The Ball Players

Artist Charles Payzant (1898 - 1980)

Date1939

MediumWatercolor on paper

Dimensions14 1/2 x 22 in. (36.8 x 55.9 cm)
Framed (Frame is gold ,wired, glazed): 29 1/2 x 36 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (74.9 x 93.3 x 4.4 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineThe Sally and David Martin Collection

Object number2026.044

DescriptionAt the very end of 1939, Charles Payzant and other Disney artists were aware there would be some sort of animated film made that was based on Dumbo, an original story Disney had recently acquired. The artists who would be working on the film, including Payzant, were sent out to various circus to research scenes and “get the smell of the place.”

What was originally planned to be a cartoon short, to be shown in movie theaters before the main feature, turned into the main feature Dumbo movie (although, at just 64 minutes, it is one of the shortest Disney features!). The whole film is wonderfully made, but the "Pink Elephants on Parade” sequence is considered one of the most engaging, surreal, bizarre and psychedelic pieces of animated film ever produced.

While researching ideas for the movie art, Payzant really liked what he found at the circus and proceeded to produce many watercolors and drawings with circus-related subject matter. He used his sketches and watercolors as references for background paintings used to make Dumbo, and his circus-related watercolors were displayed in art exhibitions all over America.

According to Jessie Payzant, Charles’ widow, "The Ball Players" image depicts some clowns practicing a gag routine they would later perform under the Big Top with an audience. The circus, she believed, was one that set up annually in an open field or park on La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles.

– Gordon McClelland, curator

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