"Be Our Guest" Restaurant Mural

One of 10 early watercolors I did for Beauty and Beast 

"The Little Mermaid" was not even in the can so to speak when I was hooked in to fish out a few concepts for a new picture entitled, "Beauty and the Beast" along with Mike Hodson, a remarkable designer with a pencil. Dick Purdum was named director after Richard Williams turned it down and my wife Patty was creating pastels alongside Mel Shaw. Patty was the Project Lead which meant she was also my ... boss. She enjoyed that aspect tremendously as she could now tell me what to do at work as well as at home. I began doing some colorful watercolor concept pieces only to be called into the front office where I was told by management, "This isn't going to be another musical like Mermaid, it will be a very straight dark film, much like the Jean Cocteau version." I checked out the Cocteau classic and suddenly had visions of another heavy film like Black Cauldron all over again and reluctantly decided not to stick around, a rather short sighted mistake on my part. I needn't have panicked for when Mermaid was released and became a resounding splash along with or maybe because  of it's memorable soundtrack, the direction of a non-musical dark Beauty film was tossed, thank goodness. It was to be a magical musical more than ably directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, utilizing a very talented animation crew, another outstanding score by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and with stand out character animation of the Beast by Glen Keane. A true classic of the so called "Disney renaissance."

Well let's scoot forward to 2011 when I answered my phone, (I often do that when it rings,  but I get so sick of those telemarketers don't you?), and found myself in a discussion with WDI to design a mural for their "Be Our Guest" restaurant based on the film. Naturally I said yes, partly because I had worked with this talented team already on earlier projects and also because it's' nice to work and get paid. My wife shares in that opinion.

Mural rough blocking with guest's eyeline in mind

 The mural was to be a distant simple countryside view of majestic mountain ranges as seen from the Beast's castle ballroom. There would be drifting cloud effects and twinkling stars. After some early sketching I just thought it was lacking that something special. I mean come on, summer in Orlando, with that humidity. I just remembered how great it always felt to come in from the sweltering sun and sit down and cool my heels at the Blue Bayou restaurant at the Pirate ride and wanted something as visually memorable. I remembered that the Beast Castle was blanketed in snow for quite a bit of the film. I watched the DVD of the film just to make sure, yep, there was definitely some white stuff on them thar hills. So I though, "Why not add some icy frost to the window panes, skip the moving clouds and instead add soft falling snow flakes that would glisten as they dance through the light from the restaurant's Renaissance styled windows? "

CGI set that sold the snow idea

My final "thumbnail" rendering

I created an animation using my almost completed illustration as a rear projection with the camera moving around a simply modeled dining room CGI set and through columns, and timidly added it as an attachment. When I got a call from WDI, I was prepared to get politely reprimanded for wasting time but instead entered a phone conference call full of imagineers congratulating me on the idea. One even remarked how neat it was to actually see the concept realized fully in 3D!

"Be Our Guest" restaurant during construction.

With the support of the marvelous team at WDI headed by Senior Show Designers Jon Georges, Chris Beatty, and David Minichiello, I surged ahead finishing the final illustration. The digital painting I created was saved as a PSB, which is the "super-sized" format for Photoshop files and I brought it over on my hard drive. At first they had trouble finding a computer with enough ram to open and scroll through the massive image which had me sweating bullets over whether I had saved it correctly but it all worked out. They were able to transfer the image onto a large curved canvas and the Disney artists on site did their wizardry to make it all came together.

The full size canvas mural ready for installation

On location in Walt Disney World, a team of skilled artists worked it over and really made it shine. In the end, the folks at WDI from the Senior Show Designers and Imagineers to all of the talented technicians and artists involved created yet another savory and delicious memory for Walt Disney World guests.

Well as Lumiere would say, "Ma chère mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now, we invite to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents... your dinner." 

Sheesh, I'm getting hungry already! HEY WAITER!!!

Art from the heART

This free event is the brainchild of Kim Peraza who is the Special Chairperson on Mortar Board UCLA which is their select Honor Society. She suffers from Epilepsy but has always tried to keep things positive and to give back whether sending packages to soldiers overseas, volunteering in shelters, or collecting food for shelters.

The great kids from the Mortar Board are going to help fund the CURE for Epilepsy with a benefit Art Show and Charity Benefit. There will be some amazing art for sale and silent auction. 

The format is very simple, they are also doing what many public television stations do, just put on an entertaining show and hope that people will like it so much they will donate since it is a free UCLA event. 

There will also be some behind the scenes clips never before seen of the making of some of the most popular animated films in history. They are also hoping that the CURE will provide a video hello from Susan the founder of CURE. The panel by the way is a veritable who's who of Disney animation and promises to be a lot of fun. Come on out and enjoy a wonderful evening and please donate for a very worthwhile cause.

Paper Sculpture

A behind the scenes demonstration of how Mike Peraza produces original editions of paper sculptures based on the Warner Brothers characters "Wile E. Coyote" and his nemisis the "Road Runner" created by legendary animator director Chuck Jones.

DUMBO Flying High Again!

One of my panels, from pencil to paint.

The DUMBO ride has been an iconic memory of Disneyland almost since the park first opened its drawbridge in July 1955. I said almost because when the fiberglass pachyderms arrived 3 weeks before opening at a flying weight of 700 pound each. When load with passengers (oops they hadn'tt added in the extra weight) they scraped the lower wood rim.  The ride went on a strict structural diet to lose weight and had to be reworked. This resulted in the attraction not opening until taking flight August 16, 1955. 

A few of Bill Peet's Story Sketches

The ride is of course based on the timeless classic film, "DUMBO" released by Walt Disney in 1941 which was a boon to the studio and the hit they needed to recoup box office losses from Fantasia. It was a simple and economically made feature with a running time of 64 minutes. When asked to lengthen the time Walt refused saying it was fine the way it was. Wish we had that kind of clear thinking these days. DUMBO was also one of the most heartfelt of the Disney classics and I defy anyone to sit through the "baby mine" lullaby sequence and not get misty eyed. I'll get into much more detail on the film in a later post but for now, this is about the ride.

Original "Pink Elephants version

The original plans had the 10 pink pachyderms which garnered the nickname "Pink Elephants on Parade". Walt decided he wasn't too keen on seeing guests flying formations on some intoxicated mammals and so ordered all of the elephant artwork grounded until they were painted blue-gray and to be on model to DUMBO.  

DUMBO evesdropping

Originally the ears were hinged and would slowly flap up and down which I remember seemed to make them seem even more alive when I visited the park soon after it opened. This ear movement created a great effect, when it worked. Unfortunately it jammed frequently and DUMBO looked like he was trying to execute a barrel roll or listen in on Aunt Esther's secret recipe for apple pie crisps. The little fellows got plastic surgery on all the ears and they never flapped again.

One of the many gilded sculptures that adorn the ride

Eventually the other parks received their own versions of the DUMBO ride, each time adding something new. More capacity from 10 elephants to 16, fountains of water surrounding the inner base and so on. Well with the wonderful updates at the New Fantasyland in Walt Disney World, we have achieved yet another milestone.

This week the park unveiled the ride to an appreciative audience. It is the first installation of what eventually will be two DUMBO carousels flying in opposite directions. It also has many new features such as fountains with corresponding LED light show that is best described by the fans as a mini version of the World of Color night show, so make sure to stop by and see it in the evening. It is also adorned with gilded sculptures of characters and props from the film from the Stork to Momma Jumbo to even peanut shells. The base is also trimmed with 8 story panels depicting the entire Film story of our favorite little flying fellow. I was honored when they contacted me to design those pieces not just because I deeply respect the amazing people they have at WDI but because DUMBO is easily on my short list of favorite Disney films.

A few of the panels I did in various stages.

I met with Imagineers to discuss the basic layout and size of each panel which grew from 3 feet to a healthy 10 feet apiece. I was given a frame design's inner contour to use as a guide while designing since these were to be enveloped within very ornate sculpted shapes as a homage to circus ornamentation.

The WDI crew was constantly improving each step of the process and one minor snag was hit when they changed the frame outline during the painting process. It was worth it as the new frame was a beautiful modification and only improved the settings for my illustrations. I chose what I felt were the key moments in DUMBO's journey and got marvelous input from my bosses at WDI. I had painted in a very black BG behind the "pink elephants" panel which although true to the film, was much too dark when surrounded by the other pieces and created a "hole" effect. Luckily again this was pointed out to me and I simply painted it over with a gradation of cobalt blue and I have to admit, it was much better.

The DUMBO ride is one of the few rides found at every Magic Kingdom park around the world. Even though it is basically a simple and classic amusement park design, there is a tremendous appeal for adults as well as children. It is in no short thanks to the little elephant who rose to the occasion many years ago.

Merry Christmas!

Jim Henson Tribute

Kermit croons a spellbinding theme called Rainbow Connection.

When a friend called to ask me to contribute a piece or two for a tribute to the visionary muppeteer Jim Henson to be held this month, I couldn't say yes fast enough. I had worked briefly with Jim and Frank Oz on their first muppet feature, "The Muppet Movie," as what else? A muppeteer. I was Emmet Otter and my classmate and future wife Patty Paulick was ironically MA otter. On the movie set we quickly learned important terminology like, "Muppets Up!" That popular ditty would soon be followed by the equally unforgettable, "Muppets down!" As Jim explained, "you new people have no idea how tired your arm will get just holding it in an UP position. A few minutes here and a few there and soon you realize the entire day has gone by and for some reason, your arm is really sore." Many seasoned muppeteers grinned in silent agreement with Jim and so we took that tidbit to heart rather quickly. It was and IS  great advice by the way. We found ourselves surrounded by talented people from all walks in life that somehow shared a passion for puppetry. These people were amazing to watch as their performances brought each character to life before our eyes.

Frank Oz, but you can call him MA Otter

We performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack and worked below floor level, watching small TV screens to check on the movement we couldn't see above our heads. After a few hours sped by we were enjoying our first lunch break when a lanky figure ambled over to sit with Patty and I. It was Kermit, followed very  closely by his alter ego Jim Henson. Jim asked us in his soft spoken voice how we were enjoying the shoot so far and as Kermit entered the conversation I found myself looking and speaking to him, along with Jim. It was magic. If you have ever met or worked with Jim you realize I am not exagerating when I say how friendly and pleasant to be around the guy was. A shrill voice soon interrupted  our talk as Miss Piggy invaded our little circle dragging along Frank Oz by the arm. It was hilarious watching and listening as Kermit and Miss Piggy went at it while the human counterparts below seem to almost disappear. Miss Piggy complained about many things including how drafty the sound stage was, which was why the curls were not staying in her hair and the fact that Frank's hands were too cold (and a few other remarks )and we all cracked up. That was hands down, (or is that muppets down? ) one of the most convivial crews I have ever worked with. 

As Frank was the voice for MA he took some time to help Patty out with her characterization of the little woman. Jim likewise gave me pointers on Emmet but also threw some real compliments my way concerning my muppeteering skills that I will always cherish. I actually felt guilty when I got my paycheck for doing what was truly a thrill for me. I did eventually cash the check, I mean come on, starving artist, remember?  Like many people reading this blog, I have been a fan of Jim's work back when the muppets were more or less nameless monsters and were featured in black and white television commercials and on the Ed Sullivan Show. My brothers and I would squeal with laughter at the antics of a small lizard like creature, nameless at the time but after a few more design modifications like webbed feet, we would all know him eventually as Kermit the Frog.  We also enjoyed Rowlf the Dog on the "Jimmy Dean Show". So when the Gallery  came a' knocking for a tribute piece, I was thrilled at the opportunity to share my deep appreciation for Jim Henson and what he has done for me and so many other childhoods in sharing his love for life.

"Soul Mates" basic blocking

"Soul Mates" adding washes

First thing I did was to knock out lots of quick little sketches. The second thing I did after looking at those embarrassing little doodles was realize it had been a long time since I had drawn these guys, and I had better get some good reference out and get reacquainted with the Muppet clan. I went ahead and spent the day looking through the many books I have on the Muppets, from "Jim Henson, The Works" to various Story books and record albums even resorted to sketching while watching a DVD of "Muppet Movie" and before too long I was once again comfortable with his wonderful world of muppet magic all over again. In fact with this sudden inundation of muppet mythos, I felt a "Rainbow Connection" forming or maybe it was just the tune stuck in my head. Anyway, eventually the two pieces I came up with for the Tribute show are as follows:

"Soul Mates" ready to ship

"Soul Mates"  is an acrylic on canvas with Kermit enjoying some quiet time with his favorite playmate (Jim Henson of course!). I thought it would be fun to see these two switch places with Jim as the puppet and Kermit as the muppeteer. I usually work in water color or gouache so doing this in acrylic was really a fun exercise for me. I had some Winsor Newton acrylics but had read some great reviews on the Golden line of paints. Found collections of Golden at a local art store that blended beautifully on the canvas and of course I destroyed a few of my brushes in the creative process.

"Muppets and Mullions"

"Muppets and Mullions" is inspired by a beautiful photograph taken of Jim sitting in an alcove window with a view of the New York City skyline holding alter ego Bert on his knee between shooting takes of Sesame Street. His fellow muppeteer Frank Oz brought Ernie to life and the two contrasting muppet personalities made for lots of muppet mirth. I wanted to silhouette Jim and Kermit against a chaotic cacophony of cutups (pun intended) of many familiar faces from the muppet family. I kept the "crowd" in white to be seen as a grouping and further simplify them as a light value to make the darker Jim and Kermit foreground pop. I cut this project out of hundreds of little snips of paper, slicing, scoring, folding, gluing until it all seemed to finally come together. (Thank you Mr Bill Moore our Design teacher from Cal Arts! ) I also must add that I along with my wife Patty are thankful we have a vacuum cleaner that works.

It's an honor to be a part of something that says thanks to a man who has brought so much enjoyment all over the world. The exhibition will be from December 10, 2011 to January 2, 2012. Opening reception is December 10, 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM.  If you get a chance, come on down to the Gallery and say hello, I'd love to meet you as we pay tribute to the "man behind the muppets,  JIM HENSON."

Mickey's Xmas Carol, PART 3

Ghost of Christmas Past models Mike Peraza

Two very close friends and legendary Disney Art Directors, both named "Ken," (O'Connor and Anderson), had spoken to me that they had  frequently built intricate models for many Disney films as an aid with pre-visuals and actual production to offer dramatic staging ideas and lighting. Ken Anderson had started it back during "The Old Mill" by constructing a wooden mill that could be dismantled to study the inside wooden gears. He built "Snow White's" cottage interior and exterior, and O'Connor did likewise with examples like Cinderella's coach and  rockets from "Man in Space". If those two thought it a good idea who was I to second guess? Besides, I've always enjoyed making models and small scale miniatures. Today of course we rely on computers to provide those services but back then it was all hard wood, metal, balsa, cardboard and plaster.

I worked with Disney Feature animator and model maker Dick Lucas

Ken stops by Christmas Carol to check out my model sets

on "Fox and Hound" who was the model expert for Disney from the 1960s forward. He was the key person responsible for Cruella's car and he still had that model stashed besides his desk at work among others he had done over the years. I'll have to do a post on "101 Dalmations" some time and include my talks and pictures with Dick, Don, and Woolie on that car.

Dick (and Muriel) lived two doors down from me, and Don (and wife Kay) were 2 streets over so I could bug them about these kinds of things which I did frequently. Besides using models as vehicles, we also referred to them for props. The Disney Lot Prop Master gave me one of the door knockers used in "Mary Poppins" (Bank of England set 

Patty Peraza live on Good Morning America Interview during Xmas Carol

) to look at for Scrooges door knocker which is taken over by the spirit of Jacob Marley (Goofy). I told him I might be using it for quite a while and his response was a gruff, "Jes keep it. I got a nudder one here so jes keep it." You see at this point the prop collection was literally spilling out into the backlot (yes we even had a backlot in those days) so he explained no one had ever requested the item so one version was more than enough for his over flowing inventory. 

For "Mickey's Christmas Carol", I built various sets including the counting house, Mickey's desk, Scrooges' desk, the stairway and the bedroom. I also created sculptures, some even articulated versions of the key characters like Mickey along with cutouts of drawings to place them into the sets for study and discussion.

These model sets and sculptures were available for loan out to anyone on the crew to aid with staging their scenes. Since the pieces were primarily paper and balsa wood, when Patty and Ted wanted to borrow the Ghost of Christmas Past set to study light patterns they asked me, "Is it OK to light the candle?" "Sure" I answered. When Patty returned the candle stick with the rest of the set at the end of production I wondered if they had used it as the sole means of lighting and warmth  for the effects department as there was a veritable mound of candle wax collected at the stem!

I was honored though when one of my setups with Jimminy on the candle stick was recently used by

John Lasseter and Mike Peraza check scene on Ub Iwerks moviola

Disney Fine Art  and Hallmark as a basis towards a limited sculpture/ornament for the collectable crowd. With all these little model sets in my room, by the time Christmas rolled around I even put up a miniature decorated Christmas tree that actually lit up in the counting house set although the Scrooge sculpture, exhibiting his usual "Bah Humbug" scowl, didn't seem pleased with the festive addition to his dour domain.

As I mentioned earlier, we unfortunately didn't have the ability to create computer graphics in 3D at the time which is today considered mainstream for "animated" feature films. I was hoping to push the boundaries of 2D if not into 3D, than at least 2 1/2 D. One morning I found a scene depicting a quick flight through an alley and over some rooftops needing attention. Now you have to understand that this was a featurette and not a feature and although we all lavished every bit of quality we were allowed, deadlines and quotas had to be met. I had about an hour to think of a way to handle forward motion and while pondering the problem, John Lasseter, who was 2 rooms down came in to see what I was up to.

He was going to animate Scrooge hanging onto Jimminy with his tiny umbrella for the trip to the past and had just gone over the scene in storyboards next door with Burny.  He was as excited as I was about various ways we might re-stage the scenes and after we brainstormed it for a bit, I roughed out some layouts and gave them to him to follow. I had really wanted to involve the audience in a roller-coaster ride over London rooftops. I did a few crazy tests that were kind of fun and full of potential but only one scene was actually cut into the reel and unfortunately what you see on film is our first only take of that action. John added some creative personality bits having Scrooge attempt to crawl ON TOP of the slippery umbrella during their flight which definitely added to the sequence. But oh, If we could only go back and redo it with the resources and experience we have now, ... sigh.

Me at Bill Peet's old desk working away

  One of our Mickey Model sheets

 

 

Animation production was directed in a very organized yet enjoyable manner by Burny with superb detailed model sheets constructed for animators to follow. I went down to the morgue to gather additional reference for characters we were "borrowing" from previous features like Willie the Giant, Ratty, Moley, etc.. On Mickey's Christmas Carol we used model sheets that demonstrated key poses as well as others that specifically detailed, scale, proportions and the final cleanup process notes.

Even with that kind of foresight to guide the production, pressure builds trying to create day after day. Gags both practical and drawn were always a great way to relieve that tension at Disney. We constantly exchanged gag drawings with each other lampooning everyone on the crew as well as the film itself, all in fun of course.

The talented crew hanging out with "Santa"

One gag resulted with an early snow in our hallways at Disney. Yes, I said SNOW, and IN our hallway. You see at the same time as Christmas Carol, the studio was working on a futuristic film called "TRON". Well that crew was working incredibly long hours at the end of its production and during one late night escapade, a few Tronites entered our dark and deserted Christmas Carol hallways and emptied studio fire extinguishers into a few rooms and covered the hallway. The stuff looked like snow, if you were a bit tipsy, which is most likely what the "volunteer firemen" from TRON were that evening. Unfortunately you just couldn't make a decent snowman out of that sticky goop (I tried) so it didn't endear itself to the unlucky victims. Luckily my door and Burny's were locked but they had a hell of a blizzard in Mark Henn's room as well as a couple of others. The studio management was definitely not laughing at our early White Christmas as evidenced by the interoffice mails we received (which I kept) but most thought it was pretty hilarious.

Warm watercolor, wrinkled paper and ink - Mike Peraza

As our own production was slowly winding down, screen acknowledgment always comes up. Instead of rolling credits, I wanted something special like the old title sequences we all enjoyed on film classics like "Song of the South", "Dumbo", "Peter Pan" and so many others. I mentioned it to Burny and showed him a mock-up I did of Jimminy Cricket on the candle stick with the title card and although he was interested he just wasn't sold on the idea.

Luckily a co-worker and utterly amazing story guy, Vance Gerry used to drop by my room to check up on me as he had requested me for the story department when I first came to the studio based on my reel at Cal Arts which was more story boards than animation. He got really excited about the little pencil sketches I had mocked up for the title sequence and the next day brought over some beautiful little ink sketches in the same vein he had done for some little Dicken's books to show me. Let me explain that Vance had his own printing press in those days and would hand out these beautiful little hand made books of selected works by Dickens for Christmas presents, of which I'm lucky to have a complete set courtesy of Vance. Vance then gave me a very special edition he had done that was reserved for retirees. I won't go into much detail about it here except to mention the long dark stairway and the small paper bag. Those of you who know what I'm talking about are probably cracking up right now.  Anyway Burny could hear us laughing next door and came over to see what we were doing and in no time, with Vance's support, Burny consented to let me do the title art. The only trouble doing titles I now faced was that the crew got wind of it and started coming down to see the pieces.

A Couple of Crickets

It would be flattering to believe they were wildly in love with my sketches but I soon realized there was most likely a stronger interest in seeing what their credit was, or if they even got one. It was then that I witnessed how disappointed some became when they they realize they were not going to get that animator credit they had hoped for. I have to say my wife Patty did quite a bit of great effects from snow gusts, fire, shadows etc. but was was requested to help with much needed animation for both EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland and when you aren't there at the end of production even though you personally animated over 100 feet of effects... Well, out of sight, out of mind.

She was a pro and took it like a er... woman, but there were more than a few very disenchanted crew members to put it mildly. Those kinds of things though unpleasant  have always been and will always be a part of film production and is a very difficult decision for producers to contend with. You can't always tell what a person did of didn't do on a film or series by just reading the credits.

One of my lost NBC "bumpers" drawings

Patty documented every aspect of the film

I borrowed the Mickey in the top hat with scarf graphic so beautifully airbrushed by John Emerson, from our opening and made two ink and painted copies to have signed for a souvenir. One for Burny and one for me, both of which the entire crew signed. When I made an iron-on and wore it to work (minus signatures) on a yellow t-shirt, Burny and the crew flipped and we soon ordered golden crew shirts with the opening card graphic for everyone. The Disney Studio courtesy of Ron Miller, threw a wrap party for us that ended with an after hours feast in the Disney Coral Room next to the cafeteria. If I had more room here, I post some pictures from that lovely evening.


Everyone was wearing their golden crew T-shirts and it was a warm reunion to celebrate what we had all achieved together, not to mention the food was mighty tasty too. In the end it was a very good experience made better by the talent and integrity of the entire crew and a supportive management team. "Mickey's Christmas Carol" was received enthusiastically at the box office when issued in movie theaters as a double bill in a re-release of "The Rescuers" which ironically also featured animation by then brand new "Mickey's Christmas Carol" alum animators Dale Baer, Ed Gombert and Randy Cartwright.


When the NBC network carried it in subsequent years, the studio contacted me through special Projects head Mark Sturdivant to create a dozen more title cards in the same sepia ink style I done for the original which was a treat for me. Mark was a pleasure to deal with as he was an unusual combination of creativity AND management. Yeah, you don't come across that animal often in what we laughingly refer to as the Entertainment Biz. I was in the middle of

Mike (Santa) and Burny Christmas Eve

"Basil of Baker Street" pre-production at that point but would knock them out during lunch breaks. It was a joy getting re-acquainted with that special cast once again if only to design some more title cards. I used the same techniques, quick little blue sketches that I cleaned up to emulate the old printing style with my Montblanc fountain pens.

I then sent them to Bill Brazner who supervised the Xerox Department in Ink and Paint and he would xerox them on cels to be shot over distressed warm watercolor boards I would sponge. They used these for what is referred to as "bumpers" in the business. These are the little title cards that in essence say to the home audience, "don't go away, we'll be right back after these messages

The Release Poster

." I included one of the dozen NBC bumper sketches I did, this particular one is the WIllie and company setup shown here with my instructions to Bill for slight enlargement on cel.  They don't use any of these second set of drawings I did  any longer as it was only for the network version and was never included in the DVD release nor are they likely to in the future so in essence I guess they are now considered lost. I made copies if they ever decide to reinstate them.

Walt Disney Studios built up the fact that this was Mickey's first official return to the motion picture screen in 30 years. The Disney take on the Dicken's story was translated into comics, records, collectable figurines and if you happened to vists the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World last Christmas, simply gorgeous window displays.

After "The Black Cauldron",  we were the last Disney animated film to actually enjoy complete production in the old original animation studio in Burbank that Walt Disney had built with the profits of his classic "Snow White" so in hindsite it was made even more special for those of us that toiled for old Ebenezer. Even though we had been told the move to Glendale would be temporary and that we'd soon return to the original animation building, it never came about.

The film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short (pretty long short ), the first nomination for our Mickey since "Mickey and the Seal" in 1948. What has made it even more special like so many films we have been fortunate to work on is the happy looks one sees when some one brings up "Mickey's Christmas Carol." Over the years it has become a perennial  holiday favorite for families to gather around and enjoy with each new generation. To paraphrase Tiny Tim's last line, we were all blessed to have worked on this merry little ornament of a film, yes blessed every one.

Merry Christmas!