The Walt Disney Animation Studios has shared what they believe to be the oldest piece of art in their Animation Research Library, pre-dating Mickey Mouse.
What’s Happening:
- Walt Disney Animation Studios took to Instagram as part of the ongoing celebration of 100 Years of the Walt Disney Company, and 100 years of Disney Animation, and shared what is believed to be the oldest piece of artwork in the Animation Research Library’s collection.
- Discovered while archiving The Skeleton Dance, (likely after the extensive restoration of the short, which can now be seen on Disney+), this single drawing is from one of the early Alice comedies, Alice The Firefighter.
- In the short, Alice and her friend Julius the cat attempt to put out a fire at a local hotel. The Alice Comedies were some of the earliest film ventures of Walt Disney, putting a live-action Alice into a cartoon world, typically with her animated friend, Julius the Cat.
- Though Walt Disney Animation Studios didn’t go into further detail, the drawing appears to be Julius the Cat or one of his lookalikes who served as the fire crew in the production. ,
- Julius is a character known most for his appearances in the Alice Comedies, though he did appear in earlier shorts, first debuting in Little Red Riding Hood.
- Julius was the first major recurring cartoon character created by Walt Disney, predating Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse.
- As a tribute to the Laugh-O-Gram Studios, the banner under which Walt released the Alice Comedies and his early shorts, a fictional snack was created for the queue of the Disneyland version of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, called "Laugh-O-Grahams", where a picture of Julius can be seen on the packaging.
- Another tribute to the character can be found In the Buena Vista Street area of Disney California Adventure, where one of the gift shops is named “Julius Katz and Sons.”
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