Animation Artifacts &Books &Disney 07 May 2009 07:54 am
Kinney Writes about Moore
- Since I posted a piece about Jack Kinney yesterday, I thought I’d add this to the mix. In an early version of his book, Walt Disney and Other Characters, Jack Kinney wrote this:
The little gentleman, Freddie Moore, also took a poke at Roy during a friendly game of volley ball. Fred was a very co-ordinated guy. He drew as easily as breathing, and as the saying goes “He could draw his ass”. A very high compliment.
I saved a few of his originals:
(Click any image to enlarge.)
- Fred and Fergie did all of the animation on the “THREE LITTLE PIGS”. Fred did the three pigs and Fergie drew the big bad wolf.
It was a sensation and introduced “Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” written by Ted Sears and Frank Churchill,
It was the song hit of the Depression. Burt Gillett directed.
Art Babbitt, among others, might have argued with Jack Kinney’s allotment of all the animation to Fred Moore & Norm Ferguson.
By the way, these pages are xeroxes of xeroxes. Excuse the quality but enjoy the drawing.
on 07 May 2009 at 11:36 am 1.Ray K. said …
These are stunning.
on 07 May 2009 at 2:11 pm 2.john said …
those chorines are knockouts
on 07 May 2009 at 3:05 pm 3.Hans Perk said …
All of the girls, except the very first one in Kinney’s caricature, are from the unofficial in-house publication “The Mousetrap” that was issued in 500 numbered copies around 1938 by “The Ward Ritchie Press.” Number 91 of these was reprinted as a facsimile in the late 70s. The original run had watercolors applied differently in each issue. As far as I remember, Ward Kimball was the Ward in “Ward Ritchie,” one of the original editors (perpetrators?) of the spiral-bound magazine.
on 07 May 2009 at 7:19 pm 4.Thad said …
Homina nomnina! Great drawings! I wonder why anytime Moore actually animated his girl designs he would always draw the torso longer than the legs (think ALL THE CATS JOIN IN and CASEY BATS AGAIN).
on 07 May 2009 at 10:37 pm 5.david johnson said …
Freddie Moore and Norm Ferguson did NOT do all the animation on Three Little Pigs. Dick Lundy did all of the scenes of the pigs dancing. Please give him credit. Thanks
on 08 May 2009 at 1:35 am 6.David said …
David Johnson,
Right you are . Dick Lundy worked on it AND I’m pretty sure so did Art Babbitt . (as Michael alluded to above when he wrote : “Art Babbitt, among others, might have argued with Jack Kinney’s allotment of all the animation to Fred Moore & Norm Ferguson.)
Jack Kinney (like so many of us I suppose) had a selective memory.
on 08 May 2009 at 11:18 am 7.Thad said …
Moore and Fergie did do primarily all the animation on the far superior short THREE LITTLE WOLVES though.
on 08 May 2009 at 1:20 pm 8.Michael said …
We have to understand that history was in the making with these films.
The Three Little Pigs done in 1933 broke enormous ground and was the first very real example of a character thinking and having strong personality. Art Babbitt’s animation of the Practical Pig changed everything and helped create a new type of animation (which barely exists even these days – character/personality animation.)
Looking back on these things today, it’s easy to say the Three Little Wolves is the superior film. It was released three years later, and it should look better. It had three years worth of experienced animators behind it. However, in reality it’s nothing more than a sequel to an historically important film. There is nothing important about the sequels.
on 08 May 2009 at 3:53 pm 9.Thad said …
I didn’t say it was unimportant. But by that kind of logic, we shouldn’t be allowed to criticize BIRTH OF A NATION because of how important it was and what a landmark it still is.
There’s more to why I like it better, and not just because of the advanced animation and acting. THREE LITTLE WOLVES has a great horror element to it that few other cartoons have, Disney or otherwise. It digs deeper into my soul than just a cute song and the charming (and ground breaking) animation of the original. It also isn’t boring like the original is.
It is the better film in my opinion. Just not as important of one.
on 11 May 2009 at 9:09 am 10.Hans Perk said …
FYI, for comparison, I put up scans of the two hand-colored images of the girls from two different numbers of The Mousetrap on my blog…
on 22 Apr 2011 at 3:58 pm 11.Hans Perk said …
It took two years, but I finally put the color images from the reprint #91 up on my blog as well. The printed colors are more saturated and darker than the original hand-painted watercolors…