Three more from The Abandoned

Peter's mom reports to the police that her son is missing.

Some time later she is brought into headquarters to view a lineup of cats.

Much later Peter and Jenny escape the mining town by reboarding the cargo ship beating a hasty retreat to San Francisco.

Found this on the internet

From Lion King. Might be in a book somewhere.

Two Recent finds

 Before Peter became a cat.

A few more while I have the time

On the way to Alaska, Jenny is accidently washed overboard and Peter jumps in to save her. The Crew is amazed that a cat would do something like that and they launch a wacky attempt to save both cats.

Peter nurses Jenny back to health.

In Alaska one of the crew brags about the heroic cat and is called a liar. A comic fight breaks out causing the captain to flee the town.

Unable to locate any relatives in Alaska, Peter convinces Jenny to return to the old man who truly cares about her. Unfortunately, upon their return they find the old man has passed away, alone and unnoticed.


There are a few missing drawings that Vance did for this section that I can't find right now. I will be sure to post them when I find them.

Jenny and Peter take a trip

Jenny introduces Peter to Mr. Grimms, an old man who is always good for a dish of milk.


While Mr. Grimms wolud love Jenny to stay and keep him company, Jenny wants wants to find her family. Peter, who can read, locates a ship bound for the Alaskan gold fields where Jennys family are from.

Jenny has learned that to remain on board a cat has to earn it's keepAnd the ship's cook is a cat's best friend.

Jenny teaches Peter

Jenny takes Peter to a museum to learn about being a cat.

This is what I mean!

No sooner did I post those "last of the before Peter turns into a cat drawings" and I found these!

And this is one of the paintings I was thinking of when I said I had a few that were such poor quality copies. It's so frustrating to be disorganized but sooo much fun to "discover" lost treasures.

Phew! What a year.

Okay. here are the last of the "before Peter turns into a cat" drawings except for the one previously posted by accident, but I'm ignoring that one. However, I never know when I might open a box and find something. I know I have a few on disc that are of such poor quality that the only reason I keep them is to remind me to look for a better quality Xerox.


Now don't wail and pull out your hair just yet. The dirty secret about animation is it ain't over 'till it's over. These drawings take place in San Francisco. Vance had to completely reinvent every drawing when the location abruptly changed to Venice, Italy because a certain V.P. hated San Francisco as a location. To understand why artists and writers are allowed to work for six months on something that has a "knowable" built in flaw would better be explained in another blog I don't have time for called DisneyLeaks or UnspunDisney. Anyway, it is a testament to Vance that he sat down and produced another set of wonderful drawings That I will post after the San Francisco version.

I miss him.

Oh, yeah... Peter!

After being denied a pet one last time Peter wants a cat so bad...

... he turns into one. With the help of a cat named Jenny he learns how to survive as a cat.

Been Busy

Vance's exploration for the Aunt character who has no patience for little boys.

Still more from HUNCHBACK

Actual story sketches by Vance.

More Missed HUNCHBACK drawings

Here is Vance exploring the relationship between Djali and Esmeralda.

Oops!

Just stumbled across several from Hunchback that I had misplaced.

Can I Keep It?

Peter's Mother won't let him have a cat and the Maid thinks cats are worse than having little boys around the house.

Peter searches for a cat

Vance explored ways to show how lonely Peter was. He tried to make friends with everyone until eventually finding a feline friend. Peter that is, not Vance.

Getting off my Keister for Didier

The story begins with a lonely young boy whose father is an officer in the army and almost never at home. His mother is so wrapped up in society gatherings she has little time for Peter. He is left at home with the family maid who has no patience for little boys. Starving for some kind of emotional connection he looks outside his window for a cat to befriend.

Before we begin...

The story of "The Abandoned" took place in England just after WWII. We heard that Steven Spielberg was playing with the idea of bringing the musical "Cats" to the big screen as an animated film set in England at the same time so we needed a different local. Burny Mattinsen suggested San Francisco and because Joe Grant's mother was a survivor of the Great Earthquake Joe wanted to move our story to San Francisco just before the earthquake of 1906.

So let it be written.

So let it be done.

What if you were a cat?

For about a year Vance, Burny Mattinson, Joe Grant and I worked on a Paul Gallico story called "The Abandoned" about a young boy who turns into a cat. I supposed we could have worked on a story called "Fat Chance Of Being Produced", or "Never To Be Released" but we worked on this one and of course it was abandoned. Vance did many drawings and paintings for "The Abandoned" and I have copies of almost all of them. So, welcome to "The Abandoned" it's going to take some time to post all of them.