Sarangel
<font color=red><font color=navy>Rumor has it ...<
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The International Museum of Cartoon Art says it is reluctantly auctioning its prize exhibit - purportedly the first drawings of Mickey Mouse - to help pay debts.
The 36-panel storyboard from the 1928 Walt Disney cartoon "Plane Crazy'' was the first drawing ever made of Mickey Mouse, according to Mort Walker, founder of the museum that displays vintage cartoons, comic strips, films and animation art.
The storyboard is valued at between $3.2 million and $3.7 million.
"This is the one we're all counting on,'' said Walker, who also created the Beetle Bailey comic strip.
The sale will also include animation cells from the 1937 Disney movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' including one showing dwarfs Doc and Dopey which is expected to fetch $20,000 to $24,000.
Other items range from original comic strips from the 1930s to editorial cartoons from the New York Daily News and animation cells or comic strips of such characters as Bugs Bunny, Charlie Brown, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace and Prince Valiant.
In all, more than 600 items, some donated and some coming from the museum's collection of 200,000 drawings, will be put on the block Saturday at The New York Historical Society.
"This is probably the biggest cartoon auction in history,'' Walker said. "It probably won't be duplicated, because nobody can duplicate the drawings of Mickey Mouse.''
Walker rebutted criticism that, by auctioning off some of its most-prized holdings, the museum is ignoring its mission as a permanent repository for valuable works. "A lot of people frown on the fact that the museums sell off their inventory, although everybody does it,'' he said. "It's basically when you're not going to be able to stay open if you don't do it.''
The museum was founded in Connecticut in 1972. It moved to Boca Raton in 1990 from Rye Brook, N.Y., and opened its current building in 1996.
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Source: AOL News
The 36-panel storyboard from the 1928 Walt Disney cartoon "Plane Crazy'' was the first drawing ever made of Mickey Mouse, according to Mort Walker, founder of the museum that displays vintage cartoons, comic strips, films and animation art.
The storyboard is valued at between $3.2 million and $3.7 million.
"This is the one we're all counting on,'' said Walker, who also created the Beetle Bailey comic strip.
The sale will also include animation cells from the 1937 Disney movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' including one showing dwarfs Doc and Dopey which is expected to fetch $20,000 to $24,000.
Other items range from original comic strips from the 1930s to editorial cartoons from the New York Daily News and animation cells or comic strips of such characters as Bugs Bunny, Charlie Brown, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace and Prince Valiant.
In all, more than 600 items, some donated and some coming from the museum's collection of 200,000 drawings, will be put on the block Saturday at The New York Historical Society.
"This is probably the biggest cartoon auction in history,'' Walker said. "It probably won't be duplicated, because nobody can duplicate the drawings of Mickey Mouse.''
Walker rebutted criticism that, by auctioning off some of its most-prized holdings, the museum is ignoring its mission as a permanent repository for valuable works. "A lot of people frown on the fact that the museums sell off their inventory, although everybody does it,'' he said. "It's basically when you're not going to be able to stay open if you don't do it.''
The museum was founded in Connecticut in 1972. It moved to Boca Raton in 1990 from Rye Brook, N.Y., and opened its current building in 1996.
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Source: AOL News
