Restored by KCAI Micro Agency, Laugh-O-gram Posters Go On Sale
12.02.2024
Students in the Micro Agency class led by Professor of Illustration David Terrill worked with Thank You Walt Disney to reproduce the three vintage posters to be installed in the future restoration of Disney's Laugh-o-Gram Studios - located at East 31st Street & Forest Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.
Posters recreations include:
- Goldie Locks and the three Bears
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- Little Red Riding Hood
Skylar Bridgeman ('23 Illustration), Dani Mays ('23 Illustration), and Ash Rapstine ('23 Illustration) recreated the images. Rebecca Wagner ('23 Graphic Design) recreated the font for the lettering used on all three posters.
The Micro Agency class is a part of KCAI's Sponsored Studio program that provides KCAI business partners with a fresh approach to their research and development, creative communications, and business challenges by working with KCAI's talented students. This real-world, hands-on experience gives students enhanced training for successful careers. Partnership Form
Two of the three posters seen prominently mounted in the Laugh-O-gram studio.
The Micro Agency class conducted extensive research and worked hard to assure that their reproductions accurately reflected the original designs. Since there are no known original copies of the posters students had to make some assumptions about what colors might best reflect the artist’s original work.
They had to work from existing black and white photos of the posters and - in some cases - the photos were not high quality. Here is an image that shows their progression of work on the Goldie Locks and the three Bears poster:
According to the non-profit's announcement, the students were eager to participate in the project because Walt Disney attended Saturday classes at the Fine Arts Institute of Kansas City (a previous name for KCAI) between 1915 and 1917.
"KCAI was excited to work with Thank You Walt Disney to be able to continue the college's connection to one of our most famous students. It's nice to know KCAI and our students are able to play a part in the recreation of the Laugh-O-Gram Studio," Randy Williams, Associate Vice President of Corporate & Community Partnerships, said.
"It's nice to know KCAI and our students are able to play a part in the recreation of the Laugh-O-gram Studio."
According to the announcement from Thank You Walt Disney, Alexander Kurfiss - another former student at the then-named Fine Arts Institute of Kansas City - is the Laugh-O-gram artist who created the posters.
Kurfiss was born on November 16, 1900 in Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Northeast High School and graduated in 1918. He'd work as a draftsman, a commercial artist, and a meter reader for the Kansas City Power and Light Company - before getting hired by Walt Disney in 1922. In addition to his animation work, Kurfiss illustrated the posters created for the Laugh-O-gram cartoon series.
The poster of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears was created by Alex Kurfiss in 1922 to promote the cartoon created by Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-gram Studio. The poster - along with his Jack and the Beanstalk poster - were prominently displayed in Walt Disney's studio in Kansas City’s McConahay building (1127 E. 31st Street) where Walt Disney and his team created Laugh-O-gram cartoons from May 1922 to the summer of 1923.
After the bankruptcy of the Laugh-O-gram Studio, Kurfiss would work as a cartoonist at the Kansas City Star, as an artist for a Kansas City advertising agency, and as an architect at the W. E. Gillham firm. Kurfiss is also known for illustrating the comic strip The Connoisseur, which ran in the Philadelphia Ledger from November 21, 1927 to December 8, 1928. Alexander Kurfiss is listed in 400 Years of Artists in America and in Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975.
Thank You Walt Disney is now raising money to preserve Walt Disney's Laugh-O-gram building - with a goal of giving aspiring animators and storytellers the foundation they need to start a career in Kansas City just like Disney did himself so many years ago.