Original Signal Corp unit logo by Disney animator

[Bob Hudson]

I picked this up a long time ago and it has been in a pile of things in its frame until today when I decided it was time to take it out of the frame and scan it to share on the forum. It is original art on 8x10 inch art board and to my surprise it has writing on the back. Turns out it was done by Cy Young (no, not the baseball guy) who was at Disney until 1941. One source says, "the first head of Walt Disney Productions' special effects animation department when it was founded in 1935 during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. "

 

 

 

[disneydave]

Great piece and great connection to Disney's!

 

If I recall, Young was an Asian-American who started at Disney's in the early 30s. He committed suicide in the 1960s.

 

Young was a genius - all the great effects in Pinocchio with Monstro the Whale crashing through the water, and Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket underwater when Pinoke jumps off the cliff at Pleasure Island - the waves, bubbles and refraction of the water. The great special effects in Fantasia in the Rite of Spring when the dinosaurs were fighting, the ghosts from Night on Bald Mountain, the sprites and fairies...he was a fantastic artist and headed-up a great crew.

 

If you ever want to sell this piece, let me know.

[Bob Hudson]

Great piece and great connection to Disney's!

 

If I recall, Young was an Asian-American who started at Disney's in the early 30s. He committed suicide in the 1960s.

 

Young was a genius - all the great effects in Pinocchio with Monstro the Whale crashing through the water, and Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket underwater when Pinoke jumps off the cliff at Pleasure Island - the waves, bubbles and refraction of the water. The great special effects in Fantasia in the Rite of Spring when the dinosaurs were fighting, the ghosts from Night on Bald Mountain, the sprites and fairies...he was a fantastic artist and headed-up a great crew.

 

If you ever want to sell this piece, let me know.

 

 

He is also sometimes credited as "Sy" or "S.Y. Young" and there is a brief Wikipedia entry about him. In the book "Who's who in Animated Cartoons By Jeff Lenburg" he is mentioned in connection with one of the first female animators, Lillian Friedman:

 

 

I assume he was in the Army since he did this Signal Corps piece at an Army camp in 1943.

[disneydave]

In April 1943 Disney sent out a glossy, multi-page, high quality newsletter, really a small booklet, to staff in the military. It was called Dispatch From Disney's and the publication contained many interesting stories about what was going on at the Studio.

 

The newsletter also contained a pin-up gatefold with some innocent nudes. Printed on the reverse of the gatefold was a rather long list of Disney employees in the military - their unit, rank and where they were stationed.

 

Cy Young was listed as follows:

 

Sgt. Cyrus Young

1st Signal Photo Lab

Camp Livingstone, Louisiana

[disneydave]

I just wanted to say again thanks to Bob for selling me this piece. The art looks great with all my other pieces of Disney war related art. Here's some more info I was able to locate about the artist, Cy Young:

 

This piece of original insignia art bears the initials "CY 1943" in the bottom right quadrant. According to a note penned in India ink on the reverse, the finished art was created by none other than Disney artist Cyrus S. (Cy) Young. (The emblem's design components were created by a fellow serviceman, but it was Young who put the idea to paper and painted the finished product).

 

Young, who was born in Hawaii in 1900, was an extremely talented artist who started the Disney Studio Special Effects Department in 1934. He was later joined by Ugo D'Orsi. The two artists were responsible for some of the greatest effects animation created in that time period.

 

Famed Disney artists Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, (part of a team Walt Disney referred to as his "Nine Old Men"), wrote in their book Disney Animation - The Illusion of Life: "Through the entire thirties, the entire Effects Department consisted of only two men: Ugo D'Orsi, a straightforward, stubborn, and dedicated Italian, and Cy Young...quite and sensitive...who loved to play the bass fiddle as a hobby." Thomas and Johnston added, "Since [D'Orsi and Young] did most of the careful work themselves, they needed only a single assistant between them."

 

In his book Paper Dreams, John Canemaker noted Young had his start in animation at several New York silent cartoon studios including J.R. Bray's, Paul Terry's and Max Fleischer's. Canemaker added that in the 1920s, Young created technical animation at the Annapolis Naval Academy and medical animation for the Tuberculosis Society of America.

 

According to Canemaker a "1941 studio personnel report described Young as the 'most highly specialized technical animator in the industry'." Young was fired from Disney's the day before the infamous 1941 employee strike. He was rehired in July of that year, but then fired for good in mid-September.

 

During the war, Young served as a Sergeant in the 1st Signal Photo Lab, at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. Curiously, Young is listed as a member of the Armed Forces on the reverse of the pin-up gate-fold found in the Studio employee newsletter, Dispatch From Disney's. The notation was made despite the fact he was let go almost two years prior.

 

After the war Young worked as a clerk with the Air Force. Sadly, and like so many other Disney artists before him, Young met a tragic end - he committed suicide on January 16, 1964.

 

I have not been able to locate much information on either Young's unit, or the Signal Unit he created the art for. I recently sent an email to the Signal Corps Museum at Fort Gordon, Georgia, asking if they had any history for either unit and am currently waiting to hear back from the Museum historian. If anyone has background info on either unit, I'd love to hear from you.

[Bob Hudson]

I just wanted to say again thanks to Bob for selling me this piece. The art looks great with all my other pieces of Disney war related art. Here's some more info I was able to locate about the artist, Cy Young...

 

Glad you were able to find some more info Dave. I don't imagine there's too much in the way of his original art around so it's great that this example has survived and is in the hands of someone who will keep it's legacy alive.

 

I was reminded of this piece when I picked up a portrait of a China Marine at a garage sale. The front of the painting, as with the Cy Young piece, only had a cryptic two-letter signature on the front, in this case "MM." Well, again as with the Cy Young piece, when I took it out of the frame, I found the name of the artist written on the canvas stretcher and again it turned out the be an artist of some renown, in this instance a landscape artist who was a student of James Whistler (of Whistler's Mother fame) and herself published in National Geographic (the thread on that is at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...p?showtopic=559 ).

 

My advice to anyone who gets original military art is to take it out of the frame if there's no clear signature on the front: you never know what surprises will be found.

[disneydave]

Thanks Bob and I echo your advice about taking items out of the frame. A friend bought a piece of Disney art a long time ago - it was a conceptual or storyboard piece...can't remember which. When he got the framed art home he took it apart to re-frame it and behind the art he bought were two gorgeous cels from Pinocchio!