Thanks to Phil De Guard, you can see what day it is to the right. This is one of his background drawings for Broom-Stick Bunny, a cartoon from the Chuck Jones unit that went into production about six months after the Warners shutdown ended at the start of 1954.
This cartoon marked the second appearance of Witch Hazel, now voiced by June Foray. De Guard fills the backgrounds with transparent furniture. And there’s at least one scene with smear animation.
These are four consecutive drawings. The action is so quick you don’t notice the multiples.
Tedd Pierce wrote the story; Mike Maltese was still working for Walter Lantz at the time. Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Ben Washam and Dick Thompson animated the short with layouts by Ernie Nordli (Maurice Noble, I believe, was still at John Sutherland Productions).
So crazy that this was in production (and presumably completed) in 1954 but wasn't actually released until early 1956.
ReplyDeleteThe layout and background work in this one is outstanding. Many witty touches like a door in the corner of the room.
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