Existing comment:
New horizons in the 1930's
"By nature, I'm an experimenter. So, with the success of Mickey, I was determined to diversify. I had another idea - the Silly Symphonies - a series without a central character, which would give me latitude to develop the animated cartoon medium."
"The first was The Skeleton Dance. The reaction was - why does Walt fool around with skeletons? Give us more mice. So, for a while, it looked like the first Silly Symphony would not get out of the graveyard. But once more, a showman came to the rescue. Fred Miller, who was managing director of the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles, took a chance on the film. The Skeleton Dance got a wonderful reception, and wonderful reviews. Thus was the series launched." - Walt
"At first the cartoon medium was just a novelty, but it never really began to hit until we had more than tricks. We had to get beyond getting a laugh." - Walt
The 1930s witnessed a phenomenal creative explosion at the Walt Disney Studio. The Mickey Mouse series continued, building on Mickey's success in 1928 and '29 and producing new cartoons that were increasingly fresh, funny, and popular. At the same time, Walt launched a new series in 1929: the Silly Symphonies. These innovative cartoons, founded on the bond between animation and music, flourished during the 1930s and allowed Walt to explore new creative horizons. They brought a new level of prestige to the Disney studio and to animation itself. |