Original hand painted production animation cels of Shere Khan and Kaa from "The Jungle Book," 1967, Walt Disney Studios; Set on a lithographic background; Numbered 95 and 339 in ink lower right; Walt Disney seal lower left; Size - Shere Khan: 7 x 5 1/2", Kaa: 4 1/2 x 6 1/4", Image 10 1/4 x 15"; Unframed.
To purchase this cel or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!
"Yes? Yes? Who is it?" - Kaa
"It's me, Shere Khan. I'd like a word with you if you don't mind." - Shere Khan
"The
Jungle Book," 1967 was the nineteenth animated feature film produced by
Walt Disney Productions and inspired by Rudyard Kipling's book of the
same name. The film was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was to be
the last film that was worked on by Walt Disney, as he passed away
during its production. The film follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in
the Indian jungle by wolves, as he encounters Bagheera the panther and
Baloo the bear; who try and convince him to leave the jungle before the
villainous tiger Shere Khan finds him. Voice actors include: Phil
Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders and Louis Prima; as well as
Disney regulars such as Sterling Holloway, J. Pat O'Malley, Verna
Felton, and the director's son, Bruce Reitherman, as the voice of
Mowgli.
"The Jungle Book" was released on October 18,
1967, with noted acclaim for its soundtrack that featured eight original
songs: seven by the Sherman Brothers and one by Terry Gilkyson.
Longtime Disney collaborator Gilkyson was the first songwriter to
complete several songs which followed Kipling's book closely; however
Walt Disney felt that the works were too dark. The only piece of
Gilkyson's work which survived to the final film, was his very upbeat
song "The Bare Necessities." The Sherman Brothers were then brought in
to do a complete rewrite. Disney frequently brought the composers to the
storyline sessions, and asked them to "find scary places and write fun
songs" that fit into the story and advanced the plot. The popular
success of the film in undoubtedly due to both the music and songs, that
were primarily written by the Sherman Brothers.
Shere Khan original production animation cel without the background.
Wolfgang
Reitherman began working for Walt Disney in 1934, along with future
Disney legends Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl. Reitherman worked on various
Disney feature films produced from 1937 to 1981, including "Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs" (animating the Slave in the Magic Mirror) up to
"The Fox and the Hound," where he was the co-producer. Beginning with
1961's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," "Woolie", as he was called by
friends, served as Disney's chief animation director. In addition to
"101 Dalmatians," Reitherman directed "The Sword in the Stone" (1963),
"The Jungle Book" (1967), "The Aristocats" (1970), "Robin Hood" (1973)
and "The Rescuers" (1977).
One
of Reitherman's productions, the 1968 short "Winnie the Pooh and the
Blustery Day," won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In
addition, all three of Reitherman's sons — Bruce, Richard, and Robert
provided voices for Disney characters, including Mowgli in "The Jungle
Book," Christopher Robin in "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree," and
Wart in "The Sword in the Stone." Not only did Bruce Reitherman provided
the voice of Mowgli in "The Jungle Book," but he also acted out certain
scenes as live action reference for the animators. The character of
Mowgli was animated by quite a few animators, however Milt Kahl set the
final design and the majority of Mowgli's scenes were animated by Frank
Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
Shere
Khan, a Bengal tiger, is the main antagonist in the 1967 Walt Disney
film "The Jungle Book;" an adaption of writer Rudyard Kipling's series
of stories. Khan was voiced by George Sanders, a veteran actor with a
deep bass voice and a heavy British accent. According to Frank Thomas
and Ollie Johnston from "The Disney Villain":
"The
perfect choice for the voice was George Sanders, the complete cynic,
who added the element of boredom. With this voice, we could imagine a
tiger who would kill without concern or effort. Sanders was asked if he
would like a drawing of Shere Khan as a souvenir, to which he responded,
"I suppose so." Asked further if he would like Walt to autograph it, he
replied, "How utterly absurb. Why would I want his signature? He might
want mine, I created the character."
Kaa original production animation cel without the background.
The next two paragraphs are excepts from "The Disney Villain," by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston:
"It
is not often that true villains as unique as Kaa and Shere Khan
confront each other. In "The Jungle Book" the meeting was not a a
victim-villain relationship because thy had nearly equal strengths. It
was more a game of "keep away." Kaa will not admit that he has Mowgli
hypnotized high in the tree as the tiger suspects. In a cold but polite
manner Shere Khan tries to intimidate the crafty Kaa by suggesting, 'I
thought you might be entertaining someone up there in your coils.'"
"The
tiger is almost unbeatable, but he is unable to find out if Mowgli is
really up in the tree. Any other character would have been terrified by
the treatment Kaa is receiving, yet the snake continues to be evasive.
He is a slippery antagonist, withstanding threats and humiliation in
order to keep Mowgli for himself. It is an entertaining standoff for
these two powerful predators, but it is Mowgli who eventually wins the
day."
Close up of the Walt Disney seal.
Milt
Kahl, the great veteran Disney animator, was in charge of bringing
Shere Khan to life and so of course Kahl set out on a crash course in
tigers. Kahl said in an interview: I learned so much about tigers by
studying them that I didn't have to rely on any life action crutch."
From Disney animator Andreas Dejas about the animation of Shere Khan,
"Great perspective walk, and I love the way the tiger lies down, upper
body first, then the rear. The way he moves those front feet is worth
studying alone. Such great anatomy."
Kaa,
which means "snake" in Hindi, is a python who is almost always hungry
and is known for being persuasive and tricky. He lives mainly in the
upper limbs of trees and has the ability to hypnotize other creatures
through eye contact. Kaa is often seen pursuing Mowgli, in an attempt to
devour the man-cub, and he was animated by both Frank Thomas and by
Milt Kahl.
Kaa
was the second character who was originally voiced by Sterling
Holloway, the first being Winnie-the-Pooh. Holloway's voice is just so
wonderful in tone and pitch, and it is hard to imagine any other person
doing the character justice. Kaa is very similar to another snake
character, Sir Hiss from "Robin Hood". The two share several traits as
both use hypnosis, and both suck up to the film's main antagonist (Shere
Khan in Kaa's case, and Prince John in Sir Hiss's case). Exceptions are
that they are different colors, sizes, and Sir Hiss wears a cape and
hat.
This wonderful pair of original production cels are from one of the
most memorable scenes in the entire film; when Shere Khan finds Kaa and tries to find out the whereabouts of Mowgli the Man Cub. Shere Khan and Kaa are great large images, and both characters are eyes and mouth open. A spectacular setup of the evil tiger finding and getting ready to interrogate Kaa the python. It really does not get better! The dialog for this scene is
below:
Kaa: Yes? Yes? Who is it?
Shere Khan: "It's me, Shere Khan. I'd like a word with you if you don't mind."
Kaa: "Shere Khan. What a surprise."
Shere Khan: "Yes, isn't it? I just dropped by. Forgive me if I've interrupted anything."
