Original Production Animation Cel of Happy Set On A Courvoisier Background from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937

Original hand painted and hand inked production animation cel of Happy set over a star paper Courvoisier background from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937, Walt Disney Studios; Size - Happy: 3 3/4 x 2 1/2", Image 4 1/2 x 3 3/4", Frame 12 1/2 x 12"; Framed with a gold wood frame, two linen mats, gold wood fillet, and plexiglass.

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Development on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began in early 1934, and by June Walt Disney announced to The New York Times the production of his first feature, to be released under Walt Disney Productions.  Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Disney studio had been primarily involved in the production of animated short subjects in the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series.  However, Disney hoped to expand his studio's prestige and revenues by moving into features, and he estimated that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs could be produced for a budget of $250,000 (this was ten times the budget of an average Silly Symphony).

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was to be the first full-length cel animated feature in motion picture history, and as such Walt Disney had to fight to get the film produced. Both his brother and business partner Roy Disney, as well as his wife Lillian attempted to talk him out of it.  The Hollywood movie industry mockingly referred to the film, while is was in production, as "Disney's Folly."  Disney ended up having to mortgage his house to help finance the film's production, which would eventually ran up to a total cost of $1,488,422.74; an absolutely massive sum for a feature film in 1937!

Although the initial concept designing of the dwarfs was relatively easy for the Walt Disney animation department, the actual animating of them proved to be difficult. The animators, already finding human figures difficult to animate, now had to animate dwarfed human figures. The great Disney animator Vladimir Tytla noted that the dwarfs should walk with a swing to their hips, and Fred Moore commented that they had to move a little more quickly in order to keep up with the other human characters.

Framed original production animation cel of Happy.

Happy is bubbly, bright, very friendly, and the most cheerful of all the dwarfs. His gleeful attitude prompts him to laugh often, and he is a singer, yodeler, and musician. Happy is plump and although six of the dwarfs have eyebrows that were modeled after Walt Disney’s; Happy has eyebrows that are white and bushy. Various Walt Disney artists were involved in the animation of Happy throughout the film including: Vladimir Tytl, Fred Moore, Shamus Culhane, and Les Clark. The former vaudevillian comedic actor Otis Harlan provided the voice of Happy.

This is an absolutely wonderful original hand painted and hand inked production cel of Happy set on a white star on blue paper Courvoisier background. Courvoisier Galleries, the first to recognize the artistic value to the newly emerging animation art form, in the 1930s and 40s created the series to sell to the public. This is a full figure and great image of Happy, with both eyes open and he has a delightful mouth open smile.

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