1965 was a good year: The Beatles were at their creative best. The cars were amazing. I was born. And Disney was releasing awesome books with 33 1/3 rpm records for children. Each one was a Read-Along Book and Record:

The Three Little Pigs

This classic Short from 1933 is retold here with the story basically intact. Some details have been edited out but the hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” is also included.

Most of the record/books from this period had a coloring page at the back next to the record. For some reason, full artwork was included with this release.

Sleeping Beauty

Side A of the record has the story, with the traditional bell ringing to tell you when to turn the page. On Side B there are two songs from the film: “Once Upon a Dream” and “I Wonder”.

Again, the main story is basically intact for this release, and the coloring page is present, and uncolored (which is excellent from a collecting point of view!)

Lady and the Tramp

All three of these record/books from 1965 have the tag line ‘Walt Disney’s Story of’ before the title. In later years, this tag line changes.

The story for this film has been changed substantially. Let’s have a look:

Lady and Tramp meet early in the story, with Tramp warning Lady of the trouble to come from having a baby in the family.

Lady is muzzled, not because of her fight with the Siamese cats, but simply because Aunt Sarah doesn’t like her.

The entire love story is dropped with the couple returning to the house because Lady is homesick.

Another major change happens here, with the danger that gets Tramp accepted into the family being a fire instead of a rat looking for the baby’s milk. Perhaps a rat was deemed too scary for young readers?

Instantly, Tramp gets his collar and four pups!

The coloring page is present, but if you look closely, you’ll notice a mistake. Lady and Tramp have a pup in this image, but Tramp’s collar is missing, which he should have at this time.

I have one more record/book from close to this period, from 1967:

The Jungle Book

The tag line changes to ‘Walt Disney Presents’ now. The story follows the basic plot of the movie with only basic omissions for space considerations.

The coloring page is still being printed at this time. The record contains two songs from the film: “I Wan’na Be Like You” and “The Bare Necessities”.

So please wait for the sound of the bell. Upon hearing it, please click over to one of these other great posts about read-along records:

Alternate version of Sleeping Beauty

Disney’s Read-Along Books and Records: 1970’s