Peek Inside the Walt Disney Film Animation Archives From 1921 to 1968

LA WeeklyArts

Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenA cel setup from The Band Concert (1935)Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenA cel setup from The Band Concert (1935)Credit: Disney Enterprises / Taschendepicting the baby’s dream landscape. The baby demolishes timepieces hanging from a tree. The tree is seen in the film but is missing from this partial setup.; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenA lovely Gustaf Tenggren concept painting for Little Hiawatha (1937); Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen“Go on! Have a bite!” Story sketch of the Witch smiling as she proffers the poisoned apple to Snow White.; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenThis deleted Pinocchio scene survives in masterful watercolor story sketchesCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenThis deleted Pinocchio scene survives in masterful watercolor story sketchesCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenhere in a scene from Fantasia.; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen“Ride of the Valkyries”: Even when the financial failure of Fantasia had registered and an American entry into the war against Hitler’s Germany loomedCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenBill WallettCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen1941Credit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenthey explained at an internal presentation: “We deliberately worked away from the Germanic operatic type of staging and toward the older Norse legends and ancient traditions.” As Walt Disney had explained in January that such a film could only be made on a limited budgetCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenthe battle scenes are staged as mass movements of spears and shieldsCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenin many scenesCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenin the same manner used in “Night on Bald Mountain.” It was not until two years laterCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen1943Credit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen” explains Bob Carr from the Story Department in a memo.; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenEthel Kulsar and Sylvia Holland’s series of watercolor storyboards to John Alden Carpenter’s orchestral work “Adventures in a Perambulator” may be counted as among the most spectacularly preserved for potential Fantasia sequels. It was initially not important to conductor Leopold Stokowski to include American composers in the selectionCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenEthel Kulsar and Sylvia Holland’s series of watercolor storyboards to John Alden Carpenter’s orchestral work “Adventures in a Perambulator” may be counted as among the most spectacularly preserved for potential Fantasia sequels. It was initially not important to conductor Leopold Stokowski to include American composers in the selectionCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenEthel Kulsar and Sylvia Holland’s series of watercolor storyboards to John Alden Carpenter’s orchestral work “Adventures in a Perambulator” may be counted as among the most spectacularly preserved for potential Fantasia sequels. It was initially not important to conductor Leopold Stokowski to include American composers in the selectionCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenEthel Kulsar and Sylvia Holland’s series of watercolor storyboards to John Alden Carpenter’s orchestral work “Adventures in a Perambulator” may be counted as among the most spectacularly preserved for potential Fantasia sequels. It was initially not important to conductor Leopold Stokowski to include American composers in the selectionCredit: Disney Enterprises / Taschenother artists absorbed his style.; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenA 1927 publicity drawing of a bigger-than-life Oswald the Lucky Rabbit on a movie set signed by Disney animator Norm Blackburn; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenA page from Thomas Hart Benton’s 10-page story treatment for Disney; Credit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenCredit: Disney Enterprises / TaschenDick Kelsey’s sense of style is most evident in his elaborate story sketches and story thumbnail art for the unproduced Hiawatha of the late 1940s. Not long after he died in 1987Credit: Disney Enterprises / Taschen

The Disney dream was born right here in Los Angeles, where Walt's animation studios brought Mickey, Snow White and myriad other memorable cartoons to life. Publisher Taschen's new tome, The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921–1968, reveals the fine art that goes into old-school animation, showcasing illustrations, sketches and insights into the creative spirit channeled by Disney and his crew. Featuring rarely seen concept art from Fantasia (1940), Cinderella (1950) and Peter Pan (1953), alongside photographs of the animators at work, these images provide a behind-the-scenes look at the crafting of these beloved cartoons.  

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