Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (Iwerks/1934)
Ub Iwerks was the artist who designed Mickey Mouse. He left Disney in 1930 to form his own studio. Soon he lost interest in the day to day supervision of the cartoons and turned the directing duties over to Grim Natwick, the creator of Betty Boop. Read more about it after the jump…
Grim Natwick was one of the greatest animators who ever lived, and this cartoon is one of the most skillfully directed cartoons he made for Iwerks. You can see his hand everywhere- in the curlicue filagrees on the Genii, the beautifully composed background layouts, and the Betty Boop-esque heroine.
Grim almost didn’t end up at Iwerks. He was offered a high-paying job at Disney, but turned it down. It’s an interesting story, and you can read about it by clicking on the letter below…
You can hear an audio interview with Grim Natwick himself, talking about his boss, Ub Iwerks (and his contentious relationship with Walt Disney) by clicking on Ub’s photo below…
