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After 20 years of
political cartooning for the two Winnipeg Icelandic newspapers (Heimskringla and
Logberg) and illustration work for the Eaton's department store catalogues,
Charlie Thorson took his portfolio to Hollywood. He was signed to an immediate
contract by Walt Disney. He started
work in early 1935 and stayed at Disney Studios as a story-man and character
designer for two years, contributing ideas and characters to such famous films
as Little Hiawatha, The Old Mill, The Country Cousin, and Wynken, Blynken and
Nod. He also contributed to the design of Snow White, basing his drawings on his
Icelandic girlfriend Kristin Solvadottir. But he and Walt did not get along
smoothly; so he wrote a satiric poem about his boss and left in 1937.
Because
of his talent as a designer of "cute" creatures, Charlie was able to
find jobs at will among the many "animation factories" in the US. At
MGM he worked on the ill-fated "Captain and the Kids" series before
quickly moving to Warner Bros. There he designed the prototype for Bugs Bunny
(and even named this world-famous character) and the characters Sniffles the
Mouse, Inki and the Mynah Bird, The Curious Puppy and The Lady Known as Lou.
Less than a year later he switched to the Fleischer Brothers' new studio in
Miami to work on their first feature film Gulliver's Travels; he contributed the
goofy passenger-pigeon character Twinkletoes to that film, naming him after a
famous Winnipeg Blue Bombers football player. He also contributed many
characters to the "Stone Age" series and redesigned Raggedy Ann and
Andy for film. He was also employed at Terrytoons in New York and Columbia and
George Pal Studios in Los Angeles before turning to an award-winning "third
career" in advertising and children's books after World War II.
His
two most highly-regarded books are stories of an intrepid Indian boy: Keeko +
Chee Chee and Keeko, published in 1947 and 1952. Back in Canada he created many
charming characters for advertising campaigns in the 1950s. His two most famous
creations are Elmer the Safety Elephant and Punkinhead the Sad Little Bear,
familiar to all baby-boom kids because of their wide circulation.
Charlie was a dapper dresser, a mesmerizing storyteller, and an unquenchable bon
vivant. He died in Vancouver in 1967, still working on unfinished children's
books and other projects.
Gene
Walz
Order my
book on Charlie Thorson from
Great
Plains Publications (ISBN:
0-9697804-9-4)
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