Closed Mondays

1974 stop motion film directed by Bob Gardiner and Will Vinton

Closed Mondays

Directed by| Bob Gardiner
Will Vinton
Produced by| Bob Gardiner
Will Vinton[1]

Production
company

Lighthouse Productions

Distributed by| Pyramid Films

Release date

* 1974 (1974)

Running time

| 8 minutes[2]
Country| United States
Language| English

Closed Mondays is an eight-minute[2] clay animation film, created by Bob Gardiner and filmed by Will Vinton in 1974.[3] It was produced by Lighthouse Productions, released by Pyramid Films in the United States, and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1975.[2][4][5]

## Plot[edit]

The film opens with the words "CLOSED MONDAYS" written in white against a black background, filling the screen. Using a pull-back shot, the camera then shows the viewer that the words are part of a sign that reads:

AUG 15 – OCT 3
\- ONE WOMAN SHOW -
CELIA CRAZELSNUK
OCT 3 – MARCH 19
USUAL CRAP

CLOSED MONDAYS

A version of the film released on home video blacks out the "USUAL CRAP" part of the sign.

It is night. A small art gallery stands with its door slightly ajar and the lights on. A bulbous-nosed man with thinning grey hair, holding a brown bottle and apparently drunk, wanders in. As he shuffles through the gallery, a small abstract sculpture is transformed, imitating the man behind his back before returning to its original shape without his noticing.

The drunk sees a picture of colorful musical notes that form a circle around a jagged shape resembling a red staircase. The picture moves to upbeat music for a moment and then returns to normal. Doubting his own eyes ("HEY! What the hell...?!! Oh, no!" he mutters), the man looks again. The music begins to play, and a miniature man resembling the drunk skips down the stairs, stands on one of the circling musical notes, rides it for a while, then continues down the stairs to the bottom. The entire picture then becomes two abstract colored clay blobs that pulsate to the music. The music suddenly stops and the drunk is back in the gallery, where he makes a critical comment ("What was that guy thinking of?!") and staggers away.

The man sees a sculpture of a computer-like device with large lips and gauges for eyes. He makes another comment ("I wonder what makes it work."), then laughs at the sculpture and flips a lever that starts it. The sculpture begins speaking rapidly, telling that it is a "replica of the model 505 type P electro brain," claiming to be far superior to its creators, and carries out its "infinite mutation" program. The computer begins to stutter as it tries to announce that it has a short circuit and an error before changing into a talking globe, a talking apple, a colorful bust of Albert Einstein, a television, and then a hand with smaller hands at the end of each of the fingers before entirely melting down into a shapeless mass of clay.[6]

The drunk male walks away after making another comment ("Blabbermouth computer!"), and is then frightened by some jungle animals reaching through a glassless window pane that turns out to be a harmless painting. Distressed, the drunk male walks on, where he sees a painting of a medieval woman kneeling on a castle floor. She holds a brush in her hand and a bucket is beside her. The drunk male asks her, "Hey...wassa matter?" She weeps and tells him, "Oh, if only my master could have seen more of the beauty in life… Here I am on my knees, doomed to wear this sorrowful face, scrubbing this cold stone floor forever and forever and forever..." Then the painting returns to normal.

The drunk male sees the still-open door and runs to get out of the gallery, crossing a small plinth on the floor as he does so. As he stands on the plinth, he freezes in place, becoming a piece of bronze statuary.[6]

## Reception and legacy[edit]

The short film was included in the compilation feature Fantastic Animation Festival (1977).[7]

The short film was also included in a video compilation called Academy Award Winners - Animated Short Films (1985), released by Vestron Video,[8] albeit altered somewhat; the sign outside the museum at the beginning leaves out the words "Usual Crap", and the drunk, after seeing the first painting briefly come to life, mutters: "What the...?!"

Closed Mondays was featured in the program of the Romanian international animation film festival, "anim'est" (2012), as part of the "Classics" category.[9]

The Academy Film Archive preserved Closed Mondays in 2012.[10]

## Credits[edit]

* Voices: Todd Oleson & Holly Johnson
* Music: Bill Scream
* Creators: Bob Gardiner, art direction & animation, & Will Vinton, camera

## References[edit]

1. ^ Short Film Oscars: 1975 Oscars
2. ^ a b c Staff (2012). "Închis lunea | Closed Mondays". anim'est (in Romanian and English). ESTENEST Association. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
3. ^ Anne Richardson (4 March 2009). "Closed Mondays (1974)". Oregon Movies, A to Z. Oregon Movies, A to Z. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
4. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award 1974 -". cartoonresearch.com.
5. ^ 1975|Oscars.org
6. ^ a b Vinton-Gardiner Productions (1974), Closed Mondays, Internet Archive, Vinton-Gardiner Productions, retrieved 2019-11-05
7. ^ "Fantastic Animation Festival". AllMovie.
8. ^ Academy award winners : animated short films|WorldCat.org
9. ^ Staff (2012). "The Classics". anim'est (in Romanian and English). ESTENEST Association. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
10. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.

## External links[edit]

* Closed Mondays at Pyramid Media
* Closed Mondays at IMDb
* Closed Mondays at the British Film Institute[better source needed]
* AFI FEST Festival Database information
* Closed Mondays on YouTube
* The short film Closed Mondays is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

1932–1950|

* Flowers and Trees (1932)
* Three Little Pigs (1933)
* The Tortoise and the Hare (1934)
* Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
* The Country Cousin (1936)
* The Old Mill (1937)
* Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
* The Ugly Duckling (1939)
* The Milky Way (1940)
* Lend a Paw (1941)
* Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)
* The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943)
* Mouse Trouble (1944)
* Quiet Please! (1945)
* The Cat Concerto (1946)
* Tweetie Pie (1947)
* The Little Orphan (1948)
* For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
* Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950)

1951–1975|

* The Two Mouseketeers (1951)
* Johann Mouse (1952)
* Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953)
* When Magoo Flew (1954)
* Speedy Gonzales (1955)
* Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956)
* Birds Anonymous (1957)
* Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
* Moonbird (1959)
* Munro (1960)
* Ersatz (The Substitute) (1961)
* The Hole (1962)
* The Critic (1963)
* The Pink Phink (1964)
* The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965)
* A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)
* The Box (1967)
* Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
* It's Tough to Be a Bird (1969)
* Is It Always Right to Be Right? (1970)
* The Crunch Bird (1971)
* A Christmas Carol (1972)
* Frank Film (1973)
* Closed Mondays (1974)
* Great (1975)

1976–2000|

* Leisure (1976)
* The Sand Castle (1977)
* Special Delivery (1978)
* Every Child (1979)
* The Fly (1980)
* Crac (1981)
* Tango (1982)
* Sundae in New York (1983)
* Charade (1984)
* Anna & Bella (1985)
* A Greek Tragedy (1986)
* The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
* Tin Toy (1988)
* Balance (1989)
* Creature Comforts (1990)
* Manipulation (1991)
* Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase (1992)
* The Wrong Trousers (1993)
* Bob's Birthday (1994)
* A Close Shave (1995)
* Quest (1996)
* Geri's Game (1997)
* Bunny (1998)
* The Old Man and the Sea (1999)
* Father and Daughter (2000)

2001–present|

* For the Birds (2001)
* The ChubbChubbs! (2002)
* Harvie Krumpet (2003)
* Ryan (2004)
* The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (2005)
* The Danish Poet (2006)
* Peter & the Wolf (2007)
* La Maison en Petits Cubes (2008)
* Logorama (2009)
* The Lost Thing (2010)
* The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011)
* Paperman (2012)
* Mr Hublot (2013)
* Feast (2014)
* Bear Story (2015)
* Piper (2016)
* Dear Basketball (2017)
* Bao (2018)
* Hair Love (2019)
* If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
* The Windshield Wiper (2021)
* The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)
* War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko (2023)

* Submissions for Best Animated Short Academy Award

* v
* t
* e

Will Vinton Productions

TV specials|

* A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987)
* Meet the Raisins! (1988)
* Claymation Comedy of Horrors (1991)
* Claymation Easter (1992)

Feature films|

* The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)
* Shadow Play (1986)

Short films|

* Closed Mondays (1974)
* Dinosaur (1980)
* The Great Cognito (1982)

People|

* Will Vinton
* Susan Shadburne
* Craig Bartlett
* Bob Gardiner
* Joan C. Gratz
* Barry Bruce

Associated productions|

* Return to Oz (1985)
* Moonwalker (1988)

Related articles|

* Clay animation
* The California Raisins
* The Noid

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