Neither we nor the Megacollector have figured out for which cartoon Fred Moore drew this Mickey Mouse cycle, but given the style it was obviously late-1940s to early 1950s, probably not too long before Moore's unfortunate demise in 1952.
It should not surprise you to learn that these are © Disney.
The thoughts and observations of the leaders of The Animation Guild (TAG), Local 839 IATSE. Jason MacLeod is the Business Representative, KC Johnson is the President. Mike Sauer is Assistant to the Business Representative.
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7 comments:
Those are just gorgeous. Drawings like those really make me hanker for some really great hand drawn cartoons! I think I'll pop my dvd of Song of the South in.
Very nice art...but these drawings really show how much soul Mickey lost as the years went by. His original "pie-eyed" design was just about perfect - he was never cuter or more expressive. This mouse actually looks kinda un-Mickey-like...kinda generic. This is a nice find, though, thanks for posting this.
Pie-eyed Mickey was by no means "cuter," just the opposite. What he was, was more interesting because he had an unpredictable, mischievous side which disappeared in "The Band Concert" when he transformed into an authority figure and Donald's straight-man.
The cutest Mickey, IMHO, was Fred Moore's model for "The Brave Little Tailor."
I'd say that the "original pie-eyed design" wasn't very original. Just a slight species change from Oswald the Rabbit or Felix the Cat.
But "The Brave Little Tailor" design WAS pie-eyed Mickey:
http://www.certain.com/event/accounts/register123/disney/waltdisneyworld/events/2006tbd/rjohnwrightauc3.jpg
And Mickey never looked better.
And yes, Mickey's original design was a bit of a rip from Felix the Cat, but at least it wasn't bland. The redesign that occured later actually made Mickey look much more generic. And BLAND.
I prefer the later Fred Moore Mickey to the earlier Iwerks-inspired drawings. I think the "bland" '50s Mickey was more a result of uninspired storywork than design.
Has anyone out there ever heard that the "Nine Old Men" thought that Fred Moore's abilities were LIMITED and that past a certain point he never progressed any further because he either couldn't or wouldn't?
What NERVE! Those guys WISH they could put as much life force into their animation as Fred Moore did!!
After all...he was one of THEIR mentors!!! PUNKS!!!
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