David
Hand kom til Disney i 1930 og blev siden supervising director på
»Snow White«, »Bambi« og »Victory Through Airpower«. I 1944
forlod Hand Disney og kom siden til England for at opbygge et studio for J. Arthur Rank. I
Danmark sad Børge Ring og Bjørn Frank Jensen og forsøgte
at aflure Disney en masse hemmeligheder. Kaj Pindal, en af
de unge animatorer i kredsen omkring Børge Ring fortæller:
- Børge var den bedste animationsspion. Hans engelsk var godt og han havde
rejst. Børge tog til England for at vise Hand vores arbejde og stille
spørgsmål. Hand kunne godt lide det han så og sagde, han ville invitere os til studiet
for at arbejde. Men vi kunne ikke få arbejdstilladelse. Den engelske fagforening sagde,
at man først måtte se hvilke talenter der var i den engelske hær, efterhånden som den
blev demobiliseret.
Børge Ring og Bjørn Frank Jensen besøgte Hand flere gange i England og lærte
her en masse af fagets tricks. Men i 1950 skrev Hand til de videbegærlige danskere, at
hvis de ville vide mere, så var det nu: Rank ville lukke studiet og David Hand rejse
tilbage til USA. Børge Ring & Co., der arbejdede og boede i et tegnefilmkollektiv i
Vedbæk, reagerede hurtigt. David Hand kom.
Mødet med danskerne
Om mødet med danskerne og opholdet
i tegnefilmkollektivet i Vedbæk, fortæller David Hand til sin selvbiografi
"Memoirs":
"I became very friendly with a small group of upcoming cartoon film
producers in Denmark. Flying over took very little time and it gave me a break from being
too close to the studio operations. I remember they sold American hamburgers ' just around
the corner' in the city. Their studio was a short trip out from Copenhagen by train. We
stayed as house guests many times - even at one time considered teaming up with them.
Nothing ever came of the idea.
One summer vacation we traveled by boat up to Oslo and then up to a ski resort somewhat
above the town. (......) I had agreed to take along a 'friend' of the family (a male one)
who had his single eye on my spouse. I was a naive type and quite trusting and was
entirely unaware of any happenings. One day after returning to Denmark we were seeing the
'friend' off to the city via the train. As we were at the platform being loaded, I was
distracted for a moment and when I looked around to bid good-bye to the 'friend', the
train doors has snapped closed and I was surprised to see that I was standing alone - no
wife! She had spilled into the car with our 'friend' (?) and away she dissappeared,
leaving me standing all by myself. It still took me a little time to wake up."
