We have looked previously at Duke Ellington's proposed idea for a musical called Coal Black and the Seven Dwarfs. Two lyric sheets alleged to be from the planning for the production were listed recently on eBay.
The first is the lyric for the song I Could Get A Man which Ellington and the Orchestra recorded with vocalist Dolores Parker for Columbia Records on 22 December 1947. A comparison of that recording with the lyric sheet shown below demonstrates that not all the lines made the cut...
THIS IS A Vintage ORIGINAL 1940s Ers HAND WRITTEN SONG LYRICS from T HEE & BILL COTTRELL to the DUKE ELLINGTON Musical Called COLE BLACK AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Thornton Hee (March 26, 1911 – October 30, 1988) was an American animator, director, and teacher.
He taught character design and caricature.
T. Hee was hired by the Leon Schlesinger Studio as a character designer in 1935, and got to work overtime creating Hollywood star caricatures in The Coo Coo Nut Grove, directed by Friz Freleng.
Another T. Hee caricature-packed Merrie Melodie, The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos, directed by Frank Tashlin, is a spoof of then-popular radio shows Community Sing, Allen's Alley (a.k.a. The Fred Allen Show and Al Pearce & His Gang.
It's likely Walt Disney saw these Merrie Melodies, as he hired T. Hee, who subsequently worked on Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, the 1938 Silly Symphony designed and intended as the last word in movie star caricatures.
Hee joined Walt Disney Animation Studios around 1937.
T. Hee was one of the storyboard artists who contributed The Reluctant Dragon segment from the 1941 film of the same name.
He is most recognized for directing the Dance of the Hours segment of Fantasia.
He left after the strike, but returned to work there twice, from 1940 to 1946, and again from 1958 to 1961.
Where T worked between his last 1940's stint for Disney and his joining UPA and the crew of director Robert "Bobe" Cannon is one of the many mysteries I found putting today's post together.
An informative Cartoon Research post noted his work at UPA on the animated titles for the Life Of Riley TV show.
Hee also worked for United Productions of America (1951 to 1958) and Terrytoons (1961 to 1963).
Now where T worked between leaving Disney in 1946 and joining UPA is one of many questions about his career I could not answer.
It would appear that T had the task of injecting comedy into the Jolly Frolics cartoons of director Bobe Cannon.
Bobe worked for Chuck Jones at Warner Bros. and Tex Avery at MGM but, as a director at UPA, absolutely abhorred conflict and anything that could remotely resemble slapstick.
That made things a bit of a challenge for the UPA story department.
The Bobe Cannon cartoons enjoyable and charming, but not exactly laugh riots.
That's okay - laughs aplenty mark John Hubley's brilliant work at UPA, and later, the Mr. Magoos directed by Pete Burness.
Hee was one of the co-founders, with Jack Hannah, of the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts.
He later served as chairman of the Film Arts Department.
T Hee provided the illustrations during the opening credits of The Life of Riley television show of the 1950s.
T. Hee was born on 26 March 1911 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer, known for Pinocchio (1940), Variety Girl (1947) and The Parent Trap (1961).
He was married to Patti Price.
He died on 30 October 1988 in Carbon County, Montana, USA.
T. Hee founded, with Jack Hannah, the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts, where he would be chairman of the Film Arts Department.
He ended up contributing to the next generations of animators - from John Lasseter to Tim Burton to the late Joe Ranft - with his teaching at CalArts.
T HEE:
Born. March 26, 1911
Died. October 30, 1988
FULL Page is about 8 x 11
ORIGINAL VINTAGE Item in VINTAGE FAIR / GOOD CONDITION
Please see photos
The second item up for auction is a typed sheet of the lyrics for the song Sweet Velvet O'Toole.
Interesting to note that the possibility of a production of Cole Black/ Satin Doll and the Seven Little Men was still being mooted as late as 1990...
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