You’ve wandered into the topsy-turvy world of Tulgey Wood, the blog of writer and historian Jim Fanning. Tulgey Wood celebrates artistry and creativity (and sometimes just plain madness): movies, animation, TV, books, comics—and of course Disney, lots and lots of true-blue, through-and-through Disney, including D23 and Disney twenty-three Magazine, and Sketches Magazine and the Walt Disney Collectors Society. Tulgey Wood is so fun, fascinating and full of frolicsome photos and facts, it’s scary. So wander through the wonder of it all, and enjoy.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Have a Golden St. Nicholas Day

December 6 is St. Nicholas Day, a major Christmastime holiday in many parts of the world. To celebrate, here’s a real St. Nicholas goodie: the classic Little Golden Book, Santa's Toy Shop, first published in 1950 and still available today as a Big Golden Book. Inspired by Walt Disney’s 1932 Silly Symphony Santa’s Workshop, the charming illustrations are by Golden Book artist Al Dempster. Like many of the Golden artists, Al was also a Disney animation artist, specifically a background artist, who painted backgrounds for many of the great Disney features, including Fantasia, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book. As a Disney background artist, Al knew everything there is to know about staging, color and conveying story in an illustration. The art is in fact superior to and far more appealing than the style of the original cartoon, which was produced as Disney animation was still very much evolving. For this simple volume, Al designed a Santa that is pure Disney. Hope this Christmastime treat makes you as jolly as Santa Claus himself.

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