All these can be clicked and enlarged
I'd love to have more information on these designs of a "Littler Panchito"; I've read brief mentions here and there of a proposed sequel to "Three Caballeros" which was never made, and that must be what these were for, but how long was this worked on? Exactly when? When and why was it shelved? Did it get into boards at all? If the questions are answered somewhere(for instance, in Charles Solomon's "The Disney That Never Was"), unfortuately it's among the several hundred volumes I still haven't unpacked at home. Anyone who's got that helpful info off the top of their heads, feel free to comment!
Typically great, fun, appealing Moore designs. A scan of a ascan doesn't do them total justice, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how vibrant the originals are.
I think it's too bad Fred wasn't on that 1941 junket to South America, by the way; imagine what he could have done, sketching from the local sights.
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19 comments:
Love the colours of these. Very cute...Classic Disney...so great!
Love your blog
Yes, as Marc Davis said: "God! Fred Moore was Disney drawing!" And he was so right. : )
Thanks for the nice comments!
I am a long time reader and admirer of this blog and have especially been enjoying the series on Freddie Moore.
The South American character is actually a Cuban character designed for a follow-up film. He would have been a fourth cabellero because Cuba complained loudly it was not represented in the previous films. There were several designs done by different Disney animators including a Cuban planter (who would have taken Jose and Donald to a cigar factory).
In 1958, animator Frank Thomas told an interviewer that: "Fred Moore used to keep a sign up by his desk that said, 'Appeal'. That's what he always aimed for. It doesn't matter how cute, funny or amusing an animated figure is; it is ineffective if it lacks appeal" (1958) At the time, Thomas kept Moore sketches of the Three Little Pigs by his drawing board to remind him of "extreme simplicity in design, which is what we should strive to achieve."
Amazing stuff, thanks for posting.
Absolutely gorgeous and humbling...
When abouts was Freddy proposing to make this? It could have been shelved after his untimely death.
Mark--darn it! I'm sorry I missed you.
Jim M-you said it!
David-I'm pretty sure this was planned and done before 1946--and discarded before then too.
Fred was dismissed from Disney in 1946, and rehired in '48; he died in 1952. At the time he died he wasn't doing any visual development like this, but was an animator doing mainly short scenes in the features and shorts.
When he did these drawings, he was still near the top of his game at Disney's.
Gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Beautiful.
B
Careful Jenny. I am getting addicted and what you give us to enjoy is stronger and stronger everyday!
Didier
oh, i love these! they seem to predate the "Baby Disney" concept by about a half century :)
and i don't think i've ever seen anything about a Caballeros sequel...time to check with the Disney Archives!
PS: I also see you have the same problem with your profile slipping to the bottom of the page. Haven't been able to figure out how to move it back up again :(
There's so much energy in these roughs; I love it. I'll bet his PT's were interesting to see. Too bad his work had to go through the completion process.
That's right about Frank Thomas. It was Frank who gave me a stack of Fred Moore original animation. It was awesome!
Good stuff. Thanks, Jenny.
So much inspiring stuff in your blog. Those roughs are amazing..
Thanks for posting these! They're terrific.
Most folks forget how popular a vacation spot Cuba was in the 40s and 50s. The work that Moore did on the Cuban section is from somewhere between 1946-1948. I have a copy of one of his sketches lost somewhere in my collection where Moore did an older version of the plantation owner bird that looked more like one of the crows from "Dumbo" but with a wide hat, white suit and pointed beak. Much more dignified and older than these wonderful sketches you posted.
In the story concept, he would give Donald and Jose a tour of cigars rolling themselves out of tobacco leaves and then smoking themselves into a gray ash. Calling it a story concept is being generous. It is more just a suggestion of images like at one point the faces of Donald and Jose filling the entire screen and breaking apart into puzzle pieces.
For the same project (a cartoon about Cuba and Cuban culture) Mary Blair also did some amazing sketches including little girl and boy dolls made out of tobacco leaves, cockfights, Jose dancing with a line of cigars and more.
So, like the rest of the world, we are anxiously awaiting the forthcoming illustrated book "The Story of Fred Moore" by Jenny.
Here's another quote you can add to that project from an interview I did with Ward Kimball: (Talking about working with Moore) "He’d start drinking around noon and by two o’clock he was fairly drunk and would swagger into a room asking, “Who would like a punch in the nose?” He also had the habit of taking off his coat and tossing it onto a coat rack. One day, I stole a saw and sawed the coat rack in three places and put it back together with transparent tape. The next time he tossed his coat, the entire pole fell apart. Somebody complained that he was getting so drunk he couldn’t finish his animation on “The Reluctant Dragon” so
I’d come back in the evenings and finish up some scenes for him."
Paul Murry, who at one time was an assistant to Moore and later went on to illustrate most of the great Mickey Mouse serial stories in "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" said he got in trouble with Walt Disney himself once when Moore had sent him across the street from the Disney Studios to buy some beer and bring it back and then later return the empty bottles. Murray said that Walt just glared at him but never said a word and then called Moore to his office and the beer runs suddenly stopped.
I completely agree with you that Moore was probably a "functioning" alcoholic. His friends like Kimball and Kelly were amused by it but Frank Thomas saw it as a character flaw.
Not for nothing was Kimball sometimes known as "the velvet knife"...
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