Funko has once again dipped into my wallet and extracted the cost of another vinyl figure! This time it is the Explorer Mickey figure from ‘The True Original’ collection of twelve.
I hadn’t gotten Mickey out of the box for more than a minute and he was already off and exploring the flora and fauna of my gardens:
This series of figures has a great box. It features a ‘Hidden Mickey’ window to showcase the figure inside. It then pulls apart to reveal (and release) the contents.
Mickey’s 90 year anniversary would have been in 2018.
Many of Mickey’s most iconic roles are featured in this collection. I could honestly live with owning almost all of them, but I don’t want to spend the money to make that happen! I believe I have TrainConductor Mickey as well. But if I was to buy just one more, it would be Three Musketeer Mickey.
The pattern on the inside box is cool, with many poses from some of Mickey’s famous Shorts. You can see how his look has changed over the years.
“Okay Jim, let’s rejoin Mickey out in the field to see what he has found”:
Bridge to Adventure!
“Mickey seems a little confused, Jim! Hopefully he will get his bearings soon and find something worthy of the financial investment of this Expedition.”
“Look behind you, Mickey!”
“It appears Mickey has found the Great Monolith of Kingsvale! Believed lost for centuries, Mickey has climbed almost to the top, but can find no way inside. We’ll have to leave our intrepid Explorer for now. We can only pray that he will return to us safely, back here in the Studio.” CUT! PRINT THAT! “Want to go for coffee, Jim?”
Wow. That adventure was exciting!
I should mention that the finish quality on these line of figures could be better. The mold is rough and the paint can be spotty, but this could be due to the smaller size and the resultant problems with injection techniques. In the case of Explorer Mickey, it gives him a weathered look that fits the character.
For more fun with ‘The True Original’ commemorative merchandise, check out this post from 2021 entitled Mickey: The True Original Crew Socks. Yup. Even Mickey wears socks!
There be no end to the cover version LPs of Disney songs! Every big band, singer, group, and compilation agency have produced a collection of classic Disney tunes, to varying degrees of success. I’d say this collection of 15 Walt Disney Favorites is average at best.
How do you know if the music on an LP is original recordings or covers? Usually the artwork on the cover sleeve will tell you:
Off-Model Artwork
If Disney doesn’t allow or provide licensed artwork for use on an LP cover, it’s a good bet that the music on the LP itself will be covers. And now you know!
The songs are all taken from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938) and Pinocchio (1940). The album doesn’t credit the orchestra or the singers.
The track I have included in this post is one I have never heard before! Even if you are an uber Disney fan, I believe you will be unfamiliar with it as well. Give it a listen:
Monstro the Whale
It’s a fun little song that obviously wouldn’t have fit into the film. Maybe it was a demo recording or maybe a song written for some other children’s LP release. Either way, we now know that Monstro was around in Biblical times! Who knew?
Whoever wrote the liner notes for the back of the cover should have read up on Disney a bit more before finalizing his/her text! For example, they mention that Walt’s first big success came with the release of the cartoon Short named Steamboat Bill, which was actually Steamboat Willie. They also mention that this cartoon was the first time Mickey spoke, which is untrue. It was the first sound cartoon, but Mickey didn’t talk until later in the Short named The Karnival Kid where he yells out “Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs!” while playing a food vendor. Am I picky about such details? Yes. Yes I am.
They got everything else right though, so, I’ll let them slide!
Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings (yup, like this one!) and bargain bin reissues. I bought this jewel at a charity shop for a couple of bucks! The parent company was founded in 1950 with the “Pickwick/33” imprint coming around in the late 1960s and carrying on into the 1970s, before the company was bought out in 1977.
Sometimes Disney creeps into my ‘regular’ life. Case in point is this Disney/Pyrex reusable platinum silicone storage bag. We were picking up a kitchen gadget at our local dollar store and saw a display for these sandwich bags. They are bigger than most so I took a closer look.
Pyrex is a popular brand for storage containers in North America so I thought it was safe to assume the quality would be good.
There are several different designs featuring Mickey Mouse but no other Disney characters. However, by extension, they do offer a few Star Wars designs. You can check out the full line here.
So cool I bought two!
On the Pyrex site these sell for $20.00 but are presently on sale for just $6.00 even. But I paid less than $5.00 for mine.
These are thicker than most reusable sandwich bags. This likely accounts for their versatility. I hope to get many years of use out of them!
If you can stand the heat and want to stay in the kitchen, check out my Minnie Mouse Tea Towels!
Although this pin was released back in 2014, likely only in Disneyland Paris itself, I just found it in Canada at a local retailer now. I thought it was a unique design idea and so bought it to add to my admittedly rather small Disney Pin collection:
Now who could that represent?
The design elements are obvious but cute. There is a ‘Hidden Mickey’ at the top of the tower and the tower itself is painted with the iconic colours of no other than Minnie Mouse herself. And the bow is a nice finishing touch!
Pin Trading is mostly a thing here in North America with only small incursions having been made in the off shore Parks. But this pin is a part of the official Disney Pin Trading system.
I have seen four variations of this pin so far: This Minnie Mouse one, a Cheshire Cat version, Tinker Bell, and of course, a Mickey Mouse entry. In my opinion, this pin is the best!
As mentioned, I don’t have many pins, but you can see some of my more Unique Pins by clicking the link.
Today’s collectible has somehow traveled all the way from England, and from the past, to the present. This Walt Disney Film Strip Lantern, or ‘projector’ as they would later be called, likely dates from the early to mid 1940s.
I’ve had this in my collection for years but have only recently rediscovered it while I was looking for items to put in a yard sale. It didn’t sell and now I can’t imagine parting with it!
After researching the entire Internet (would you believe that?) I came across a wonderful site called Photographic Memorabilia, based appropriately in the UK, for this product. You can click the link for a much more detailed look at the history of this Lantern. I appreciate the permission from Maurice Fisher to use some of the information from his site to populate this post!
I feel very fortunate to have such a complete and intact version of this Lantern! The box is a bit worn but has the original yellow stick-on images. The gentleman who restored the Lantern you will see if you click the link to the PM site, Gavin Ritchie, was missing the box and wished to create a replica. He had the top image but not the side images to do so. I was happy to supply these to him so he could complete his replica!
So what do I have with my Lantern?
First, I have three complete strips of film, containing six 12-frame stories. Two of these strips were still in the original boxes:
I learned that there were three versions of this Lantern produced. Because mine has both a switch on the front (which appears to engage the battery, and so turns on the unit) and the metal handle on top, I have an earlier version.
Dusty and dingy but intact and hopefully working! I will need to source a battery to check. You can see images of the battery compartment, the bulb (of which I have four) and the wooden rollers used to advance the film strips below:
Thanks again to PM I now know what type of battery I need and how it is used. Hopefully the Internet will yield up one or two for me to purchase!
It’s one thing to find a vintage device that works and quite another to find it with all of the original documentation! To begin with what I have, you can see and read the advertisement flyer for the WaltDisney Film Strip Lantern below:
Next, I can present the ‘How to Use’ booklet:
This would be a good place to pause and talk about Johnsons of Hendon. I received some updated information about the years that this company operated under this name before adding ‘Ltd.’ at the end. It appears that the time period covered would be between 1943 and 1948. So we can date the Lantern I have from between those years.
Another way to date merchandise is from the characters that are included on the packaging and those that are not. In this case, Jiminy Cricket (1940) and Bambi (1942) appear on the box but Cinderella (1950) does not. This correlates the dating of the Lantern to between 1943 and 1948.
This mechanical wonder is promoted as ‘any child can use it’ but I take issue with that! After playing with the film threading process for a bit, I would find it hard to believe a young child could get the hang of it and manage to advance the film cells in sync with the spoken scripts.
And speaking of the films and the scripts, let’s have a look at them now:
The titles of the films and scripts don’t always match exactly but the stories do gel. Although there were 24-frame stories, mine are divided into two 12-frame stories on each strip of film. So each script page has a story on one side and another story on the other side to coincide with the film strip it came with.
Some of the films are innocent enough but some are insensitive by today’s standards. Mickey MouseCrusoe for example has stereotypical depictions of ‘natives’ that would not be acceptable today.
Pluto gets his own feature (script above, top right):
Of course, Mickey Mouse appears in most of the films. And there is a holiday story as well:
Lastly, and I heard you say “Thank Goodness!”, I have this 6-frame paper holder:
If threading the film through the Lantern with the wooden rollers seemed too difficult, a child could more easily clamp the first six images into this device and push it across the light aperture.
And we are done! Almost.
I am planning a series of YouTube videos on the Disleelandia Channel that will go live soon (ish). They will show each slide as they would have been seen using the Lantern but with a cast of my friends providing the voices for the characters that are starring in each story. My hope is that it will harken back to the days of the old radio programs that were such a staple in the lives of so many who lived in the 1940s when the Walt Disney Film Strip Lantern was sold!
What do you call a one-eared mouse? Folk art, apparently! My father found this wooden DIY project at a yard sale and thought I’d like to have it. He was right.
“Are you being served?”
This is reminiscent of the butler statues that you can find in almost every home décor store. But with the obvious Disney twist. As you will notice, I have a few things to fix to bring him back into shape.
Mickey is pretty much identical on both sides. He is sporting his 1980s attire of blue pants with a red shirt. Very trendy back in that decade.
First, one of his ears is broken off. I can simply trace the other ear on a piece of wood, cut it out, and peg and glue it on. The arm just under the missing appendage is also broken, it has been reattached previously. Likely the poor guy was dropped, breaking both his ear and arm.
Once I have fixed everything I will touch up the paint.
Looking at the top of Mickey’s serving arm, you can see where there were two screws that would have held a tray of some kind. The tray was missing when I took ownership. The one in the first image of this post is a metal souvenir tray from Florida that has Walt Disney World featured on it. I thought it would be an appropriate match for Mickey! Instead of screwing it on, I plan to use double sided tape so as not to damage the tray.
The artist didn’t use expensive wood, as you can see from the base. But it served the purpose. Of course, being a softer species probably contributed to how easy it was to damage.
For more wooden Folk Art with a Disney theme, check out my Goofy Folk Art that I rescued out of my friend’s workshop.
UPDATE: August 6, 2022
I joined an interesting FaceBook Group called Disney Collectibles recently and much to my surprise, another member named Thomas posted this photo asking for help with information about it:
Look familiar? So now we know exactly which image my little wooden friend was based on! It’s always weird when these things come together.
Toy Story is the 10th release in The Legacy Collection. It’s a two-disc album that hit stores on July 10, 2015, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the movie. The album features the film’s complete original soundtrack, four demo recordings, and some instrumental versions of the film’s main songs. A nice touch is the comments of thanks from composer Randy Newman and director John Lasseter to the orchestra.
This is perhaps the second most anticipated release for me, right after the Disneyland CD set.
Arguably one could say that this movie, Toy Story, was as groundbreaking and pivotal to animation in our day as was Snow White in its day. And as Snow White had her visionary producer to introduce her to the world, Walt Disney, so to did the Toy Story cast of characters in one John Lasseter.
The Production Notes are splendid and written this time by Randy Newman, the musical genius behind the songs and score of the movie. It lends a more personal perspective to the information:
This has just a few pages dealing with the Music, mostly just providing lyrics:
I found the extra music on this disc to be somewhat disappointing. There wasn’t much of it and the demo recordings, frankly, weren’t very good. But why take my word for it? Have a listen:
The Fool Demo – Randy Newman
This was one of the better demo recordings. It’s fun, but one can see why it wasn’t used in the final cut of the movie.
Next we have my favorite thing about these Legacy Collection sets, the Concept Art:
So who’s glad that they heavily redesigned Woody from the original concepts?!? A smoking ventriloquist dummy? That’s nightmare fuel and no thanks!
The good thing about this CD set is that it does include the entire soundtrack.
Back Cover
I guess we can end this post in the same way that Randy Newman and John Lasseter ended the recording sessions with the orchestra: By thanking you for being here to the end! They put it better…
Thanking the Orchestra – Spoken
I still need to find two of the fifteen sets to complete my collection. You can see the thirteen that I do have by typing ‘The Legacy Collection’ into the ‘Search’ box at the top right corner of this Blog.
Even a diehard blogger needs a vacation! For two months my wife and I stayed with a nephew on Vancouver Island. We traveled around and took in the sights, like this spectacular one:
Yachting, anyone?
No matter where we went it was impossible to take a bad picture. The scenery was breathtaking. The weather was wonderful. My camera was… busy!
Puff the Magic Dragon who lived by the sea. Nessie the Loch Ness Monster living in Scotland. And Elliot the Dragon lives in a boy named Pete’s imagination. Or… does he?
Elliot first appeared in an unpublished short story and was later considered by Walt Disney for a feature length film in 1957. But it would have to wait until 1977 to become a reality, and then a remake in 2016. For a comparison of these two films, check out my earlier post entitled
In this post we’ll be looking at a very nice 16″ plush version of the title character from the Disney Store:
I’m glad Elliot hadn’t chosen to be invisible when I took these photos! He was in good humor and was quite willing to pose.
He does look like a dragon that would spring from the imagination of a young boy, doesn’t he? But as both films proved, Elliot is quite real.
The level of detailing on this plush is amazing. The scales are a faux leather and shine when you turn them in the light.
RIP Disney Store
A staple of any Disney Store was the Plush Tower in the center of the merchandise floor. Usually two or three sizes were available, with this 16″ version being the biggest. I tended to wait for the sales where you’d get discounts if you bought more than one.
I must conclude this post as I am off to visit Passamaquoddy, where I hope to find my very own ‘imaginary’ dragon!
FUN FACTS: Did you know that there is a real Passamaquoddy? Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by Washington County, Maine. There has been some dispute as to which country really holds title to it. If only there was an entity that could help them to resolve the conflict and get along!
“Norman Rockwell began by being successful.” – Author
Everyone who knows and loves illustrative art knows the work of Norman Rockwell from the covers of the Saturday Evening Post. But this prolific artist did far more than that!
Rockwell passed away on November 8th of 1978. It may surprise you to know that he continued to work right up to his death, ending a long career that had started in the 1920s. His body of work is unbelievably extensive!
This book was published originally in 1979, just one year after Rockwell’s death. This volume is a reprinted copy by a different publisher in 1987.
This treasury is divided into four main sections covering the life and output of the artist. His many marriages, insecurities, heartbreaks, and triumphs are carefully related but without too much detail. The book is easy to read for this reason and instead relies heavily on images to tell its story.
Before reading this book I was mainly familiar with Rockwell’s work from his Post covers and some other publications. So it was enlightening to see images from his sketchbooks to see his process.
Rockwell is known for a realistic style but one that can still be recognized as paintings. But he was skilled enough to produce photo-realistic images as well, as the two pictures above show. They look good enough to be photographs, but are actually still paintings!
From family portraits to images of United States Presidents, Rockwell could render a perfect likeness of anyone using only charcoal pencil.
What I found fascinating is that Rockwell tried several times to branch out into completely other forms of art. He dabbled in abstract and other trending genres but was always shot down by the publications paying for his work. It frustrated him, so I think he did the image that is found on the back of the book as a passive-aggressive protest:
“See? I can do it!” –Rockwell
Many years ago my wife and I travelled to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Seeing the original full-size paintings was truly awe inspiring! It would be prudent to visit as soon as you can due to something I learned while reading this book. Namely, Rockwell painted to publish, not preserve. In other words, the techniques he used weren’t conducive to his pieces lasting. He used very thin washes of paint with varnish layered in between. This varnish has yellowed over time and caused the paint itself to flake off! Obviously restoration efforts have arrested further damage and saved these timeless masterpieces… for now. But will the damage continue?
I would give this book a solid 5 Out of 5 Stars. The text is comparatively sparse with just enough length to give you the amount of information you need to put Rockwell’s life and art into perspective. But if you just want to have a coffee table book full of pretty pictures, it is that!
Disleelandia 