Publicity Drawing for Theatrical Still for Mickey's Parrot, 1938

I first discovered Disney publicity drawings one day in c. 1978 when visiting Collectors Book Store in Hollywood, CA, where I had been buying old comic books for over a decade. As I waited for something I picked up one of their old art catagues which wase lying on a counter and thumbed through it. One page showed 4 drawings from Donald Duck shorts which greatly impressed me. I asked Howard Lowery if any of the drawings were still available and was told that all were -- probably because thy were expensive at the time. I ultimately bought all 4, as well as most of the similar drawings which were shown in two other sales catalogues. But several of the pictured drawings had already been sold, including this drawing. I have regretted being unable to buy it for 45 years. But it recently turned up again, this time in a Heritage auction.

Of course, the Heritage staff grossly misidentified the drawing. it was said to be by Hank Porter, when it s unquestionaby the work of Manuel Gonzales -- Wood only used black pencil while Gonzales almost always used red pencil underdrawing. Heritage also stated that this was a preliminary drawing for the similar image for the Good Housekeeping page for Mickey's Parrot -- But that watercolor, which I have owned for almost 25 years, obviously differs -- Pluto isn't included. This is not a study at all, but it is the final pencil design for one of the publicity stills created at the same time as the GH art