Disney Animator Gag Drawings for Joe Magro, 1937

• Gag drawing by Disney art director Hugh Hennesy. Animator Joe Magro goes nose to nose with the Old Hag. Mixed media.

Who was Joe Magro? The good folks over at Cartoon Brew give us the answer...

Italian-American artist Joe Magro was hired at Disney in 1936 during the studio’s expansion to produce Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Originally from Rochester, New York, Magro was attending Mechanics Institute (now Rochester Institute of Technology) when his teacher Fritz Trautmann suggested that he apply to the Disney studio.

Magro left Disney in 1937 and returned to the East Coast. He apparently stayed long enough at the studio to make friends with the other artists. We know that because when Magro left, his Disney colleagues presented him with a “good luck” book filled with gag drawings. The drawings from that book are currently being auctioned by Heritage Auctions and include pieces by Fred Moore, Ward Kimball, Bill Tytla, Grim Natwick and Marc Davis, among others.

Since Joe was at the Studio during the height of the Snow White production, the majority of drawings within the “good luck” book included some kind of reference to the film. All the pieces were created on 12-field 5-peghole sheets of animation paper (12" x 10").

• Gag drawing by Marc Davis. Snow White thinks Joe is "chicken". Mixed media.

• Gag drawing by Vladimir "Bill" Tytla. Note Mickey Mouse on the blackboard and Dopey as one of the students. Graphite and colored pencil.

• Gag drawing by animator Dave Rose. Original layout drawing of the poison apple antidote has been collaged with another piece of art. Graphite and colored pencil.

• Gag drawing by Grim Natwick. The fairest on the beach meets animator Joe Magro. Rendered in colored pencil.

• Gag drawing by Fred Moore. Snow's red bow in hair. Tongue-in-cheek caption reads: "But -- what could you possibly do with me in New York?" Mixed media.

• Gag drawing by animator, Jack Larsen. Joe Magro in the lap of luxury. Colored pencil.

• Gag drawing by Marc Davis and Charles "Nick" Nichols. Another humorously cheeky piece. Mixed media.

• Gag drawing by Charles "Nick" Nichols. Grumpy says goodbye. Graphite and colored pencil.

Images via Heritage Auctions.

The rest of the (non-Snow White) drawings can be seen at Cartoon Brew. Learn more about Heritage's Animation Art Signature Auction in the previous archive entry.

Bill Tytla's Action Analysis Class, December 10, 1936

It's only been two days since we sat after hours in Projection Room #4 to witness the Dwarf story meeting. Yet tonight, here we are, at it again. This time, however, it's at one of the many Disney Studio night classes conducted by Don Graham. We'll "hear" animator Bill Tytla give a talk to those artists assigned to in-betweening and cleanup work.

The evening starts with the group watching a rough reel of the scene with the Dwarfs at the wash tub. Then Bill takes the stage. Now 75 years later to the day, here's Tytla's Action Analysis Class...

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Page images originally posted online in 2008 by Michael Sporn at his highly recommended Splog.

Dwarf Story Meeting Notes, December 8, 1936

It's 7:00 pm on a Tuesday night. For the next three hours, 26 guys are going to lock themselves into Disney Studio Projection Room #4 to discuss--with the seriousness of solving the world's most dire problems--the personalities and characteristics of the Seven Dwarfs.

In attendance were the film's supervising director David Hand, sequence directors Wilfred Jackson and Perce Pearce, dwarf supervising animators Fred Moore and Bill Tytla , animators Art Babbitt and Ham Luske, plus future "nine old men" Les Clark, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, to name just a few. Walt Disney, however was not present for this one.

These notes from December 8, 1936 offer a window into the Golden Age of animation as it was happening. Originally they were uploaded by Michael Sporn at his excellent Splog site. Now on the 75th anniversary of this meeting, these pages are re-posted here for your reading enjoyment.  

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