{"id":39915,"date":"2018-03-14T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T07:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=39915"},"modified":"2018-03-13T22:33:57","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T05:33:57","slug":"disneys-the-pied-piper-1933","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/disneys-the-pied-piper-1933\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney’s “The Pied Piper” (1933)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Albert Hurter sketches for “The Pied Piper”<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>The tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin<\/em> originates from a German folk tale that dates to the 13th century, with written sources originating towards the 16th century. English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) adapted the story into a poem, \u201cThe Pied Piper of Hamelin,\u201d which was published in 1842. As the story follows, the town of Hamelin is stricken with a rat infestation, which leads to a public outcry for a solution to dispose of the vermin. Aware of their problem, a piper approaches the Mayor and promises to rid their town of rats, in return for payment. After the piper lures the rats away with his instrument, the Mayor reneges on the promised fee and pays the Piper only a paltry sum. Swearing vengeance, the Pied Piper entices the children of Hamelin away from their parents, and they follow him to a mountainside, where the authority figures cannot enter. <\/p>\n

The story outline for Disney\u2019s adaptation of the folk tale circulated around the studio in April 1933, shortly before the release of Three Little Pigs<\/em><\/a>. Naturally, Disney alleviated the dreadful aspects from its German origins and Robert Browning\u2019s poem. For instance, when the Piper leads the rats away from Hamelin, he advances them into the Weser River, where they drown. In Disney\u2019s retelling, the instrument the Pied Piper\u2019s instrument materializes an enormous round of Swiss cheese, which disappears once every rodent dives in. In Robert Browning\u2019s poem, the mountainside envelops all the children of Hamelin, except for one boy with an injured leg who is left behind. However, the other children are never reclaimed from the mountain. To protect Depression-era audiences from a grim ending, Disney\u2019s version is brighter. All the children, including the boy on crutches, enter into a \u201cJoyland\u201d \u2014 a carefree land of sweets, toys and activities.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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Albert Hurter served at the inspirational sketch artist for the film, and Ferdinand Horvath drew background layouts, which started on May 12th, a month after the film\u2019s story outline was distributed. By May 27th, director Wilfred Jackson assigned the animators their scenes. Rather than give animators different sequences, he cast the film by character, much like Three Little Pigs. Ham Luske and Art Babbitt animated key scenes of the Piper and the Mayor, while Clyde \u201cGerry\u201d Geronimi animates much of the various scenes of the rats devouring food. <\/p>\n

The Pied Piper was the first attempt by the studio to animate central characters that are human beings at their core. In the film\u2019s operetta fashion\u2014with its dialogue sung or rhymed\u2014the animation from Luske and Babbitt certainly has a theatrical essence in the scenes where the Piper and Mayor interact. Though the character acting is not strong in this film, one of Babbitt\u2019s scenes of the Mayor, his derisive look of corruption as he tosses the Piper only one coin for payment, is effective.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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Ben Sharpsteen\u2019s crew of junior animators\u2014which included Joe D\u2019Igalo, Marvin Woodward, Ugo D\u2019Orsi, Cy Young, Paul Allen, Hardie Gramatky and Ed Love\u2014animate much of the crowd shots of the rats, as well as the Hamelin townsfolk and children. (Interestingly, in the draft, scene 24\u2014with the rats following the Piper outside of Hamelin\u2014is credited to junior animator Paul Allen, while scene 26, and subsequent shots the Piper appears, are credited to \u201cFrenchy\u201d de Tremaudan; since they are a continuation of the same shot, it could be safe to assume that scene 24 is handled by \u201cFrenchy\u201d de Tremaudan, as well.) The film\u2019s layout work ended by early June 1933, and animation was finished by August 28th. <\/p>\n\"\"\n

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Based on the popularity and success of Mickey Mouse and Three Little Pigs<\/em> during the height of the Great Depression, subsequent Silly Symphonies<\/em> cartoons generated various merchandising tie-ins. After the release of The Pied Piper<\/em> in September 1933, Parker Brothers released a board game based on the film, and London publisher Bodley Head issued a storybook adaptation, copyrighted 1934. In November 1933, almost a year before the studio took on their most ambitious project with a feature-length animated film, Ted Sears voiced the studio\u2019s dissatisfaction with the results of the film when he wrote to animator Izzie Klein in New York: \u201cWe’ve come to the conclusion that our best screen values are in cute animal characters. We haven’t advanced far enough to handle humans properly and make them perform well enough to compete with real actors.” <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the breakdown video, along with an original 1933 production draft of The Pied Piper. Enjoy!<\/p>\n