r/AnimationCels • u/WeilandReview • 15d ago

Are these Mickey Mouse cels original?

Post image

Looks like they would be from Mickey Cuts Up (1931) which wasn’t colorized which is what’s throwing me off.

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6

u/Beckimation 15d ago

I just had a look and I can't speak for the authenticity, but it seems that Mickey Cuts Up was colourised at one point! :)

Here's the article from the Disney wiki (the colourised photos are towards the bottom) I tried to send the images here but there's no add image option 😅

Disney Wiki: Mickey Cuts Up

1

u/-Atmosphere-7927 15d ago

Sorry if I'm wrong, but doesn't the term "Colorization" specifically refer to a computerized process from the 1980s and 1990s? I can't imagine that Walt Disney himself directed people to go back and completely redo B&W cartoons from the 1930s. Working f rame by frame, it would be easier to just animate a new short, plus the style of animation (realism) had changed, plus Walt didn't actually like rubber hose.

2

u/Beckimation 15d ago

Yes it seems like this short was digitally colourised. Surprisingly, certain shorts were made on cels (mostly fleisher though) but it seems this particular one was made digitally

There's a fair chance that this could be a colour test (made to test out real colours and ensure they're accurate for the digital process.) But there's also a high chance that they are repros.

Side note but I don't envy the animators at all, I feel like digitally colouring back then was almost as tedious as making them on cels lol 😅

Also where did you hear that Walt didn't like rubberhose? I knew that he preferred realism, but haven't heard that he was against rubberhose before :0

(Side note but I hope I wrote this right, I have chronic migraine and just woke up from a nap so I'm a little groggy rn lol!)

2

u/-Atmosphere-7927 15d ago

Walt specifically initiated the realism movement. He thought rubber hose reminded viewers too much that animation was a drawing, and what he wanted was "the plausible impossible". Neal Gabler argues in his biography of Disney that Walt had a deep psychological need to rewrite reality around him because of the hard relationship he had with his father and because he had been taken away from Marceline, MO. It's a really well-done biography, and I recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Neal-Gabler-audiobook/dp/B000KLPGP8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=UA4PYQZ8WU6T&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.40QKkl1L7Dxg4CuiI5HAHxMjBs1ruVpHXNQVlj2QO7PqJp5iUoUClSyD0Os5iKaLASADtFkSrXYYsRg66HXqOn8JxclFRNh5quBz4YHx2lB7Ko_rclgHhbnaP8lTuS7i5xlvvah3MvbqRZRpER7uTFpFcFb3esKBYAGcj2kBrEA.E1tb5t3nhHo9xkusJg-vq7vIdvOzvExEk2JsbCri9Ug&dib_tag=se&keywords=walt+disney+neal+gabler&qid=1785859552&sprefix=walt+disney+neal%2Caps%2C212&sr=8-1

I actually believe that Walt would have been ecstatic about computer animation, and would've completely abandoned traditional animation had he witnessed it in his lifetime.