Disney Figurines

R sends me two Disney ceramic figurines from the 1950s, both under 6.5” – a dapper Jiminy Cricket, and a very frustrated Donald Duck with his fist raised in anger. These were sourced by R’s parents from a Disney artist… are they valuable prototypes or production pieces? The first of its kind is always most valued. The Donald figure made me ask: why is Donald so pissed off? Donald’s short tempered, intense outbursts may be analyzed as Intermittent Explosive Disorder –  or alternately, the expectation of disappointment could be a cultural trait, common to both ducks and Danes (yes you read that right!).

The angry Donald figurine was made by Donald Brayton Company, here in California; the first company licensed to produce figures based on Disney movie characters. Brayton was a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute and moved to the artists’ colony of Laguna Beach, building a kiln into his garage at his home in 1927. Once it was out of the kiln, he painted his pottery (figural work and tableware) with distinctive colors: rose, strawberry, eggplant, jade, lettuce, chartreuse, gold, burnt orange. He had no shopfront, but he displayed his wares outside in the front yard of his Tudor Style bungalow. By 1936 a new wife had convinced him to create a factory on Pacific Coast Highway on a five-acre plot. The compound had a showroom, design facilities, and high-end kilns. At the factory’s productive apex, Brayton employed 150 artists, and won the contract for Disney ceramics.

Failing to resist the temptation, I read an article on Donald Duck and his anger problem by Kay Xander Mellish, who writes a blog “How to Live in Denmark.” My brother David has lived in Denmark for 40 years. She says that Donald Duck is more popular and better known to the Danes than Mickey Mouse, the errant gentleman of Disney characters. Donald, on the other hand (whose name in Danish is ‘Anders And’ – Anders the Duck) is the underdog who doesn’t expect happy endings. Because of this, he gets angry when what he expected (an insult, a bad outcome, too much work, or unwelcome demands upon him) comes to pass. Mellish says the Danes identify with the underdog – they identify with low expectations, while the Americans, who revere Mickey, revel in individualism and high expectations. Americans expect good things; Danes will be expecting disappointment and are pleased when they are wrong. At the heart of Donald Duck’s comedic turns, and Danish humor, are unfulfilled high expectations. 

Polls suggest that Denmark is the happiest country in the world. Danes are OK with dashed expectations, because for 200 years (1700-1900), due to loss of crops, people, and territory, Denmark was considered the poorest European country. Not anymore. When I last visited Copenhagen it was hip, trendy, and rich. Like Donald Duck, Danes have learned to turn repeated disappointments into humor or “self-irony” – the ability to make fun of themselves, the way Disney studios employed frustration and anger to create the humorous side of Donald. In fact, I learned that the Danish tradition of ‘kvajebajer’ (the failure beer toast) shows that once a Dane fails, he/she celebrates failure, happily and publicly owning up to the fact that he/she is not always the smartest person in every room. And he/she buys all friends a drink to celebrate the fact that we are all fallible HUMANS.

The Jiminy Cricket character is a production figurine from the 1940s modeled after the Disney film Pinocchio (1940s). This was made by Evan K Shaw, who created the expression of dapper dan confidence in the little cricket. The figure is charming, holds a briefcase and an umbrella, wears a jaunty top hat and, unlike the figures that came after this one, he does NOT have a green face, but a flesh-colored visage. Shaw opened a kiln called “American Pottery” in Los Angeles and was awarded a license to produce Disney characters. When a fire destroyed American Pottery in 1946, Shaw bought Metlox Pottery in Manhattan Beach and made this Disney character there. The property, once the pottery was closed, was purchased by the boutique Shades Hotel. The figure, as in the film, was to act as Pinocchio’s conscience, granted to him as such by the Blue Fairy. The Fairy endowed Jiminy as “lord high keeper of the knowledge of right and wrong, counselor in moments of high temptation, and guide along the straight and narrow path.” We all need a Jiminy. The value of Jiminy is $500 and Angry Donald is $600.