''Closed Mondays'' is an eight-minute

clay animation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

film, created by Bob Gardiner and filmed by

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Academy Awards, Os ...

in 1974. It was produced by Lighthouse Productions, released by Pyramid Films in the United States, and won the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

in 1975.

Plot

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:

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 A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

-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 Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

, a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, 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. 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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

woman kneeling on a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

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 A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

on the floor as he does so. As he stands on the plinth, he freezes in place, becoming a piece of bronze

statuary A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...

Reception and legacy

The

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

was included in the compilation feature ''

Fantastic Animation Festival ''Fantastic Animation Festival'' is a package film of animation segments, set mostly to music and released in theaters in 1977. It was one of the earliest of the sort of collections typified by Computer Animation Festival and Spike and Mike's F ...

'' (1977). The short film was also included in a video compilation called ''Academy Award Winners - Animated Short Films'' (1985), released by Vestron Video, 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 A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

, "anim'est" (2012), as part of the "Classics" category. The Academy Film Archive preserved ''Closed Mondays'' in 2012.

Credits

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

, camera

References

External links

''Closed Mondays''
at Pyramid Media *
''Closed Mondays''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

AFI FEST Festival Database information
* * {{Will Vinton Productions 1974 films 1974 animated short films 1970s American animated films 1974 fantasy films Films directed by Will Vinton Films set in art museums and galleries American animated short films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Claymation films Films shot in Portland, Oregon 1970s stop-motion animated films 1970s English-language films 1974 independent films American independent films Films produced by Will Vinton English-language short films English-language independent films English-language fantasy films