Jingle Bells

Here is another Christmas theemed Little Golden Book & Record I found in my collection. It is Jingle Bells from 1976. I love the artwork in this one, and the first page starts with "On the day before Christmas, the Bear family decided to go for a sleigh ride. Little did they know how exciting their ride would be!". With today being December 24th, this seemed like a perfect post. Merry Christmas to all!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Here is a Little Golden Book & Record from 1963. It is The Twelve Days of Christmas, A Christmas Carol. Pictures by Tony DeLuna and Story and song by Betsy Chapman.

The Whale Who Wanted To Sing at the Met

Here is a neat item I found recently. It is a 45 sized record and book from Disney Education Productions, 1988. This was apparently made for use in the listening center of school classrooms. I don't recall having these records in my classroom, but I do remember having access to various Educational Disney film strips which I loved to play with anytime I got the chance.
Here I present the front and back cover as well as a few of my favorite pages from inside the book.

LET'S BEGIN NOW...

Susie, The Little Blue Coupe & The Little House

Today I am featuring two great Disneyland Record and Books, one that features anthropomorphied cars, and another that features an anthropomorphised house.
The first is Susie, The Little Blue Coupe from 1970. Susie the Little Blue Coupe is an animated short film released theatrically by Walt Disney Studios on 6 June 1952. The eight-minute film was directed by Clyde Geronimi and based on an original short-story by Bill Peet, the story was adapted for the screen by Peet and Don DaGradi. The DVD release of The Love Bug featured this short as a special feature.
The second record is Walt Disney's The Story of The Little House also from 1970. This one was based on a short film released on 8 August 1952, in which a small house has to try to compete with progress and the encroaching press of the big city. You can find this short on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s.

The Best Stories of AESOP

Here is a cool album I found this weekend at a local thrift shop. It is Wald Disney Presents The Best Stories of AESOP from 1961. Sterling Holloway narrates, with music by Camarata. This copy was manufactured by Sparton of Canada Ltd., London, Ontario.
On the back of the album is a list of the "Complete library of favorite Walt Disney stories as told by Sterling Holloway" which includes; Peter and the Wolf/Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Three Little Pigs, Aesop's fables, Goliath, Country Cousin, Grasshopper and the Ants, and The Absent Minded Professor.
I love the albums like this one that have listings of other albums on the back. Its like a great checklist of other albums I need. In this case, I have 6 of the 8 listed. I still need to find Goliath and The Absent Minded Professor.

A Mickey Mystery Kit

In all of my thrift store shopping I have come across these Mickey Mystery books, but I had never seen the complete kit until recently. I picked up this Mickey Mystery Kit: Robbery on the Overland Express unopened package recently for just $4. It contains a hard cover book, a 32-page hardcover picture book, a crime-stopping audio cassette and a secret clue decoder.
Listen to the cassette, inspect the pictures, decode the secret clues.
Mysterious travelers on the Overland Express are after Goofy's valuable set of comic books. Can Goofy get the books to the comic book show - or will a Master Thief steal them first? Only you can help Mickey solve the crime.

So get out the Secret Clue Decoder, look for the hidden secrets in the 32-page, hardcover Mystery Picture Book listen to the Audio Cassette, and follow the trail of clues to unlock the answer to the exciting mystery.
The package comes from Walt Disney Records and the back cover lists one other whodunnit titled Portrait of a Crime.

So, like last post, this is not a record, but it is an official Walt Disney Records product. And if I ever decide to bust this open, I am sure Kaden and I would have a lot of fun listening to the tape, collecting the clues and solving the mystery!

Mickey's Tattered Tale

Today I have a Disneyland Records and Tapes product that is not actually a record, but instead is a 24 Page Read-Along Book and Tape. It is Disney's Mickey Mouse - Mickey's Tattered Tale from 1988. My copy did not have the tape, but the front cover says that along with the story, it also contained the song "Here's to the Ears of Love".
I do not usually pick up these 'book and tape' combos, as they almost never have the tape to go along with the book. Even though this one didn't have the tape, I really liked the cover art work with my favorite Disney character Pluto, and Mickey Mouse looking like like Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp.
Along with the front cover I have also scanned the inside cover where we are instructed to "turn the page when you hear the chimes ring."
I also scanned the inside back cover which lists the full line of 1988 Walt Disney Storyteller book and cassettes.

Walt Disney's Perri

Here is the other item I picked up last time I was out thrift store shopping. It's Walt Disney's Perri (released Feb. 22, 1961). Narrated by Jimmie Dodd and with songs by: George Burns, Paul Smith, Gil George, Ralph Wright and Winston Hibler.
This would have been my favorite item I picked up that day except for the fact that there is no vinyl record inside the record sleeve. The lady at the thrift shop was ready to toss it out when I told her it didn't have a record inside. When I told it it was OK, that I just wanted the cover, she looked at me strange and tossed it into the bag for free. As a Disney record collector, I would have loved it if the vinyl was inside and in mint condition, but the cover is still a great addition to my collection. Heck I could just toss an old Village People record inside this cover and slide it back into its protective collectors sleeve (which I put all my records in - amazing how good an old scuffed up record looks when you put it into a protective sleeve!) and no one would ever know!
PS: If you are looking for collectors record sleeves, or just about any other item to protect your collectibles, check out Bags Unlimited. I especially like their resealable LP and 45 sleeves.

Songs from Doctor Dolittle

I found a few really cool new Disney records while out thrift shopping last weekend. Here is "Songs from Doctor Dolittle" with the songs; My Friend the Doctor, Talk to the Animals, Beautiful Things, Doctor Dolittle, At the Crossroads, I've Never Seen Anything Like It. I almost didn't notice this album amongst all the old classical records etc, as it didn't look like most of the usual colorful Disney covers - thank goodness for that Disneyland Records logo in the top righthand corner!
This album is from 1967 and the front cover states that it is MONAURAL.
From the back cover: The "Dr. Dolittle" stories were born in the trenches of France during World War I.
Hugh Lofting, the author, was a British soldier. His great interest in all animals inspired illustrated letters from the front lines to his children at home. He invented the lovable, eccentric country physician, Dr. Dolittle. The letters so delighted his own and other children, that the author had them put in a book form.
The dozens of "Dr. Dolittle" stories have become literacy classics - of interest to adults as well as young people - probably because Hugh Lofting never wrote down to children. He never considered them as a separate species. He respected their intelligence and wrote accordingly.
The story of the Doctor, dedicated to animals, who could speak to them in their own languages, was, of course, a 'natural' for the motion picture screen.
Now Dr. Dolittle" has become a motion picture. An outstanding picture with a great cast of top stars and performers. It will very likely become one of the all time great pictures.
Leslie Bricusse, a British born composer-lyricist, is responsible for the musical score, the songs and lyrics. An exceptionally talented man of music, Leslie Bricusse has captured in words and music the fun, the excitement and the fantasy of "Dr. Dolittle."
The musical numbers included in this album were conducted by Camarata and Feature the Mike Sammes Singers.
Camarata has recently done several highly regarded and extremely successful albums with the Sammes choral group. Among them are such top albums as MAN OF LA MANCHA and THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE. These two albums are on the Vista Fanta-Sound label, a distinguished series of quality recordings each packaged with multi-paged illustrated books. Also in the series are Saint Saens "The Carnival of the Animals" and "Carousel."
This LP was manufactured in Canada by Walt Disney Music of Canada Limited.

Disney's Gummi Bears: Gummies to the Rescue!

While out this past weekend, I found this 45 sized Disney's Gummi Bears record and story book. I have never been a fan of the Gummi Bears - I don't think I have every watched it - but I know that a lot of the people 10 or so years younger than I seem to be big fans! True to point, the cashier at the thrift shop got pretty excited when they saw the Gummi Bears record in my pile of items for purchase.
I see on the back of this record they advertise another Gummi Bears record called "Zummi's Magic Spell". Being as I love anything related to magic, I hope I find this one in my thrift shop travels in the future.
As I said, I am not a big fan of the Gummi Bears, but am I the only one that has a hard time telling the difference between the Gummi Bears and the Care Bears.

Alice In Wonderland records

Today I wanted to post two Alice in Wonderland LPs I picked up at the thrift shop a few weekends ago. As I was setting up to take photo of the two covers, I got to thinking about all the stuff I have been seeing on line about the upcoming Tim Burton Alice In Wonderland movie. I then decided to expand my post to include all the Alice vinyl I have in my collection.
The first on is A Disneyland Records LP (DQ 1208) from 1959. I have two different versions. The first has a small white boarder about the edge of the front cover and the back cover is black and white with ads for 9 other Walt Disney long playing records... All for only $1.98 each! The other version has the red going right out to the edges of the cover (the LP pictured here). The back cover of this one is also black and white and features scenes from the movie along with the song title listings for the album.
NSecond is a nice LP from 1960 which contains the complete story, all the songs and the music, plus a full color illustrated book especially prepared for children by the Walt Disney Studio. This one opens up to reveal a book inside with great artwork and the story.
Third is the blue colored cover "Alice in Wonderland" from 1968. This one has the same back cover as the 1959 album with the scenes on the back, but this one is in color. Strangely, the front of the album is listed as copyright 1968 Walt Disney Productions, but the back says copyright 1963 Walt Disney Productions.Then I have 3 different 45 sized records (all are actually 33 1/3). Two of them are the 33 1/3 long playing records with 24 page books, the cover with the yellow border is from 1965 and the other is from 1979. The third record is a picture sleeve album from 1972.

Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby

Let's begin now... I love the movie Song of the South (I have the Japanese laser disc) and the fact that Disney has never officially released the movie on video or DVD and therefore has never really cashed in on SotS merchandise makes finding anything related to the movie all the more fun. The Splash Mountain at Disneyland is a must ride for me on every Disneyland trip. And the song "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" is one of my all time favorite Disney songs. What we have here is a great Song of the South related Disneyland Record and Book. It is Walt Disney Presents the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby from 1971. You can sing along with the song Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, as well as read along with the story of Brer Fox, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit, as read by Lois Lane! This version is 363 and has a sticker on the back that says "Walt Disney Music of Canada Limited, 2323 Yonge Street, Toronto Canada".

Walt Disney Presents The Story of Big Red

Yesterday while waiting for our food at a local steak & pizza place we decided to go for a walk. We ended up at the Salvation Army were I headed straight for the record bins. I came home with 5 cool records, including this Disneyland Records release from 1962. It is Walt Disney Presents The Story of Big Red (ST-1916), and manufactured in Canada by RCA Victor Company, LTD. From the looks of things, this is a pretty short album, as side one has two tracks; "Big Red Theme" (R. M. & R. B. Sherman), and "Emile's Reel" (R. M. & R. B. Sherman). Side 2 has just one track; "Mon Amour Perdu" (R. M. & R. B. Sherman).

Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs

I recently picked up this cool looking 33 1/3 Long Playing Record of Walt Disney's story of the Three Little Pigs with the song: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" complete with record and 24 page book. This edition is copyright 1965 Walt Disney Productions and printed in the USA. Side one of the record is the audio story to go along with the book and side two of the record has the Disney classic "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf". The song was probably the most famous song to come out of a short cartoon. The original song composed by Frank Churchill was a best-selling single, mirroring the people's resolve against the "big bad wolf" of The Great Depression; the song actually became something of an anthem of the Great Depression. When the Nazis began expanding the boundaries of Germany in the years preceding World War II, the song was used to represent the complacency of the Western world in allowing Hitler to make considerable acquisitions of territory without going to war, and was notably used in Disney animations for the Canadian war effort. The song was further used as the inspiration for the title of the 1963 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The World is a Circle

Here is an LP I picked up recently at a local thrift shop. I immediately assumed this was a record from Disney's "It's A Small World", as it had the Disneyland Records label in the top right hand corner and the artwork on the front was very similar to that of the artwork on the albums I had from IASW. As per usual I pulled all the albums I liked and took them up to the counter to purchase them without spending too much time looking them over. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that this one had nothing to do with IASW. The album is from 1973 and is distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Co. Inc. The music it turns out is is music based on Lost Horizon.
Here is what it says on the back of the album: The Lost Horizon Story. James Hilton's best selling novel "Lost Horizon" was first released as a motion picture by Columbia on February 27, 1937. The film was produced and directed by Frank Capra and the cast included Ronald Coleman, Name Wyatt, John Howard, Edward Everett Horton, H. B. Warner, Isabel Jewell, Thomas Mitchell, Sam Jaffe and Margo. The film was an enormous success and the idea of Shangri-La became all the world's dream.
Now Ross Hunter has produced a musical version of "Lost Horizon" with music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David. This version is also released by Columbia Pictures and contains another great cast; Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Sally Kellerman, George Kennedy, Michael York, Olivia Hussey, Bobby Van, James Shigeta and Charles Boyer as the High Lama and John Gielgud as Chang.
Several months ago the president of Disneyland Records and the national sales manager each driving their separate ways to work on the Los Angeles Freeway heard on their car radios two songs from "Lost Horizon." The president heard "The World Is A Circle" and came excitedly into the office exclaiming, "The World Is A Circle" from "Lost Horizon" has got to be a hit and it's a children's song. The national sales manager had heard "Question Me An Answer" and has the same comment. SO it was immediately decided to record three songs from "Lost Horizon," the third being "Living Together, Growing Together" which in the meantime has become a big hit with the 5th Dimensions. We decided to combine these three songs with four other wonderful songs for children out of big shows. "Dites Moi" from the wonderful Broadway show and motion picture "South Pacific," the fabulous "Inch Worm" from "Hans Christian Andersen" probably one of the most beautiful children's songs ever written, and two songs from the Broadway show and motion picture "Fanny." "Be Kind To Your Parents" and "I Like You."
Sadly I have no idea what the music sounds like, as instead of the correct album, there was a copy of a RCA Victor Red Seal Record with song titles such as "Serenade 3 - Golden Days", "Summertime in Heidelberg" and "Drink, Drink, Drink".

Disney Sing Along Songbook

Here is a neat item I found among the books at a local thrift shop. Its a 1987 Disney Sing Along Songbook. I am not a big fan of songs books, but I love the cover on this one, and the fact that it has a Disneyland Records logo on the back made it an instant sale for me. And the fact that it was 25 cents didn't hurt either.
This particular song book is a "Holiday Favorites" version, covering all the Christmas favorites; Frosty the Snow Man, Good King Wenceslas, The first Noel, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, Silver Bells, Deck the Halls, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, Here We Come A-Caroling, I Wish It Could Be Christmas All Year Long, and From All Of Us To All Of You.
Apparently this song book came with a cassette tape of the songs, but unfortunately I didn't find the cassette with the book.
Here are a bunch of the pages from the book.

Snow White and The 7 Dwarfs

Here is a cool old 78 I picked up last weekend for 10 cents. When I originally bought it, I was just interested in it because it has a really cool retro label on the center of the record. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it had a recording of Snow White and The 7 Dwarfs with Full Cast & orchestra. It is a Cricket Record from 1953. The reverse side has Tunes For Little People; Little Jack Horner, Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, all with full cast and orchestra.
I am not able to listen to it yet, as my current record player does not play 78's. I know it came with some software to allow me adjust records recoded at regular 33 speed into 78, but I have not used it yet and am not sure how it works without breaking out the manual.

Western Songs for Children

This weekend I made the trip to some of my favorite thrift shops, and they didn't disappoint! I came home with 4 big bags of stuff, including about 40 records, many of which were Disney or Disney related. Here is one of my favorite I found, "Western Songs for Children" from 1963. I absolulty love the front cover artwork of the two kids dressed as cowboys, about to have a gun fight while a little dog looks on.
Songs on the album are;
Side 1:
1) A Cowboy Needs a Horse - Fess Parker
2) Pony Express - Chorus
3) Streets of Laredo - Rex Allen
4) Wringle Wrangle - Fess Parker
5) Pioneer's Prayer - Chorus
Side 2:
1) Westward Ho the Wagons - Chorus
2) Ballad of John Colter - Fess Parker
3) Who Shot the Hole in My Sombrero - Rex Allen
4) Kit Carson - Stan Jones
5) Goodnight Little Wrangler - Fess Parker
The song titles are not actually listed on the album cover, but the back cover does feature an ad for other "Walt Disney Musical Highlights for the Entire Family, including Many original Sound Tracks", all for just $1.98 each! Of the 15 albums pictured, I currently have 12, so that leaves 3 more I still need to find. Of course there are also 32 albums listed but not pictured that I may or may not still need. So the hunt continues!