ANIMATOR BREAKDOWN: "Nellie of the Circus" (1939) (Patreon)

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Nellie of the Circus, the first from the short-lived “Mello-Drama” series was released June 19, 1939, produced by Walter Lantz. Based on surviving production art, the backgrounds for this film were painted in color and shot in black-and-white. According to the production draft, animation was handed out as early as January 12—about five months before the film’s release. Merle Gilson and Ray Fahringer are credited in the main titles, but five other animators were credited in the production draft including Hicks Lokey, Verne Harding, George Grandpre, Al Coe and Charles Whitton. (Whitton's name was confirmed by his 1940 draft registration card, which confirmed his employment at Lantz's studio.) 

James Miele is credited as a co-writer on the story with Victor McLeod. Miele previously worked at Max Fleischer’s studio by April/May 1935 (according to issue #6 of Fleischer’s Animated News), working in the main story department. He is also seen in this 1936 gag photo with the rest of the story department, intended as a Christmas card. 

By the time he moved to California in the mid-thirties, he found a job at Lantz where he met his first wife Mary Jewel Larson, who also worked at the studio. (Victor McLeod was a witness to their marriage certification, dated May 14, 1938.) He seemed to have left the studio by October 1940; by the time he filled out his draft registration card, he lists his occupation as a “freelance cartoonist.”

Miele was assigned to the Army Signal Corps on May 5, 1941, though the October 29, 1941 issue of Variety noted he worked for Disney. After his military service, Miele moved back to New York. He went into the comics business as an associate editor for Timely Comics (now known as Marvel) —his occupation is listed as “editor” on the marriage certificate to his second marriage to Rose Joyce Berkley, dated February 27, 1948.

In the 1950s, Miele later became a managing editor for Ziff-Davis Publishing, as well as an artist and writer on their juvenile stories. It seems he went back into animation for a brief period, though it’s possible he did not work on-staff. (His name is seen under the main titles for the 1953 Herman and Katnip, Drinks on the Mouse, produced by Paramount’s Famous Studios).

He later worked at Harvey Comics in New York as one of their main writers, and occasional color artists. Perhaps Miele’s largest contribution was his involvement in creating Hot Stuff the Little Devil with artist Warren Kremer, for a story featuring Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost. (More on Miele’s time at Harvey Comics can be read in Mark Arnold’s The Harvey Comics Companion.) He passed away December 3, 1964.

Here is the production draft for Nellie of the Circus, courtesy of Lantz historian Tom Klein. 

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