Original Production Cel of Dumbo from "Dumbo," 1941
- Untitled Art Gallery
- 47 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cel of Dumbo set over a Courvoisier air brush background from "Dumbo," 1941, Walt Disney Studios; Walt Disney Productions stamp verso; Size - Dumbo: 3 3/4 x 2 3/4", Image 7 3/4 x 6 1/2"; Unframed.
"Here is a baby with eyes of blue, straight from heaven right to you." - Stork
The Walt Disney full length feature film "Dumbo," released in 1940, introduced to the world one of the greatest characters in the Disney pantheon, Dumbo the flying elephant! Dumbo was the only character in the film who never uttered a single word, and yet he is one of the most remembered Disney stars. All of his feelings were conveyed through body movements and facial expressions. The extraordinary animation skill needed in order to do this with a human, but in this case a baby elephant, can not be underestimated.
The Disney Studio animation artists were still fairly new to feature animation, having only started in 1937 with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The film prior to "Dumbo" was "Fantasia," with one of the most successful sequences being "Night on Bald Mountain." Here again, the main character Chernabog, a huge winged devil, sitting on top of a mountain, commanding the undead below, and never uttering a single word; made a huge impression on the viewing public.
The Disney animator Vladimir "Bill" Tytla created the devil-giant for "Fantasia's" "Night on Bald Mountain," and for the next film he was given the task of animated the film's star, Dumbo. He said:
"I gave him everything I thought he should have," said Tytla. "It just happened. I don't know a damn thing about elephants. It wasn't that. I was thinking in terms of humans, and I saw a chance to do a chracter without using any cheap theatrics. Most of the expressions and mannerisms I got from my own kid. There's nothing theatrical about a two-year-old kid. They're real and sincere- like when they damn near wet their pants from excitement when you come home at night. I've bawled my kid out for pestering me when I'm reading or something, and he doesn't know what to make of it. He'll just stand there and maybe grab my hand and cry... I tried to put all those things in Dumbo."
Certainly the greatest theme of "Dumbo" was the wonderful friendship between the mute baby elephant Dumbo and his unlikely friend, a mouse name Timothy. Various Disney animators were involved with the creation and animation of Timothy Q. Mouse including Fred Moore, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Ward Kimball. Edward S. Brophy was an American character actor, voice artist, and comedian; and he provided the voice for Timothy Mouse even though he was not credited in the film for the role.
In fact, none of the voice ctors for Dumbo received screen credit. The pompous matriarch of the elephants was voiced by Verna Felton, who also voiced the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella," the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," and Flora in "Sleeping Beauty." Other voice actors include Sterling Holloway as Mr. Stork, Cliff Edwards (better known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket) as Jim Crow, and John McLeish (best known for narrating the Goofy "How To" cartoons) providing the opening sequence narration.
Mr. Stork was animated by Art Babbitt and voiced by Sterling Holloway, who would later provide the voice for Winnie The Pooh. Mr. Stork was the last of his group of flying storks to deliver his baby. Confused, Mr. Stork stops on a cloud with his bundle of joy in order to check his map. He hears the sounds of the circus train Casey Jr. below and eventually finds his way to the elephant car, where he locates the expecting Mrs. Jumbo. Mr. Stork sings "Happy Birthday" to the baby, but needs to stop the song and ask for the baby elephant's name, "Ah, Happy Birthday to you. Ah, Happy Birthday, dear; ah, dear Dear me. What's his name?"
This cel is from the scene in the film when Dumbo, the world's smallest elephant, is dropped off by Mr. Stork as a bundle of joy to Mrs. Jumbo. This is a wonderful full figure, eyes open production cel of Dumbo from his first appearance in the film, and would be a highlight to any Walt Disney animation art collection!