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Wow. 2 or 3 frames?! I can’t imagine the tedium.

I dig the handwritten note. How much less effective would that be written up as an official memo?

Mary Poppins was in 1964 and Disney was doing some very cool stuff for the day. And of course the one and only Julie Andrews.

That the note is handwritten immediately gives you an indication as a reader that the person who wrote this was so surprised and found it so important that he just had to share it instantly, even if that meant jotting it down on the nearest piece of paper!

Love it.

I think this is also a lesson in effective communication.

A typed or even standard handwritten note probably would have be laid politely in the trash bin. However, taking the time to engage illustrators in their medium (an illustration), referencing a tangible example to review (Mary Poppins), calling them to a challenge (fix an accepted failure), and then tacking it to the bulletin board (note the thumb tack hole at the top)—simple, obvious, powerful.

And no “Richard Williams, Director” at the end either, just a simple nickname.

What I find interesting about this memo: It’s handwritten; It’s a model of clear communication from the headline to the problem statement in the first sentence; it has a useful illustration; it states a problem and invites a solution rather than paralyzing people with caution. The tone is just right too, the personality of the writer is in every word.

That movie is a triumph, and this attention to detail is why. I love the lore and stories surrounding it and it remains my favorite movie to this day.