It’s a Damariscotta tradition for kids to peek into the windows of Jake Day’s old house to view his splendid Christmas dioramas.
Generations of children, spurred on by their parents and grandparents, visit the Bristol Road home of the famed artist marveling at the hand carved scenes of snow covered villages featuring tiny carolers, or a smiling raccoon wearing a hunter orange cap and scarf, a family of black bears trudging through the snow, or a mystical magical castle.
One of Day’s grandsons, Dan Day and his wife Sandi still own the old homestead that has been in the family for 215 years. It is located at 20 Bristol Road in a home that is now used by a hospital office.
Damariscotta folks know it as the third house on the left after the Baptist Church.
The peaceful scenes with tiny figures and cartoon animals seem to personify the notion that while the modern Christmas season is a season of commerce and religion, it is a celebration centered around family, friends, memories, and especially children.
However, few know the Day dioramas were born during a time of war by a father worried about the world, his country, and especially his two sons.
“My brother Mac and I were both in the Army during World War II. We were both in Europe,” said Dick Day, 89, the artist’s son. “Dad was very nervous for both of us. After all, we were in the middle of a war. He was glued to the radio listening to the war news.
“The diorama grew out of his anxiety for us. It was kind of therapy,”
Day put them in the windows of the family home every Christmas.
“One time he put a microphone out there in the yard to record the comments of the children,” said the son.
It was a natural way for the famed artist to sooth his worries about his own children by fashioning cartoon characters and setting them in fantasy settings for the enjoyment of the children of others.
It was not the first time Jake Day used his talents to please children.
In the mid 1930s, Jake Day was a working commercial artist in Boston. When the Depression dried up the work, Day moved his family west to California where he found work in the film industry. After a few years, he went to work for Walt Disney.
“Disney wanted to do a cartoon feature of Bambi, a European children’s tale, but he wanted to base the main characters on the California mule deer. Dad told him he should base the characters on the white tailed deer like they have up here in Maine,” said Dick Day.
Disney sent Day back to Maine where he spent time in Baxter State Park photographing the flora and fauna. He then arranged for animal control agents to ship a pair of abandoned white tail fawns and other woods animals to California to serve as models for the animators, said the son.
After their movie career, Bambi and his girlfriend, Faline lived their lives out in the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles.
While Jake Day is best known for his work on “Bambi”, although he did not receive a film credit for his work, Dick Day makes it clear his dad was not an animator.
“He did not create Bambi. He drew backgrounds. Bambi was created by a half dozen artists,” said the son.
After several years with Disney, Day moved back to Damariscotta where the family operated a shop selling his art and crafts.
The Day Christmas dioramas wound up in the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland where they were displayed for several years.
They had been consigned to a storage section when The Lincoln County News publisher Chris Roberts convinced the museum the holiday display should be brought back home to Damariscotta for the enjoyment of the children.
Each year, Roberts, Dan and Sandi Day gather friends, relatives and an occasional boy scout to repair and prepare the dioramas for display.
“Jake loved the children and loved how they admired his work,” said Dan Day.
Each year children who were brought to the scene by their parents, bring their children to see the display. A guest book reveals that folks from Damariscotta Mills to Anchorage, Alaska have visited the display already this year, Dan Day said.
The displays blend Day’s love of the Maine woods with his skill at turning woods animals into friendly cartoons.
“Dad loved the outdoors and wanted people to take the time to see the beauty of the natural world, to look at it, enjoy it, appreciate it and protect it as necessary,” said Dick Day.
Because of the efforts of the Day relatives and friends, children can come over to the old Day place to enjoy the beauty of his work, look at it, appreciate it and know others have protected it.
