7/6/2023 0 Comments Dumbo booksDisney records do not show she was on the payroll but Aberson and Pearl, who she divorced in 1940, did receive a one-time fee for the story rights.ĭumbo went on to be a critical and commercial success at the box office, generating more than $1 million in profits. However, once production got underway, Aberson went to Hollywood to serve as a consultant on the film. If it was, the studio no longer has it in its archives.ĭurney also may have assisted Disney with some of the early conceptual drawings for the animated movie. It is believed one of the prototypes had been sent to Disney Productions in Hollywood. He recognized the potential for a film and quickly worked a deal with Aberson and Pearl. However, before the book could be printed, Whitmyre offered the story to Walt Disney, the celebrated movie animator and creator of Mickey Mouse. Galley proofs of her original artwork are housed in Bird Library at Syracuse University. She did several rough illustrations that were used to make the two or three prototypes of how Dumbo would appear in this new publishing format. Helen Durney, an artist who worked for Roll-A-Book, was given the task of redrawing the images to fit the scrolling book format. Aberson had come up with the Dumbo idea and written the story while Pearl did the initial drawings. The couple, who had married in 1938, was excited by the possibility of a scrolling book. Whitmyre became interested in Dumbo after Aberson and Pearl approached him to publish the book. Whitmyre's "Display Device," patented June 20, 1939 Whitmyre detailed his concept’s attributes in the patent application: “My invention may be characterized as a book, yet it is endowed with a number of novel features which is not found in an ordinary book,” adding “…the rolls are manipulated to wind the strip or sheet from one roll onto the other roll.”Į. He assigned the patent rights to his own Roll-A-Book Publishers, Inc. Whitmyre applied for a patent in 1938, which was granted the following year. The scrolling-book concept was conceived by Everett Whitmyre, a Syracuse advertising agent who was known as “an ideas man.” He was said to have gotten the idea from watching children at the New York Public Library. It stars Eva Green, Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton and Alan Arkin. The new film version, reimagined by director Tim Burton, combines live action with computer-generated imagery to create a whole new look for this delightful tale. Of course, Disney turned Dumbo into a successful animated film in 1941 that has tugged at heartstrings for generations. A first-generation Russian-American, her Jewish family struggled through poverty and bigotry to make its way in a new country.* “At times her life was difficult,” Andrew Mayer says. Her son believed Dumbo was a metaphor for his mother’s own experience. However, before it could go into production, the story idea was sold in 1939 to Disney Productions, which purchased all intellectual property rights, including book publishing.Īberson, who died in 1999, was proud of her story, which was tinged with sadness but demonstrated how perseverance triumphs in the end. Two or three prototypes were created in the scrolling-book format. of Syracuse, New York, acquired the rights to publish Dumbo from author Helen Aberson and her then-husband, Harold Pearl, who was the illustrator. To follow the story, readers would twist dials on the outside of the box until the next frame with pictures and words came into view. It was intended to be published as a novelty book with illustrations printed on a long scroll contained in a box. The story of the baby elephant with very large ears who must overcome adversity and ridicule to become a circus star was originally planned as a children’s book. As Dumbo soars into theaters this week with a new Disney live-action movie, it is interesting to note that it was a simple twist of fate that brought this beloved classic to the silver screen in the first place.
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