| Regarding "The
Reluctant Dragon", newspaper movie critic Edwin Schallert wrote that "by
far the best of the individual cartoons [comprising it] is the one about
Baby Weems, the wonder child, who, practically from birth, is able to
talk with Einstein and Shaw...There is a remarkable and gentle charm to
the humor of the whole thing that will long remain in the mind of a
discerning public." Schallert concluded by noting that Baby Weems "was
deftly authored by Joe Grant, Dick Huemer and John Miller." |
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Well, sure, it was a
collaborative effort, like all things at Disney's. But who thought of the
idea in the first place? Was it Joe Grant, who became Dick's good friend and
creative partner in the 1940s? Did Dick dream up the wunderkind? What
might John
Miller (from the character model department, headed by Joe) have contributed?
We found, among Dick's effects, a stack of 52 drawings labeled "ORIGINAL
STORY AS SUBMITTED TO WALT BY ME---BABY WEEMS". It is interesting that
all
of the sketches (mostly on 4"x5" scratchpad paper) were by Dick.
On that evidence, we're inclined to believe that Baby Weems was
Dick's original concept. But who knows? Whoever first thought of it, it
remains a delight to behold.
You can read Dick's storyboard, if you like, by
CLICKING HERE. Hopefully the nice
people at Disney's won't ask us to remove it. (Heck, they oughta remake the
story! Big bucks for them!)
You can buy the DVD, by the way, from
Amazon.com; just click the link. --RPH
1/04; 5/06
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