Please note: if an earlier link doesn't work, it may have changed following an update! Check the Category Labels in the side-bar on the right! There you can find animator drafts for sixteen complete Disney features and eighty-six shorts,
as well as Action Analysis Classes and many other vintage animation documents!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Two Alices and Me

A few days ago the sad news reached me that Virginia Davis, "Walt Disney's First Star" had passed away.

I finally got a moment to find the following picture, taken at the opening of the Walt Disney Archives Library on the second floor of the Frank Wells building, April 30th, 2007. From the left, Kathryn Beaumont Levine, voice of both Alice in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Wendy in Peter Pan (1953), then Virginia Davis McGee and lastly, myself. I thought it was fun to have my picture taken with two ladies who both played Alice.

Since Mrs. McGee, Virginia Davis, was Walt's star in 1923, I had hoped to see her get proper recognition at the D23 Expo next month, but this was not meant to be...
Disney Bowling Teams<< Click to enlarge!

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Monday, August 03, 2009

Bowling, anyone?

When Ub Iwerks reached a perfect 600 score, he stopped bowling - we learned this from his granddaughter in the book and film about him. But who else was playing?

Here is the score for the matches played by the Disney bowling teams at the North Hollywood Bowling Center on June 5th, 1946. Ub was still playing, and with a high score of 478 he was above average, but the individual series winner was Jack Parr with 581 points. The LIL-TOOTS did best for the team series.

Notice the fact that there were 13 teams of five players, one of six, making a total of 71 players! Let's have a look at who was playing...

On the DUCKS we find Ub Iwerks, as well as Virginia Clemens from the Process Lab and Irene Kuhnert who at the time was in 1A-16;
The MICKEYS have Ham and Frances Luske, and John Walker. In 1946, there were 2 John Walkers, one in 1G-1 and one in 1G-14;
The DUMBOS have assistant director Mike Holoboff, Bob Power from 1E-8 and Joe Mickey from 1A-15;
The LIL-TOOTS have an interesting combination! Animator Harvey Toombs married Leota Wharton - later Leota Toombs, who became a well-known Imagineer and model for Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion. Their daughter Kim Irvine is currently in charge of color-styling Walt's original Magic Kingdom! Did they meet on the bowling team? Their rooms at the studio were next door to each other at this time, while the year before they were in separate wings! We also find Gus Jekel of 1D-11 and Robert West of 1A-14;
The MARTINS have Paul Scanlon of 2E-10, Norma Oster, Margaret Bazar and Paul A. Jones, all three of 2E-11, and Ray Keller who resided in room 105 in the Ink&Paint building.
The COYS are Doris Clifford in 202 I&P, Animation Legend Les Clark of 1B-5, Bob Stockley from the Tabulating Department, Frances Wood from 104 I&P and Larry Tryon of 108 I&P;
The HEP-CATS with Philip (and Eadie) Hoffman of 3D-24, and animators Bill Justice of 1C-9 and Ed Aardal of 1G-9;
The CASEYS include Myrna Myling of 1E-26, animators Earl [Elmer Alden](and S. [Sereene Azil]) Combs of 1F-2, Dick Lucas of 1G-2 and Jack Parr of 1E-8, the winner of the evening;
The DOPEYS have Joe Morrison of 1G-10, B. Hedding is probably Beulah Herring of the Library, D. Lachel of 2E-4. There was a Maurine Wilson at the studio in 1946...
The WOLVES have Jack Nuding of 2A-8, Kathlen Roden of 104 I&P and Al Amatuzio of 2G-9;
The PANCHITAS have animator Phil Duncan of 1G-13. There were several Grants at the studio, but no A. Grant; same goes for the Fergusons;
The GOOFS have sectretary Dolores Koch of 2B-2, Dotty Grant from Camera and A. Dovack I presume is Ann Dvorak of 1C-2;
The THUMPERS have no players who appear in the directory, and
The PLUTOS have only Wilma Horn of 3D-24.

In other words a little over half the players, 39 of the 71 to be precise, seem to have been working at the Disney Studios at the time. Well-known folks, too, for readers of this blog: Ub Iwerks, Ham Luske, Harvey Toombs, Les Clark, Bill Justice, Dick Lucas, Phil Duncan - I hope there were no finger injuries from the bowling ball the next day...

Disney Bowling TeamsDisney Bowling Teams
(Click on either image to enlarge...)

Abbreviations: I surmise that Ga. is Game(s), Ser. is Series, T.P. is Total Points, H.G. is High Game, H.S. is High Series, AVE is Average.

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