Tom's 'Toon of the Month March 08

Disney Silly Symphony - Flowers And Trees

My apologies to those who loyally read TTOTM for my complete no-show last month! I hope you enjoy this month’s toon twice as much.


Flowers and Trees was the first Technicolor cartoon ever produced. Color films had been created before, and even a few using the patented Technicolor process, but this was the first cartoon. Flowers and Trees started life as another in the long series of Walt Disney Studios Cartoons under the banner of Silly Symphonies. It wasn’t until very late in production that Walt decided to make Flowers and Trees a Technicolor picture. The ink and paint girls had to clean the black and white paint from the back of the cells and completely repaint them.


Few films had been produced using the new Technicolor process because it was so expensive. Much to the chagrin of his brother, and business partner Roy, Walt signed a long-term contract with Technicolor to have shorts filmed using this new, expensive process years and years into the future. The studio, though nationally known and successful at this time, was always strapped for cash. Throughout both of their careers in show business, Walt seemed to come up with new ways to spend money in the name of quality pictures as easily as Roy found ways to cut costs in the name of keeping the studio financially solvent. To put it another way, it was often said that Walt dreamed things up, and Roy dreamed up ways to pay for them. It wasn’t just the filming and developing process that was expensive. The studio had to completely re-tool, replacing their black, white, and gray paints with a whole spectrum of colors. In spite of all this, Walt believed in the future of color in movies generally, and was convinced that the Technicolor process resulted in the best colors. Walt aspired to be the King of Animation, and believed his pictures deserved nothing but the best.


This short is the forerunner of the celebrated Disney features in several ways. This early experiment in Technicolor was an essential achievement to the production of a first-class color feature, Snow White. The Disney animators also learned lessons in combining artistic excellence with crowd-pleasing gags; a cocktail that remains the signature of Disney features. In the case of Flowers and Trees, the whole tone of the film is akin to an ancient myth or fable. It feels like it could be based on the work of Virgil, Aesop, or Homer. Yet, the gags are frankly expressed and elegantly executed. My personal favorite is the flower dragging himself up to perch on the chest of the defeated villain-tree. The emotion is unmistakable. Every plant or animal in this short is alive somehow. Nothing is used merely as a moving prop. The details pass quickly, but the care, devotion, and attention are on every frame, right down to the leafy “hair styles” of the tree protagonists.


Walt was right about the future of color in motion pictures. His perfectionism also paid off. Flowers and Trees won the Oscar for Best Animated Short that year. In fact, Flowers and Trees invented the category.

--Tom

Master Ron Heimberger

Ronny Layne Heimberger Obituary:

So far, the life of Ronny Layne Heimberger has been filled with vision and purpose. He set out to become a great student, but continued on to become a great teacher. One of the quotes he embodies was penned by Tzu-kung who said, "Not to tire of learning is wisdom; not to weary of teaching is benevolence." Once he realized that the foundation he laid for his work in mortality was strong enough to be perpetuated by others, he was allowed to move on. He got up on the morning of March 9th, got dressed and said he "had to go." Soon thereafter, he was called away by his Heavenly Father and continues his eternal work in the Celestial Realm.

Ronny was born on March 7, 1956 in Nampa, Idaho to William Charles Heimberger (deceased) and Lucy Elaine VanSickle-Heimberger of Richmond, Utah. Not many years after his birth, he received three siblings, Chrystal Hallam of Las Vegas, NV; Gwyn Hammer of Lewiston, UT and Adam Heimberger of Logan, UT.

He met Lisa Dee McGoldrick in Idaho and married her on April 30, 1980. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple on May 19, 1983. Ronny admires Lisa for her work as a midwife and herbalist. He and Lisa have five children: Nicole S. Heimberger of Phoeniz, AZ, Chantel Heimberger-Hilsmann, Cody Heimberger, Garrette Heimberger and Aubrey Heimberger all of St. George, UT.
Ronny served in the Army National Guard, fulfilled his callings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, traveled the world, and speaks several languages. He is widely loved, and most well-known throughout the world, for his work as founder and director of the world-wide Wing Chun Kung Fu Council. He is, to countless of his loyal students, simply known as "Sifu," their mentor and guide. To read Ronny's memorial or find out more about his work visit www.wckfc.com.

Viewings for Ronny will be held this Friday evening on the 14th of March from 6-7 p.m. at The Spilsbury Mortuary and on Saturday morning the 15th from 9-10:30 a.m. at the St.George Fifth Ward chapel on 85 S. 400 E. in St. George, UT. Services will commence at 11:00 a.m. A short grave-side service with bagpipes and military honors will immediately follow at the Tonaquint Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff Street, St. George, Utah.

"Wherever the Superior Man passes through, people are transformed; the place where he tarried is spiritualized and Heaven and Earth blend harmoniously. How could you say 'he is gone'?" - Mencius

Sifu with his Sifu, Grand Master Ip Ching


Sifu playing the blues with Si Heng Carlos


Sifu dancing in the hay after a Kung Fu training camp. This was the side of him most people never got to see.


Sifu presenting me with a camp certificate


Sifu, you will be missed by all who had the chance to know and learn from you. Thank you for touching our lives!

--Amy