Saturday, November 20, 2010

Disney's Standard Parade for 1939




Title: "Walt Disney's Standard Parade for 1939!
Studio: Disney
Date: 1939ish
Credits: -
Series: (Standard Parade?)
Running time (of viewed version): 7:33 without Leonard, 2:15 of the "Standard Parade for 1939" (aka without the live action).

Synopsis: Disney pimps for Standard Oil. There was a tie in for a comic insert in papers called Travel Tykes.


















Comments: Watch Walt smoke like a chimney. A Saturday Evening Post dated March 11, 1939 shows up, giving a no earlier than date; this makes me wonder if a date of January for the beginning of the Travel Tykes tie in comic is accurate. Awesome illuminated page from Argentina. There is a glazed pottery Mickey in possibly his Fun and Fancy Free outfit in front of Walt's honorary degree. 8 oscars; that should put this in after Ferdinand won and before Ugly Duckling won. Discusses the new $2 million studio being built. Dramatic Mickey and Donald dolls being swing around. For some reason the title reads "Walt Disney's Standard Parade for 1939! Copyright MCMXXXVII Walt Disney Prod. Ltd.". That's 1937. With certainly pre-1939 Donald and Mickey dolls. Perhaps there are earlier versions of this. Mickey's face is very flat looking. I would have guessed this was earlier than '39 to promote the forthcoming year, but the cover of Variety and the 8 Oscars implies that is not the case. Perhaps the animation was done earlier than the final cut of the black and white live action. Uh, there are earlier style pie eyed mice. Is this literally lifted animation from the parade of awards nominees? The Travel Tykes comics, supposedly from 1939, all seem to have a pie eyed Mickey, the animation here (tho not unlike Society Dog Show, the first '39 theatrical Mickey). Perhaps they were recycled from previous years as well? It occurs to me that Disney was trying to remake Mickey into one of the dwarfs.

Buried on Mickey Mouse In Living Color v2, disc 1, in a musical note on the bonus features page. I hate when they bury things as Easter Eggs. It's Title 27, chapter 2, if you can jump directly to it.

1 comment:

  1. There were so many damn Standards up until the 1980s -- New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and California thanks to the 1911 anti-trust ruling -- but I'm assuming this cartoon would have been done for Standard Oil of California (now ChevronTexaco), and would have mainly run in West Coast and Southwestern theaters.

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