EXCLUSIVE ANIMATOR BREAKDOWN: "Donald's Dilemma" (1947) (Patreon)

Click here to watch the animator breakdown video.

Here’s a special Saturday surprise for you loyal Patrons—an animator breakdown on a cult favorite, Donald’s Dilemma!

JB Kaufman has kindly lent me his notes on this production and offered some valuable research, some of which will be revealed in this post. First, four animators are credited in the main titles but the production draft lists six uncredited character animators and one effects animator (George Rowley).

Sandy Strother is billed in the screen credits, but his name never appears on the final production draft. Strother kept a work diary for every day he worked at the Disney studio, and wrote detailed accounts on the effects work he handled in Donald’s Dilemma. Much of the effects animation plays an integral role in the story, which might account for the inclusion of his screen credit. Strother’s work diary reveals he animated the flower pot that breaks on Donald’s head, his icy stares, the heavy snow Daisy plows through and her pleading tears to Donald on the sidewalk, among other assignments.

Another anomaly in the production draft: Ed Aardal is given a few scenes of character animation in the film. In the pre-war years, Aardal was primarily an effects animator, as well.Evidently, he expanded his horizons during the war and was promoted to character animator.

The production draft lists an artist credited as "Campbell" in a small number of scenes, which could belong to Jack Campbell. However, author/historian Mindy Johnson in her book Ink and Paint: The Women of Disney’s Animation mentions Virginia Campbell among a group of women who moved into character animation during the war, but does not give any further details. The animator breakdown video labels these scenes as “Jack or Virginia Campbell”.

Paul Allen and Bob Carlson are jointly credited in the draft for the scene of Daisy waiting in the snow and walking toward the front of the theater. Since a transitional wipe appears in the scene, the two seasonal changes were split between the two animators. In addition, the scene of the crowd’s hands holding autograph books was animated by Ed Aardal, and cleaned up by Sandy Strother.

A mass layoff that occurred on July 1946 led to a few staffers who worked on the film to be displaced—storyman Roy Williams was among them, but he eventually was hired back at the Disney studio. However, the following were laid off and did not return: Don Towsley, Paul Allen, Emery Hawkins and its director Jack King. The cartoon was released about a year later on July 11, 1947, considering the backlog of Technicolor prints that affected all the animation studios after the war.

Next month, I will provide two different animator breakdowns for the holiday season. One will appear on Cartoon Research— a landmark Disney short I’ve wanted to write about for a long time. It’s not holiday-themed (or even winter-themed) in the least, but consider it a Yuletide gift.

The other will appear on this Patreon page—a holiday-themed production that will be offered at the $10+ level. Keep an eye out! Just a reminder: this post will remain on the Patreon for two weeks, so the link will expire on 12/5…

(By the way, does anyone else think this should have been titled Daisy’s Dilemma? She suffers the most heartbreak, not Donald…)