Original inscription and signature of Walt Disney on Matt of Lady & Tramp Cel and Background, 1955

The Disney signature is Walt's own. The classic signature, which is often seen, is neat and attractive. Examples like that were done by studio employees, often by Hank Porter. This piece was given to the distributor of Disney films in Germany, which explains why Walt took the time to sign his own, sloppier signature on the matt.

The Story of Disney Backgound Paintings, Pt. 4.

Until late 1984, backrounds from Disney short cartoons -- whether from Mickey shorts or Silly Symphonies, almost never turned up for sale. Unlike art from features and featurettes, the studio had never marketed and rarely had given away art from the shorts. Some exceptions were a handful of backgrounds auctioned by Russ Cochran around 1981, including one of the Land of Symphony from Musicland (which I underbid but later bought in the 1990s), an image of the king's throne from The Brave Little Tailor, one each from Three Orphan Kittens and Three Blind Mouseketeers, and the Weding Cake background from The Cookie Carnival in my collection.

In the Summer of 1983, II bought from Carl Harper a set up of the grasshopper freezing in the snow, outside the tree trunk home of the ants from the 1934 Silly Symphony, The Grasshopper and the Ants. I had encountered Carl, who was always very friendly and fair, a few times before in connection with buying publicity drawings from Silly Symphonies and other drawings. He often acted on behalf of some sort of group in the San Francisco area which was lead by a woman named Marsha. That group, up until a later point in time, only collected art with Mickey or Donald and appeared to have unlimited funds for buying at auction -- I never knew them to lose out on anything they bid on.

THE BASMAJIAN AUCTION

The great scarcity of backgrounds from Disney shorts ended on December 8, 1984, when much of the collection of former Disney employee, John Basmajian, was auctioned at Christie's East in New York City. Basmajian, ostensibly with the permission of the studio, had taken a large amount of animation art home over the years of his tenure at the studio. He preserved and framed the art, which included a large number of backgrounds. He had great backgrounds from PInocchio, as well as many backrounds, some with matching cels, from a number of Silly Symphonies [which were my primary interest at the time]. Most of all, the sale included 3 backgrounds from my favorite cartoon, The Robber Kitten, one of which was first rate.

As soon as I obtained a catalogue from Christie's Beverly Hills office, I knew I was going to attend the sale, and I began making arrangements. The sale was on a Saturday, but on the Monday of that week, I received a call from a friend who was close to Dave Smith at Disney's archives. I was told that Disney was filing a lawsuite in Manhatten to stop the auction, claiming that Basmajian didn't have permission to take the artwork home. I was angry, since I really wanted those Robber Kitten backgrounds and was ready to travel to NYC. I called Christie's East and told them what was coming their way, only to be treated like some nut case. The next day, I received a call from Christie's main NY branch and was told "we have this lawsuit which was just served on us and we're wondering if you could meet with us when you get into town." I was waiting to be picked up to go to LAX, so we agreed that I woud meet with Christie's management the following day. I then learned that the matter was scheduled for an ex parte hearing on Friday, at which time the judge would decide if an injunction would issue. For the rest of Wednesday and most of Thursday I spent most of my time talking with and otherwise helping the Christie's people and their outside counsel prepare for the hearing. I gave them a few of my own copies of Russ Cochran auction cataogues which contained items which were very similar to pieces in the sale. Disney was also claiming that the art to be sold was unique and could never be replaced by the studio. I had a friend express mail some books to Christie's which had photos of art still at the studio which was extremely similar to auction pieces -- Disney was also claiming that they had nothing like what Basmajian had taken.

I spent Friday morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and called Christie's lawyer from there at noon to find out the ruling of the court. I was incredibly relieved to hear that Disney had lost and that the auction would proceed the next day. The primary reason for Christie's victory was that Disney had waited until the week of the sale to seek an injunction, despite testimony that several high level Disney employees knew for years that Basmajian had all the Disney art, some of whom had actually visited his home to see it. Continued...