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John Dyson, the grandson of master animator Ken Harris (1898-1982) started a website last year to post artwork, photographs and ephemera Harris had saved. Dyson wrote in to report a new find:

When my grandmother died a few years back, I recieved a big box of “old stuff” of Ken’s. In this box was a bunch of old animation. He didn’t really keep much of the production cels or drawings, but there was almost 150 drawings in a big envelope labled “Schlesinger days – keep”. They all seem to be from the animators around that time that were just drawn for fun around the studio. Many of these drawings also seem to be around inside jokes, so we really don’t understand many of them.

The newly found Schlesinger era material is posted here. Clearly some of them are drawn by Chuck Jones. If anyone can help us identify artists (or the cartoonists being caricatured) you can contact Dyson directly through the website. It’s well worth browsing the whole site. I particularly like this 1941 Seein’ Stars clipping referencing Harris (without credit).

Jerry Beck

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