Opening this month at the Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks, California, is a preview showing of original animation art being offered in an incredible auction by Profiles in History. Mike Van Eaton is the consultant to this sale – which includes over 900 lots that include key pieces from just about every classic Disney animated feature, and rare material from Hollywood cartoon shorts. All of this material is available to view in a physical catalog (at right) or online via PDF or as a flip book.
I personally cannot afford to collect such material – but I’m grateful that such historical artifacts still exist. And it seems with every auction, more keeps being discovered. Among the highlights in this sale, are: original cels from Fleischer and Famous cartoons, original background from a Disney Oswald, original art from a 1939 Looney Tunes merchandising book… and on and on. Here are a few pieces I like (below, click thumbnails to enlarge), model sheets from Calvin and the Colonel, this gorgeous original title card from a Yogi Bear cartoon, cels from Famous Studios’ Jitterbug Jive (1950), pencil animation from Old Glory (1939), and an original Paul Julian background from the Oscar winning Warner cartoon documentary So Much For So Little (1949).
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
What’s the one in the lower right of the creature hiding behind the scraggly tree? I don’t recognize it.
As mentioned in the text above, that is from Chuck Jones’ So Much For So Little (1949).
Some descriptions have errors, for example, page 30 – picture of Bugs Bunny portraying Honey Bunny described as ‘Lola Bunny’.