Howard Lowery's animation art storefront on Magnolia is no more, but he still regularly sells some choice items on Ebay. Like this drawing I lost out on from "Casey Bats Again", a 1954 short sequel to "Casey at the Bat". It featured Casey with a family of gorgeous daughters--each and every one the design of Fred Moore.
This animation drawing certainly looks like Fred's work, but it's also possibly a close copy of Moore's style by the very talented animator (and Moore's close friend and onetime assistant) Ken O'Brien. More trivia: she sports a hair ornament very like that of one of the Moore-designed centuarettes in "Fantasia".
Moore died two years before the release of this short, directed by Jack Kinney; if he actually animated footage it was delayed quite some time in its release.
Fascinating! Even if it's not Moore it still reminds me of his light and airy touch.
ReplyDeleteThat's really nice, thanks for scanning it so we can all enjoy!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome. Always a pleasure to post this stuff.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, I sat at my desk at Disney with a stack of Freddie's drawings on my lap.
ReplyDeleteEddie's right about the "light and airy touch." His drawings were magical. Like most talented people, and I've known a few, he made it look easy.
Ah, if only it were so.
Here is a Ken O'Brien ruff of Alice to compare to
ReplyDeleteSee ya
Steve
Thanks, Steve. That's neat to see.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to believe this is Moore's for sure, but I have seen O'Brien drawings from other "girl" scenes he helped Fred with and he really could be an excellent mimic of Fred's line(Ward was the guy who told me to call Ken if I wanted to know about Fred Moore as he--Ken--was "Fred's biggest fan", and he was indeed).
As he could draw so well I've no doubt he could achieve the look of Kahl or Davis as well...and then there are those cleanups in Illusion of Life of Mowgli from Ken. Anyway, 99% sure this is Fred but just tossing out the possibitlity.
With John Sibley and Fred Moore credited as the sole animators on "Casey Bats Again", it has no right to be any less than one of the prettiest cartoons ever made. And it is!
ReplyDeletethat face reminds me of a disney's character in Fantasia!
ReplyDelete