To start: Danish Cartoon History

The feature film "Fyrtøjet":

The daily work

From the beginning of "Fyrtøjet"'s production time, Finn Rosenberg occasionally spent part of his time visiting the Royal Library and Copenhagen City Museum, where he found old copper engravings and photographs that he could use as a model for the older background environments that were to be in the film. The story of the fairy tale was from Andersen's side to the old Copenhagen of ramparts, which still existed in his own lifetime, and from which reminiscences still exist in our time, in the form of old streets and houses and the remains of the old ramparts. In addition, Rosenberg spent part of his time walking around various places in the city, drawing and painting sketches of the still existing 16th-17th century houses and the like, which could also be used as templates when painting backgrounds for the film.

Here is a good and representative example of one of the many backgrounds that Finn Rosenberg in the years 1943-45 drew and painted for "Fyrtøjet". He went about his work thoroughly and carefully, using only watercolors and painting techniques. The picture shows the large tower building to the king's castle, with the princess' balcony as the central one. - Photo from the film: © 1946 Palladium A/S

It was, as already mentioned several times, Børge Hamberg, who had been given the task of designing the film's characters, with the soldier, the witch, the dogs, the princess, the king and queen in the lead, followed by the astrologer, the guard, and many others and more.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to access Børge Hamberg's original character drawings for "Fyrtøjet". But from the above front and back of the film program for the film, you can get a pretty good impression of how the characters in 1942-43 were designed by Børge Hamberg, even though they are drawn here somewhat later by Bjørn Frank Jensen, namely at the organization of the film's premiere in 1946. - Film program: © 1946 Palladium A/S

On this frieze, some of the characters appearing in "Fyrtøjet" are seen from the left: the barber, the cook boy, the old man, the three lackeys and the king. The figures are here drawn by Bjørn Frank Jensen. - Drawing: © 1946 Palladium A/S

But just as important and crucial was the fact that it was also Børge Hamberg who was assigned the demanding task, which was to draw and animate the soldier. To make the task easier for him, they chose to record some live-action scenes, such as those where the soldier meets the witch and then crawls up into her tree and lets herself be lowered into the underground cave. The idea was that afterwards the live action footage would be used as a template for the animation of the soldier and the witch. It was known at the time that Walt Disney had used the same approach to the animation of Snow White, the Prince, Queen and Witch, so why not take advantage of this obvious shortcut. It was also known that Max and Dave Fleischer had used this so-called rotoscoping technique in i.a. "Gulliver's Journey", in which Gulliver as well as the prince and princess were drawn and animated on the basis of live action footage. "Gulliver's Journey" had, incidentally, had its Danish premiere in Metropol in the early summer of 1940, around the time when the Germans occupied the country.

The ancient, crooked and hollow oak tree in Ulvedalene in Dyrehaven near Klampenborg came to look like this in the film "Fyrtøjet". As you might sense, the witch has almost the same shape as her tree. The witch and the soldier are drawn and animated by Børge Hamberg, while the background is painted by Finn Rosenberg. - Photo from the film: © 1946 Palladium A/S.

Regarding the live action recordings for "Fyrtøjet", Henning Pade says that some scenes were recorded in Ulvedalene in Dyrehaven, where i.a. there was an ancient, crooked and hollow oak that could represent the witch's tree. Film photographer Poul Eibye (1885-1972) was hired to direct the recordings, and his brother, ballet dancer Aage Eibye (1888-1957), acted in the role of the witch, while Henning Pade, who was a tall and handsome man, was given the role of the soldiers. Certain scenes were recorded in Johnsen's villa in Skovshoved, i.a. a scene in which the princess visits the soldier in his chamber at the inn. The princess' role was performed by Edel Hansen (b. 1924) who was then a photo model and i.a. had appeared in commercials. She was a very beautiful girl, who by the way was engaged or married to Bjørn Frank Jensen at the time. (Henning Pade in letter of 29.1.1985).

Børge Hamberg began his animation work on "Fyrtøjet" by drawing and animating the scenes with the soldier, where he walks cheerfully whistling along the country road. After some unsuccessful attempts to use the rotoscopy technique, Hamberg instead chose to draw and animate the soldier freely according to his own sense of the human figure and its movements. Eventually a really good and successful result came out of it, as Hamberg managed to get the soldier to move credibly and convincingly, almost like a real human being. - Photo from the movie. © 1946 Palladium A/S

The purpose of the live-action footage was to use these, using a projection device that could advance the film frame by frame, to illuminate the back of a drawing desk glass plate so that the artist, by placing a thin piece of drawing paper over it, could see and draw the movements of the characters, but with the deviations or additions that were determined by how the drawn figures should look on the finished film. However, it turned out that the result of this back projection or rotoscopy method was not satisfactory, especially due to problems in maintaining the image from the 16mm projector procured for the purpose. The projected film images were simply too inaccurate in relation to each other for the arrangement to be used. Børge Hamberg therefore chose to draw and animate the soldier and the witch without other aids than his imagination and ability to analyze in this case human movements. On the basis of this, he drew the so-called "key drawings" or "key-poses", as it is called in the technical language, i.e. the outer positions in the movement of the figure. It turned out to give a more vivid and believable characteristic and movement of especially the soldier, who is after all a serious, naturalistic character.

At a later date, however, Børge Hamberg received assistance in animating the soldier, as Preben Dorst and later Mogens Mogensen each drew a few scenes with the film's main character. Dorst drew e.g. the scene in which you see the soldier in semi-total from the belt point and then march down the country road. Here he is stepping on a small worm, which, however, escapes in horror. Dorst also animated the scene in which the soldier fours down in the witch's hollow tree, and Mogens Mogensen drew a close - up of the soldier's face, where he is dazzled by the light from the many lamps, after coming down to the bottom of the tree. The latter also drew a scene where the soldier exchanges his uniform for more elegant clothes at the merchandiser, and also one of the scenes where the soldier is a guest at an opera performance in the Royal Theater. During this, the soldier gets bored and falls asleep, but when the prima donna takes a break, he wakes up and starts clapping completely unmotivated - not out of excitement, but because he politely felt that this is how 'man' did.

Here the three lackeys are seen in the process of helping the king of the nightgown and instead put on His Majesty's royal attire, just before he has to "go down and rule", as he himself expresses himself. It is one of the film's longest scenes - too long, some will probably think - which could probably have been divided into several sub-scenes with semi-close and close camera settings. But Hamberg chose to make the scene as it appears in the film. - Photo from the movie. © 1946 Palladium A/S.

But after drawing and animating the first scenes with the soldier, which neither he himself nor Rosenberg, Johnsen, Toubro or Bjørn Frank were completely satisfied with, Hamberg set about drawing and animating an oddly more exciting and more easily accessible scene, namely, the one in which three lackeys help the king with his nightgown and put on the royal robe, give him the crown on his head, and the scepter and the golden apple in his hands. For me, the then only 14-year-old Harry Rasmussen, who was employed by Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm at the end of June 1943, especially as a student of and assistant to Børge Hamberg, the mentioned scene became my first task as an in-betweener. But since the stage was over a thousand numbers (in twos) and on average about every other drawing had to be drawn, i.e. about 250 in-between drawings, taking into account my beginner difficulties and lack of routine, and the fact that there were four figures on each drawing, about a month's time to draw the many in-between drawings.

As previously mentioned, Bjørn Frank Jensen began his work on "Fyrtøjet" by animating the astrologer up in the observatory at Rundetårn, and the guard who comes walking around a street corner, singing the old guard song. Here he stops and hauls a pocket lark out of his inside pocket and takes a proper sip from the bottle, after which he continues his walk and singing. Bjørn Frank himself drew layouts and also painted backgrounds for these scenes, and to begin with Bjørn Frank himself was his own in-between artist, mainly because no definite in-between artists had yet been hired and because he, Johnsen and the other main cartoonists wanted to see as soon as possible, how the scenes turned out on film. As far as I know and remember, these first scenes were recorded on the then primitive trick table out at Nordisk Films Teknik in Frihavnen. This was usually used to record title texts, subtitles and closing texts etc., but could also function as a trick table if necessary. Bjørn Frank can, among other things, talk about his and others' work on "Fyrtøjet". tell the following:

“In terms of song and dialogue: The guard song was not that difficult, as the melody was known and one, with the help of a stopwatch, could roughly calculate at what pace it should take place. But dialogue had to be guessed at, nothing was busy, everything was done on sensation using a stopwatch.

It is impossible [in 1985-86] to remember in detail what each artist was working on, but I remember i.a. that Hamberg at that time made his long scene with the king being dressed - Chris was in the process of scenes with two chimney sweeps, a baker boy and a girl, and a man paying a slut - Dorst was in the process of his silhouette scene from the gallows hill .

In general, I can say that Hamberg, with the help of Mogens Mogensen and Harry Rasmussen, drew almost all scenes with the soldier, the witch, the crow and the dogs. Dorst drew the princess, Cupid, the mice, the soldier's room, the gallows hill, where the gallows is raised [the silhouette scene]. Chris was only a short time on the production and his work is not so clear to me anymore. [Note that Bjørn Frank has mentioned above what he thought he could remember that Chris animated. However, it was probably not Chris who animated the two chimney sweeps who stick their heads out of the chimneys, but rather Otto Jacobsen].

Kjeld Simonsen worked freelance for the studio. He animated panic scenes at the gallows, the drunk guards, the merchandiser, the dogs at the gallows and the procession at the soldier's wedding, as well as most scenes with the soldier's "friends" [the latter is not properly remembered, as it was Dorst and Simon who animated the characters mentioned ].

My own work on the film: the astrologer, the guard, the king, the queen, the court lady, the lackeys, the scribes, the old man, the finance minister, the cook, the cook boy, the barber, the soldiers with cannon I think one scene with the innkeeper, guards carrying the soldier home after soldier, soldier and princess on the balcony, as well as the fireworks, plus some scenes with the shoemaker boy. [It is not really remembered by Bjørn Frank that he animated "guards who carry the soldier home after pay", or "soldier and princess on the balcony", nor "some scenes with the shoemaker boy". The first two scenes were animated by Simon and the shoemaker boy was animated exclusively by Dorst].

Johnsen and Rosenberg had never had anything to do with cartoons, but that did not hold them back. They had calculated that the film could be made in approx. ¾ years. As soon as production started, it quickly became clear to them that this was, of course, impossible. But fortunately, they both had an optimistic outlook on life and the work went its course.

There was a script divided into scenes with dialogue, ideas for songs, etc., but no storyboard. The script was written by Peter Toubro, Henning Pade, Johnsen and Rosenberg.

Scenes were also recorded with the soldier and the princess for use in possible rotoscope. The soldier was played by Henning Pade, and the princess by my friend Edel Hansen (a then widely used photo model). Unfortunately, these scenes were used very little, as it proved impossible to get the registration of the 16mm film stuck when transposing the image.

Production did not go smoothly, also financially. For a certain period, only Hamberg and I were employed as animators, we sat in Johnsen's office in Frederiksberggade and drew for a few months. I remember making the scenes with the old man and the writers at that time. Then we got new funding and new premises in Frederiksberggade over Pihls Restaurant, and lots of new assistants, as well as Mik (Dahl Mikkelsen) was hired as supervisor, and he rebuilt the story, so the film began with the astrologer, the princess being carried up the tower etc. before we see the soldier. Mik was only in production for a short time, but his efforts were of great importance, i.a. for the animation of the soldier's march and a few layouts for other scenes. For me, he made layouts for scenes where the princess is carried up the tower (bird's eye view of the castle courtyard, and the spiral staircase with shadows on the wall). [Bjørn Frank does not remember the events entirely in accordance with the facts: Mik was hired for a short time as a kind of supervisor, but he had no influence on the animation of the soldier (see elsewhere), and the scene where the sleeping princess in her bed is carried over the castle courtyard, was designed and animated by Otto Jacobsen. But otherwise Bjorn’s description is correct enough].

We also got a man to animate, Otto Jacobsen. Jacob was a big admirer of the comics (English) that ran in "Familie Journalen" in the 20s and 30s - "The merry Cousins" and "Tip and Tap". He was always looking for old vintages of "Familie Journalen" and more or less took over the style the comics were drawn in. He drew scenes with dancing children, the innkeeper and various other things that are not so clear to me anymore. I must add that as far as I know, neither Jacob nor Dorst had any experience with cartoons before "Fyrtøjet". […] ”(Bjørn Frank in his notes from 1985-86 to Harry Rasmussen).

It must be said that Dorst had no other experience with cartoons than the experiments he himself had done before his time on "Fyrtøjet", but Otto Jacobsen had, after all, learned a thing or two during the year he spent with Hans Held in Germany. […] ”(Bjørn Frank in his notes from 1985-86 to Harry Rasmussen).

By the way, it was Børge Hamberg who, with me as assistant and in-betweening draftsman, drew and animated the owl in the bell tower, which wakes up and flies out and over to the observatory up on the Round Tower. In this way, the action was taken further. Incidentally, this was - as Bjørn Frank has mentioned above - a scene in the introductory sequence to "Fyrtøjet", which Mik had suggested.

One of the first scenes Chris drew and animated for "Fyrtøjet", was according to Bjørn Frank two chimney sweeps, who stick their heads out of their chimneys and shout at each other, thus helping to spread the word about the arrested soldier: "Have they caught him?" shouts one. "No, but they've jumped him in the air!" answers the other. - Photo from the movie. © 1946 Palladium A/S

Erik Christensen (Chris) animated three or four small scenes in "Fyrtøjet", one where two chimney sweeps stick their heads out of their chimneys and comment on the rumors that the soldier has been arrested. "Did they catch him?" shouts one. "No, but they jumped him in the air!" answers the other. In addition, Chris drew and animated the innkeeper, who during a short break takes a mug of beer while a little mouse curiously shows up and watches him. Behind the innkeeper is a large, filled champagne bottle, which the cork suddenly pops off, much to the dismay of both the innkeeper and the mouse. It turned into another short scene with the innkeeper, but in addition, Chris designed and animated a scene with the inn's young in love baker who meets his girl just outside the inn. Here the couple passionately embraces and kisses each other. There was nothing more for Chris' case on "Fyrtøjet". Incidentally, the latter scene was cut away in the finished version of the film. As far as is known, Chris then became a freelance draftsman, especially specializing in white drawings with young delicious, slender and busty beauties, who i.a. was printed in a couple of the popular humorist magazines of the time, such as "High Mood" and "The Rocking Horse". However, he also occasionally continued to make commercial cartoons when the tasks presented themselves. By the way, hear more about Chris in a later context.

This photo shows the cartoonist and animator Preben Dorst, the youngest in the team of professional animators who worked on "Fyrtøjet". The photo is from 1943-44, and Dorst was about 20 years old at the time. Like all animators on "Fyrtøjet", he was an avid smoker, despite the fact that at that time there was a restrictive tobacco rationing. Here he is in the process of drawing and animating one of the many different scenes he was responsible for. By this time, he had not yet begun to draw the film's princess. - Photo: © 1943-44 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

One of the very first scenes that Preben Dorst drew and animated for "Fyrtøjet", was actually one of the later ones in the film, namely the one that takes place on the gallows hill. Here you see the racketeers erecting the gallows on which the soldier who has been sentenced to death is to be hanged. © 1946 Palladium A/S.

Preben Dorst, whose real name was Dorsch Jensen, was trained as a decoration painter at the company Brønsholm, but he was also interested in and had experimented with making cartoons and puppets. He joined "Fyrtøjet" in early 1943, but initially sat at home with the work. His first tasks on "Fyrtøjet" were to draw and animate the successful silhouette scene with the gallows hill, where racketeers raise the gallows, in which the doomed soldier must be hung.

Here is one of the scenes that Preben Dorst drew and animated early in the production process. The scene takes place on Dyrehavsbakken, to which the soldier and his 'friends' have been driven out with charabanc. Dorst designed these figures himself. There was both an announcer, a snake tamer and a strong man. - Photo from the film: © 1946 Palladium A/S.

Around the middle of July 1943, Dorst got stuck every day in the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade. Here he first drew some scenes from Dyrehavsbakken, where you see different artists standing in front of the tent booth in which they perform, while an announcer presents the artists: a snake tamer and a strong man, to the audience. It was about as in the 1940s you could see and hear Bakken's famous Professor Tribini present the entertainment program he could offer if people would just be so kind as to pay and go inside - not in the tent, but in the wooden building. There were also scenes with Bakken's Pierrot, and in that connection it seemed a curiosity that they had let Tivoli's Pierrot, Carl Johan Hviid, give voice to the figure. In addition, Dorst designed and animated the almost equally famous Master Jakel puppet theater, which in real life for many years existed as a regular feature in Bakken's rides. Dorst then drew and animated a rather difficult and demanding scene, namely the one where in bird's eye view you see the horse-drawn bride with the soldier and the princess driving through a street full of jubilant people everywhere in the picture. It probably took him about a month to draw this scene, which only plays for a few seconds!

At this time, several people had joined the drawing room, among others the intermediate artists Bodil Rønnow and Erling Bentsen, who both became assistants for first and foremost Dorst. Bodil Rønnow was for a long time the only female interpreter in the design studio. In addition, Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen appeared. As previously mentioned, he also came from Bavaria Film in Germany, where he had worked for Hans Held for well over a year and a half. "Jømme", as he was called in daily publicity and indictment, was the first to be specially associated as an intermediary for Børge Hamberg, especially on his scenes with the soldier. Shortly afterwards, Mogens Mogensen and Torben Strandgaard also joined. The two were architecture students at the Academy of Fine Arts' School of Architecture, and therefore they first showed up at the design studio after school. A few months later, when Mogens Mogensen had completed his training as an architect, he temporarily chose a full-time job as an interim artist and assistant for Børge Hamberg, and especially on stages with the soldier. Mogens Mogensen proved to be good at drawing and to some extent also animating a serious character like the soldier.

A dozen or so younger ladies or girls had also started to work daily with inking and coloring, as several of them had already done, partly at VEPRO and partly in Frederiksborggade, where Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S as mentioned had its first drawing studio from around the beginning of January 1943. But now these ladies moved into the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28, where they continued their work, still under the leadership of Jenny Holmqvist. Among the young ladies were e.g. Karen Bech ("Miss Bech"), Mona Irlind ("Irmelin"), Jytte Claudi, Esther Andersen, Line Kofoed, Bitten Andersen, Annelise Clausen, Ea Johnsen, Alice Kjærsgaard, Inge Wiinifred, Birthe Petersen and some more.

The photo above shows the left, the head of the Drawing and Coloring Department at the design studio in Frederiksberggade 28, 2nd floor, Jenny Holmqvist. To the right is Jytte Claudi, a sister of later program editor at Danmarks Radio, Jørgen Claudi, who briefly tried her hand as an animator of the princess in the feature film "Fyrtøjet", but without much success. Photo: © ca. 1943-44 Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen.

Above is a small selection of the so-called "colorines" sitting at a long table behind the windows facing Frederiksberggade. It is from the left Anne Lise Clausen, Henny Hynne, called "Hen", Bodil Rønnow, who was an intermediary, Birthe Petersen, called "Freese Birthe", Karen Bech (half hidden), called "Miss Bech", and Mona Ipsen, called "Irmelin". - Photo: © ca. 1943-44 by Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen.

Four "colorines", sitting at a table a little behind the long table in front of the windows. It is from right to left Inge Wiinifred, newlyweds Mrs. (?) Kjærsgaard, Jytte Claudi and Jenny Holmqvist. The latter is almost hidden behind the lamp arms. Unfortunately, the snapshots that "Jømme" recorded and even copied were not always equally sharp. - Photo: © ca. 1943-44 Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen.

The real reason for concentrating as many employees as possible on the relatively large design studio at Frederiksberggade 28 was probably to save money, as several leases were of course a burden on the already tight budget. But such savings, of course, could not be sustained in the long run.

About all the new employees - or assistants, as Bjørn Frank preferred to call them - he has the following to say:

”[…] Later we also got a room in Nørrebro, the corner of Nørrebrogade and Blågårdsgade, where I sat with a team of people, among others. Ørnberg [Henning Ørnbak], Ib Steinaa, Bentsen and others I no longer remember the names of. Every now and then, Kaj Pindal, who was going to school at the time, came to visit after school and made a few intermediate drawings. But his efforts on the film were minimal and have completely escaped my attention. I remember best that he had some drawings of a dog he was thinking of making a movie about.

Of the many assistants we had, I remember best "Jømme", who continued to send me funny Christmas cards many years after I had left Denmark.

Of course I also remember Mogensen, Harry Rasmussen, several of the girls, whose names I have unfortunately forgotten. There was someone who was Dorst's assistant on the princess, I think her name was Rønnow, or something like that. She was a very careful artist, what not to say about others (without mentioning names). I also remember Helge Hau, a very eager man who had the misfortune that he was apparently born without a neck; I remember him especially for a statement he made after visiting Grimault's studio in Paris: "They draw an ear differently than we do!" An amazing ability to observe. - I have a lot of photographs taken of Jømme on various festive occasions during the production, but I can no longer put the names of most of the people.” [Bjørn Frank's records end abruptly here, but according to his daughter, Inga, it was his intention to continue to tell more about his time with cartoons in Denmark, also about the collaboration with Børge Ring after the war, but he unfortunately never got serious about it. Bjørn Frank died at the end of September 2001 and was buried in Hilversum on October 5. s.å., exactly the day when "Fyrtøjet" was shown in Husets Biograf in Copenhagen, and where I reminded him in my introductory speech to the film].

It almost goes without saying that the increasing number of employees made demands for a rearrangement of tables and chairs so that everyone could have a reasonably good space, where in all cases demanding and tedious work could take place in good order. But strangely enough, he managed to arrange himself to everyone's satisfaction. There was usually a good and pleasant atmosphere in the drawing room, and the staff groups: key draftsmen, middle draftsmen and the drawing and coloring girls, generally got along well with each other and each other. It also turned out that friendships were formed, which for some lasted for most of the rest of their lives. And of course, it also happened that some of the girls got hot on some of the male employees and vice versa. Therefore, there could also be mutual jealousy between the girls when a couple of them were in love with the same guy. It was especially Børge Hamberg, Bjørn Frank Jensen and Preben Dorst who were the subject of the girls' swarm, while a slightly older man, such as. Otto Jacobsen, had trouble attracting the girls' amorous attention. He was 28 years old in 1943, while the average age of the girls was around 19-20 years

Although they were not immune to the girls' tender looks, neither Børge Hamberg nor Bjørn Frank were free in the love market, because Børge was engaged to the beautiful and gifted Bodil Petersen, whom he later married, and the same applied to Bjørn Frank, who was engaged with his beautiful photo model, Edel Hansen, with whom he also got married while we were working on "Fyrtøjet". Both Preben Dorst and Otto Jacobsen, on the other hand, were unemployed in the marriage market, and for Dorst it ended with a love affair with the beautiful Annelise Clausen, a relationship that was not lasting. But even later, he married Bitten Alice Andersen, and the couple had a daughter together.

Regarding the conditions at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade, Mona Irlind alias Mona Ipsen has, among other things, the following to tell:

”[…] As mentioned, when we were together [at the screening of“ Fyrtøjet ”in Husets Biograf on Oct. 5, 2001], we started "colorines" in Frederiksberggade. Next we came to Nørrebrogade (and we missed the characters, which we, as the little girls we were, swarmed for in shifts). Then we came to the Nordic College in Østerbro (here Else Emmertsen came "into the picture"), and finally for me to Vesterbrogade, where we were when the Shell House and the French School were bombed. […] ”(Mona Ipsen in letter of 18.10.2001 to Harry Rasmussen).

And in a letter dated 8 Nov. 2001, Mona Ipsen can add:

”[…] Miss Bech and I remember some of the girls, many of whom were there only for a very short time, and it was truly a motley congregation about which many life stories could probably be written. - We had (unfortunately) been separated from the cartoonists and saw only "Bjørn" (of course not Bjørn Frank, but a sweet young YMCA who was very careful), which Miss Bech and I called "Largo", and "Roberto”, which was a messenger between Frederiksberggade and us. We had nicknames for everything and everyone.-

Then we came to Vesterbrogade - also at the top - and we remember that we flew down the stairs when the Shell House was bombed. We drove out and down Frederiksberg Allé and were inside many stairways due to shooting, and terrified when we saw the French School (we thought we were walking away from the accidents - Emmertsen gave us time off when the alarm was sounded. I first reached home to Brønshøj in the evening. […] "

One month later, in a letter dated Dec. 9, 2001, Mona Ipsen elaborates on her considerations with the following remarks:

"[…] Yes, as I said, young Bjørn was a nice guy, and as mentioned before, Miss Bech and I had nicknames for everything and everyone. We called Bjørn "Largo" because we thought he was very sane and careful. "Roberto" was a dark guy who probably looked like a southerner - Italian - Miss Bech remembers him better than I do. […] ”

It should be added here that one of the first errand boys at Dansk Farve og Tegnefilm A/S, was named Erik Nielsen, but he was called "Pluto" on a daily basis, probably due to his long face and large ears. He had had polio as a child, but had recovered somewhat from the disease, which, however, had left him injured in the form of a certain difficulty in controlling the body and especially the legs. But "Pluto" turned out to be a conscientious young man of about 14 years, i.e. peers with me. Unfortunately for him, he had big ambitions to become a cartoonist, preferably a cartoonist, but to be honest, he did not have the slightest talent to be able to draw. He was well aware of this, but his willingness to learn to draw was indomitable for the many years he and I were friends.

"Bjørn", who as far as I remember was also called Jensen by his last name, functioned mainly as responsible for animation drawings, cels etc. was exchanged between Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S ’ departments in the various districts. This was done by placing the material for one or more scenes in specially purchased cardboard boxes of 26x32 cm, which could just hold A4 sheets. For "Fyrtøjet" only drawing paper and celluloids and backgrounds in size A4 were used. Pan backgrounds were of course an exception, but these could usually be rolled up so that they could still lie in a cardboard box of the mentioned size.

As an important part of its work tasks, "Bjørn" or "Largo" also had to keep order in the now large archive of cardboard boxes with various scenes, which in Frederiksberggade stood on some of the shelves that before Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S moved into the premises, had stood empty. The cardboard boxes were each marked with sequence and stage numbers, and these were carefully recorded and kept carefully accounted for in a dedicated account book. In this way, "Bjørn" always knew exactly how far the individual scenes had come in the work process, and which scenes were where and when and why. As mentioned by Mona Ipsen, "Bjørn" was a sincere believing Christian and as such a member of the Christian Association for Young Men (YMCA), just as he was an eager and committed scout leader for a group of scout boys. As far as is known, he spent most of his weekends with scout meetings and scout trips.

Speaking of Preben Dorst, he also drew and animated, among other things, the glorious shoemaker boy, who, as something crucial, picks up “Fyrtøjet” at the inn for the imprisoned soldier, shortly before he is to be transported to the gallows hill and executed. Interestingly enough, it was then the still relatively unknown Axel Larsen with the nickname "Buster", who voiced one or more characters in "Fyrtøjet", but which are not known exactly, but perhaps the shoemaker boy and one of the two boys on the harbor quay. Somewhat later in the production process, Dorst also drew and animated several other difficult scenes than those mentioned above, but the biggest challenge as a draftsman and animator was given to him when it was decided that he should design and animate the princess. Prior to this, however, a couple of months had passed in which Allan Johnsen, Peter Toubro, Finn Rosenberg and chief designer Børge Hamberg had been in doubt as to who the task of animating the princess could and should be handed over to. The later long-time radio employee Jørgen Claudi, was proposed by his sister, Jytte Claudi, who was the winding-up lady on "Fyrtøjet", and who, like her brother, had previously been employed by VEPRO, she by winding-up and he as an in-betweener. Jørgen Claudi agreed to try his hand at the task, but it turned out that he could draw serious characters, but unfortunately he did not have sufficient qualifications as a key animator.

The shoemaker boy in the fairy tale "Fyrtøjet" is a character who is due to H.C. Andersen's memory of his own status as the son of a fresh shoemaker. In the feature film "Fyrtøjet" the character was drawn and animated by Preben Dorst, who managed to hit the boy's skill and at the same time awkward shape. Above in the drawing on the left, the shoemaker's boy is seen on his way to the inn, to pick up the soldier's coat, in whose pocket the lighter is, and in the drawing on the right, he returns with the coat, to hand it over to the soldier and get his reward of 2 shillings. - Drawing © 1946 Palladium A / S.

Børge Hamberg and Bjørn Frank Jensen then proposed Anker Roepstorff, whom they both knew from VEPRO, to draw and animate the princess. He was an excellent artist, but had mostly experience as an intermediate artist and had, as far as is known, no ambitions to become an animator. However, Roepstorff declined the offer, citing that he was now a permanent employee of the Commodity Directorate, a job he, for good reasons, would not quit. Moreover, he did not think it was within his means to be able to overcome such an important task in parallel as the one now offered him.

But the section about Dorst and his design and animation of "Fyrtøjet”s female protagonist, the princess, we will return to a little later.

The drawing employees, who next to Finn Rosenberg, Børge Hamberg, Bjørn Frank Jensen and Preben Dorst, were first permanently employed by Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S, were Otto Jacobsen and Harry Rasmussen.

Otto Jacobsen was trained as a carpenter with a master in Karise and had worked in this profession for a number of years. As an apprentice, he had attended Technical School, where he revealed great abilities as a draftsman, not least of humorous characters. At some point around 1942, however, he moved to Copenhagen, where he enrolled as a student at the Academy of Free and Mercantile Art, which was located in Vestervoldgade 2. He came to live in a boarding house in Nørregade. The landlady's last name was Jørgensen, and it turned out that she had a son, Arne Jørgensen, who was also interested in drawing. Baroness Lerche lived as a resident of the boarding house, and this in a way noble lady was connected to the German-Swiss cartoon producer Hans Held. The latter had cartoon studies at Bavaria Film in the Berlin suburb of Potzdam, and Arne Jørgensen had traveled down with her intervention to work as an in-betweener. Here he also met Børge Hamberg, Erik Rus and Eric Christensen, who in the autumn of 1942 had also worked as in-betweeners at Hans Held's studio. At that time, it was almost impossible to get a job in the virtually non-existent Danish cartoon industry, and especially after VEPRO had been closed, and where neither Jørgen Myller nor Mik needed as many people as those who went unemployed.

However, Baroness Lerche heard about Otto Jacobsen's great interest in drawing, and when she saw his humorous drawings, she suggested that he mediate his employment as an in-betweener with Hans Held at Bavaria Film. And shortly after, Otto Jakobsen was able to go there and join the other Danish artists on the spot. The young artists at that time were all in their early twenties, with the exception of Otto Jacobsen, who at the time was 27 years old and was the oldest of his colleagues. It turned into a good six months' stay in a city and a country that was strongly affected by the war. You can read more about this in e.g. Børge Hamberg's biography. He was also the first of the five Danish cartoonists in Bavaria to return to Copenhagen again, namely in the autumn of 1942. This was followed by Erik Christensen, Arne Jørgensen and Otto Jacobsen, while Erik Rus first returned home in 1944, where he even brought with him his then German wife, Erika.

Well back home, probably in the spring of 1943, Otto Jacobsen responded to a newspaper ad in which Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S was looking for cartoonists with some experience in making cartoons. He reacted immediately to the advertisement and was hired as a draftsman at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade, which, however, had not yet been taken into use at that time. It suited him fine, for he had other work, which he should have completed first. But in the autumn of 1943 he joined the small staff of illustrators who had meanwhile begun work in the drawing room, and here his first task was to be an in-between illustrator. But soon he also started as a key artist (animator), despite the fact that his drawing style differed markedly from the drawing style used by the other key cartoonists (animators). Later, Otto Jacobsen also painted a number of backgrounds, which are otherwise easily recognizable to professionals, as he was the only one of the three background painters on "Fyrtøjet" to use wet-in-wet painting technique.

One of the first scenes Otto Jacobsen drew and animated for "Fyrtøjet", was a group of half-sized girls and boys, who dance in a circle, while they sing "The monk walks in the meadows."

(Danish: "Munken går i enge"). The style in which the characters are drawn was characteristic of Otto Jacobsen, but unfortunately it differed markedly from the drawing and animation style used by the other cartoonists and animators. - Photo from the movie. © 1946 Palladium A/S

During the time Otto Jacobsen was employed as a cartoonist on "Fyrtøjet", he was a key animator on a large number of scenes, especially at the end of the film. One of the first things I remember him animating was a group of half-sized girls and boys dancing in a circle while singing "The monk walks in the meadows." He also drew the tuck woman at Nikolaj Church, which sells his entire basket of commensals to the soldier, who then throws the pretzels in grams to the children. One of the pretzels falls in such a way that it can be grabbed with the mouth of the taxi horse, which is parked close by. This scene was designed and animated by Harry Rasmussen. Jacob, as he was called in daily speech and publicity, also drew the prison guard, as well as the judges on their way to the Courthouse, and the donkey-drawn cart transporting the soldier sentenced to death out to the gallows hill outside the city. And as a nice clou, he also drew and animated the bridal carriage, drawn by four proud white horses. For other scenes at the end of the film, Jacob also painted backgrounds, all in the special wet-in-wet technique of which he was a master.

Here is the arrested and convicted soldier in the Courthouse's cellar, where the prison guard briefly and cashily informs him: "Tomorrow you must be hanged!", After which he slams the door and shoots the blow. The prison guard is designed and animated by Otto Jacobsen, and the character's slightly stiff and angular appearance was, as mentioned, characteristic of Jacob. His drawings and animation are probably some of the things that stand out most markedly in the film, whose general style Otto Jacobsen would not or could not comply with. The soldier is animated by Børge Hamberg and the background painted by Finn Rosenberg. - Photo from the film: © 1946 Palladium A/S.

Here is seen the donkey-drawn cart, which transports the bound soldier out to the gallows hill, where the sentence against him is to be executed by hanging. The procession is led by the rocker, followed by a pair of rockers and the death symbol: the flying crows. Donkey, cart and rider are drawn and animated by Otto Jacobsen, the soldier by Børge Hamberg, the racket and racket lads by Preben Dorst, and the flying crows by Harry Rasmussen. The background is painted by Otto Jacobsen in his characteristic wet-in-wet technique. - Photo from the film: © 1946 Palladium A/S.

For my own part, at the end of June 1943 I was employed by Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S as a kind of key animation drawing student. Børge Hamberg became my teacher, and the day I first showed up at Johnsen's office in Frederiksberggade 10, to start work, he accompanied me over to no. 28, 2nd floor, where the drawing room was located. This place was to become my daily workplace for the next two years. But great was my astonishment when I saw the almost completely empty room, which I have previously described in the section: "The start-up". And I was probably the only one who was in the room for the next week.

Here I got a temporary place behind the elongated table which stood up to the window wall facing Frederiksberggade. And it was here that Børge Hamberg introduced me to the ‘mystery’ of the cartoon, as he gave me some cells with the pull of the guard coming walking. Then he showed me how to paint these cells on the back, especially two things to be observed, namely, firstly, that the colors went all the way to the thin markers, the figure was drawn up with, and for that second, that the colors were applied in an evenly covering layer so that one could not see the background belonging to the scene through the figure.

In this photo, which was taken during the production of the feature-length film "Fyrtøjet", you can see how the ink-drawn figures are painted on the back of the transparent celluloid sheets. Here, however, the sheet is turned upside down, so that you can better see how the finished result looks. - Photo: © 1946 Palladium A/S.

As a rule, Hamberg came daily on a very short visit, to check my work, but left again after about 15-20 minutes. He himself worked daily at Johnsen's office, where the few rooms that were at the time were also used as design studios by Finn Rosenberg and Bjørn Frank Jensen. As a teacher, Børge Hamberg was always extremely kind and positive and praised my efforts, but after the first days, when my enthusiasm was still alive, the trivial work began to bore me, and I therefore waited anxiously for what the next step in the 'inauguration' in the technique of the cartoon would be. Occasionally, when I took a break, I looked out the windows and down the busy business street, where at the time - by the way, as a bit of a rarity - buses also ran. The most widely used means of passenger transport was the many tram lines that crossed the city and ran at regular speeds all the way to the suburbs.

Here is the then 23-year-old chief draftsman on "Fyrtøjet", Børge Hamberg, during his daily work as a draftsman and animator of the soldier, the witch, the dogs and the crow, etc. In addition, he was in his capacity as drawing studio manager mediator between the employees and management, a position which he always tried to smoke with due regard for both parties. - Photo: © 1943 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

After a good week or so, Hamberg also moved to the drawing room in No. 28, and for a short time he and I sat there to ourselves. He had arranged himself with his light desk at a desk about in the middle of the room, shielded from the daylight from the outside by a curtain. I was directed to the back of an elongated counter, which stood at the back of the room facing the kitchen and toilet. The counter stood parallel to a window wall, where a light desk had been placed for the purpose, which I was to sit at. The windows faced the courtyard of the property, and were daily covered with blackout curtains. Such had already been mandated at the beginning of the German occupation, but thus also completely unintentionally served the purpose that it became relatively dark in the room, so you could better see through the usually three to four layers of animated paper that were worked with. The chair that was available to me was a so-called office chair without backrest. It could be adjusted in height, which was necessary for my small height.

In 1943, the artist Mogens Mogensen drew a caricature of the only 14-year-old me, Harry Rasmussen, sitting behind a counter, on an office chair without a backrest. I was so small of stature that it was only with difficulty that I could reach the light desk. One has to imagine that it was in this position that I sat for about a month and in-betweened the scene with the three lackeys and the king. - The drawing belongs to © Harry Rasmussen.

Occasionally I got up from my somewhat awkward place and went to Hamberg and showed him the preliminary results of my in-between drawing work. It was incumbent upon me and a matter of honor that my work be done as rightly as at all possible. On these occasions, it usually happened that Børge and I got to talk about the technique of cartooning and especially animation, and he made great efforts to familiarize me with the concepts that are inextricably linked to the animation process. On "Fyrtøjet" the animation work was divided between key cartoonists and one or usually several in-between cartoonists for each key cartoonist, something that became more and more marked as the production progressed and it began to hurry to get the film finished. The key cartoonists usually drew their own animation drawings, and moreover it was different what the individual key cartoonist used in sketches. An artist and animator like Børge Hamberg often used to sketch his key drawings so weakly that he could draw clean-up on the same sheet of paper. Bjørn Frank did just the opposite, sketching his key drawings to such an extent that only he himself could see what was what in the figure. Therefore, he usually self-drawn the sketches on new sheets of paper and then discarded the sketches.

Preben Dorst and Otto Jacobsen usually also used to sketch their animation drawings, but not to such a marked degree as was the case for Bjørn Frank. This was possibly related to the fact that both Dorst and Jacob were first and foremost cartoonists, while Bjørn Frank was primarily an animator, for whom the individual drawing was only perceived as a phase in a movement. It was therefore also characteristic that only Bjørn and Hamberg - and Simon - held the stack of animation drawings up in front of them and flipped through them at such a suitable speed that one could form a first impression of one or possibly movements of several figures.

But here we have jumped a little ahead in time, as so far it was only Børge Hamberg and me who sat and worked at the design studio in Frederiksberggade 28. During the lunch break, he and I also followed down to Pihls Milk Bar on the floor below, where we bought each a glass of milk and ate our brought snacks. That way we spent the working days in each other's company from kl. 8 am to noon. 17 in the afternoon on the first five days of the week and at 8 to 14 on Saturdays. It quickly became clear that we understood each other's views and way of thinking and being, and of course there was a lot of talk about cartoon technique, but also about other and more general topics. Thus Hamberg told me unreservedly about his time in Germany and about his not always equally pleasant experiences there. E.g. he had by chance become aware that there were concentration camps and that the prisoners were treated badly, of which he himself one day saw an example. From his lodgings he had gone to the baker, to buy some bread, and while staying inside the store he saw a column of skinny men in striped prison suits, led by some uniformed and armed guards, making stops right outside.

One of the guards then entered the store, where he bought a large bag of dried bread, which he paid for, and then left the store again. Børge now saw that when the guard had come out into the street again, he himself had taken a piece of bread out of the bag, which he was gnawing on. The prisoners remained stiff and motionless until the guard turned the bottom of the bag so that all the bread fell onto the asphalt, where it spread to all sides. At the same moment, the apparently starving prisoners threw themselves over the bread and each other and struggled to rob themselves of just a small piece of the bread, of which there was far from enough for everyone. It was therefore only the fastest and strongest, we managed to satisfy our hunger just a little bit.

During this whole incident, which Børge and other customers in the bakery watched, the guards stood and laughed loudly and made stupid comments. Naive, as Børge understandably was at the time, he tried to appeal to the prison guards to show a human consideration for the poor prisoners, but the guard commander dismissed him with a remark that the treatment the prisoners received had the dogs themselves deserved. And by the way, the commander added threateningly, such a foreigner should not interfere, because then it could easily happen that he ended up in the same situation as the prisoners he felt sorry for.

But there was also time for cozy talk about our private relationships, who we were and where we lived, about our parents and siblings and much more and more. In that way, Børge and I got relatively close to each other, but I regarded him with great respect and almost as a kind of father figure, because he was after all 23 years old and I was only 14 years old and otherwise not yet confirmed. But I went to the priest, and this had been taken into account in my employment with the company, so that every Tuesday afternoon I got time off at. 14, to be able to cycle in time to the Holy Cross Church in Nørrebro, where I went to confirmation preparation and had to meet at. 14.30.

The inventor and initiator of the feature-length film "Fyrtøjet", Finn Rosenberg Ammitsted, is seen here concentrated on drawing one of his layouts for the film's many backgrounds. On a daily basis, he also worked as a co-instructor together with Peter Toubro, Børge Hamberg and Bjørn Frank Jensen, while Allan Johnsen as administrative and financial responsible was assistant. - Photo: © 1943 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

After about 14 days, Finn Rosenberg also moved to the drawing studio in No. 28, where he was given a place behind the large desk by the first large window to the left of the front door. The desk was placed at a right angle to the window wall so that the light fell in from the left, which was important for a right-handed artist like Finn Rosenberg. But here Rosenberg immediately began to carry out his work as layouts and background painter. The first thing I saw he did was moisten an approx. A4 sheets of watercolor paper and fasten it up in a frame where it should then lie untouched until it was almost dry. Then he whitewashed his layout on the watercolor paper and started painting. The technique he preferred to use was the so-called washing technique, where you start with the bright colors and then layer after layer of color tones gradually work your way to the final result. The technique requires great care and patience, and therefore Rosenberg usually had several backgrounds at work at the same time, so he could alternate with these as they became dry after each coat of wet color.

In my memory, the background where you look out over the city roofs, with a few rooftops in the foreground and several behind, all in perspective shift, both in size and color, is the first thing I saw Rosenberg paint from backgrounds. Later and gradually, several more followed, yes, as far as I have been able to count and calculate, about 500 backgrounds in total, of which, however, a few were drawn and painted by Otto Jacobsen and others a few by Henning Dixner.

But by the way, it was strange to me that Rosenberg painted the rooftop background in two versions: one in daylight and one in night lighting. When I expressed my wonder, he explained to me that it was in that way that one could make a gradient on the film, either from day to night or vice versa, from night to day, as it should be in this case, where the scene was to show that night slips over into the morning.

Here, the quiet and almost always silent Bjørn Frank Jensen is seen concentrating on his daily work as an animator of figures such as the king, queen, astrologer, security guard and others. Bjørn Frank was a highly qualified, competent and gradually trained key animator, of whom there were only quite a few in Denmark at the time. He did his part to live up to the standard set by his teacher Henning Dahl Mikkelsen (Mik). - Photo: © 1943 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

The next artist to move into the drawing room was Bjørn Frank Jensen, and he placed his drawing desk on a desk at the very back of the room, close to the door to the kitchen. I think he did, because it would actually be the most peaceful place in the great room, now that more employees were coming soon. Bjørn needed peace and quiet around him, to be able to work concentrated and efficiently. He remained in this place all year round, until he first moved out in 1944 and became head of the department that had been set up on the first floor above "Nørrebro's Messe", which was on the corner of Nørrebrogade and Blågårdsgade.

Now we sat four men, Børge Hamberg, Finn Rosenberg, Bjørn Frank Jensen and me, said the dog, and worked at the drawing room and worked at the drawing studio out in Frederiksborggade, and partly newly hired in-betweeners, who had applied for the job via newspaper ads. As a direct result of this, it did not take long before the room's tables and chairs were reshuffled, just as new tables and chairs were added. This was done with a view to making room, if possible, for the even more employees who were expected to be hired soon. But the few key animators who were, chose for themselves where they wanted to sit. This also applied to me, even though I had not yet been decided to be a key draftsman, but was still advanced to a key drawer assistant, still for Børge Hamberg. As one of the first, I was therefore also assigned a different and better place at a table and on a regular chair of the kind that was commonly used in companies at that time. Here I could then continue the in-between drawing work and the assistant key drawing work for Børge Hamberg, as he himself finished the scenes for which he drew key drawings.

In this photo from 1943, I am only 14 years old, sitting eagerly busy drawing for Børge Hamberg. In the background is one of the tables at which the cartoonists sat and performed their work all day from kl. 8 am to noon. 17 in the afternoons, only interrupted by a half-hour lunch break in the middle of the day. This should not be understood negatively, for most of us were so interested and enthusiastic about cartoons that, if necessary, we had happily missed breaks. - Photo: © 1943 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

Downstairs, as mentioned, was Pihl's Dairy on the first floor, and here some of us used to spend the lunch break. However, it was most common to have a packed lunch from home, but then you could just buy a glass of milk for 10 øre, or a light beer for 15 øre. Stronger drinks were not available on site. By the way, maybe especially I could not get back to the exciting work quickly enough, because after half a year I got more and more 'independent' animation tasks. It happened in the way that Børge Hamberg increasingly left it to me to draw the drawings, which in the technical language are called "break downs". That is, drawings that are not actual in-between drawings, but which instead require that you understand the intentions and draw the key drawings that the key artist has deliberately failed to draw. Primarily to save time. Secondary to train his assistant in the not always easy art of animation.

As far as I remember, some of the first in-betweeners were employed at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28, as previously mentioned Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen, Bodil Rønnow and Erling Bentsen. Furthermore, it was about Mogens Mogensen and Torben Strandgaard and gradually many more, whose names I unfortunately can no longer remember. However, I remember that later in the year a tall, thin and silent man named Ib Jensen appeared, who, however, only sat in the drawing room for a short time before he and several others moved with Bjørn Frank to the drawing room on Nørrebrogade. He scolded me a little, as if he envied me the position I had partly as the studio's absolute "Benjamin", and partly as a result of the obvious drawing and animation talent I also possessed. Ib Jensen was two years older with me. After the war, he changed his surname to Steinaa, and it was with that name that he later became known as a very skilled cartoonist and animator. He and I came to work closely together for many years later, namely from 1959 to 1970, which I will tell more about in a chronological context.

One of the in-betweeners who was hired shortly after Bjørn Frank had moved to the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28, was Helge Hau, who was specifically associated as an interim artist for Bjørn Frank. It would soon turn out that Hau was the fastest of the cartoonists working on "Fyrtøjet". This was especially due to the fact that Hau preferred to work at home in his own drawing studio, because he could also take care of his side job, partly as a joke artist and partly as an assistant to Mik. Therefore, by agreement with Johnsen, he came to work on piecework payment according to how many drawings he could deliver in a week. This arrangement was not to Bjørn Frank's head, as he partly felt that his animation drawings would not always be given first priority by Hau, just as he had to state somewhat disappointed that Haus's haste in some cases resulted in in-between drawings that were not always as well drawn as Bjørn Frank could have wished.

One of the most prominent intermediaries on "Fyrtøjet" was Helge Hau. He worked mainly as a freelancer, but occasionally sat in the drawing room at Frederiksberggade 28 and almost sprayed out his interim drawings. Since he was largely only an intermediate draftsman for Bjørn Frank Jensen, it did not bother him that he thought that Haus' intermediate drawings were often a little too insensitive and solidly drawn. Nevertheless, Hau gained a well-deserved reputation as the intermediate artist who had made the most intermediate drawings for "Fyrtøjet". Helge Hau is seen above in his slightly older days, when he was advertising manager at Medicinalfabrikken Ferrosan. But he continued to draw his comic and humorous drawings all his life. - Private photo: © Helge Hau.

It happened at times that Helge Hau sat at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade and worked, but he was always just as diligent and committed. He almost spray-painted in-between drawings, as we had heard that Anker Roepstorff had done in his time at VEPRO. But in fact, everyone at the drawing studio worked concentrated and engaged, more or less naturally. Personally, I was totally and enthusiastically committed to the work, determined to want to become a good key artist.

But by the way, the days did not only go with serious and purposeful work, because sometimes a slightly relaxed atmosphere spread, especially among the male cartoonists. It arose as a natural need or urge in the midst of the bustle, and not least on the basis of the significantly more serious situation Denmark was in, and the dramatic events that could be heard about almost daily on the radio or read in the newspapers. Well enough, there was German press censorship, but even though the Germans usually only let news in favor of the Third Reich slip through the censorship, they could not in the long run hide that the Allies were beginning to become a serious threat to Germany. However, all this could not prevent us cartoonists and other Danes from living life on, as if war and occupation did not exist.

The said loose mood could e.g. manifest itself in the kind of antics that it just did one day when Helge Hau was staying at the drawing studio. Hau was a very nice guy, but he never put his light under a bushel, but could sometimes in arrogance find a way to brag a little about his own excellences. It inspired one of the characters to suggest a bet on who could eat the most cream buns. Hau immediately jumped on it, or perhaps rather: for the sake of his credibility, he had to sign up as the first participant in the bet, claiming that he could easily put 25 cream buns to life in a quarter of an hour. The agreement was that if he could not eat all the cream buns out in one go, then he would have to pay for the whole box himself, and the cream buns he could not eat would then be smeared on his face. These terms he accepted, and immediately afterwards another of the cartoonists went over to the candy store next to the Bristol cinema and bought a box of as far as I remember 25-30 cream buns. Hau immediately began to gnaw on these, almost swallowing one cream bun faster than the other, until he had eaten about half of the contents of the box. Then things started to go awry for him with the rest, for he got strong vomiting sensations and had to vomit, and after forcing a few more cream buns into himself, Hau had to give up. But that did not stop the one who had been over and bought the cream buns from keeping the agreement and smearing the about half a dozen still uneaten cream buns into the face and head of the poor Hau, who tried to take it in a good mood. Everyone but himself was bursting with laughter at the sight of the undeniably comic figure Hau made with the cream buns smeared on his face, so that he was not recognizable. Now, in turn, he could not cope any more, and in great haste he hurried out to the toilet and vomited.

It was still summer, and another of the almost daily pleasures and variations in the work was several of the characters' predilection for the delicious cream duck that you could buy at the patisserie La Glace in Skovbogade. For a short time, it happened almost daily that one of us offered to pick up the glorious food, and after collecting money from those who ordered a piece of whipped cream, the errand one - sometimes it was me - set off on foot. to the patisserie, which was about an 8 minute walk from the drawing room. Some days it was a matter of picking up 5-6 nicely sized pieces of whipped cream at a time, as it required some care to transport home to the drawing room without the whipped cream being pressed or smashed together. But after about fourteen days, the urge for cream stripes decreased with most people, and they therefore instead switched to ice cream waffles, which were quicker and easier to pick up, because they could be bought just across the street from candy nut at Bristol Bio.

Another of the drawing staff who appeared in the studio during the late summer of 1943 was Frede Henning Jensen, who later changed his surname to Dixner (one senses the sonic sound of the famous name Disney!).

Above is a part of the staff who worked at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28 from the late summer of 1943. It is sitting in the front from the left: Børge Hamberg, Frede Henning Dixner, Harry Rasmussen and Finn Rosenberg. Standing from left are Mogens Mogensen, Preben Dorst, Otto Jacobsen, Karen Margrethe Nyborg, Kaj Johnsen, Bjørn Frank Jensen and Torben Strandgaard. - Photo: © 1943 Arne ”Jømme” Jørgensen.

Another of the distractions and pleasures, which at least some of the employees at "Fyrtøjet" enjoyed and looked forward to, was Saturday afternoons, when working hours ended already at. 14. Then the ‘house orchestra’ or rather the ‘house band’ usually held jam sessions. The band's orchestra had been formed in the winter of 1943 on the initiative of Finn Rosenberg, who played the violin himself, and he managed to persuade Bodil Rønnow on mandolin and occasionally Børge Hamberg on banjo, to form the band's or trio's other members. The three talented amateur musicians played both individually and together perfectly on their respective instruments and reaped appreciative words and applause for their efforts.

"Bentsen-Band" - created by in-between artist Erling Bentsen, hence the name of the band - held jam sessions at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28 on Saturday afternoons from the spring of 1944. However, this photo comes from the staff's first picnic in the summer of 1944, which went to Fiskebæk Kro. In the front row are from left Erling Bentsen (guitar) and - with his back to - Finn Rosenberg (violin) and a singer Anne Lise Clausen. Behind is seen from the left a bunch of singing gentlemen: N.O. Jensen, Helge Hau, behind him is Børge Hamberg, followed by Peter Toubro and Bjørn Frank Jensen. By the way, Henning Ørnbak played the piano up to the ball later in the day, but he is not seen here. - Photo: © Copyright 1944 Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen.

However, only relatively few of the studio's staff, including me, had the desire and time to stay after working hours and listen to the well-sounding Bentsen band. Occasionally, the band was complemented by a choir consisting of performer Annelise Clausen, assistant photographer N.O. Jensen, master Peter Toubro and animator Bjørn Frank Jensen. It was mainly jazz, swing and blues, the band played and the choir sang. These types of music, formerly contemptuously and derogatorily called "Negro or primeval forest music", had become especially popular during the occupation, at least in advanced cultural circles. The inspiration came, of course, first and foremost from American music, which at that time in Denmark was also favored by Danish bands, such as. Leo Mathiesen's orchestra and - not least - Svend Asmussen's orchestra. When Bentsen-Band was at its best, it sounded like it was Svend Asmussen and his quartet playing.

The days went by quickly, one faster than the other, I thought, and so did the management of Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S, especially when one had to state that the work on the film did not progress as fast as one had planned with and hoped for. For my own part, it was now more the confirmation that was fast approaching that bothered me. And just the thought of having to go into a clothing store, to try on the obligatory confirmation clothes, and then have to put on the stiff finery and stand right up and down in the church and listen to the priest's anointed sermon and then confirm the baptism, I was mild to say the least not thrilled. I thought the whole ceremony that we aspirants to the baptismal confirmation had to go through seemed too solemn and too distant from real life outside the walls of the church.

To my mother's despair, I said one day that I would not be confirmed in church. I should never have done that, because now I had to listen for several days to her wailing over what an ungrateful son I was, since I wanted to expose her and the family to the ridicule and ridicule of the neighbors. "Confirmed, that's something you have to do!", Was mother's strange explanation for the case.

But otherwise, I would like to add that it was not the religion and not at all the biblical narratives as such that I objected to, on the contrary. As a schoolboy, I knew nothing better than to hear about the life and teachings of Jesus, as we heard about it in religion classes. These narratives stood vividly for my imagination, but I could not actually connect them with the interpretations and explanations given by the church and the pastor.

But in connection with the impending confirmation, mother was especially pleased that my weekly salary had now increased to as far as I remember DKK 50. It does not sound like much today, but then it was for money to count. I kept only DKK 20 for my own personal consumption, the rest, the DKK 30, was saved up for confirmation.

My confirmation does not relate to the history of the cartoon, but as a curiosity I can tell you that it took place in the beginning of October 1943, and on that occasion the staff at the studio in Frederiksberggade sent a homemade 'telegram' on hard parchment in folio format, and an amount of money. The telegram contained the following text, which was written by Torben Strandgaard and handwritten by Finn Rosenberg: (It should be added here that this is a rhyming verse in Danish, but unfortunately it cannot be translated directly into English)

A GREETING FROM US DRAWERS AND COLOR GIRLS

TO LITTLE "DISNEY" ON THE BIG DAY

WELCOME AMONG THE ADULTS' DRAWINGS

YOU MIGHT BECOME VERY GOOD IN THIS TRADE

WITH PINS ON CHAIRS YOU ARE NEVER BARRIED

SUPPOSE IT GETS AN END WHEN YOU BECOME MR. HARRY.

On the document there were 25 signatories, and 11 of these had each drawn a small vignette. The signatories were, in the order in which they were written, the following:

Mogens Mogensen, Bodil Rønnow, Birthe Pedersen, Helge Hau (havus), Torben Strandgaard (Graham), Allan Johnsen, Frede Henning Dixner (Septimus Dix), Anne Lise Clausen, Jytte Claudi, Arne Jørgensen (Jømme), Børge Hamberg, Preben Dorsch (Dorst), Karen Bech, Ea Johnsen, Bjørn Frank Jensen (Bjørn), Peter Toubro, Finn Rosenberg, Henning Pade, Mona Irlind, Henny Hynne, Pat Bjørn, Jenny Holmqvist, Kaj Johnsen, Alice Kjærsgaard and Otto Jacobsen (OJ).

At the same time, the following signatories had each drawn their own little vignette:

Mogens Mogensen, Bodil Rønnow, Helge Hau, Frede Henning Dixner, Arne "Jømme" Jørgensen, Børge Hamberg, Bjørn Frank Jensen, Finn Rosenberg, Kaj Johnsen and Otto Jacobsen.

Towards the year 1943, a real event took place at the drawing studio, in that the management had made an agreement with trick film photographer Marius Holdt that his trick film apparatus should be installed in the 16m2 room that was at the drawing studio in Frederiksberggade 28, approximately just inside the entrance door and to the right of this. Holdt was at the same time hired as operator of the equipment, which had previously been installed and used at VEPRO. He and the camera and the trick table belonged inextricably together, and he guarded it like a hen over his chickens, and only if one was in the chalk house with him were one most graciously allowed to enter the 'sanctuary'.

Marius Holdt was a man over the years, and he often seemed nervous, stressed and in a grumpy mood, and therefore he pretty much took care of himself and his metier behind the walls in his new trick room. But he was skilled - albeit a little rigid and traditional in perception - and effective as a trick photographer. There was total silence in the darkened room, where there was only light when the trick table's strong and sharp lights were on, and that was often the hours at a time when the trick table was first set up and tested. But it was something that took its time, because it was not so straightforward for a case, to place the two pillars on which the camera crane was to be mounted and slide up and down, to stand perfectly vertical and parallel.

Above is the photographer Marius Holdt with his dear trick apparatus, which in the autumn of 1943 was installed in a reserved compartment at the design studio in Frederiksberggade 28, 2nd floor. Holdt had reserved the exclusive right to operate the equipment, which he had also only temporarily rented out to Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A/S. In this photo you can unfortunately not see the two important camera pillars, which were indispensable parts of the in a way technically complicated trick table. The picture above is, however, photographed at VEPRO in Hellerup, where the equipment had previously been set up. - Photo: © 1941 Det Ny Radioblad.

Trick photographer Holdt was at least at one point ahead of his time, using so-called insulation tape as tape, long before adhesive tape even came on the market. Held used it i.a. to attach fixed backgrounds to the trick table, and especially to stabilize pan backgrounds, which could often be more than a meter long, so that these did not risk 'slipping' during recording. The panning also took place by moving backgrounds millimeter by millimeter in millimeters in either the 'eastern' or 'western' direction, depending on the desired direction of movement. If a figure e.g. went in repeat to the left, the background had to be panned to the right, which means in the ‘eastern’ direction. Panning, either in the 'northern' or 'southern' direction, took place by a mechanical arrangement, during which the entire upper part of the trick table was successively millimeter by millimeter per exposure moved in either direction.

Marius Holdt's work was demanding in every way, not least in terms of time, because it was and is a slow process to photograph cartoons. In addition, he stood for hours under the powerful camera lamps, which after hours emitted an almost unbearable heat. And the only ventilation available was to open a window. For his personal part, the properly dressed Holdt, who always wore long shirt sleeves, a vest and a jacket, made it so that he hung the jacket off, in an attempt to get a little cool for the heat. But the sweat was still on his face, so he had to wipe himself regularly with his handkerchief. Late in the day, sweat also sprang up under his armpits, so the shirt got drenched in those places.

Later in the production process, the management persuaded the self-willed and often a bit grumpy Marius Holdt to let an assistant help him with the camera work. It held hard, but especially the pressure of the fact that the photographic work did not go fast enough, he eventually allowed to get a helper attached to him. Initially, it was one of the studio's young ladies who got this responsible job, but only part-time, and it was expected that Holdt would be milder towards a female than towards a male. And it was quite exciting. But during 1944, a mature man, N.O.Jensen, was hired as a full-time assistant to Holdt. By observing how Holdt behaved, it did not take long before N.O. Jensen learned to operate both the camera and the trick table, so that he could be an effective relief for the somewhat older Holdt. N.O.Jensen was a friendly man who knew how to bow to the often grumpy Mr. Held, which certainly may not always have been equally comfortable to work under.

The collaboration with Marius Holdt got worse and worse over time, and late in 1944 the management chose to let an engineer construct a brand new trick table, which was technically more advanced than Holdt's trick table. At that time, there were plans to continue the production of cartoons, when "Fyrtøjet" was hopefully finished soon. And one would therefore no longer be dependent on the not always equally cooperative Marius Holdt, who knew very well how dependent Dansk Farve- og Tegnefilm A / S was on him and his equipment, and who had therefore occasionally threatened to stop his work , if his demands were not met. Under the pretext that the new equipment was to relieve Holdt of his work, the new trick table was later installed in the drawing room in a place where there had previously been interpreters and the work. In the meantime, these had moved out to a huge, rented room in Skræddernes Hus in Stengade in Nørrebro, which I will return to later.

But the good Holdt probably had an idea that the new trick apparatus, which as far as I remember had to be operated by N.O. Jensen, could mean a weakening of his own professional position, and he therefore had only scorn left for this. It also eased Holdt's mood considerably, as it turned out that there were technical problems with the new trick table, which could not be solved without further ado, which is why it was left unused for the time being, and at least during that time, I myself worked at the design studio, ie. to the beginning of June 1945. Whether it came into use later, I actually have no knowledge of.

The mentioned plans to continue the production of cartoons after "Fyrtøjet", initially included 5-6 short cartoons, all based on fairy tales by H.C. Andersen. It was Disney's Christmas shows that were the model, as these programs contained a total of 6 short Disney cartoons from the series featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Silly Symphonies. However, I will first return to these plans in a chronological order. But here so much can be said that the master of Danish cartoons, Henning Dahl Mikkelsen or Mik, was just at the time producing his first short cartoon, "Ferd’nand on a fishing trip", with his famous cartoon character Ferd’nand in the lead role.

To start: Danish Cartoon History

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"Management and creative staff"