The GA "Short Bus" Thread Post your unpopular books! 2 2

[selegue]

Cool books Jack.

 

Thanks! More positive feedback on these than most of the oddball books I post -- maybe because they're higher grade than usual?

I think these are the only Sparkle/Sparklers I've ever owned -- looking forward to seeing them "in the pulp".

 

Jack

(building up to a furious Detective27Kid/ciorac bidding war)

[G.A.tor]

Cool books Jack.

 

Thanks! More positive feedback on these than most of the oddball books I post -- maybe because they're higher grade than usual?

I think these are the only Sparkle/Sparklers I've ever owned -- looking forward to seeing them "in the pulp".

 

Jack

(building up to a furious Detective27Kid/ciorac bidding war)

oh, I can't compete with ciorac...

[shiverbones]

el #2 is wonderful, undeniably catchy & bizrare!

 

most typos in one sentence I have ever made?

[shiverbones]

REALLY liked the Icicle art! Just off enough to be interesting, especially that frog! Another book for me to find...

[selegue]

I dug the book back out, so without further ado, here's Icicle

 

.....

 

Holy Fudd -- this is WAY better than I expected! Jitterbog -- HAW!

 

Nice cartooning, but is it heavily swiped? The dancing alligator in particular reminds me both of the 'gators from Fantasia (meaning Kelly influence, right? Looks like a great avatar for gator.) and of Frazetta's funny animal work.

 

 

 

I love the dancing animals. The break-dancing (Overstreet "first appearance" alert!) turtle is classic.

 

Jack

 

 

 

 

 

[BangZoom]

A big influence for the Disney animators (and hence, indirectly to many cartoonists to follow) was the German artist, Heinrich Kley.

 

 

 

 

 

[selegue]

A big influence for the Disney animators (and hence, indirectly to many cartoonists to follow) was the German artist, Heinrich Kley.

 

 

 

 

 

WHOA! New one on me, and the influences are obvious! At least I've learned something today -- thanks!

 

There are more samples at coconino-world

 

Jack

[Scrooge]

Yes, very cool. There was a Disney and European influences exhibit in Paris last Spring IIRC but there are also several books about that particular topic.

 

 

First, there's the Exhibit book / catalog:

 

Once Upon a Time: Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios (Hardcover) by Bruno Girveau (Editor)

 

"What makes the Disney Studio feature films produced between 1937 and 1967, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, "masterpieces of animation"? One pivotal factor was reliance on an ardently assembled studio library of "iconographic sources." Art historian and curator Girveau and his contributors elucidate the tremendous influence European fables, fairy tales, illustrations, and paintings had on Walt Disney and his studio artists. Works by Heinrich Kley, Pieter Bruegel, Gustave Doré, Honoré Daumier, Arthur Rackham, Lewis Carroll, and Beatrix Potter are juxtaposed with stills from the films, and, even more pleasingly, remarkably expressive preliminary drawings by such talented (and shrewdly well-trained) Disney artists as Mary Blair, Gustaf Tenggren, and Kay Nielsen. One intriguing chapter covers the short-lived collaboration between Disney and Salvador Dalí in the mid-1940s, a project resurrected by Disney's nephew Roy, in 2003, while another showcases the use of Disney characters in pop art and contemporary works, thus bringing the exchange between high and low art full circle. This gorgeous and revealing volume deepens appreciation for Disney's brilliant, imaginative, and indelible creations."

 

Here are some images from the exhibit:

 

 

and there's an earlier book for which follows a review:

 

 

Walt Disney and Europe:

A Closer Look At Sources

a book review by Fred Patten

 

Walt Disney and his studio have been hailed since the 1930s as a master of American modern cinematic art and an influential molder of contemporary standards of popular art, especially in the format of humorous cartooning. Allan's thesis is that "...the creative roots of the Disney empire...drew upon a European inheritance of literature, graphic and illustrative art, music and design as well as upon European and indigenous cinema. I identify some of these sources which were utilized and transformed by Disney into a new art form." (pg. xv)

 

Superficially, this concept is of "Well, duh!" obviousness. Everyone knows that Disney's cartoons, as well as those of every other early animation studio, relied heavily on European folk tales, particularly from popularized juvenile collections of Aesop's Fables and the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales. Disney's first two animated features were adaptations of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Italian children's classic Pinocchio (while Disney's rival, the Fleischer Studios, countered with the British Gulliver's Travels).

 

But Allan demonstrates in great detail that Disney's European influences were much more extensive and much more conscious than are generally realized. Starting with a broad survey of European influences on American late 19th and early 20th century popular culture (children's literature and toys, vaudeville and circuses, and anthropomorphized cartoons and fantasy art by such artists as Daumier and Doré), Allan cites Disney's own acknowledgments culled from his speeches and letters of his youthful favorite books, popular art and stage productions. Almost as soon as he began producing animated shorts in the 1920s, Disney studied the art in the highest quality illustrated editions of popular classic fairy tales, which at that time included paintings by such European artists as Arthur Rackham and Gustaf Tenggren. Disney urged his animators to study these European artists. When the success of Mickey Mouse (1928) allowed Disney to begin his creative expansion, a key new employee was the Swiss artist Albert Hurter, who became a major Disney art designer and mentor to the Disney staff from 1931 to his death in 1942. Allan reproduces numerous examples of European fantastic art from Hurter's personal library that he shared with the animation staff. In Summer 1935, Walt and his brother Roy and their families went on an extended European holiday. "While in Europe [Walt] had ordered a large quantity of books. ...the Disney Studio Library received a further consignment from 5 July to 24 September 1935 with 90 titles from France, 81 from England, 149 from Germany..." (pg. 31) When Disney was ready to begin production on his ambitious features, he hired some of those European artists (such as Kay Nielsen, the Danish illustrator of the popular 1914 children's book East of the Sun and West of the Moon) to join his staff and help design Snow White, Pinocchio and Fantasia.

 

Allan meticulously shows how Disney's features of the 1930s were influenced by medieval and 19th century Northern European artistic motifs. In the chapter on Pinocchio, "An important difference between the book and the film lies in its geographical location; the book is demonstrably Italian, both in locale and mood, redolent of sunshine and storm... The film is North European in look and specifically German in detailing." (pg. 78) Allan quotes discussions recorded at story conferences where Disney describes the artistic look that he wants. There are comparative illustrations of street scenes in Pinocchio with almost-identical scenes in 18th and 19th century engravings of Germanic towns and photographs of streets in a well-preserved Bavarian medieval town. (Allan notes further that some of the reference art developed for but not used in the 1940 Pinocchio later showed up in the designs for the Disney theme parks.) Later chapters show how Disney and his staff evolved away from this Gothic look during the next decade, experimenting with contemporary European surrealistic art. During the 1950s, new notable artists joined the Disney staff including the American Eyvind Earle, who "used a number of Europe references [in the 1959 Sleeping Beauty]; Van Eyck, the Italian Primitives and their landscapes, Durer and Persian miniatures. He paid particular attention to the Duc de Berry's Tres Riches Heures..." (pg. 233) Disney's 1961 101 Dalmations was an artistic tribute by art director Ken Anderson to popular British mid-century cartoonists Ronald Searle and Rowland Emmett, who had both previously visited the Disney studio and formed friendships with several of the leading animators.

 

The theme of Walt Disney and Europe may be obvious, but Allan fleshes it out in fascinating detail. Both the text and art emphasize primary sources, such as a reproduction of a page from the Disney Research Library's copy of Kenneth Grahame's The Reluctant Dragon showing Disney's personal penciled notations. There are 48 pages of beautifully reproduced color plates, and black-&-white illustrations on practically every page of text. The writing is clear and brisk enough to satisfy general readers, and there are enough footnotes, appendices and bibliographies to please the most demanding academician. Most highly recommended!

 

Walt Disney and Europe; European Influences on the Animated Feature Films of Walt Disney, by Robin Allan. Illustrated. London & Sydney, John Libbey & Company. Ltd., 1999. xvi + 304 pages. Trade paperback £22.50/$24.95, ISBN: 1-86462-041-2; hardcover £40.00/$49.95, ISBN: 1-86462-040-4.

Edited November 26, 2007 by Scrooge

[ciorac]

Cool books Jack.

 

Thanks! More positive feedback on these than most of the oddball books I post -- maybe because they're higher grade than usual?

I think these are the only Sparkle/Sparklers I've ever owned -- looking forward to seeing them "in the pulp".

 

Jack

(building up to a furious Detective27Kid/ciorac bidding war)

 

I like many of the books you post. Truth be told, most of the stuff in my collection is short bus material, but I love it. There are a few notable exceptions of course.

[selegue]

Cool books Jack.

 

Thanks! More positive feedback on these than most of the oddball books I post -- maybe because they're higher grade than usual?

I think these are the only Sparkle/Sparklers I've ever owned -- looking forward to seeing them "in the pulp".

 

Jack

(building up to a furious Detective27Kid/ciorac bidding war)

 

I like many of the books you post. Truth be told, most of the stuff in my collection is short bus material, but I love it. There are a few notable exceptions of course.

 

I hope it didn't look like I was digging for kudos (or more likely sympathy) for my orphan funnybooks. I meant that I was curious why a couple of Nancy reprint books drew more comments than some of the other crazy-arse stuff that I've posted.

 

I'm postitive that it was the first time for Rick lusting after my books!

 

Jack

(admitting it, anyway)

[selegue]

....

 

Holy Fudd -- this is WAY better than I expected! Jitterbog -- HAW!

 

Nice cartooning, but is it heavily swiped? The dancing alligator in particular reminds me both of the 'gators from Fantasia (meaning Kelly influence, right? Looks like a great avatar for gator.) and of Frazetta's funny animal work.....

 

 

Bad form to reply to myself but I wanted to post a couple of www sites of Frazetta funny animal work that I found while looking for examples.

 

Good one here! Compare Unsociable Turtle about 1/2 way down to Icicle Turtle.

 

A little more

 

Jack

[Scrooge]

I might as well bring them straight to the Short Bus (also posted on the cigar thread). Nice, bright-looking comics from 1948 for about $8 each!

 

This cover cracks me up. It looks Anthony sent Nancy and Sluggo to the cornfield.

 

Jack

 

I've been talking to Jack about his Sparkles and telling him they are too nice for a Short Bus ride. Here's one more appropriate for the Short Bus - Tip Top 173 in perfect beat-up shape with its typical bland Nancy gag cover. It's generally missing from dealer boxes though since it contains an early (the earliest?) Peanuts comics appearance(also seen below) but, really, Tarzan is the one that steals the show in this comic (see below) -

[Montezuma]

It's boring at work today, so I figure why not waste the bosses time sharing Oscar with you

 

Too bad I don't have a magic bottle handy.

[Montezuma]

and a couple more short bus riders

[Scrooge]

It's boring at work today, so I figure why not waste the bosses time sharing Oscar with you

 

 

Too bad I don't have a magic bottle handy.

 

Allright, this story does deserve to be in the Short Bus. Wow. The fishermen have a H.G. Peters look to them but worse ...

 

Don't know if I should thank you for the scans. (thumbs u

[BangZoom]

 

 

Thanks for the scans.

 

My wife has been asking, what do I want for Christmas?

Maybe its Funny Book comics.

[Jayman]

Cool story, the fishermen reminded me of Punch & Judy puppets!

[Jeffro.]

I posted this previously but what the hay....

 

[BangZoom]

 

That looks fantastic.

 

Can you post a photo of one of the interior pages, please?

[shiverbones]

I love the oyster story too! I am hooked!