Character Sketch for Unpublished Children’s Book

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Dis-LEE

I was always interested in art growing up. I was a shy boy without many friends, living in the country. Being pretty isolated I had to find things to do to keep myself amused and drawing filled a void. Also, my mother was an amateur artist, so I guess I came by it honestly!

But whereas my mother tended towards oil paints and portraits, I focused on comic book and cartoon characters, using pencil and ink to create sketches. At times I would color them using color pencils or pastels. Eventually I studied art in College.

In 1990, I married my wife and found that she had written a story about two mischievous cabbages that just couldn’t stop getting into trouble. This terrible brother and sister team would terrorize the garden. Below is a character study showing the brother in a tug-o-war contest with an ornery vine:

Cabbage Tug-o-War

Ultimately we never completed the project. One scene had the cabbages sliding down a compost heap and that just seemed wrong! Think about it…

It’s hard to believe that I did this, along with many other character sketches for the same story, over 30 years ago! You can see another piece of my artwork here.

Posted in Artwork, Characters | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘The Happiest Millionaire’ Movie Soundtrack

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Dis-LEE

Pet alligators roaming the conservatory, a Bible-and-boxing school in the stables, and a delightfully eccentric millionaire make for unrestrained pandemonium in this musical Disney extravaganza! Fred MacMurray presides over a Philadelphia mansion where just about anything can happen!

This is one of the last feel-good movies that Walt Disney was able to personally oversee before his death. When he died on December 15, 1966, the film’s first cut had already been completed. But more edited was needed and the final film wasn’t released until July 10th, 1968.

I think if Walt had seen it, he would have loved it! It remains one of my all-time favorite live-action Disney movies, and I am pleased to share this Soundtrack album with you:

Although the movie starred Fred MacMurray, he is not prominently portrayed on the cover. He does appear twice though: Once to the left as he boxes, and again in the center as he sings. It is appropriate that Tommy Steele is front and center as he does most of the heavy lifting in the film.

Next, and also prominently portrayed on the cover, are Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson as they dance the night away!

This is a double-fold album in that it opens up to reveal a picture ‘book’ inside containing pictures from the movie and some song lyrics. Let’s have a look:

We start with a credits page on the left and a brief synopsis of the story on the right.

Fortuosity is the opening number from the film and is definitely a stand-out song on the album. Next, on the right, we have two songs ‘sung’ by Fred MacMurray. Why is sung in quotes? Because MacMurray can’t sing!

If you listen to his numbers, you’ll realize that he is simply talking melodically to music. There’s a difference! But he does a good job and these songs move the story along.

On the left, Lesley Ann Warren gets her establishing song while Tommy Steele jumps in again on the right with another romping ditty, this time about his heritage.

Lesley Ann Warren is finally off to school and gets a funny song about growing up and stepping out. On the right she has met John Davidson and they dance.

Next it’s John Davidson who gets his establishing song as he dreams of moving to and working in Detroit. While on the right, Tommy Steele gets caught between two generations of money while they ‘politely’ insult one another!

Tommy Steele is definitely a delight in this film! Above he is leading an entire bar full of men in a rousing drinking song.

Walt visited the set off and on and enjoyed mixing with the cast. This is a great image of the man behind the magic surrounded by the people who helped to make it happen.

This soundtrack was released on Disney’s adult Buena Vista Records label.

And that brings us to the end, or back cover.

Many Disney movies are not only entertaining for the acting and stories, but often add the extra element of music and song. Adding these soundtracks to your collection will most certainly be rewarding! If you own a record player.

FUN FACTS: Why buy old vinyl? While it’s true you can get the main songs on CD or iTunes, you can only get the entire picture in music by buying the old vinyl records. Many of these old live-action soundtracks simply aren’t available in other formats.

Posted in Movies, Soundtracks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lady and the Tramp Disney Store Lithographs

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Dis-LEE

The Disney Store has given away many sets of lithographs over the years to promote the video releases of selected animated classics, such as Lady and the Tramp.

If you pre-ordered the movie through a Disney Store, you would get a free set of related images in a paper sleeve or, in this case, a hard glossy folder. Some prints are rendered on good quality paper and others… not so much. The best are rendered on a thick pulp paper stock, the next quality level is thick gloss paper, and the lowest level is thin gloss paper which tends to wrinkle with time. Lady and the Tramp got the second level.

Most of these sets contained four prints, with some having six. As we shall see, Lady has the more standard four-print run.

As mentioned, most sets were simply put inside a themed paper envelope. But this set is wrapped in a wonderful hard glossy folder. We’ll reveal the coolest feature of the folder later, but for now, let’s look at the cover image:

Cover of Folder

This cover features an iconic moment from the film when Tramp is showing Lady the wonders of being free. They overlook the city and are beginning to feel an attraction for each other.

But that gets us ahead of the story told by the first print. Let’s have a look:

Unwanted Houseguests

This scene is now considered controversial and I believe is even edited from the release on Disney+ (but I could be wrong on that). If you look beyond the cultural insensitivity, it was a well-animated scene that helped to move the plot along, to wit, getting Lady removed from the house.

First Date

Shortly after removing Lady’s muzzle, Tramp begins to show her around ‘his’ city. And when it’s time to eat:

Tony’s World-Famous Spaghetti Dinner

A prelude to perhaps one of cinemas greatest first kisses!

The last image depicts the all’s-well-that-ends-well moment of the movie:

Tramp joins the Pack

Each print is suitable for framing in an 11″ x 14″ format.

But now we end with a look at the coolest feature of the folder itself. If a folder is used, it tends to open up to reveal a backdrop from the movie. Like so:

Configuration One

The prints fit in behind the table flap and you can see where the folder would then fold down over them at the upper crease to complete the package. But if you fold down the flap containing the image of the table, you get more:

Configuration Two

The table has now been removed. Just like in the movie because Tony and his employee had to bring the table and fixings out into the back alley for the pups.

The time for such promotions is numbered as more people buy their movies from streaming services like Disney+ and others. But while digital codes are convenient, they just can’t match the magic of getting a freebie like lithographs!

You can see Winnie the Pooh lithographs by clicking the link!

Posted in Animation, Artwork, Characters, Disney Store, Promotions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Funko Pop! Heroes and Villains Figurines

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Dis-LEE

For every good hero there has to be an equally bad villain. But what if the hero isn’t necessarily successful at being heroic? Then the villains don’t really need to be all that bad, do they?

The best case-in-point is our first ‘hero’, at least in his own mind:

Duck Dodgers in the 24 – 1/2 th Century

The future self of Daffy Duck, this 1953 Warner Brothers character was a huge hit with cartoon fans! But was he a hero? Well, he spent a fair amount of time vainly yelling his own name before falling off of things, so… not really. But was he fun to watch? Oh yeah!

FUN FACTS: In 1994, Duck Dodgers was voted #4 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

Next, and only slightly less inept, is:

Darkwing Duck and Negaduck

“When you’re in trouble ya, Call D. W.!” It sounds better when you sing it. From a television cartoon that aired in 1991-92, it stars an egocentric hothead who never learned to play nice with others (especially with other heroes who might steal the spotlight and credit) named Darkwing who still manages to save the day.

But from an alternate reality comes his doppelganger Negaduck! He has all of DW’s bad qualities with a heaping dose of evil thrown in for ‘good’ measure.

Funko Pop! did a great job with these figures! The heads move giving the characters a surprising amount of emotion when posed.

From animation to vintage live-action television, we now introduce:

The Green Hornet

This character was believed to be a villain by both the police and criminals. Only the D.A. new he was on the side of goodness and niceness. This was an underrated show that ran from 1966 to 1967 concurrent to the wildly popular Batman series. They even did a crossover episode! The series’ claim to fame was the casting of martial arts legend Bruce Lee in the role of Kato, the Green Hornet’s sidekick (literally!).

Some day I hope to find the Funko Pop! version of Bruce Lee as Kato.

But as the title of this post alluded to, where there are heroes, there are villains. But with the roster of heroes we have here, the next villain doesn’t need be that ‘good’:

The Underminer

Yeah. Not that good. The Underminer got his 15 seconds of fame at the end of the Pixar movie The Incredibles. He is a direct rip-off or homage to the Marvel Comics character named the Mole Man. Still, a fun character, and voiced perfectly by John Ratzenberger.

Not all characters made into Funko Pop! figurines look good, but I thought these ones really captured the look and fun of the source material.

If you like Darkwing Duck, check out this Disney Trading Pin that features him in his original incarnation of Double-O-Duck. What might have been!

Posted in Animation, Characters, Collectibles, Figurines, Movies, Pixar, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Commercial Artwork and Caricatures

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Dis-LEE

Although I was planning a career in the Arts, that didn’t pan out for me. But over the years I have dabbled a bit in commercial art. In the mid-80’s I worked for a small town newspaper supplying all of their advertising art.

Later I did some freelance work for an independent publisher and the image below was the result:

Public Speaking Booklet – circa 1990’s

As a professional speaker myself, this project was near and dear to my heart! I riffed on the idea of preaching from a soapbox and drew an actual bar of soap lecturing from on top of a box. A little on the nose but I think it worked for the younger audience it was intended for.

While still in college I often found myself with time on my hands while in class. I was prolific and so was usually done projects early and in need of something else to draw. My classmate Martin became an unsuspecting subject:

Martin – 1984

I remember trying to be discreet while capturing his profile but he noticed my constant glances in his direction and finally turned towards me and yelled ‘What?!?’ in front of the whole class! We all laughed when he realized what I was doing.

Around this time I sketched voraciously! Most of it was good for my development as an artist but not very worthy of sharing. But sometimes I would be inspired and create something special, like a celebrity caricature:

Mick Jagger – 1987

I’m not sure Mick was ever this ripped, but I was still in a superhero phase at the time!

I wish I had more time to enjoy creating works of art today, but life has a tendency to get in the way! Now my creative endeavors tend towards blogging, photography, and writing, with public speaking being my main outlet.

But who knows what the future will hold?

Posted in Artwork | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Disneyland Pinball Game by Wolverine Toy

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Dis-LEE

Who doesn’t like a game of pinball? But who has room in their home for a full-size version? Not me!

So I was delighted to find this fun table version with a Disneyland theme:

Disneyland Game and Main Street U.S.A.

Tinkerbell is on hand to help you with a little pixie dust. Is that cheating?

Six balls. Six point ledges. Five spinners. Two peg mazes. And one bell. All available to help the player obtain hundreds of points! Simply prop the game up on a table and pull the plunger for hours of fun. Yes, it’s just that addictive!

Specifications: Measures approximately 23 1/2″ tall by 13 1/2″ wide by 1″ thick.

Mickey with Balloons

Mickey shows us just how much fun we can have! And perhaps much of the fun for a Disney fan will come from the great graphics. So let’s have a closer look at them:

Fantasyland

One of two appearances by everyone’s favorite pachyderm. Here he flies over Sleeping Beauty Castle, being ridden by Jiminy Cricket, no less!

Not all of the images represent Lands from the Park. Some represent attractions:

Pirate Ship

When the Park opened there was an area called Skull Rock complete with a full-sized pirate ship. It was featured in the opening day broadcast. Sadly it sails no more and the area it inhabited has since been repurposed.

Dumbo Ride

The full name of this attraction is the Dumbo the Flying Elephant and it is an aerial carousel-style ride. And Pluto is there too!

Adventureland

And we’re back to the Lands again with Adventureland and the world-famous Jungle Cruise.

Primeval World of the Dinosaurs

Where can you find this attraction? You’ll need to board the Disneyland Railroad for a tour around the Magic Kingdom. Along the way you’ll enter a time tunnel and return to the era of the dinosaurs! But you better hurry before Pluto eats all of the bones!

Tomorrowland

Here we have an extinct attraction: The PeopleMover. It closed in 1995, so we know that this pinball game was manufactured and sold before that year.

Frontierland

I guess here we have a Land mentioned but an attraction shown. The Mark Twain plies the waters of our game through Frontierland.

Can we more accurately date this game? We can date it earlier than 1995 because it’s stamped with the Walt Disney Productions trademark which was used only up until 1986. We can date the game as being still earlier as the Pirate Ship began its final voyage into history around 1981, being completely gone from the Park in 1982.

Sometimes you have to cheat when dating an item. So by looking on the Internet, I found an eBay seller who claims our game was made in 1967. Most other sellers agree it is at least from the 1960’s. But it’s more fun to play amateur detective! Speaking of eBay Sellers, if you want one of these wonderful games for yourself, they are presently offered for between $25-50 US.

I have found most versions have the six white balls, but one version I found did have two additional black balls. Perhaps these balls would double your points?

There is a lot to say about the Wolverine Toy company. So much that I think it would be easier to send you over to the John Heinz History Center for all you need to know. Click the link and enjoy the comprehensive article!

The Wolverine Toy company produced many of these pinball games. Like most companies, they would license IPs and produce the same toy but with different images to represent the characters in question. But my favorites are always the Disney ones!

Posted in Attractions, Characters, Collectibles, Disneyland, Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘The Sword and the Rose’ Advertising Page

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Dis-LEE

After the Second World War, Disney had money trapped in Europe. He couldn’t remove the funds for use in America so he decided to use it to make live-action films in England. Although you likely haven’t heard of this particular one, it is a worthy addition to this period of Disney history!

The actual story wasn’t original to Disney, but was based on the 1898 novel When Knighthood Was in Flower by Charles Major. It was originally made into a motion picture in 1908 and again in 1922. So Walt must have thought that anything worth doing twice was worth doing again! Disney’s version of the film was shot at Denham Film Studios in England.

FUN FACTS: The Sword and the Rose (1953) was the third of Disney’s British productions after Treasure Island (1950) and The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952).

Story Synopsis: At the royal court of Henry VIII, the King has decreed that his sister, coquettish Princess Mary Tudor, should wed the elderly Louis XII of France. But Mary falls madly in love with handsome, dashing Charles Brandon, an ambitious young man bound for America. The headstrong Mary defies her brother and leaves with Charles’ party disguised as a boy. Pursued and captured by the King’s men, Charles is imprisoned in the Tower and Mary is sent to France. Against all odds, Charles must mount a daring escape and rescue Mary, leading to the spectacular climax pitting him against the villainous Duke of Buckingham in a chivalrous duel to the death. – Disney.com

And that rather long introduction brings us to the advertising page that I found at a local flea market:

Framed as Artwork

I enjoy collecting ephemera, which are items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.

Advertising materials and movie posters fall under this category. But I think you’ll agree that they can have lasting value as collectibles!

Let’s have a closer look at the details of this page. The artwork is amazing:

Above we see Henry VIII and his royal court. Note how the characters get less detailed as they are positioned further into the background. Great technique!

The reference material is presented here in bold red letters. When I first saw the title ‘When Knighthood Was In Flower’ I thought it was a strange way to describe the time of battles, chivalry, and sacrifice for King and Country, but what do I know!

Maybe ‘When Knighthood Was In Fashion‘? ‘Was Awesome!’? Anything but ‘In Flower‘!

Richard Todd was a big star for Disney’s overseas productions. He played the lead in the aforementioned Robin Hood film, and later the lead again in Disney’s Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953).

Glynis Johns also starred in Rob Roy with Todd but may be better known to Disney fans for her role of Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins (1964).

I hope you liked this little look at a piece of Disney history that was meant to be thrown away with the magazine it appeared in. For more Disney advertising pages, just click the link. It contains three unique examples. For another, check out The Great Locomotive Chase advertising page as well!

Posted in Advertising, Ephemera, Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Something Wild!’ Card Game of Character Combos

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Dis-LEE

I’ve been collecting a few Funko Pop! figurines but only recently knew that the company also produced a card game called Something Wild!

Let’s have a look at the packaging:

This game comes in a few variations with each containing a different Funko character figurine. Now we’ll unpack the box:

The box says the game can be played by people ages 6 and up. I find that hard to believe after reading the instructions! But maybe I’m not smarter than a 5th Grader, or whatever, and maybe you’ll understand better. So here are the instructions:

Okay, are you ready to play? I’m getting that you pick up and play cards hoping to obtain ‘power’ cards that will give you an advantage. To use these cards you have to have the character figure in front of you. The idea is to collect at least three ‘power’ cards to win!

Yeah, maybe it requires a 6-year old to explain it?

Above are another five Disney variations of the game. But I’m pretty sure I saw a box showing a different IP in the store where I bought mine.

I thought the character pictures were cute and should be fun to play with. There’s even a young Pete without his peg leg!

Above you can see a collection of ‘power’ cards.

Are you ready to play now?

If you like games, check out this vintage Mickey’s Poppin game, based on the old Trouble game format.

Posted in Characters, Figurines, Games | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mickey Mouse Collectible Spoons by Monogram

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Dis-LEE

I promise this is my last post on spoons! Until I buy more.

So we’ve talked before about how Disney likes to imprint single images on many different products. Here we have an example of the same image being imprinted on basically the same type of product, but with a twist:

Is there a difference? Only their Barista knows for sure. And anyone else with a pair of eyes and a basic level of observation skill.

In this case, you could have either the standard spoon shape or a shell variant.

I love it when I find small items like this still in the original packaging!

The back of the spoon tells us that this was made by Monogram Products of Largo, FL. They have updated the look of their logo but they still produce Disney products, such as Toy Story, The Little Mermaid, Mickey & Friends, Winnie the Pooh, Nightmare Before Christmas, Monsters Inc. and more!

However, it was manufactured in New Zealand, of all places!

These contain no Disney trademark, but from the design of Mickey, I’d say we can date the spoons from the 1980’s.

Here’s a little blurb from www.discoverahobby.com about spoon collecting, in case you’ve been bitten by the collecting bug: “There are certain tips that every spoon collector would benefit from. The main thing is to decide as to what kind of spoon you would like to collect in your collection as part of your hobby. There are different kinds like the antique spoons and there are also modern-day souvenir spoons. Some people can even have two collections, one of each of these types. There are many other themes based on which you can collect spoons. These could be based on the interest in birds, animals, (Disney – our addition), and or only souvenir collections.”

Who knows, maybe you have a collectible spoon in your kitchen drawer right now!

Posted in Characters, Collectibles | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TIN TOY Short by Pixar – Tinny Collectible Figurines

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Dis-LEE

“Tin Toy” marked the first time a character with lifelike bendable arms and knees, surfaces, and facial components was animated digitally. The challenge was balancing its “cartoony” look with a baby’s real looks. If you’ve seen the Short, I think you’ll agree that Tinny came off looking WAY better than the baby! The reward: an Academy Award® for Best Animated Short Film.

At first, there wasn’t a lot of merchandise featuring the character of Tinny. But as Pixar films and subsequent characters from them became immensely popular, it was only a matter of time before earlier efforts were exploited for toy dollars!

And that’s fine with me when the marketing people come up with wonderful things like these:

On the right we see a pretty faithful model of the character. It is metal and waddles across the floor when wound up. You can watch the video below to see him in action! He has an unusual winding mechanism.

On the left we have a vinyl figurine from the Disney Store Remix series featuring classic Disney/Pixar characters reinvented as LGMs (Little Green Men) from the Toy Story franchise. It just sits there.

“About face! March!”

“Parade… Rest!”

I thought this was a plush figure when I picked him out online and so was surprised when this small vinyl figure arrived instead. Shows the importance of fully reading the description before putting things in your cart! Still a nice addition to my collection, though.

If you want to see what I thought I was getting, you can check out my complete collection of Remix Plushes by clicking the link.

I can’t remember where I purchased this little guy but I remember being instantly smitten with him when I first saw him!

And as previously mentioned, below is a short video of Tinny in action:

Do you enjoy the very early Shorts by Pixar? If so, you should try to find some of their even earlier work on commercials. The animation is very interesting!

“Viewers… dismissed!”

Posted in Animation, Characters, Collectibles, Disney Store, Figurines, Pixar, Toys, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment