the voice role of Cinderella, but the role ended up going to Ilene Woods. Woods, who at the time worked on the radio and did not know anything about the audition, was asked one day by her colleagues Mack David and Jerry Livingston to sing a song from Cinderella. Without her knowledge, her recording was given by her friends to Disney Studios. After listening to the material Walt Disney immediately decided that he had found the voice with which to speak and sing the character of Cinderella and contacted Ilene.

The terrible singing of Drizella and Anastasia sends Lady Tremaine's wicked cat Lucifer scurrying from the upstairs music room to the downstairs entrance foyer, that is being scrubbed by Cinderella. As Lucifer plots to ruin the floor again, Cinderella begins to sing the song "Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale." This cel appears in the scene as Cinderella wrings our her cleaning rag over a backet of water and begins to sing. The song "Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale" was composed by Mack Davis, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman; and the animation sequence is one of the most beautiful in the film. A wonderful full figure, eyes open original production cel of Cinderella, and a great piece of animation artwork from the Walt Disney vintage classic feature film!

To see the cel in the film, just click on the short video below:

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