David Hand (animator)

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**David Dodd Hand** (January 23, 1900 – October 11, 1986) was an American animator and animation filmmaker known for his work at Walt Disney Productions. He worked on numerous Disney shorts during the 1930s, eventually becoming supervising director and earlier film clips, director on the animated features *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* *Pinocchio* and *Bambi* *Song of the South* *So Dear to My Heart* *The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad* *Cinderella* *Alice in Wonderland* *Peter Pan* *Ben and Me* *Lady and the Tramp* *Sleeping Beauty* *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* *Robin Hood* *The Fox and the Hound*.

## Biography

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Hand began his animation career working on the *Out of the Inkwell* cartoons throughout the 1920s. He joined the Disney studio in 1930, during a major drive by Disney to recruit from the best of animating talent. Hand immediately made his mark as an animator, contributing.

By 1932 he was regarded as one of Disney's top animators (despite some complaints that his work was "too mechanical"). as well as having become a close friend of Walt Disney. Hand's organizational skills made Disney select him to be the studio's third director after Burt Gillett and Wilfred Jackson. He made his directorial debut for the company with the Mickey Mouse short *Building a Building*, and went on to direct both *Silly Symphony* and Mickey Mouse shorts, including *The Flying Mouse*, *Who Killed Cock Robin?*, *Three Orphan Kittens* and *Thru the Mirror*. By the late 1930s Hand's management skills had allowed him to ascend in the hierarchy of the Studio to functioning as Disney's right-hand man. But as historian Michael Barrier notes "Hand's position was fundamentally untenable—he was second in command in an organization whose leader, younger than Hand himself, had no intention of ever stepping aside or sharing real power.He died in California at age 86 name="michaelbarrier.com" />

## Gaumont British Animation

After leaving Disney in 1944, Hand went to England and for J. Arthur Rank established Gaumont British Animation at Moor Hall in 1946 to produce the *Animaland*  and *Musical Paintbox* cartoon series. In 1948, he produced a few theatrical animated advertisements entitled *Ye Old English Car-Tunes* on Esso. When these were unable to get distribution in the United States, the studio closed in 1950 and Hand moved to Colorado where he worked for the next 18 years at the Alexander Film Company, a maker of commercials and industrial films.
The closure also put an end to the studio's plans to produce two animated features adapted from H. G. Wells' *The First Men in the Moon* and Lewis Carroll's *The Hunting of the Snark* as well.

Beginning in January 1949, Hand's *Animaland* and *Musical Paintbox* series were released in theaters in the United Kingdom. Later that June, both of his series was then released in theaters in North America, but only in Canada. Due to a minimum amount of cartoons and shorts, Hand's shorts were shown in theaters for only a year, ending its run in the United Kingdom in July 1950 and in Canada in October 1950.

During the mid-1970s and into the early 1980s, Hand's cartoons begin airing on television for the first time in the United Kingdom.

Hand's son David Hale Hand has formed David Hand Productions which owns the rights to the 19 Gaumont animated shorts (nine Animaland cartoons and ten Musical Paintbox cartoons) and hopes to produce new films starring some of the characters in the shorts (e.g. Ginger Nutt). In 1994, Hand was inducted into the Disney Legends program.

## Filmography

* *Midnight in a Toy Shop* (1930)
* *The China Plate* (1931)
* *Egyptian Melodies* (1931)
* *Old King Cole* (1933)
* *Birds in the Spring* (1933)
* *The Mad Doctor* (1933)
* *Building a Building* (1933)
* *The Flying Mouse* (1934)
* *The Dognapper* (1934)
* *Mickey's Steam Roller* (1934)
* *Who Killed Cock Robin?* (1935)
* *Pluto's Judgement Day* (1935)
* *The Robber Kitten* (1935)
* *Three Orphan Kittens* (1935)
* *Mickey's Polo Team* (1936)
* *Thru the Mirror* (1936)
* *Three Blind Mouseketeers* (1936)
* *Mother Pluto* (1936)
* *Three Little Wolves* (1936)
* *Little Hiawatha* (1937)
* *Magician Mickey* (1937)
* *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (Supervising director; 1937)
* *The Whalers* (1938)
* *Pinocchio* (Supervising director; 1940)
* *Fantasia* (Associate producer; 1940)
* *Bambi* (Supervising director; 1942)
* *Victory Through Air Power* (Animation supervisor; 1943)
* *Song of the South* (Cartoon Director; 1946)
* *Seal Island* (1948 – director)
* *So Dear to My Heart* (Cartoon Director; 1949)
* *The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad* (Director; 1949)
* *Cinderella* (Director; 1950)
* *In Beaver Valley* (1950 – director)
* *Alice in Wonderland* (Director; 1951)
* *Nature's Half Acre* (1951 – director)
* *The Olympic Elk* (1952 – director and writer)
* *Peter Pan* (Director; 1953)
* *Bear Country* (1953 – director and writer)
* *Prowlers of the Everglades* (1953 – director and writer)
* *The Living Desert* (1953 – director and writer)
* *Ben and Me* (Director; 1953)
* *The Vanishing Prairie* (1954 – director and writer)
* *The African Lion* (1955 - director and writer)
* *Lady and the Tramp* (Director; 1955)
* *Secrets of Life* (1956 – director and writer)
* *White Wilderness* (1958 – director and writer)
* *Grand Canyon* (1958 – director)
* *Sleeping Beauty* (Supervising director; 1959)
* *Jungle Cat* (1960 – director and writer)
* *Ten Who Dared* (1960 – producer)
* *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* (Director; 1961)
* *The Legend of Lobo* (1962 – director, producer and writer)
* *The Gnome-Mobile* (1967 – producer)
* *Robin Hood* (Director; 1973)
* *The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures* (1975 – director, producer and writer)
* *The Fox and the Hound* (Director; 1981)

### *Animaland*

David Hand served as producer on all 9 shorts in this series.

* *The Lion (Felis Leo)* (1948)
* *The House-Cat (Felis Vulgaris)* (1948)
* *The Cuckoo* (1948)
* *The Ostrich* (1949)
* *The Australian Platypus* (1949)
* *It's a Lovely Day* (1949)
* *Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus* (1949)
* *Ginger Nutt's Bee-Bother* (1949)
* *Ginger Nutt's Forest Dragon* (1949)

### *Musical Paintbox*

David Hand served as producer on all 10 shorts in this series.

* *Wales* (1948)
* *The Thames* (1948)
* *Somerset* (1949)
* *A Fantasy on Ireland* (1949)
* *Yorkshire Ditty* (1949)
* *Sketches of Scotland* (1949)
* *Cornwall* (1949)
* *Canterbury Road* (1949)
* *Devon Whey* (1950)
* *A Fantasy on London Life* (1950)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Transcript of Michael Barrier's interview with David Hand
2. ↑ David Hand's Animaland. Posted on Toonhound: Cartoons, animation, comic strips and puppets in the UK.
3. ↑ Musical Paintbox. Posted on Toonhound: Cartoons, animation, comic strips and puppets in the UK.
4. ↑ Memories of David Hand and Moor Hall Studios
5. ↑ TCM's Cartoon Alley

## External links

* David Hand at IMDb**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* memoir of Gaumont British Animation
* David Hand's Disney Legends bio
* Animaland Model Sheets – *The Cuckoo*
* David Hand Productions

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