Broadway and Hollywood "Movies" (Jan - Aug 1934)

10 “MOVIES" 3 LITTLE PIGS The Production of Animated Cartoons — Part I By WALTER W. HUBBARD there is a story back of it all. And don’t forget that at the same time the public is pleased, and the theatre going crowd’s faith in the cinema as an institution has been restored every time they see a good picture,— no matter who makes it! Now that we’re talking of successes, let me quote from Grace M. Keefe’s excellent article in a recent issue of Psychology Magazine in which she discusses personalities. “Two successes in one”, writes G. M. K., “and both in five years’ time. That is the enviable record of Walter Disney and his merry little partners in fame — Mickey Mouse and the Three Little Pigs. “Mickey just celebrated his fifth birthday with a party that stretched round the world — and with presents enough to fill a good-sized room. For he is probably the best-loved personality in the world today— more famous even than the Prince of Wales. “And — something strange in such a partnership — Walt Disney doesn’t begrudge him his popularity. He is perfectly content to bask in Mickey Mouse’s reflected glory. “In New York on a short vacation a few weeks ago, he expressed the conviction that he is the luckiest person in the world. For he is now realizing the three great ambitions of his youth. “ ‘I always wanted to be an actor, a stage director, and an artist,’ he said. ‘Today I am combining these three careers in one.’ “When Walt Disney was a youngster, all he could think of was drawing. He covered his school books, his writing pads, even his examination papers with funny pictures of people and animals. His teachers used to throw up their hands in despair. He had the thickest little head they ever came across, they swore. They couldn’t even pound arithmetic or grammar into it. “But Walt went merrily on his way, worrying little about the poor marks he received. He knew what he wanted to' do. And grammar wouldn’t help him to do it. (Continued on page 43) IF ANYONE had told you that one of the cinema hits of 1933 would be a seven-minute cartoon feature concerning the brief adventures of three little pigs, you would have either laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement or wrondered what form of insanity would cause anyone to make such a patently outrageous claim. I doubt if any short subject, since the advent of films, has aroused more discussion than the “Three Little Pigs ’; certainly there have been more than twice as many prints made of it than are made of the average successful film. It is doubtful if, in the entire history of the cinema, the public has attended the movie theatres in such droves just to see a short subject for the first, second or third time; and in thousands upon thousands of cases people who never cared for vaudeville were willing to pay the admission to a vaudeville house to see a feature picture and an entire vaudeville bill just to be able to see this seven-minute cartoon “short”. What are the secrets of this sensational success? Having been associated with both the cartoon game and the motion picture game for a dozen years or so, the writer feels that the most essential element so vitally necessary to any screen success has been inculcated in that seven-minutes comedy. It is an element which some producers today, (many of whom are paid princely salaries) seem to ignore every once in a while. That “priceless ingredient”, as the Squibb folks are prone to broadcast, is STORY. Again and again in feature articles this magazine has emphasized the need of a story to insure the success of a picture, and pointed out instance after instance in which pictures with great names, from the producer, director, stars and cameramen, have gone toppling Walter Disney into puddles of red ink because they lacked an adequate story punch. And more frequently than some of the big producers care to admit, pictures which boast of no stars other than “has-beens” or amateurs will turn a trick at the box office and make money for the exhibitor and producer alike, — just because Courtesy of “ Psychology ’