Director's Manual:

Fascinating collection of animation documents

A collection of 13 mimeographed manuscripts giving a fascinating insight into Disney's internal training program for the animators. The collection comprises: two lectures by Don Graham discussing general animation theory and practice; a bulletin discussing "How to Catch, Build and Maintain the Interest of the Spectator in the Picture"; character sketches for general character types such as "Mae West" and "Cute"; written character analyses by Ted Sears for Mickey Mouse ("Mickey is not a clown... he is neither silly nor dumb"), Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy, with accompanying sketches; lectures on the technicalities of drawing drapery and "Assistant Animator Qualifications and Procedure". The Mickey Mouse sketches have Harry Reeves's name to the head of the recto, who worked with Disney from 1931 to 1955. The studio's internal training and internship program was developed in the early 1930s for new animators to foster the studio's distinctive style, but as the script for Snow White was developed in 1935, Disney insisted that the entire art department attend weekly mandatory classes. These classes were taught by Don Graham, previously a professor at the Chouinard Institute. Art Babbit, the animator who developed the character of Goofy, said of Graham that he had "learned a hell of a lot from him!"