The 75th Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

In 1933, there was a letter written that stated that as far as animation is concerned, it should be limited to short subjects with funny animal characters because animating humans properly was beyond understanding. A year later Walt Disney accepted the challenge and began work on the first ever full length animated feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." No one thought it should be done, even Walt's brother Roy and wife Lilian did not think that anyone would sit and watch a full length animated film. But Walt soldiered on insisting he could do it for $250,000. As time passed that number sky rocketed to $1,488,422.74, a massive sum for a feature film in 1937. The news media called it  "Disney's Folly" while it was in production. Walt fought to get it made, mortgaging his house in the process to help finance the film. Walt hired a total of 750 artists to work on the film. Over 2 million sketches were made and the final film featured a whopping 250,000 pictures. The animators most of which had a background in newspaper cartooning were given grueling anatomy courses to be able to animate the human form and live models and dancers were brought in to be studied. All of this resulted in the creation of whats been called the greatest animated film of all time by the American Film Institute.
The film premiered on December 21st, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom that had dubbed the film "Disney's Folly", and received a standing ovation from the audience comprised of the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, and Jack Benny to name just a few. The film became the highest grossing film ever but became displaced by Gone With the Wind in 1940. Walt received an honorary Oscar featuring a full sized statuette and seven tiny ones presented to him by Shirley Temple. So today we honor possibly the greatest achievement in the history of animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Happy 75th Anniversary.

Happy Birthday Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

In 1927, Walt Disney and, his friend and collaborator, Ub Iwerks, after the bankruptcy of his Laugh-o-Gram Studio and move to Hollywood, embarked on a new adventure with Universal Studios.  Universal was hungry to get into the animation business so Disney's distributor Charles Mintz suggested that he and Ub create something that they could sell to the studio. Hungry to get back in the game, Walt signed a contract with Universal and soon Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born.
After a failed attempt with the cartoon "Poor Papa", the duo created the cartoon "Trolley Troubles". Released on Sept 5th, 1927, the short was a huge hit and shot the character to stardom. Oswald became one of the first characters to show real personality using physical comedy to solve situations. It's said that his courageous and adventurous side was based on Douglas Fairbanks. In the spring of 1928, with Oswald proving to be a big money maker for Universal, Walt traveled to New York to negotiate with his producer Charles Mintz for a higher paycheck. Instead of more money, Mintz instead offered Walt a 20% pay cut due to an economic downturn. Walt wasn't going to have it and quit, making that famous return trip to Hollywood that would result in a creation that would make Disney a household name around the world. Mintz, now armed with the creative force of most of Disney's staff, continued to produce Oswald cartoons including the first sound cartoon in the series. Walt had created 26 shorts and Mintz followed with 26 more before Walter Lantz (eventual creator of Woody Woodpecker) took over in 1929. Lantz consulted with Disney before he started and soldiered on with his blessing creating a total of 142 Oswald shorts before the rabbit made his final appearance alongside Woody Woodpecker in 1951's The Woody Woodpecker Polka. Over the years, Oswald would have several different looks and his voice would be provided by several different voice actors, most notably Pinto Colvig (Goofy)  and Mickey Rooney.
In February 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger initiated a trade with NBC Universal in which the rights to Oswald were acquired in exchange for sending sportscaster Al Michaels from ABC Sports (owned by Disney) to NBC Sports. The deal included all of Walt's original 26 shorts but left the rest in control of Universal. Since reaquiring the rights, Disney has done a small relaunch of the character with merchandise and most noticeably the Epic Mickey video game franchise. Epic Mickey 2 also gives Oswald a voice for the first time in a Disney production with the vocal talents of Frank Welker. So today, we say Happy Birthday to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, may there be many more.

Happy Birthday Jack Hannah!

Today we say Happy Birthday to Donald Ducks "Other Daddy" Jack Hannah. While Carl Barks is credited with giving Donald his comic persona, Jack gave him his animated personality. Jack started at the Walt Disney Studio in 1933 as an in-betweener and clean-up artist before moving on to writing and directing. Overall he wrote 21 Disney shorts and directed 94, almost all of which were Donald cartoons.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Humphrey the Bear, and Chip n Dale can all credit Jack with their popularity as it was he who featured them prominently in his Donald shorts. Jack also worked for a time drawing Donald comics with Carl Barks. But unlike Barks he stayed at the studio and focused mostly on animation. Jack attempted to move into live-action directing but was shot down by Walt. So, he went to work for Walter Lantz where he directed several Woody Woodpecker shorts before handling assistant director duties on the Woody Woodpecker Show. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1992 before his death in 1994 at the age of 81.

Donald Gets Drafted

Today is Pearl Harbor day, so I thought I would showcase the first of Disney's phenominal run of WWII Donald Duck shorts. Personally my favorite Donald cartoon ever...Donald Gets Drafted, enjoy!!!!

Happy Birthday Walt Disney!

On December 5th, 1901 a baby boy was born in Chicago by the name of Walter Elias Disney. Disney is regarded as a legend in the world of animation and theme park design. Growing up in relative poverty, Walt, with the help of his brother Roy, built one of the most successful multi-media companies in the history of the world. He (with a little help from some of the most creative employees in history) created some of the world's most well-known characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney provided the original voice. During his lifetime he won twenty-two Academy Awards from a total of fifty-nine nominations giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history (I like using the word history in this post don't I?). Overall, the guy was pretty amazing and is the reason we have fantastic vacation destinations like the Disneyland and Walt Disney World  theme parks in the U.S., and the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong. Unfortunately, he died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966 making the Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and the Happiest Millionaire the last films he would work on. Happy Birthday Walt, you have made a mark on this world that can never be erased.

Happy 83rd Birthday Mickey and Minnie

Today we celebrate the 83rd birthday of Minnie Mouse and her boyfriend, the most recognizable and iconic animated character in the entire world, Mr. Mickey Mouse. So ladies and gentlemen I present to you the animated shorts that started it all.

Steamboat Willy was the first Mickey cartoon released but not the first created. While Walt was still under contract to Universal for his Oswald cartoons, he turned to his best friend and animator Ub Iwerks to create the first two Mickey cartoons incognito. By the time the contract with Universal was up, he had two cartoons ready to go. The problem was no theatre thought they were worthy of being shown. Luckily the Jazz Singer was released, the first "talking picture", and Walt saw the opportunity to be the first to create a sound cartoon and Steamboat Willy was born. After its success, he went back and added sound to the original two and released them after, also to great success.


Until next time kiddies,
Brian James Fichtner

The Old Army Game

Well its 11/11/11 and it also just so happens to be Veterans Day. So in honor of those that have served our country I bring you a classic starring Disney's own war vet Donald Duck. Its no secret that the Walt Disney studios did alot for the war effort and one of those things was to entertain the troops and to bring them laughs where there were none. To do so they drafted the only guy in their roster that could handle combat...the Gable of their stable....Donald Duck. First they drafted him in the classic "Donald Gets Drafted" then they sent him on a series of adventures doing everything the soldiers had to do...except it was Donald. So for all those veterans out there I bring you "The Old Army Game" from 1943.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!! I now present you with a truly amazing piece of animation, Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia!! Enjoy!!!

Trick or Treat

Halloween is inching closer, so as a reminder to get those costumes prepared for a sugar overload, I bring you Walt Disneys Donald Duck in Trick or Treat!

Winnie the Pooh on Blu-ray Today!!!

Its a double post day! I just wanted to remind everyone that today Disney's newest traditionally(hand drawn) animated film is released on DVD and Blu-ray, Winnie the Pooh! It's great fun for the whole family! If you didn't catch it in theaters definitely be sure to check it out. Directed by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall, it's a story taken from the original book with a few new elements and a soundtrack by Zooey Deschanel. It's worth an hour of your time (its short)....and be sure to watch after the credits, you won't be sorry. Winnie the Pooh! Winnie the Pooh! Winnie the Pooh!!!!

The Headless Horseman song

We're getting closer, so Im slowly gettin you ready with Bing Crosby singing The Headless Horseman song from Disneys Legend of Sleepy Hollow!

Lonesome Ghosts

Now as we continue the countdown to Halloween I bring you the Walt Disney classic Lonesome Ghosts which, oddly enough, was released on Christmas Eve in 1937. The short also serves as the inspiration for The Ghost Busters.

The Skeleton Dance

We continue our Halloween festivities with Walt Disneys Silly Symphony cartoon The Skeleton Dance, drawn by the genius of Ub Iwerks.

A Little Tangled

I thought I would spend today showcasing just a bit of the amazing character design that went into Disney's Tangled. Even though this film was CG (computer generated) the majority of pre-production work was handled as if it were animated traditionally. The legendary Glen Keane lent his talents to the design of Rapunzel while Jin Kim worked on Pascal. Enjoy!

Happy 100th Birthday Freddie Moore!

Today is the 100th Birthday of the amazing Disney Animator Fred Moore. Fred, or Freddie as he was known, is best known for his work on the one and only Mickey Mouse. In fact is was Fred that gave us Mickeys modern look when he redesigned the character for Fantasia. Moore was also responsible for characters like Timothy Mouse (Dumbo), Lampwick (Pinocchio), and the lost boys and mermaids from Peter Pan. For a brief time he left Disney and went to Walter Lantz where he redesigned Woody Woodpecker. He returned to Disney in 1948 and ended up dying due to complications from a traffic accident in 1952. Freddie's legacy lives on through all of his unforgettable characters.