The Curse of Imagination (English Version)

The Report

The Deep Well Studios was an independent film studio founded in the late 1920s by Antony Renraw. He was an animator who worked for several producers including Leon Schlesinger, who later created the famous Merrie Melodies. However, unlike the Merrie Melodies, which involved different characters, Deep Hole wanted to make short films with a single character. The company became known in the city because it was used to maintain secrecy about the works they did and sometimes projected at the local cinema.

Through some testimonies, the films produced by Deep Well, which consisted of short films lasting twenty minutes, were not fully appreciated by the public.

The report does not mention the contents of short films, I should have looked for someone in the city who has seen some of those films, but I doubt that many of them are still alive since we are talking about the late 20s.

I turned back reading the report. The following is taken from testimony by a man named Mike Vessar, an animator who then moved away from the studios. Antony Renraw introduced the protagonist, as well as the official mascot of the studio, in April 1930, during an internal meeting. It was called Toby S. and was based on one of the first sketches that he realized in his youth during his apprenticeship in 1920.

Initially, the various employees find the choice of the character unusual, as they could not understand which subject represented. They also did not understand what that "S" was referring to. At the time, people preferred characters that represented farms animals rather than anything else, but Antony Renraw was willing to launch it, to compete with the big ones like Felix the cat, Mickey Mouse, Flip the frog and Betty Boop...

indeed, he was also convinced that it would overcome them.

He was very ambitious, he aimed to produce a profitable series with his Toby, movies, toys, comic books and costumes. He developed a deep connection with and between his character, just as Walt Disney with his Mickey. He called Jelly Roll Morton, a successful pianist, for the production of the soundtrack. He accepted but on condition of being well paid.

The Deep Well Studios, although a well-organized study, managed to get a third of the funding needed for production. This was mainly due to the period that the film production was experiencing. America was facing the Great Depression and producers preferred to support works that were more profitable. Another factor was the choice of the character: the producers didn't like it from the beginning, but they never explained why.

The animators created the script, the initial credits and the title of the short film: "Toby S in the Curse of Imagination". The various animators were a bit 'skeptical about it, on the other hand, did not even know what the short film was, since the script was owned by Antony Renraw and kept it hidden in a safe so that no one could see it.

The situation precipitated: the producers, the RKO and Paramount, abandoned Deep Well studios to support other productions. Despite being the studio projected towards bankruptcy, Antony Renraw did not worry much about the critical situation,

indeed, he was more than convinced that he could continue the project, with an unusual positivity for an entrepreneur aware of his own failure. He gave the impression of a man dominated by something, a twisted idea that nobody knew anything about.

There were only three elements: a character to animate, the title of the short film and a piano track created by Jelly Roll Morton specifically for the cartoon, nothing else.

The days passed, the rooms were dark and desolate. The few animators remaining, busy making sketches of the character, began to perceive a feeling of unease. The rooms seemed increasingly cold and oppressive. The mood of the artists began to grow darker.

It was at that moment that one of the animators, the author of this testimony, left the studio. The animators were aware that it was a matter of days and Deep Well Animation Studios would have declared bankruptcy, so most of them decided to leave the studio. In the end, there were only seven animators willing to collaborate with Antony Renraw.

One night, the authorities began to become suspicious as they noticed during several night patrols the employees no longer left the studios.

On May 27, 1930, during an investigation, the authorities found a black woman outside the studios, with her cheeks streaked with tears and the terror on her face.

It was identified as Hollie Farwell, a cleaner for the studios. Two agents broke into the studios but found none. The rooms were empty and dark.

They went down the stairs and arrived at the entrance to a deposit.

They turned and found a man on the ground, his back against the wall. The man's eyes were wide, his face was pale and contracted in an expression of horror. On the shirt, he had printed a plate bearing the name "Paul Cowman, animation employee". His eyes were turned toward an entrance carved into the rock, immersed in darkness.

The agents entered inside and found themselves in front of a well. They tried to illuminate it, but darkness assimilated the light, preventing the vision of the bottom. All the patrol officers arrived, the doctors and the investigative section, to verify the dynamics of the incident.

All the newspapers of the following day reported the fact on the front page. The case went around the nation. Antony Renraw and six animators had disappeared and were no longer found. The remaining employee, meanwhile, was transferred to the city hospital, in a catatonic state.

The police tried to interrogate him many times. After four weeks, he returned to speak.

He was mumbling incomprehensible sentences, continuing to watching the void. The only things they understood were "disappeared", "well", "abyss". A specialized team had already carried out several inspections inside that well, but the mission cost the life of a member of the team, who disappeared at the bottom of the abyss.

The chasm was a natural cavity that fell down tens of meters to a reservoir of water from an unknown depth. Because of the riskiness of the mission, the case was filed and the building was closed permanently.

I put the report back inside the paper bag. I stood there looking at the light that penetrated the windows. I remembered those stories that I heard as a child...

Haunted houses, vampires, and ghosts. Those were stories, stories passed down from generation to generation to scare children. But here, it's different. I do not even know where to start. It's hard for me to even talk about it.

...that abyss, what's hiding in that abyss?

In fact, as soon as I approached, the piano had started playing alone, as if it had come out of a movie. I was trying to think logically, but I could not ... after what I had seen.

I was dealing with something ancient ... and dark...

I got up: I already knew enough, now it was time to finish this story once and for all. I went out of the library, the sun was setting. I got in the car and headed for the way back.