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Saturday, January 20, 2024

Original Production Animation Cel of Ichabod Crane from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" Section of "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," 1949

Original hand inked and hand painted production animation cel of Ichabod Crane set on a lithographic background from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" section of "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," 1949, Walt Disney Studios; Size -  Ichabod Crane: 9 x 3 3/4", Image 10 x 6 1/2"; Unframed.


"The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," 1949 is an animated package film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film consists of two segments – the first is based on the 1908 children's novel "The Wind in the Willows" by British author Kenneth Grahame, and the second is based on the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," (named Ichabod Crane in the Disney film) by American author Washington Irving. The famed American singer and actor Bing Crosby provided the voice of Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, and the Narrator.

The story takes place in October 1790 when Ichabod Crane, a lanky, gluttonous, superstitious yet charming man; arrives in Sleepy Hollow, New York. It's a small village north of Tarrytown and is renowned for its ghostly haunting and Ichabod is to be the town's new schoolmaster. Despite his odd behavior and awkward appearance, he soon wins the hearts of the village's women. Brom Bones, the rough town hero, does his best to bully Ichabod; however he is very good at ignoring Brom's taunts. Soon Ichabod falls in love with eighteen-year-old Katrina van Tassel, the beautiful daughter and only child of Baltus van Tassel who is the richest man in all of Sleepy Hollow. Brom, who is also in love with the beautiful Katrina, begins to compete with the schoolmaster for her affection. However, Ichabod succeeds in winning Katrina over at every opportunity. Unbeknownst to Ichabod, Katrina is only using him to make Brom jealous.

Both Brom and Ichabod are invited to the annual van Tassel Halloween party. While sitting down to dinner, Brom tells Ichabod and the party guests the ghost story of the Headless Horseman, who had lost his head a long time ago during the Revolutionary War. Ever since, on every Halloween night he rides into Sleepy Hollow looking for a new head. The only way to escape him is to cross the covered bridge, as the Headless Horseman's evil powers are limited to within the dark woods.

After the Halloween party ends, Ichabod rides home alone and keeps imagining that he is being followed. He hears strange sounds and then realizes that it's only cattails bumping against a log; Ichabod and his horse begin to hysterically laugh. But then suddenly both stop, as they realize that another laugh has joined them. As Ichabod and his horse slowly turn around, they find the Headless Horseman about to attack them with his sword. The Horseman begins to chase them, laughing all the while. Ichabod gallops for the bridge and barely manages to make it across. As Ichabod turns around, he screams as the Horseman's black horse rears up, and the Headless Horseman throws a flaming jack o' lantern right at him. The very next morning, Ichabod's hat was found next to a shattered pumpkin; however, Ichabod was never heard from again.

This is a very rare and wonderful hand inked and hand painted production cel of Ichabod Crane. A very large (9 inches tall) eyes open and smiling image of the schoolmaster holding a book in his right hand and tipping his hat with his left. Original artwork from Walt Disney's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is scarce to the market, and this piece would make a great addition to any animation art collection!

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Friday, January 19, 2024

Original Production Animation Cel of Professor Ratigan from "The Great Mouse Detective," 1986

 

Original hand painted production animation cel of Professor Ratigan set on a hand painted non-production watercolor background from "The Great Mouse Detective," 1986, Walt Disney Studios; Numbered 47 in ink & Walt Disney Company 1986 Copyright stamp lower right; Walt Disney seal lower right; Size - Professor Ratigan: 8 1/4" x 10"; Image: 11 1/4" x 15"; Unframed.

To purchase this cel or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"Oh I love it when I'm nasty." - Professor Ratigan 

Eve Titus wrote a series of stories about Basil of Baker Street; a mouse that lived next door to Sherlock Holmes and who shared many of his skills and traits. Walt Disney Studios adapted the Titus stories into a wonderful feature film that was still able to maintain the Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes characters, even though they were transformed into a mouse world. The resulting film "The Great Mouse Detective" was directed by Ron Clements, music by Henry Mancini, and was released on July 2, 1986. Although the script took about four years to develop, the animation only took a year with an estimated total budget of $14 million.


Original production animation cel of Ratigan without the background.

Ratigan was designed and animated by Walt Disney master animator, Glen Keane. The inspiration for the character was Professor James Moriarty, the nemesis to Sherlock Holmes in the series of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ratigan was voiced by veteran Hollywood actor Vincent Price, who stated it was his favorite role because he had two songs written for him, "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind," and "Goodbye, So Soon."

In the following paragraph Ratigan explains his scheme to his henchmen:
"My friends, we are about to embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical scheme of my illustrious career. A crime to top all crimes.  A crime that will live in infamy! Tomorrow evening, our beloved monarch celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and, with the enthusiastic help of our good friend, Mr. Flaversham, it promises to be a night she will never forget! Her last night, and my first, as supreme leader of all Mousedom!"

This is a wonderful very large, eyes, and mouth open full figure original production cel of Professor Ratigan from the 1986 full length animated Walt Disney feature film "The Great Mouse Detective." The evil Professor Ratigan is holding his cape up getting ready to reveal to Hiram Flaversham his kidnapped daughter, Olivia. "Allow me to present your charming daughter," Ratigan says. A great addition to any animation art collection.

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Original Production Cel of Dumbo from "Dumbo," 1941

Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cel of Dumbo set over a Courvoisier air brush background from "Dumbo," 1941, Walt Disney Studios; With original Courvoisier Galleries certificate; Size - Dumbo: 4 3/4 x 5 3/4", Image 9 x 12 1/2"; Unframed.

To purchase this drawing or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"And now, I present to you the world's smallest little elephant, who will spring from this springboard in one spring to the top of the pyramid, waving his little flag for the grand climax! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Dumbo!" ― Ringmaster

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.

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.

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.
 
 
Original Courvoisier Galleries certificate

In fact, none of the voice actors for Dumbo received screen credit. The pompous matriarch of the elephants was voiced by Verna Felton, who also voiced the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella," the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," and Flora in "Sleeping Beauty." Other voice actors include Sterling Holloway as Mr. Stork, Cliff Edwards (better known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket) as Jim Crow, and John McLeish (best known for narrating the Goofy "How To" cartoons) providing the opening sequence narration.

This cel is from the scene in the film when Dumbo, the world's smallest elephant, is suppose to run out into the center ring and jump onto a string board that would catapult him high into the air, and landing on a small platform atop a pyramid of seven elephants. When the curtain opens and Dumbo hears the laughter of the audience he slowly begins to back up, and Timothy Mouse pricks him with a pin in order to get him to run towards the spring board. As Dumbo is running his ears, that were tied loosely atop his head, unravel and he trips; causing him to miss the spring board platform and instead hit the rubber ball that was supporting the pachyderm pyramid. This is a wonderful full figure, eyes open production cel of Dumbo from the beginning of the sequence; and would be a great addition to any vintage Walt Disney animation art collection!

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Original Production Animation Cels of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather From "Sleeping Beauty," 1959

 

Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cels of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather set on a lithographic background from "Sleeping Beauty," 1959, Walt Disney Studios; Numbered C-49 in ink bottom right; Size - Flora, Fauna, & Merryweather: 9 x 6"; Image 11 x 16 1/2"; Unframed.

Flora: "Make it pink!"
Merryweather: "Make it blue!"
Fauna: "Oh, I just love happy endings."

"Sleeping Beauty," 1959 is an animated musical film produced by Walt Disney based on two stories: "The Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault and "Little Briar Rose" by The Brothers Grimm. The film was released to theaters on January 29, 1959, by Buena Vista Distribution. This was the last Disney adaptation of a fairy tale for 30 years because of its initial mixed critical reception and because of under performance at the box office. The next Disney adaption of a fairy tale would not occur until 1989 with "The Little Mermaid."

"Sleeping Beauty" was directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman; under the supervision of Clyde Geronimi. Additional story work was by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. The film's musical score and songs, featuring the work of the Graunke Symphony Orchestra under the direction of George Bruns, are arrangements or adaptations of numbers from the 1890 "Sleeping Beauty Ballet" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. "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). The film was presented in Super Technirama 70 and 6-channel stereophonic sound in first-run engagements.

Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are Princess Aurora's Fairy Godmothers, who appear at baby Aurora's christening to present their gifts to her, as well as go on to become her guardians. The Fairies were voiced by Verna Felton (Flora), Barbara Jo Allen (Fauna), and Barbara Luddy (Merryweather). Verna Felton also voiced Queen Leah, Aurora's mother; and had prior roles as Dumbo's mother in "Dumbo," the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella," the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," and Aunt Sarah in "Lady in the Tramp." Barbara Luddy had previously voiced Lady in "Lady and the Tramp." The principle animator for the Three Fairies was Ollie Johnston and a little known fact is that one of the actresses who was one of the live action models for the Good Fairies was Frances Bavier, the future Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show."


Original production animation cels of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather without the background.

Fauna is the middle Fairy and is dressed in a green gown, a green hat, and a green cape clipped with a green triangle. Her gift to Aurora is the gift of song.

Flora is the tallest and oldest Fairy, dressed in a red gown (although she is obsessed with the color pink), a red hat, and a red cape clipped with a yellow square. She is the strongest-willed leader of the group, and her gift to Aurora is the gift of beauty. She also created for Prince Phillip the powerful Sword of Truth and the invulnerable Shield of Virtue, for his escape and battle with Maleficent.

Merryweather is the shortest and youngest Fairy, dressed in a blue gown, a blue hat, and a blue cape clipped with a blue circle. She is the Fairy who is the most verbal and aggressive towards Maleficent, and she is much bolder than the other two Fairies. As Merryweather is about to give her gift, Maleficent makes her appearance and curses Aurora to die when she touches a spinning wheel's spindle before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. Merryweather's gift to Aurora is to weaken Maleficent's curse so that instead of death, Aurora will fall into a deep sleep until she is awakened by true love's kiss.

This is a wonderful set of original hand painted and hand inked production animation cels of all three Good Fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from the Walt Disney masterpiece "Sleeping Beauty," 1959. All three Fairies are eyes open and large impressive action packed images. This is an extremely beautiful piece of original vintage artwork, that would make a great addition to any animation collection!

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Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Original Production Animation Cel of Briar Rose from "Sleeping Beauty," 1959


Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cel of Briar Rose set on a lithographic background from "Sleeping Beauty," 1959, Walt Disney Studios; Size - Briar Rose: 6 3.4 x 3 3/4", Image 11 1/2 x 15 3/4"; Unframed.

 
"Sleeping Beauty," the 1959 Walt Disney full length motion picture, introduced two characters that would become universal favorites; Maleficent and Princess Aurora. Aurora, along with Snow White and Cinderella would be forever immortalized in the public's view as the three greatest Disney Princesses. The original design for Aurora and her peasant disguise Briar Rose was developed by Tom Oreb, who based the character on the famed Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn; known for her thin frame and a very graceful demeanor. Marc Davis, the head animator, would continue the development process by morphing her general appearance and the clothing of the heroine. The fine tuning of the character continued so that she could be combined with the very angular forms present in the Eyvind Earle hand painted backgrounds.

As with other Disney films, an actress was hired as a live-action model (as a guide for the animators) for Princess Aurora/Briar Rose. Helene Stanley, who was also the model for Cinderella in 1950, became the model for the heroine. It is interesting to note that prior to marrying Marc Davis in 1956, Alice (Davis) designed some of costumes worn by Stanley in her acting role in "Sleeping Beauty."

In 1952, the professional opera singer Mary Costa, after meeting people at a party with her future husband director Frank Tashlin, auditioned for the part of Disney's Princess Aurora/Briar Rose. Walt Disney called her personally within hours of the audition to inform her that the part was hers. The success of the film "Sleeping Beauty," owes a chuck of those accolades to the voice of Mary Costa. Her songs were some of the most beautiful ever sung by a Disney Princess. In November 1999 Mary Costa received the Disney Legends Award, and her hand prints are now a permanent part of the Disney Legends Plaza at the entrance to Walt Disney Studios.


Original production animation cel of Briar Rose without the background.
 
After Maleficent's evil curse that Princess Aurora would (before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday) prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die; the three Good Fairies disguise Aurora as a peasant named Briar Rose and hide her deep in a remote forest cottage. The majority of the movie focuses on Briar Rose, and this is a beautiful original production animation cel setup of her. She had been placed on a custom background of the interior of the wood cutter's cottage. Rose has just returned from meeting Prince Phillip in the forest and is hanging up her brown cloak and the dialog for the scene is below:
 
"This is the happiest day of my life.
Everything's so wonderful.
Just wait til you meet him." - Briar Rose
"Him?" - Fauna
"Rose!" - Merryweather
"Y-You've met some stranger?" - Flora
"Oh, he's not a stranger. We've met before." - Briar Rose
"You have?" - Flora
"Where?" - Merryweather
"Once upon a dream." - Briar Rose
 
This is an absolutely beautiful cel of Briar Rose and a great addition to any vintage Walt Disney animation art collection!
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Monday, January 15, 2024

Original Production Animation Cel of Jock from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955

Original hand inked and hand painted production animation cel of Jock set on a lithographic background from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955, Walt Disney Studios; Size - Jock: 5 1/2 x 4 1/2", Image 8 1/2 x 11 1/2"; Unframed.


"Lady and the Tramp" (released on June 22, 1955) is a full length featured animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Distribution. The film was the 15th in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and it was the first animated feature filmed in with the CinemaScope widescreen film process. The film was based on the story "Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog" by Ward Greene and tells the story of a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family. Lady meets a male stray mutt named Tramp and they embark on many exciting and romantic adventures.

One evening in 1937, Disney story man Joe Grant invited Walt Disney over to his house for dinner and ended up showed Disney a drawing he had made of his pet Springer Spaniel, who was named Lady. Walt loved the drawing and suggested that Joe make a storyboard out of it; which he did and the plan was to create a new animated film, simply titled "Lady." The story that was pitched ended up being too simplistic to Walt Disney's taste, and the project was put on hold until about 20 years later.


Original production animation cel of Jock without the background.

Jock (Heather Lad O'Glencairn) is a Scottish terrier who lives near Trusty. He is very loyal and protective of his friends. He was animated by Ollie Johnston and voiced by Bill Thompson (who had provided the voice to Mr. Smee for "Peter Pan").
 
Jock actually had his own short song called "Jock's Song" which he sang during his first appearance in the film; where he is seen visiting his secret cache of bones buried under some bushes in his backyard. The song followed the tune of the Scottish folk song "The Bonnie Banks o'Loch Lomond." The lyrics are below:
 
"Four steps a-straight, and then to my left
And right at the place where I marked it
With a Bonnie, Bonnie bone that I'll bury for me own
In the Bonnie, Bonnie bank in the backyard"

This is an absolutely adorable original production animation cel of Jock from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955. He is eyes and mouth open, full figure, sitting down looking to the left, and his tail is visible in profile. This is just a wonderful piece of vintage Walt Disney animation art history and a great addition to any animation art collection!

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Original Production Animation Cel of Jock from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955

 

Original hand inked and hand painted production animation cel of Jock with a Bone and Dirt set on a lithographic background from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955, Walt Disney Studios; Size - Jock: 3 1/4 x 2 1/2", Image 6 x 6 1/4"; Unframed.


"Lady and the Tramp" (released on June 22, 1955) is a full length featured animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Distribution. The film was the 15th in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and it was the first animated feature filmed in with the CinemaScope widescreen film process. The film was based on the story "Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog" by Ward Greene and tells the story of a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family. Lady meets a male stray mutt named Tramp and they embark on many exciting and romantic adventures.

One evening in 1937, Disney story man Joe Grant invited Walt Disney over to his house for dinner and ended up showed Disney a drawing he had made of his pet Springer Spaniel, who was named Lady. Walt loved the drawing and suggested that Joe make a storyboard out of it; which he did and the plan was to create a new animated film, simply titled "Lady." The story that was pitched ended up being too simplistic to Walt Disney's taste, and the project was put on hold until about 20 years later.


Original production animation cel of Jock without the background.

Jock (Heather Lad O'Glencairn) is a Scottish terrier who lives near Trusty. He is very loyal and protective of his friends. He was animated by Ollie Johnston and voiced by Bill Thompson (who had provided the voice to Mr. Smee for "Peter Pan").
 
Jock actually had his own short song called "Jock's Song" which he sang during his first appearance in the film; where he is seen visiting his secret cache of bones buried under some bushes in his backyard. The song followed the tune of the Scottish folk song "The Bonnie Banks o'Loch Lomond." The lyrics are below:
 
"Four steps a-straight, and then to my left
And right at the place where I marked it
With a Bonnie, Bonnie bone that I'll bury for me own
In the Bonnie, Bonnie bank in the backyard"

This is an absolutely adorable original production animation cel of Jock holding a bone from "Lady and the Tramp," 1955. He is eyes open, full figure, holding a bone in his mouth, and with a pile of dirt from the hole he is digging. This is just a wonderful piece of vintage Walt Disney animation art history and a great addition to any animation art collection!

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