Duck fans Across the "Pond"

We just returned from an exciting adventure to Europe where we had the opportunity to meet the friendliest fans of the Disney Afternoon and Feature work that Patty and I were fortunate to be a part of over the years. Before we set foot into the plane though, we both were working hard months earlier to create something special for the collectors that were already contacting us about the events. In fact more than a year earlier I was commissioned to create an oil painting while Patty was likewise asked to create another of her stunning "cloth creations" which have become so well known and collected at the Disney Parks.

My better half and I began creating some new pieces in our little studios. Obviously a certain miserly mallard from Duckburg, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, is one of our favorite subjects! My painting, "Portrait of Success," is in oil and I actually let it dry for over 8 months before applying the Damar varnish. Patty created her piece, "Number One Dime",  entirely from thread, cloth, and a bit of stuffing hench the branding phrase she uses, "Cloth Creations". She was constantly cutting, re-cutting and trying new cloth and thread combinations over many weeks to get it exactly the way she wanted it.

Carefully adding the varnish

From the ODOR IN THE COURT Dept: After carefully and s-l-o-w-l-y drying the painting in a custome drying box (with side vents) over a period of just under a year it was ready for the final application. Applying a couple of coats of old school Winsor Newton Dammar varnish over my dried oil portrait painting of Scrooge McDuck was a bit daunting. I heated up a jar of Dammar within a bowl of boiling water and just a hint of turpentine in the traditional method to help thin it a wee bit so it would go on smoothly. The varnish really brought all the color back to life! Very happy how it all came together, except for that smell. A day later and the smell is almost gone!
As Scrooge might say, "It all makes SCENTS now."

This photo of Patty and I was taken moments before they open the doors of the event to the public. (They're expecting over 28,000!) The jet lag might be there but hopefully no one will notice. Patty said if I start to get sleepy she'll be happy to pour cold water over my head. (what a doll!)

It's times like this when we're signing with paint pens, that I'm glad my name doesn't have too many letters. And for those wondering, NO, I am not about to sign the tablecloth. They had just removed a stack of glicees I had signed before they took this pic. They did an amazing job reproducing my oil painting 1 to 1 size on heavy weight acid free paper.

But let me tell you about Patty's latest Cloth Creation. I really love what she has created and the photo here on the right really doesn't do it justice. Eveyone's eyes pop and jaws drop when they see it up close. I will say though that the glicee reproductions of her cloth are actually are so sharp you might think they are the original cloth instead of the stretched canvas surface! It is truly a magnificent piece fit for Scrooge's Money Bin Gallery!

An interesting bit of trivia, Patty went with the traditional red coat used in European comics and older Disney editions while I went with the blue coat we used on our original series of DuckTales. (I prefer the red one, but don't tell anyone.)

This event also gave me the opportunity to pay tribute to my old friend Carl Barks and his character creation and the inspiration for our DuckTales series in a sculpted form in addition to the oil painting. This is the first of a series of animated characters I am sculpting that will be released as a resin cast with a gold color finish (what else would Uncle Scrooge have preferred!) and the bronze version will be a later edition.

This wasn't a sketch sent overseas to have someone else sculpt which is unfortunately the norm for most Disney collectable pieces these days. instead, I drew it out in sketches and sculpted this piece myself. Scrooge McDuck and future Disney cartoon animation legends will also be posed atop the sculpted version of my trusty old animation disc. This was my original prototype and I was playing around with tints. The resin will be completely one color (Scrooge McDuck prefers the gold hue) but the later bronze may have value tints and even colors. The resin was reproduced beautifully and is in an even smoother finish than this.
I was surprised that no one I spoke with overseas was familiar with the base that I made which was "based" on an old animation disc.

These are a few of the lovely people we met over the three days we were there.

Patty and I have been blessed to meet so many incredible fans at the event. One person took a boat for 3 hours from the island they lived on to get there to see us and purchase a signed sculpture. Another got up at 5AM and drove over 4 hours for a print of the oil and an original pastel!
Thank you to everyone who has made our visit so memorable including Koushi, Kamilla, Brian, Paw, Tora, Anders, Glenn and especially Niels and to everyone who stopped by our table. We are truly humbled at all of these amazing fans and it is an honor and privilege to be able to spend time with them.

Like all good things, even this lively fan event came to an end but as they say when one door closes, another one opens. Well that doorway was to Tivoli Gardens! Walt Disney visited here many times and found inspiration for his park to be called Disneyland. Patty is waiting for me to take the dern photo so we can get into the park.

The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world. Tivoli is always evolving without abandoning its original charm or traditions. George Carstensen said in 1844: "Tivoli will never, so to speak, be finished", a sentiment echoed just over a century later when Walt Disney said of his own Tivoli-inspired themed park- "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world".

It's therefore no secret that Walt was extremely impressed with Tivoli Gardens and studied elements of it as a basis for his future park to be called Disneyland. Lillian and Walt enjoying one of their many visits to Tivoli while Walt trades his usual skimmer hat for a bearskin shako in the photo on the left.

When I was 3 1/2 years old in New Orleans, my dad gave me a bit of his steak at a steak house in the Big Easy. It was the best thing I have ever eaten and have searched with no luck across the globe for that same taste since. Well, we found it in Tivoli Gardens where Patty and I had the most scrumptious birthday dinner at Groften's Restaurant in Tivoli Gardens! The service and meal were the best! What a wonderfully romantic evening!!

As empty as the gardens were, this place was packed, and with good reason. The food was the best I've had in a long time,... outside of Patty's cooking (whew! close call). All those years later and I finally located that delicious steak flavor, in another country!

After celebrating our birthdays with that delicious dinner, we left the restaurant and got something to drink from the local cauldron to wash down a swirl of cotton candy. We got the inside dope where to stand for the animated water and light show and we were not disappointed.

If the place looks fairly empty, it's because being the last day of the season,... it was pretty much was. We weren't complaining as there were no lines for anything, and it was simply beautiful!

Tivoli Gardens is such a lovely park and made even more magical with the cool light mist that was wafting throughout the evening. We got the inside dope where to stand for the animated water and light show and we were not disappointed. If the place looks fairly empty, it's because being the last day of the season,... it was pretty much was. We weren't complaining as there were no lines for anything, and it was simply beautiful! Here is Tivoli's iconic whale's mouth snack stand with the old lighthouse next door still illuminating the area. You can probably tell that it was cold and a light drizzle of a fine mist permeated the park. Patty and I just loved it as it is certainly a change from perpetually warm and sunny Southern California.

It's easy for us folks with squeaky knees to walk around across Copenhagen as it's relatively flat, like a few of my jokes. Patty and walked across this bridge twice a day. The view of Nyhavn, Copenhagen along the canal is lovely, even when it's overcast.
Our lovely Copenhagen apartment is just around the corner but out of respect to the owner who graciously gave it to us during the stay I won't show any photos or give the address.
Every turn in this beautiful city presented us with yet another stunning view of magnificent architecture and friendly people. It's nice to see folks embrace and hold onto their architectural history and culture.

The sign by the way is from a little neighborhood cafe and is advertising their delicious homemade Lentil soup with bread.

We had to visit the Little Mermaid statue while we were here. There was a small group of kind people there that helped us get closer (to Ariel) on those slippery wet rocks without falling into the water, and took the photo for us.

Another checkoff from the bucket list. Well, we have to pack now and head home. SO relieved we don't have Covid!

DuckTales 30th Anniversary!

D23 is the biggest Disney fan event of the year and eagerly awaited by fans around the world. For this year’s 2017 event,  I did a tribute illustration to a series that I had a key role in bringing to the small (and big) screen, DuckTales. You can click on this link to read behind the scenes of the original series and see a little of the concept art I created for it along with stories of its creation and fabulous and very talented crew I was fortunate to work with.

This summer when D23 erupts, Disney Television Animation will be unveiling a new version of DuckTales while at the same time celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the beloved series that is credited with being the very cornerstone of the Disney Afternoon. Has it really been that long? Well, in one word, yes! WOO HOO!

All in a day's work for me back in the 80s

Marc Buhaj, Senior Vice President Programming at Disney XD had made the announcement a couple of years ago that a new series based on the late 1980s hit show would be coming to TV in 2017. Well here we are finally and the newest version is set to travel on more amazing adventures. It will include the same beloved characters from our old series including Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Launchpad, Donald Duck, Gyro Gearloose, Magica DeSpell, Ma Beagle and her boys and all the rest of the Disney denizens of Duckburg.

Boy do I wish we had the digital tools back in the day when we cranked out the old series. In those days it was strictly the "3 P's ", paper, pencil and paint! Oh the things we could have done with a Cintiq during the limited time we were allowed for the shows! Oh well, those bells and whistles can now be appreciated with the latest incarnation that will be exploding across small screens this summer. I can only wish the new crew the best and hope they achieve as much success and appreciation among the fans with their reboot as we were able to enjoy with the original series. Both crews, old and new were and are incredibly talented!

One of my old concept pieces for the original series

For the original series, there were definite changes in the character design along with the look of the backgrounds. I didn’t use Carl Bark’s look of the McDuck Mansion which was simply laid out as more rectangular, and decided to design a sprawling country manor home with helio-port, swimming pool and so on. I naturally incorporated the dollar sign motif into everything I could think of while design those areas to celebrate McDuck's love of money. I was very apprehensive when I ran these designs by Carl to get his feedback. To my relief he laughed and though they were great. He said, “I wish I had thought of that!”  Of course he was being humble as he was the man who had created the entire realm of Duckburg, it’s citizens their exciting adventures and I was just giving my take on some revisions for some key locations.

The new crew of DuckTales

Nevertheless I know I actually blushed with that compliment as it was from the master himself. There would not have been a DuckTales series or a reboot if not for Carl and his comics creation.
For the record, (I know there is discussion among DuckTales fans about it) Carl actually really enjoyed the first season of the animated series. I can share that viewpoint because that is what he told me. All of our artistic endeavors went through the talented hands of Brad Landreth, great friend and head Art Director of the series.

Frank Angones and Matt Youngberg share the Co-Producers hats along with shepherding storylines to make sure the new DuckTales does its lineage proud. From what I’ve seen, it does exactly that!While the old characters from the original show were constructed in the traditional rounded shapes, the new versions are made up of more straights and sharper edges which is a very interesting departure and will definitely be a fresh take. Tim Moen is one of the key artists heading up character design on the show and is part of the extremely talented crew. When the studio invited me over to see the early design look for the new version, it was still being fleshed out within a fairly slightly grayed color scheme.

My 30th Anniversary piece sold out the 1st Day!

Since then, the palette was pushed slightly more into a realm of saturation by its brilliant art director Sean Jimenez and I think it really helped breathe more life into the cool settings. The backgrounds are simplified in their design compared to the original series and use a linear floating line over underlying swatches of subdued hues with crisp dynamic shapes. Together with the spunky character styling this is certainly a fresh new look for the old series and I applaud them for trying something so bold and dynamic.

For my tribute piece, I wanted the old original cast that I had worked on headed up by their fearless leader Uncle Scrooge to be rounding an old winding stairwell and coming face to face, er… make that beak to beak, with their mirror images of the new reboot of the series.You can see a small closeup snippet of my new painting on the left showcasing a few of the original members who have just come across something  that has taken their breath away and stopped them cold in their tracks. That something is of course their duck dopplegangers. The new painting was unveiled this summer at D23 to coincide with the new series. I had hoped the old fans as well as the new fans would enjoy my painting as the tribute it is meant to be to the old and the new and was happily surprised.The original painting, all of the giclee framed prints and the entire run of deluxe prints sold out the very first day they were offered at D23! WOO HOO!!

"It's a Small World After All"

Painting the "Blues" while listening to them.

To celebrate the famous attraction's 50th Anniversary, I decided to create a painting in my retro style as an artistic acknowledgment to the time period in which it opened in 1967, well at the Disneyland location anyway. I wanted to show the iconic facade with a nod to the famous balloon motif along with the streamlined boat filled with happy guests.

The familiar tune is famous the world over and whether it recalls the colorful attraction at Disneyland or simply the arrival of a local neighborhood ice cream truck, it elicits smiles from children young and old. The original creation was devised at the Walt Disney Studios and over at its sister studio WED and here's some of the backstory.

The destination was to be the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. A major soft drink company, Pepsi-Cola had wanted a major attraction at the fair but the board of directors argued over what exactly that would be. Board member and actress Joan Crawford who had recently been widowed by the former president of the company called upon her Hollywood friend, Walt Disney, to help them out. Pepsi execs jumped at the chance and traveled to California in February of 1963 and ran into "Admiral" Joe Fowler who was the construction honcho for Disneyland. He informed the disappointed Pepsi execs that they (Disney) were already working on 3 previously committed attractions and because it was less than a year left couldn't possibly take on another. Walt found out and from all accounts he hit the roof. (There's reportedly still a dent there, the roof, not Walt). Anyway he told Joe and the rest, "I'll make those decisions! Tell Pepsi I'll do it!"  Walt explained that they were never going to be too busy for a great opportunity like this to showcase what the Disney company could create. You have to watch those kinds of missteps or you can be demoted from an admiral to seaman in one quick cut.

One of Mary Blair's lovely concepts

Original Installation at World's Fair

Walt was well aware that he had already committed his talented team of Imagineers to projects for the State of Illinois, General Electric and Kodak but was still game for the challenge. Walt commissioned a feasibility study but everyone involved already knew it was a done deal. The challenge was that they had to deliver the completed pavilion in only 11 months, yes I said it, ELEVEN MONTHS people! 

Opening Day with Walt and kids 

Joan Crawford then dictated to the board that they would accept Walt Disney’s proposal no matter what he presented. Because of the short lead time to come up with a concept and construct the attraction. Disneyland was about to celebrate its wildly successful first decade so the man obviously knew what he was doing and had the right people to back up his dreams. Some of the most talented Imagineers from WED pitched in to make the last minute attraction a reality. Mary Blair, one of the key creative concept people (and one of my favorites!) at the studio in the 1940s through the 1950s had left to work on her own. Walt asked her to come back and lend her talents to the attraction and she was happy to oblige. The Small World dream team included Marc Davis one of the 9 old men and his lovely wife Alice Davis who designed the costumes for the dolls. Claude Coats came up with additional color studies. Rolly Crump came up with inside toys and eventually the outdoor display named Tower of the Four Winds. Blain Gibson was charged with sculpting the doll faces.

The attraction was originally called “Children of the World”. Walt was immersed in a “walk thru” of the model settings with a couple of his song writers, the Sherman Brothers. During the visit, he told them he needed, “… ONE song that can be easily translated and be played as a round”. For those reading this unfamiliar with the term “round” think back to your early school days when your class was divided into groups singing different sections of “Row, row, row your boat.” The song the brothers came up with was so memorable that they even changed the attraction's name to, you guessed it, "It's a Small World."

Marc's audioanimatronic sketches

The married team of Marc and Alice Davis supplied a One-Two punch of creativity. Marc designed many of the various lands within the attraction while Walt personally asked Alice to oversee the costumes. Have you ever counted the doll population in Small World? Well someone did, and it's over 300! That's a sizable group which translates to quite a few colorful and culturally accurate fashions from around the world thanks in large part to Alice Davis.

Alice Davis sizes up doll

Over 90 percent of the guests of the 1964 World's Fair the opening year made it their mission to attend "It's a Small World." For some reason even though Pepsi was the sponsor of the original attraction, when it migrated to Disneyland, Bank of America, one of the key backers of the park took over the steering rudder by taking over sponsorship of the "happiest cruise that ever sailed."

Sadly Rolly Crump's marvelous "Tower of the Four Winds" didn't join the move to Anaheim. It was replaced by another of his crafty and creative concoctions of a 30 foot clock centered within a facade based on Mary Blair's styling that symbolized structures and shapes from around the world. The guests in line, along with those in the loading area get to watch the toy soldiers trumpet the parade of dolls every quarter hour. So if it's a very crowded day, well, you're going to get to enjoy that parade over... and over... and over.

Celebrating 50 Years of the Happiest Cruise that ever Sailed!

As per Walt's vision the imagineers kept attempting to improve on what was there. They added visual imagery projected onto the facade set to music that even included surprised gusts in the audience that very day. Imagine looking up and seeing a closeup of Aunt Mildred bigger than life on the Small World facade devouring her third delicious Dole Whip? Yikes!

From January to November 2008 they dry-docked the happy little cruise while the fiberglass boats were replaced by a more durable plastic body. The water propulsion was upgraded to smoother and more powerful electric water jet turbines. Other additions have included installing characters from Disney films within the lands such as Alice, Lilo, Stitch and even Woody numbering 29 new characters in all. It has been argued (quite successfully) that the them song, "It's a Small World" is the single most performed and translated piece of music on Earth. I was even told by no less an authority of the Sherman Brothers themselves that somewhere in the world, it's being played at this moment. I believe it, and have to thank Walt and his talented team of imagineers for one of the most magical and memorable of all Disney attractions! Happy 50th SMALL WORLD!

DISNEYLAND Diamond Jubilee Celebrates 60 Years of Dreams!

I'm delighted to have the opportunity to present 3 new designs to honor Disneyland's 60 Anniversary!

Blocking in "Retro Retlaw"

The "crown jewel" of all amusement parks is celebrating its 60th Diamond Anniversary on July 17, 2015 and I was  asked to join a select group of amazing artists to design something to help usher in the sparkling celebration. My three original gems are entitled, "Retro Retlaw", "Road to Dreams" and "60 yEARS!" are of course designed and painted in traditional methods instead of using a computer. The final paintings are all gouache, the very same medium we all used at Disney Studios in the 1930s on Pinocchio up into the 1970s, and the pieces measure around 18" x 24".

Opening Day

You would be hard pressed to find a child or adult who, if they haven't visited the park, has at least  dreamed of doing so. Well I'm one of the millions of lucky kids (of all ages) who dreamed of going to Disneyland and subsequently realized that magical dream coming true, well it came true frequently in fact. And I have to admit, I never get tired of visiting the magic kingdom, especially with folks who are first time or infrequent visitors whereas I can enjoy it again through their eyes. I also just plain enjoy watching people as they enjoy themselves at the "happiest place on Earth!"

First ticket sold!

Disneyland is the ONLY theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Maybe that's why it always seemed to have an edge over all the other later parks in some kind of special feeling within its gates. As Walt once recollected during an interview, being the head of a thriving studio kept him very busy and he looked forward to weekends, especially Sundays at Griffith Park Carousel watching his daughters Diane and Sharon reach for the brass ring. Walt wistfully dreamed about a place where parents, children and friends could all enjoy a family experience together as opposed to sitting there waiting for a ride or two to finish.

Disneyland 60th artwork ad

Walt Disney, as he usually did, surrounded himself with people that would help enable his dream to become a reality. Originally it was going to be built in Burbank across the street from the studio but Walt's plans quickly outgrew that tiny corner of real estate. His unbridled imagination eventually stretched to take root across 160 acres of orange groves that was owned owned by no less than 17 different families in the middle of a place no one had ever heard of called Anaheim. (Ana-who? no Anaheim!).


Week after week on Sunday evenings we would see the progress on Walt's TV show entitled what else? "Disneyland" and marvel as the park took shape. As the weeks went on American families grew more excited about this magical kingdom that Walt Disney was creating. The wait was finally over on July 17th 1955, when Disneyland lowered it's drawbridge and opened its doors to the world on live television, spreading happiness and magic for millions ever since. Shown here on the left is the first Disneyland admission ticket and it was purchased by Walt's older brother and important partner of the Disney empire from its beginning, Roy O. Disney,  for $1. Gee, prices have gone up a bit wouldn't you say?

Another playful parody ad for the celebration

The Monsanto House of the Future

For my tribute pieces I decided to pay homage to the "retro style"I seem to have become associated with that harkens back to mid century design aesthetics, so I guess I'm a retro kinda guy these days. Although I can and have worked in a multitude of styles, media and techniques, I felt that to properly pay respect to an event from the 1950s it would be nice to use a style keenly embraced by graphic designers and Madison Avenue firms during that time period. I also created a series of parody ads to humorously help herald the event using, what else? a 1950s magazine ad feel. A couple of them are included here.

Remember the Sky Buckets?

With Walt in charge, the Walt Disney Company was always on the cutting edge with regard to design, and the commercial art side of things from the earliest days of Disneyland's conception was certainly no exception. That contemporary style carried through into maps, tickets, signage, and print advertisement during the first decade of the park. I am a big fan of that now vintage look and in fact used it back in the early 1970s when I was a commercial artist working for an advertising firm not unlike a smaller version of that on the series MAD MEN. We operated out of a tiny two story building so the falling man title sequence from Mad Men opening just wouldn't have had the same impact. These new retro pieces honoring Disneyland's 60th will be unveiled as prints along with the originals at the Anaheim Convention Center during this years D23 EXPO.

Painting Disneyland's 60th Anniversary artwork

I was "bi-desk-al" meaning I worked back and forth on these three pieces at two different desks so while one painting was drying I could scoot over the the other one and keep going. Those of you familiar with my posts know I am the happy owner of the original Walt Disney Studio architect Kem Weber's prototype animation desk and his concept/story desk model that was actually used by a legendary imagineer at WED by the name of Herb Ryman.

My wife, Disney animator Patty Peraza was the first to notice the delightful irony that here I was happily nestled up in my studio, designing poster artwork to celebrate Disneyland's 60th Anniversary... on Disney Legend Herb Ryman's desk!  

Herb Ryman's iconic original concept design for Disneyland

Patty and Whatshisname

For those of you who may not know who Herbie is, well he was a long time artist in the company, and a stunning talent valued by Walt Disney himself. In 1952, Walt had set up an independent company that would concentrate on bringing his dreams of a new kind of amusement park to life. To get a full head of steam with visuals, Walt Disney spoke to Herb Ryman on Spetember 23, 1953 a Wednesday morning and implored him to come to the studio right away for something important.

DISNEYLAND 60th ANNIVERSARY ART
Road to Dreams

For the next few days Walt and Herbie were inseparable as Walt "described" and Herb "inscribed". Monday morning found a worn out Walt and Herb along with a huge ink drawing on thick vellum paper. That drawing was rolled up and taken to New York by Walt's brother Roy to line up some early but important financing for the new Disneyland park.

So here I was decades later using the master's magical desk to compose posters of that wonderful new idea of Walt's, DISNEYLAND! I'm very proud and humbled to have been able to contribute my designs in a small way to help celebrate Disneyland's 60th Diamond Anniversary. I sincerely hope you like them and will stop by and say howdy at D23 and at the Disneyanna Gallery! I won't be alone by any means and in fact I am in good company with a fantastic and talented group of artists and I encourage you to check out their fabulous creations. So Happy Birthday DISNEYLAND and thank you Walt and all those original Imagineers for 60 years of magic at the Happiest Place on Earth!

One of the signings at the Disney Dream Store

UPDATE: We really enjoyed our time at D23 Expo meeting so many wonderful Disney fans from around the world. All of my original paintings sold out within the first five minutes of D23 opening its doors on Friday! On Saturday the Giclees followed with the smaller prints going before they closed the magical doors on Sunday! Patty and I were happily surprised!

By the way, we made our own outfits to celebrate the Diamond Anniversary and as such we made sure they were "dazzling"! The local arts and crafts stores enjoyed our repeated visits to buy more and more sparkling sequins, glass beads and foam sheets. D23 EXPO, my favorite part was spending time chatting with and meeting Disney fans. After all, I'm a Disney fan myself!

Haunted Mansion's 45th Anniversary!

HAUNTED MANSION 45TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S ART DISNEYLAND GALLERY MIKE PERAZA

"Welcome Foolish Mortals ... " to a celebration of Disneyland's horribly humorous hair-raising Haunted Mansion. As most of you know, there are multiple versions of this spooktacular attraction at Disney parks around the world with each one celebrating their unique differences from the architecture outside to many of the ride elements inside. The one located at Disneyland is of course the ominous original, opening it's creaky doors to the public on August 9,1969. This year celebrates its 45th year of happy haunting. I was asked to create some eerie original artwork to celebrate this tombstone... I mean milestone, and so I'm unveiling part of my ghostly gouache. Before I get to the painting however, a bit of history of the Haunted Mansion is in order, and for goodness sakes don't you dare pull back on the safety bar, we'll do it for you! Disneyland's Haunted Mansion 45th Anniversary artist Mike Peraza HAUNTED MANSION, 

Harper Goff's early rendition of the attraction

Walt Disney first considered a haunted house attraction in Disneyland two decades before the first shovel was turned to lay the attraction's groundwork. The original sketches by Harper Goff for the structure included drawings for a gothic mansion resembling (at least to me) the one that would be built years later in 1960 for Hitchcock’s Psycho with a graveyard and church sharing the plot.

However when Disneyland lowered its drawbridge and opened its magical castle to the public on July 17, 1955, it did so without the benefit of a spine tingling creepy crypt. In 3 short years however, Walt's never ending park expansion created a new land named “New Orleans Square” (being a native of the "big easy" I certainly like the sound of that) which would provide literally lay the foundation for the spook house in 1962. HAUNTED MANSION 45TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR ART

Ken Anderson's original design

Sam McKim's color interpretation

Although early concepts by Ken Anderson portrayed the mansion as an old dilapidated haunted house, Walt Disney thought that might be a grave mistake and wanted it to have a pristine look to match the rest of the park. As numero uno imagineer Walt himself put it, "We'll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside."

It then stood empty for years while the Disney company concentrated on its responsibilities for the 1964 World's Fair. When Walt Disney passed away in 1966, the imagineers were in the midst of planning the new attraction. They were suddenly at a loss of whether to make the attraction scary like Claude Coats had wanted or funny like Marc Davis had planned. Actually "loss" is not accurate when recounting those times.

One of many Marc Davis concepts

The imagineers I talked to, including Marc and Claude themselves (and they o'uta know, ya know ) described the situation a bit like going into battle without a commanding general to coordinate the troops. In the end of course they combined both directions into an eerie entertaining experience that people line up for to this day.

Haunted Mansion 45th Event
Mike Peraza

As many of you may know who have read my blog over the years, two of my mentors: Disney Legends Ward Kimball and Ken O’Connor used to advise me in essence to be a chameleon. In other words, don’t just create in one style or medium but be open to many approaches but try to do each well. In this respect I created my newest piece to celebrate the Haunted Mansion’s 45th in a style I like to refer to as “retro ” and  let me tell you, it was a hoot to work on. I wanted to avoid doing the "stretches" or just limit myself to the "hitch hikers" and hoped to include as much of the ride in the image as possible without getting too complicated. I solved the problem by using a whimsical approach and starting with a simple base composition to build upon. The end result is almost a companion piece to my "Seasons of Magic" painting that was very well received by Disney fans and was subsequently showcased in the Disney Gallery vault for many months.

As my wife Patty put it, “It’s an advertising style that was being used when the original attraction opened, so it’s fitting to return to that stylized look to celebrate it 45 years later!" She has so many good ideas and of course if you want a happy life- you keep a happy wife, so I used her suggestion. And once again I'm also using the medium of choice from the old Disney Studio of the 1930s through the 1960s which is gouache with the original illustration measuring 18 x 24 inches. You can see it within the ad poster to the left. The look was decidedly different from my previous pieces for the Disney Gallery Steampunk Show . Once I had finalized my thumbnails, it was frighteningly fun adding little hidden treasures among the Haunted Mansion many points of interests. Mike Peraza Haunted Mansion 45th Anniversary collector poster. HANTED MANSION

Yale Gracey and "Hat box"

Yale Gracey with chip off the old block

I even included cryptic characters from the ride that were removed from the attraction  like the legendary “Hat box Ghost" although he is making a "spirited" return . Here's a photo of Yale Gracey working on that original problem child that never seemed to come off the way they had hoped. Before he transferred to WED, Yale was a brilliant layout guy for Jack Hannah back in the day doing Donald Duck shorts among many other projects at the old studio. When Jack introduced him to me I had no idea he was an imagineer at that time because the discussion was mainly centered on animation and layout from his work at the old Disney Studio. When he eventually got around to sharing Disneyland stories I was even more blown away by Yale's accomplishments.

The original design of the Hatbox
Ghost by Collin Campbell

He was a nice guy and is missed to this day by everyone who was fortunate to know him. If you ever wondered if there was a real "Master Gracey", well this is the amazing gentleman who was honored with that title.

 Mike Peraza whimsical take on Hat Box Ghost

By the way, the original design for the "Hat Box Ghost" was by another old friend, Collin Campbell and is included here. Speaking of "Hatty", here is my retro rendition of that ghastly ghost. I have also planted multiple “hidden Mickeys” and other treasures throughout the graphic graveyard so have fun unearthing them. Before you pull down on the safety bar even though we told you not to, come on down to the Disney Gallery and join our spirited celebration of the Haunted Mansion's 45th!

Part of the crowd waiting outside to get in,
while there was just as many inside waiting to get out.

If you're looking to pick up fine art prints signed for you by their apparitional artists celebrating the Haunted Mansion's 45th but worried your walls are too full, let me paraphrase the last line you hear when leaving the Haunted Mansion, "...there's always room for one more." So come on out August Saturday 16, 9:00 AM to the Disneyland Gallery located on Main Street, on the right when you enter the park. I'll be there along with a ghoulish group of extremely talented and terrifying artists just dying to meet you.

UPDATE: The signing event was huge success and sold out of all of my paper prints, canvas prints and the original painting before it was even half over. I had the pleasure of meeting so many incredible folks who came by to pick up a print and then stuck around to talk and share some great times while I signed. Of course that is wonderful news but what is also exciting is that prints are again available at the Disney Gallery for my "Happy Haunts" in both formats and will continue to be offerred for all of the Haunted Mansion fans out there.

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