Old News But Still Good News - Art of Disney Animation in Japan

One of the great things about being in Japan is stumbling on art related surprises from back home. Like the Norman Rockwell exhibition that came to the Fuchu Art Museum last year.

Or The Colors of Mary Blair exhibition OR even better the Mary Blair Store which opened in Ginza.

I first became aware of these rare treasures stumbling on a full-on Art of Disney exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo back in July of 2006.

It sounds like the thing to say but it was, yes....magical. I went twice.

Why aren't there more exhibitions like this in the USA?? The Museum of Metropolitan Art had a week long series of exhibitions and panel discussions about the metaphorical associations between modern fashion and the superhero genre of all things.

2006...

Someone discovers 250 pieces of lost original Disney production art in a janitor's closet at Chiba University. (What?) Production art from works as early as Flowers and Trees, Snow White and The Three Little Pigs. Other works included animation cells, storyboards, production notes, and sketches from works like Cinderella, Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty.

These pieces were handpicked by Walt Disney himself to go on tour through 17 cities in Japan in 1960 to promote the art of the Disney studio and his then upcoming film: Sleeping Beauty. At the end of the tour, they wound up at Chiba University as an educational resource. (Whether this was meant to be permanent or temporary, I don't know---- but what DID end up happening was that the 250 priceless pieces ended up a janitor's closet.

Ultimately the discovery of these works prompted an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo -- along with an additional 350 pieces loaned by Disney's Animation Research Library (ARL).

An awesome and well done exhibition. Open, interactive, intelligent as well as entertaining. It had the feeling of an interactive walk through one of Walt Disney's Disneyland TV series back in the day.

I just finally got my hands on the Art of Disney DVD as well at the 243 page museum catalog book featuring all the 600 pieces that were on exhibit. I didn't buy it at first because honestly, the exhibition was so intense, I just imagined the DVD and book just being pale in comparison.

I was happy to be proven wrong. Like the exhibition, the book and the DVD is filled to the brim and just cannot be digested in only one or two settings.

Over the next few days I'll do my best to post a few things from the DVD or the book. In the meantime enjoy some of these photos I ripped from the DVD.

Check out the commercial for the Japanese Art of Disney DVD. Here.

SATIN DOLL: Disney's First African American Princess

Just in time for Disney’s Snow White's 73rd Anniversary. Just in time for Black History month.

I was wondering if I should rename this blog: The Redemption of Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs.

In December of 1937 Walt Disney defines concept of the animated feature with: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In 1943, after encouragement from Duke Ellington to make an all black musical animated cartoon, animation legend, Bob Clampett directs the infamous African-American parody: “Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs". Despite grossly racially offensive gags it is considered an animation masterpiece. Either way, it's widely regarded today as a animated dictionary of racial stereotypes of African Americans.

Merrie Melodies "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" (1943)
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In Clampett’s defense I doubt there was malice in his intention. In 1943 all ethnic groups (blacks, Asians, Jews, Native Americans, Irish, take your pick) were savagely satirized and caricaturized. Also the fact Ruby and Vivian Dandridge (mother and sister to Dorothy Dandridge respectively) supplied voice talent to the cartoon, possibly implies the cartoon (though sophomoric) probably was not meant to wound.

In 1946 Duke Ellington’s all black musical idea resurfaces again as “Cole Black and the Seven Dwarfs”. This time as a Broadway parody produced in partnership with none other than Disney. The musical was never produced but development for the production went as far with a book and lyrics written by Disney storymen, T. (Thornton) Hee and William Cottrell AND concept designs (sets and costumes) by none other than Mary Blair.

In stark contrast, and still a parody Cole Black on the surface looks like something pointing in the direction of “good taste” and "class" with a Harlem Renaissance sensibility present.

Apparently the production started in development as early as 1946 and went as far as 1955 when a full script was developed. However by this time Cole Black and the Seven Dwarfs was renamed “Satin Doll and the Seven Little Men”.

Was the name change politically correct move? Probably not. Was it Duke's idea? Who knows. The Disney Broadway musical was never produced. Four of Duke Ellington’s songs have survived the development limbo: “I Could Get a Man”, “It’s Love I’m In” , “Once Upon A Dream” and the title song “Satin Doll” which was released in 1953.

“Satin Doll” went on to being a Jazz classic and the production once known as “Cole Black and the Seven Dwarfs” men faded into obscurity. Pity. It really sounded like it could have been something great. Arguably if Satin Doll and the Seven Little Men made it to Broadway it could have been a hit especially with the name Disney attached to it.

If the production was successful, Satin Doll arguably might have been re-imagined in an animated medium making her Disney’s first African American princess, and not Tiana from Princess and the Frog some sixty-odd years later.

Color Comes to Tokyo

Saw a great exhibition today. The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) today started a three month exhibition displaying the works of American artist, Mary Blair. Mary Blair was a commercial artist well known for her work with the Walt Disney Animation Studio and Walt Disney Imagineering. Starting around 1940 she was a key conceptualist for many Disney shorts and films such as, "Cinderella", "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Pan" and  "Song of the South."









Mary Blair provided the concepts and designs for the "It's a Small World" attraction at Disneyland. Her legacy lives on as her style and design is still used as the model when updates are made to the attraction.

Her work is bold and simple. Complex and childlike. She might use simple wall of color against deep shadow for impact. Sometimes she used a array of hues and colors in an almost mosaic like composition. Color can be used to invoke mood, direct your eyes to a certain point or to communicate. Her work did all this and more.

Mary Blair maybe wasn't so well known for her commercial work by name, but her style is certainly recognizable by many. Notably illustrations for the Golden Books and many commercial food products and household goods advertised throughout the 1950'sand 1960's. That bold but childlike appeal and feel of her work of her work has echoed into much of the commercial illustration we see today.

Aside from hundreds of pieces of her works being on display, her Disney Legend Award (the first female to ever receive one), her Annie award, a recreation of her work studio, several of pieces of art from her personal home were also presented. Works done not only by herself but her husband Lee Blair, (brother to animator Preston Blair) and even a couple of piece from her Walt Disney Imagineering collaborator, Marc Davis. Great stuff.