Fifties Disney Car Commercials
A few weeks ago, Jerry posted this ’50s Disney commercial on Cartoon Brew. Below is another Disney spot for Nash cars featuring a stylized Jiminy Cricket. Tom Oreb was responsible for the streamlining of the Disney characters in these commercials; Vic Haboush likely did background layout.
And here’s a nice cel set-up from the commercial. (Click on it for the big version.) I can’t remember how this ended up in my files, but if I’m not mistaken, it comes from the collection of John Canemaker.
Amid,
Beautiful stuff. But I can imagine non artists saying, “Hey, Jiminy looks bad!”. Didn’t your book mention Walt didn’t like this “modern” look? How did the rest of the studio and the public feel about it?
D
Comment by Dave — November 29, 2006 @ 12:03 pm
While I don’t think it was Walt’s preferred style, I don’t think he harbored such ill will against the ‘modern’ look that he wouldn’t allow it at his studio. On the TV commercials, for example, he only became angry with the stylized characters after it generated a complaint (that story is in book). And, of course, he allowed guys like Ward Kimball, Eyvind Earle and Bill Justice to take risks with design throughout the decade. Walt certainly didn’t do much to encourge or promote design, but he didn’t actively take steps to discourage it either. At least that’s my view on things.
I have no idea what the public reaction might have been to these stylized Disney commercials but with so many stylized characters used in TV advertising at the time, I would think these characters wouldn’t have stood out quite as much as they do looking at them nowadays.
Comment by Amid — November 30, 2006 @ 4:44 am