When They were Very Young

I should have included this image with the previous post, but, well, I forgot. From the same book is an 'official' portrait of baby Mickey, as part of a 2 page spread showing all the contributors to the book, 'when they were very young'.

© Walt Disney Productions

Mouse's Finest Era

Created specially for then Princess Elizabeth, now Queen, way back in 1935, this art of Mickey and friends, charming and cheerful as they spend time in London, appeared in The Princess Elizabeth Gift Book, In Aid of the Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children.

Donald is still pretty primitive in appearance, Goofy is still Dippy Dawg, the Limeys are loopy—and this is definitely the mouse's finest era.

Note how Horace is demonstrating the royal backhand wave.

Mickey Mouse and His Retinue Arriving at the Party

The End of the Party: Mickey Mouse takes a Photograph

© Walt Disney Productions

Comfort TV

Jon Gnagy taught me how to draw, as I guess he did countless others. Watching his show was a comforting routine, and of course like countless others, my family bought and used his art studio kit. Even my mother and brother joined in. My mom would sketch landscapes and my brother would draw faces over and over, using grid planes, so that they would look like diamond creatures. Unlike them, I stayed with it and went on to become a lifetime working artist.

All this TV experience was in black and white for me. I didn't see color TV regularly until the Bicentennial. 

And the only reason I could tolerate the Mickey Mouse Club was to watch the old cartoons, and oh yeah--Spin and Marty. The cartoons were always introduced from an old vault (I liked that idea) and Spin and Marty always filled me with a sense of dread, cuz there was always trouble brewing. But this TV stuff comforted me in my times of aloneness. I was alone a lot of the time, but I didn't really feel 'lonely'. I always found something to do and I enjoyed where my imagination took me.