Author: Rob Jaiven

Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up was a stage play written by J.M. Barrie. It premiered in London on December 27, 1904. Peter Pan ran there for ten years. During that time  it also ran on Broadway. Barrie also adapted Peter Pan into a novel, Peter and Wendy, released in 1911. It has always been a most beloved story.

(It needs to noted that there was certainly racism shown in the portrayal of the Indians. It was not controversial at the time. Walt Disney’s Peter Pan released in 1953 was much softer. Still there was an element of caricature in the portrayal of the Indians. Most of this was common in most of the 20th century. Not to say it was justifiable. But remember, when Peter Pan came out in 1953 Amos and Andy was still on TV. It was incredibly racist. Also incredibly funny with impeccable timing and comic reactions.)

Of course Disney’s animated film Peter Pan is the version loved by most. Disney acquired the rights to Peter Pan as early as 1939. Animation art from Peter Pan is always fun. Perhaps the best are fights between Peter and Captain Hook. After wicked witches, evil queens and wicked stepmothers we needed a great male villain. We got one in the good captain.

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-captain-hook

Our Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up loves to fight Hook. He loves to torture him too.

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-peter-pan-flying

Bobby Driscoll was the voice of Peter Pan and Hans Conried voiced Capt. Hook. Mr. Conried was also the voice of George Darling. Mr. Smee was Hook’s personal assistant. He was always bossed around by the Captain. Mr. Smee served as Peter Pan’s comic relief. He was voiced by Bill Thompson.

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-mr-smee

Like all good adventure stories there is a climactic fight. Peter Pan and Captain Hook fight all over the pirate ship. After his defeat Hook is seen fleeing while pursued by the crocodile Tick-Tock who wants more than just the captain’s hand he had as an appetizer.

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cels-and-background-peter-pan-hook

For children of all ages Peter Pan keeps us forever young.

 

Winsor McCay was an American comic cartoonist and animator. Winsor McCay lived from 1867 to 1934. He can be considered the true father of the cartoons we have watched and loved for over 100 years.

Winsor McCay began illustrating newspapers and magazines in 1898. He began working for the New York Herald in 1903. He first created the comic strips Little Sammy Sneeze and Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. Then in 1905 Winsor McCay began his most famous comic strip: Little Nemo in Slumberland. This was a fantasy in Art Nouveau style. It wonderfully showcased McCay’s strong graphic sense and mastery of color and linear perspective. Winsor McCay experimented with the formal elements of the comic strip page.  He arranged and sized panels to increase impact and enhance elements of the narrative.

Winsor McCay was an early animation pioneer. Between 1911 and 1921 McCay self-financed and animated ten films. His first foray into animation was taken from his Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip. James Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay directed a ten-minute short film based on the comic strip, of which two minutes were animated. The film was first released on April 8, 1911. The first animated effort of McCay, it later achieved the status of an early animated classic. Its on screen title is Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and his Moving Comics. It is usually referred to as Little Nemo. This version was named to the National Film Registry in December 2009. The two animated minutes told a story and had known characters. While it is not the first piece of animated film, it can be considered the first real cartoon. This poster seen below is really the very first cartoon movie poster in history.

 

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/little-nemo-cartoon-movie-poster-1911

Winsor McCay produced other cartoons including Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914 and The Sinking of the Lusitania in 1918. He inspired and influenced Walt Disney and most other animators for the next 100 years.

Eyvind Earle was born in 1916 in New York City. He had a long and distinguished 60 year career as a contemporary artist, author, and illustrator. He had a one man showing in France when he was  14 years old. When he was 21 years old Earle bicycled from Hollywood to New York. He paid for his trip by painting forty two works along the way. He then had many one man shows in New York City. His early work was straight realistic. He studied the work of a variety of different artists. They included Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rockwell, Kent and Georgia O’Keefe. As time went on he developed his own unique dreamy style. Eyvind Earle was most famous for his prints and original watercolor landscapes. His contemporary art is in the permanent collection of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

In the 1950’s Eyvind Earle worked for Walt Disney Studios. He began his career with Disney as an assistant background painter. In 1953 he created the look for “Toot. Whistle, Plunk and Boom”. This Disney short won the Academy Award and the Cannes Film Festival award. He was then kept busy as color stylist and production designer. He worked on many feature films including Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and most notably Sleeping Beauty. The  incredible concept art Eyvind Earle did for Sleeping Beauty created the look and style of the entire film. He also painted many of the production backgrounds shot and used in the film. In fact, when Disneyland was built in Anaheim, California he painted the dioramas for Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

See this concept painting by Eyvind Earle of the castle and a sleeping guard

In 1988 at the Annie Awards Show in Glendale the International Animated Film Society gave Eyvind Earle the Winsor McCay award for lifetime achievement.