Happy Birthday, Donald Duck!!! Walt Disney Animation Art Celebrates Donald's Birthday Wednesday With New Commemorative, Limited-Edition Sericel.

BURBANK, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--June 9, 1999--

"Donald's Memory Book" Features Signature of Voice Talent

Tony Anselmo and Showcases Donald's Extensive Career

The irascible Donald Duck, one of Walt Disney's most popular and beloved animated stars, celebrates his 65th anniversary in show business today, June 9. This milestone is being celebrated with the release of an all-new, limited-edition sericel of Walt Disney Animation Art titled "Donald's Memory Book." The artwork will be available to galleries around the world next month.

The new cel artwork features a specially created image of Donald, combined with a unique background that displays many of his career milestones. Disney animator Tony Anselmo -- who has also been the official voice of Donald Duck since 1985 -- supervised the design of this piece, and, as a finishing touch, has personally signed the mat for each piece. The framed sericel, published in an edition size of 2,500, has a suggested retail price of $295.

"Donald's Memory Book" whimsically depicts Donald as he reviews highlights from his long and varied career. Those highlights are showcased in the intricate background artwork of the sericel featuring Donald's scrapbook.

Disney animation fans are sure to notice the numerous tiny tributes highlighted in the scrapbook, including scenes from Donald's movies. The films showcased in the sericel include Donald's debut in "The Wise Little Hen" (1934); Donald with frequent thirties co-stars Mickey Mouse and Goofy in "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937); playing hockey with nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie in "Hockey Champ" (1939); cutting a rug with his gal-pal Daisy in "Mr. Duck Steps Out" (1940); and with co-stars Panchito and Jose Carioca in "The Three Caballeros" (1945).

Donald's World War II morale-boosting service is also recalled in the artwork in the form of a military insignia (one of more than 400 created by Disney and featuring the valiant duck). Donald's television career is celebrated in a scene from the opening of "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955), and his long life in publishing is represented by the cover art of his first comic book, from 1940.

The sericel background also features a photograph of a 1935 wooden Donald Duck pull toy, a photo of Walt Disney holding a background from "The Three Caballeros" (1945) and a portrait of Clarence "Ducky" Nash (the original voice of Donald Duck). The actual cel overlay of the sericel features Donald as he holds an "animation cel" of his most recent appearance, in the hit television series Disney's Mickey MouseWorks.

Walt Disney Animation Art has created this new sericel image using the painstaking serigraphy process. To produce "Donald's Memory Book" as a limited edition sericel, Disney artists, working from Mr. Anselmo's original drawing and layout, specially created a one-of-a-kind hand-inked, hand-painted animation cel master of Donald Duck. The master cel image was then transferred onto each acetate cel via the serigraphy process.

Each acetate cel in the edition was then hand-fed through the serigraphy process where each ink line and color was meticulously layered, one at a time, upon the final cel overlay to produce the finest and most accurate representation of the original master cel artwork possible.

The cel overlay, containing the screen-printed character image, was then placed over a lithographic background. Disney artists specially created the background featured in "Donald's Memory Book." However, the original living-room background from the Disney cartoon short "Donald's Day Off" (1944) was used as reference. The background artwork was lithographically printed on premium-quality, acid-free paper.

"Donald's Memory Book" is released as part of the portfolio of Walt Disney Animation Art, published by Walt Disney Art Classics. The Walt Disney Animation Art portfolio includes original, one-of-a-kind production animation art, hand-painted limited-edition cels, limited-edition sericels, limited-edition prints and maquettes (character models).

Walt Disney Animation Art -- which captures the timeless images of Disney's classic animated films in beautiful two-dimensional gallery artwork -- has charmed serious art collectors and Disney enthusiasts alike for nearly six decades since its debut back in the late 1930s. Walt Disney Animation Art is available at independently owned gallery retailers, The Disney Store, The Walt Disney Gallery and Disney Theme Parks around the world.

For more information about Walt Disney Animation Art, or to contact an authorized gallery near you, call 800/242-7696. Visit us at www.disneyartclassics.com, part of the GO Network, go.com.