Reliving Fond Memories
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Something Old. Something New

As an 8 year old, I was looking through a closet at my grandparent's house looking for a game board. In the back of the closet I found instead a small metal box. Within were several film spindles. I lugged the box out of the closet and asked what it was. My grandfather explained they were cartoons: Popeye, Felix the Cat, and Mickey Mouse. I excitedly asked to watch them. He obliged me, hauling out the old Bell & Howell projector. My sister and I watched Mickey Mouse fighting a skeleton in a creepy castle projected against the white wall in the den.

I thought this was the coolest. My Mother told me that when she was young Grandfather used to show the films in the garage. The cartoons were projected on a white sheet for her and friends around the block. They were silent, but still communicated.

30 something years later, and the holidays are fading in the distance. I am thoroughly enjoying the swag from this year’s haul. One DVD keeps finding itself back into the player is the Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black & White".

Here is the twinkling of the formula that will propel the Disney empire. From learning his craft in the silent years with the Alice comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to the evolution of MM from smarty-pants character to corporate icon, Walt Disney came into his own on the cultural stage.

I felt watching the films was getting close to the youthful Walt Disney, since these cartoons reflected his taste and views. Walt Disney, with single-minded determination, established himself not only as one cartoon producer in a sea of competitors, but a length ahead. Where others relied on gimmicks, such as the Fleischer Brothers, Disney established himself as a leader by creating his own style of drawing and humor. Others, such as Harmon-Ising, were left trying to ape their former boss. Mickey whistling on the bridge is the result of hard work and persistence.

Mickey starts, wide eyes and barefoot, all the way to the brink of color with Mickey’s Service Station. It is the growth of more than drawing; it is watching the process of birth. The sense of timing, freed from the primitive even flow of the meter, concentrates on acting. The animation becomes more complex, volumes clearly defined, moving with a growing knowledge that will help the next generation of animators. The characters are defined and operate within their own world.

Some characters couldn’t make the transition, like Horace Horsecollar, since they never adapted to the demands for complicated character and rhythm relationships. Not all the early characters went that way, however: Dippy Dawg begins his morph into Goofy.

The cartoons, though dated, still are arresting due to the charm of the hero. Disney’s triumph was the infusion of character into the animated world. Instead of just barreling through gags in static set ups and chasing each other to the next set up, the characters and inanimate objects are imbued with a self of self. Warner Brothers had sarcasm sewn up, and Tex Avery at MGM had bawdy extremism. But Disney was more like a good friend on an easy visit.

A Pleasant surprise is the Easter egg showing the Mickey Mouse Clubs that sprang up in theaters all over the country. The newsreels are an mesmerizing glimpse into early Disneyana. The film of Mickey teaching the children how to sing, "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo", though crudely animated, is charismatic. I couldn't help but wonder if my Grandfather was one of those kids learning the song in Chicago.

It is easy to see how the little mouse conquered the world. 70 years after they were made, they still have an aura about them. Made by a man who is serious about his craft, and it shows.

I am also grateful to Leonard Maltin for putting this series together, and having the temerity to present them in full, unvarnished theatrical release. It is good to see these gems as audiences enjoyed them in the 1930's.

I had a great Christmas. Good cheer, pleasant times, lots of laughs. It is also a time of friendship, of being with those we care about. This particular present felt like a visit from an old friend I hadn't seen since childhood.

I think I'll call Grandpa tonight and tell him about it.

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-- David Mink

-- Posted January 14, 2003