(Walt Disney Studios, 1942) Original storyboard drawing from the Oscar-nominated animated short film The New Spirit, which depicts the inside of an American weapons factory and a large metal claw carrying a glowing hot steel tube, which is soon revealed as a finished cannon barrel. Accomplished in colored pastels on black 7.5 x 5.75 animation paper, with a total image size of 6.75 x 5.5. Includes the original handwritten caption for the film’s narration: “Machine guns! Anti-tank guns! Long-range guns!” Triple-matted and framed together to an overall size of 14.5 x 14.25. In fine condition.
Created by Walt Disney Studios under a government contract, The New Spirit was released on January 23, 1942, shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, and was shown in movie theaters nationwide through late 1943. It was the first film created as part of Disney's World War II propaganda production and was commissioned by the Secretary of the Treasury to encourage American citizens to pay their income tax in support of the war effort.
In the short film, star Donald Duck is encouraged to pay his $13 tax which is then converted into the war effort to beat the Axis. The film concludes with a montage of images to illustrate to the audience wartime necessities the money is needed for such as munitions and combat vehicles to defeat the Axis powers. Among the public, the film created its desired effect, as tax payments were more prompt in 1942 than in any previous year. A one-of-a-kind piece of animation artwork and scarce wartime Disney production memorabilia rarely seen outside of the Disney Studios archives.
