Original Production Animation Drawing By Shamus Culhane of Gideon from "Pinocchio," 1940

Original production animation drawing by Shamus Culhane in graphite pencil of Gideon from "Pinocchio," 1940, Walt Disney Studios; Numbered 8 in pencil lower right; Size - Gideon: 7 1/2 x 7 1/2", Sheet 10 x 12"; Unframed.

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"Pinocchio," 1940 was the second animated feature film produced by Disney, and followed on the success of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." 1937. It was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 23, 1940 and was based on the Italian children's novel "The Adventures of Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi. The general plot of the film involves an old wood-carver named Geppetto, who carves a wooden puppet that he names Pinocchio. One night the puppet is brought to life by the Blue Fairy, who informs him that he can become a real boy if he proves himself to be "brave, truthful, and unselfish". Pinocchio's journey to become a real boy is challenged by his encounters with an array of scrupulous characters.

"Pinocchio" became the first animated feature to win an Academy Award; it won for both Best Music - Original Score and for Best Music - Original Song for "When You Wish Upon A Star." Most critics and audiences agree that "Pinocchio" is among the finest Disney features ever made, and one of the greatest animated films of all time. In 1994, it was added to the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Due to the huge success of "Snow White," Walt Disney wanted more famous voice actors for "Pinocchio." He cast popular singer Cliff Edwards (who had made the first record selling over a million copies) as Jiminy Cricket. Disney also wanted the character of Pinocchio to be voiced by a real child. The role ended up going to twelve year old actor Dickie Jones, who had previously been in Frank Capra's enormous Hollywood hit, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

Animation began in September 1938 and just as in "Snow White," live-action footage was shot for "Pinocchio" with the actors playing the scenes; which was supervised by Hamilton Luske. The animators then used the footage as a guide for their animation drawings by studying the human movement and then incorporating many of those poses and scenes. The title character was animated by Milt Kahl (initial design), Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston. "When I was doing Pinocchio," Johnston said, "I thought of the character being real, a living person, not a drawing."

The inspiration for Gideon was the silent Marx Brother, Harpo. An earlier Walt Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," had already proven that characters with no dialog (ie. Dopy) could become one of the the most memorable characters of the film. Gideon was going to be voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc, but Disney decided to delete all of his lines; preferring a mute Foulfellow sidekick who has only 3 hiccups in the entire film. Mel Blanc did provide the voice for the hiccups and he did receive payment; stating afterwards "that is it was the most expensive hiccup I ever recorded."

Close up of the original production animation drawing of Gideon.

James "Shamus" Culhane (1908-1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He worked at various animation studios, but while at Disney he worked on several shorts and films, including being the lead animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He is responsible for animating one of the most well-known sequences in the film, the seven Dwarfs marching home while singing "Heigh-Ho." The scene took Culhane and his assistants six months to complete. He then went on to work on "Pinocchio" where he animated both Honest John (Foulfellow) and Gideon; however he never received on-screen credit.

This is a very nice drawing of Gideon by Shamus Culhane from the famous scene in "Pinocchio," which occurs at the The Red Lobster Inn, where he and Honest John meet with the Coachman. All three are seen smoking, Honest John and Gideon both have cigars and The Coachman has a pipe. The scene opens with Honest John singing the classic "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life For Me)." This drawing features Gideon holding a cigar in his right hand, while his left is covering his mouth; apparently from coughing up smoke that is now billowing around his head. As a result of coughing, his hat is in mid air above his head. His beer stein is sitting on the table in front of him. A great action oriented drawing and a wonderful addition to any Walt Disney vintage animation art collection!

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