Early photos of Walt Disney, taken 100 years ago, appeared on the auction block in March. The images include candid shots of Disney on his honeymoon and his first film camera.
“These original photos are unique items and look at the beginning of Walt Disney Studios and Young Walt Disney that started it all,” said Mike Van Eaton, co-founder of Van Eaton Gallery & Auctions in a news release. “These are part of American pop culture history, so these things don’t exist in the private hand.”
Snapshot Backstory: Walt Disney mailed a photo to a friend and composer Carl Stolling, a Missouri friend in the 1920s. (It constituted scores for early Disney cartoons, such as “The Crazy of the Airplane” and the first “Skeleton Dance” in Disney’s “Silly Symphony.”)
The photo has become part of Bob Cremp’s estate. He is a “Rooney Toons” animator and a close friend of personnel. Stalling’s widow gave Clampett photos and other items, a Van Eaton official said.
The auction includes over 950 lots, including “Rooney Tunes” and “Merry Melodies”, dolls and animated art for products. The auction house points out that Clempett helped his aunt, Charlotte Clark, create the first Mickey Mouse doll.
After marrying Lillian Bound in Lewiston, Idaho in 1925, he shows Walt Disney in his Seattle honeymoon. His handwriting is at the back. Another image shows Disney next to the car where his future wife sits with her sister and mother.
Walt Disney passed away in 1966. Stoll passed away in 1972, followed by Klempto in 1984.
Disney Auction: How Van Eaton Gallery sells memories
Van Eaton regularly holds auctions of Disney memorabilia, including animation art and theme park artifacts. The exact date of the Clampett auction has not been posted. For more information, please visit vegalleries.com.
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