“Canadian Capers” was produced by Terrytoons and released on August 23, 1931.  Uniquely, this was assigned to only four animators:  Frank Moser, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt. (UPDATE: Scroll Below for scene-by-scene mosaic)

Frank Moser was the man in charge of all the animation, and was Paul Terry’s business partner.  He was also the supervising animator at the studio.  “Moser always bragged about the fact that he was the fastest animator in the business,” said Babbitt, “so I told him very un-diplomatically, that’s like being the fastest violinist in the world: he can’t play worth a damn but he can sure play fast.” [1]

Hugh “Jerry” Shields had been an animator for Paul Terry for years, ever since Terry directed the “Aesop’s Fables” shorts for Van Beuren Studios in the late 1920s.  Shields was a loyal employee, but had an incredibly old-fashioned animation style.  His “animation was very crude but everything he did was funny,” said Terry.  “And he was an old-timer.  He was with me until he passed away.” [2]

Bill Tytla returned from prolonged art study in Europe on December 17th, 1930, and went right back to being the studio’s young star.  “Bill Tytla, he was a very fine animator, and he could render anything that you gave him (to render) very well,” said Terry.  “But he didn’t seem to have the starting quality.  If he was left by himself […] he was lost until somebody laid it out pretty well, and he would embellish it and do it very well.”[2]

“We worked in this room with a very tall ceiling,” said Babbitt.  “We would take sharp thumbtacks, and pierce a piece of cardboard, then you’d lay it on top of a silver dollar and you could toss it 40 feet – and the thumbtack and cardboard would stick in the ceiling but the dollar would come back […] And poor Terry would go out of his noggin the next morning.  He come in and see all the pieces of cardboard and thumbtacks stuck all over the ceiling, a million feet up in the air.”[3]

Sources:

1. Art Babbitt interview by John Canemaker, 1975
2. Paul Terry interview by Harvey Deneroff, 1969,
3. Tape recording of Babbitt’s 50th anniversary dinner, 1974