Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Live Action Reference Photo 649-235 - Ed Wynn at the Mad Tea Party

This reference photo comes from an earlier time in the production based on its photo id (which is on the back of this particular photo) - June of 1949.  It features Ed Wynn as the zany Mad Hatter at his tea table filled with teapots.
It is difficult to figure out exactly where in the Mad Tea Party sequence this particular image falls, but you get the basic idea.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

just like doing the voice recordings (and just like the more recent animated films), after having done what's on the written page once or twice, the disney artists let the actors improv a bit, so it is likely this shot might not have actually made it to the screen in any form. it also might have been shot between takes, meaning the "ok" sign was meant for the director, not meant for the camera or another character.

Matt said...

@acroyear70 - agreed, I'm sure there were lots of takes of reference footage, who knows exactly where this came from. But I think his gesture isn't 'ok', but rather a flourish, as the Mad Hatter is a very flamboyant character :)

Major Pepperidge said...

I think he is about to raise both hands to his eyes and look through invisible binoculars. But then again I think that about everybody.

Matt said...

@major - or maybe the Junior Birdman?