Eyvind Earle’s “West Side Story” Trailer

While visiting with animation art dealer extraordinaire Mike Van Eaton today, he showed me a piece of Eyvind Earle art I was unfamiliar with (click above image to see larger version). It’s from Earle’s animated teaser trailer for West Side Story (1961).

Earle animated this brief trailer (embed below) in 1960 after coming off the production of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. It’s obviously based on Saul Bass’ designs for the logo and poster art – but Earle’s graphic design sense, similar to this Chevrolet spot created around the same time, comes through – a unique, stylish way to sell a movie.

More about my visit with Van Eaton next week, when I’ll post some incredible classic cartoon art he has agreed to share exclusively with our readers.