As they (and Disney) pleased

The title They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Late Golden Age, the 1940s - Part Two seems like overstatement, both in the sense of too many words and exaggeration. This was the Disney studio, after all, which was Walt Disney's own magic kingdom, where he alone had final say over which movies were made and how the stories were told.

Even so, some of the more talented artists were allowed more freedom than others to express their creativity, and six of these are the ones Didier Ghetz concentrates on in this volume in the series. Mostly these six worked in what was called the Character Model Department. That is, they created the characters that went into the popular Disney films of that era. They were free, Ghetz writes, to use any medium they chose to develop these characters. Others would create the actual film using the characters.

Eduardo Sola Franco, born in Ecuador in 1915, joined the Disney team under the mistaken belief that he alone would be responsible for developing an animated film based on Don Quixote. He was disappointed. Not only was the film never made, but all animated films made by a studio are necessarily team efforts, and in Walt Disney Studios, only Disney himself had final say. While he worked for Disney, Franco also worked on characters for Cinderella, Dumbo and other films.

Johnny Walbridge is described as "a real-life incarnation of Goofy," a man who could be as funny in person as the characters he created on paper. These characters include dancing fish and flowers for Fantasia and some of the strange figures seen in Alice in Wonderland.

Jack Miller , born in 1913, started with Disney at 21 and during his career at the studio developed Figario the cat, the Dutch marionette and several other characters in Pinocchio.

Campbell Grant, called “the consumate storyteller,” worked in the equally important Story Department before his transfer to the Character Model Department in 1938. Among his creations were the ostrich dancers in Fantasia and the cars in Wind in the Willows.

James Bodrero at first resisted the idea of working for Disney, not wanting to devote his career to, as he put it, “making ducks’ feet move.” Yet soon he was busy creating amazing images seen in Fantasia, El Gaucho Goofy and other films. And, yes, he sometimes drew ducks’ feet.

Martin Provensen was passionate about music, sculpture and books, but his drawing was pretty good, too. Some of his his creations, such as the Bambi owl and Giddy, one of the Dumbo elephants, are remembered by anyone who has seen these movies.

Ghetz includes many drawings of characters and storylines that never made it into a film. This book, like others in the extended series, will be indispensable to Disney collectors.