About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Monday, March 17, 2008

ABC Wednesday - I is for Impressive Illustrations

One of my best girlfriends was here in November, cleaning out her Mom's place now that she's moved into a care home. It was interesting going through her things because some of her possessions dated back a long way. The most intriguing items we discovered were all her original illustrations of Disney characters that date back to 1946. These illustrations were individually mounted in matching black and gold frames on a pale blue wall in her hallway. When I saw them, I exclaimed, "Oh! These are very valuable!" It was then that my friend told me the story of how her mother came to have them.

D's mother and her friend had been in the Canadian Armed Forces during the war and in 1946 they decided to go to Los Angeles for some swinging good times. The war had put Walt Disney's plans for his magic theme park on hold, but these two attractive women met a couple of men (illustrators) who worked for the big man himself and were taken on a tour of the Disney Studios where plans were in the works. It wouldn't be until 1955 that Walt Disney's magic kingdom would become reality.

In the meantime, the young men probably wanted to impress the young ladies so, with nary a thought to possible future fame, blithely gave them their scraps of paper. A couple of them are autographed and dated so you can tell they're definitely originals. They'd been tucked away in an old scrapbook for many years until D's brother found them and had them framed. I imagine they're worth a fortune today!
Can you just picture two young Canadian women giggling flirtatiously as they were given nine illustrations of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto! They were too busy flirting with those American illustrators to even think about those pieces of paper. Today, those illustrations are priceless! And I sure wish they were mine!

This is what I call the "Disney Wall of Fame."


Sketches of Donald Duck

more Donald Duck


Goofy boxing - signed by Don T, Disney Studios, Hollywood on Jan. 24/46


Mickey Mouse sketches

Mickey and Donald Duck together on one page.


Pluto and a sleeping kitten autographed by Duff Tweed at Disney Studios, Hollywood Jan. 24/46


Mickey and Pluto together on one page.

To see more ABC Wednesday posts, see Mrs. Nesbitt's blog here.

55 comments:

BumbleVee said...

What a find hey? those are great....

I am stumped as to an " I " still.....
let's see what tomorrow brings....if anything.

Carver said...

What a great story. Amazing what can turn up.

Kostas said...

Amazing set with the sketches, splendid the comment but also post with letter `' I `'

Anonymous said...

Oh how very fabulous to have these! Wonderful post for I. Have a great week...

dot said...

These are really great!

Jo said...

Leslie, these are amazing. I never knew you had these. I love the one of Pluto and the sleeping kitten!

Katney said...

My elementary art teacher was a Disney cartoonist. This WAS in 1955-56. In spring of 1956--Holy Saturday, in fact--he took four or five of us to Los Angeles to appear on a local kids TV show. I drew a little Spanish church at sunrise on Easter. (Someone told me that I put the wall too close to the church. Too bad!) We then went to Disneyland, ate lunch in the commissary there, and had the run of the place while Mr. McIntire did his shift drawing cartoons for the tourists.

nancygrayce said...

My uncle is a writer and was friends with Walt Disney. Walt sent my sister who was very ill a big picture of donald duck riding a choo choo train and he signed it! One of his illustrators Roy we think he's Walt's brother, drew drawings for my sister and me. we love them!

Patty said...

What a wonderful treasure to have. I always like anything Disney.

Sharon said...

What a great post! The story is amazing. Thanks for sharing it.

Lilli & Nevada said...

Those are amazing, Great I post

Neva said...

I love Disney! This is awesome...what a find.....

Silly Goose said...

Great story! It's wonderful that she has held onto them for all these years.

photowannabe said...

Wow..I am amazed at the find. Yes these are more than valuable. I'm glad these were preserved. My husband and I collect Disney memorbilia and drool over things like this.
Terrific I post.

FO - 2 said...

Charming drawings.
Great! :)

mrsnesbitt said...

Wow! Leslie, this is a gem!

meggie said...

I love these illustrations, & the wonderful story behind them!
It would seem male egos never change!!

Casdok said...

Very impressive! :)

Liz Hinds said...

Now that is impressive! Wow, I'm awed.

Anonymous said...

These would be worth a small fortune. I hope someone knows that.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville, Ohio

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Yes Leslie ,
Those are impressive and interesting Illustrations ( I like your profile pic!) thanks for your comment on my ABC wednesday,and your kind words for IOS..

JoAnn Holland + IOS!

kRiZcPEc said...

thanks for sharing. :)

Daryl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daryl said...

Sorry about that .. my error .. I wanted to say that I read an article about lost cels being found in a janitor's closet in Japan which were returned this week .. great 'i'!

Alan said...

Wow. Those are incredible and invaluable. Great story. I'm sure those would be worth no small fortune, indeed a very large fortune.

Luiz Santilli Jr said...

Fantastic photos!

We love, here in Brazil, all about Disney!!

I'm inviting you to visit GOD READING

Luiz

Michele said...

Walt Disney is one of my heroes and this is a remarkable post. I'm definitely impressed!
The Rocky Mountain Retreat

Gunilla said...

What a fantastic story!

Janice Thomson said...

Excellent idea for the theme Leslie. And you are right - they are indeed worth quite a bit. What a wonderful treasure to find.

Dragonstar said...

WOW!!!

Wonder what your friend will do with them.

Rosie said...

what a treasure trove...

Jan said...

Great post. Yes, those are worth a fortune.

Unknown said...

What a great post...

Miss_Yves said...

Two years ago, I saw an interesting show at Paris (au grand palais) about the art of Disney, and the painters who influenced him :wonderful !
Miss Yves

Petunia said...

What a great post:D

kml said...

Wow!! I am glad they are still in such great shape. What a find!!

Ellee Seymour said...

I wish I could find a hidden treasure trove like this, they are beautiful sketches.

Andrea said...

Oh....these are good. Very talented work here.

Anonymous said...

Back to our childhood owing to you and Disney !
Thanks

Kim said...

That is a wonderful story. Those sketches are great, she is very lucky to have them.

Powell River Books said...

Those are so great!! What a special heirloom and discovery. I love pieces of history and these definitely are. As a side note, I grew up in Southern California. I remember going to Disneyland just after the opening, but over the years I only returned maybe four time, none of which have been in the last 25 years. Goes to show, if it is in your own backyard places often get overlooked. Thanks for visiting my icy post. - Margy

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Gosh, those are wonderful!

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post! Amazing to see thoses historic drawings.
Kathy b

Janet said...

Those are fantastic!

AVCr8teur said...

Wow, what an interesting story and great find. Those illustrations do look like they are priceless. The things we find if we dig far enough. Glad to hear your friend's daughter knew the history of where the drawings came from.

Gordon said...

What a great find; they certainly deserve to be framed and on show.

Paulie said...

What a wonderful story! Yes, am sure those are valuable. Goofy has always been my favorite! I would love that sketch of him BUT I am sure I could not afford to buy it!

VP said...

Goofy's my absolute favourite of all time - it's the laugh as well as the cartoon that does it for me!

Barbara said...

Those sketches are amazing, as usual your post was very Interesting.

Anonymous said...

I have an original Duff Tweed wood carving entitled "Sue the Bastards". I can't find anything on the internet about it's value. Can anybody help???

Anonymous said...

I have an original Duff Tweed wood carving entitled "Sue the Bastards". I can't find anything about it's value. Anybody care to help? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I have an original Duff Tweed wood carving entitled "Sue the Bastards". Can anybody help with the potential value???
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I have that Duff tweed that you are talking about. I paid 100.00 for it on ebay. I would list it for a 100.00 and see where it goes.

Summertote@aol.com

Unknown said...

I have a roughly 8 1/2 X 11 art paper sheet drawing of "Ecos Bill" autographed to my sister and me, signed by Duff Tweed. Does anyone have an idea of what its value would be?

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