Hachette Catalog - Christmas 1951

My blog recently got mentioned on a French Disney site, so I thought I'd post something decidedly French. This is a catalog for Hachette, a French publisher that produced (and still produces) most of the Disney books in France. This was an insert in a larger catalog for the Grands Magasins du Louvre - a French department store - for the Christmas season in 1951 (which was when Alice was released in France).

The catalog is a single sheet, folded once, making 4 total pages. Interior and back list lots of books published by Hachette, but the cover is what makes this item. I love the art on this. Here's to all my French readers, enjoy!

David Hall Storyboard - Bill the Lizard

This storyboard by David Hall features one of my favorite characters - Bill the Lizard. Like the storyboard in a previous post, this was published in Surprise Package in 1944, page 48 to be exact as noted on the drawing itself. This drawing is a little rougher than the previous one, and this drawing is inked whereas the previous one was only pencil. I especially like the ink spatter as soot coming off the chimney sweep.

Studio notations on the back indicate that this storyboard was filed on Dec. 14, 1939, two days after the 'board in the previous post.


The size of this is a little puzzling 10.75 x 14.5. It has 5 peg holes, which is correct for the time period, but using Hans' excellent page on Disney field sizes, I cannot figure out what this could be, unless it is trimmed.

Cozy Corner Italian Style - La Valigetta delle Meraviglie

The second printing of the Italian version of the Cozy Corner book is from 1955, and was part of a boxed set of books called La Valigetta Delle Meraviglie which loosely translates to The Suitcase of Wonders.

It is an appropriate name as the set of six books was collected in what looks like an old fashioned suitcase, complete with applied "travel" stickers featuring characters from each book.

The books in the set are Snow White, Bambi, The Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Alice, and Peter Pan. The contents of this second printing are identical to the first printing, with one addition. Our old friend Dinah makes an appearance on the last page, the copyright page. Yet one more example in support of my argument about the Dinah Goebel, and discussed in excruciating detail here.

Cozy Corner Italian Style - Sinfonie Allegre

This is the Italian version of the Cozy Corner book, from publisher Mondadori, 1951 first printing (there is also a second printing). It is part of a series called Sinfonie Allegre (loosely translates to "cheerful symphonies"). Interior reprints all the Samuel Armstrong paintings from the Cozy Corner book,

plus additional pages with frames from the film.

Collins Wonder Colour Book

As with the Little Golden Books, the Cozy Corner book was printed in several foreign countries as well, although not under the Cozy Corner imprint. This is the English version, published by Collins. It is the same content, just slightly narrower.

The endpapers however are completely different.

And there is an additional page at the beginning with a clever bookplate motif (this copy apparently once belonged to a lovely English lass named Jennifer),


and another at the end with the copyright and printing information (a rarity in English books!)


It is unclear whether or not this new art is by Samuel Armstrong, but I doubt it.

Cozy Corner Book

This is the book for which the painting in yesterday's post was created. This book is somewhat of a puzzle in and of itself. It appears that this is the only one of the Disney Cozy Corner books to have multiple printings.

The first printing from 1951 is identified in several ways, the first of which is by its back cover, which bears a list of other books in the series, as well as its stock number, 2074-25, located in the lower right corner.

The other - and more obvious - indication of a first printing are the endpapers. In first printings the endpapers are a bizarre shade of yellow-green.

The list of titles on the back cover of the second printing is quite different, and there are no duplications from the first printing as far as the Disney titles are concerned. The titles on the second printing also help date it to 1954, the publication dates of the Lady, Ben and Me, and Stormy titles. The stock number also changed, now 2417:29.

Endpapers of the second printing are a striking magenta color.

Below is a scan of the first page of the book, showing the painting from yesterday. It is always sad to see how poorly these paintings are reproduced in the books of the period.

Cozy Corner Book Art - Samuel Armstrong

This is one from my walls, an original page painting by Samuel Armstrong from the Cozy Corner book. This is page 1. Pardon the flash glare in the upper left corner.

National Screen Service Herald

Of all the movie paper to be considered rare, this is the absolute last thing I would have predicted. This is the domestic herald from the 1951 RKO release. This is something that would have been ordered by a theatre owner and handed out in the weeks prior to the film being show at a specific theatre.

In all the years I've been collecting this is the only one I've ever seen. I've seen three six-sheets over the years, but just one herald. How weird is that?! Perhaps I just haven't been looking in the right places, but you'd think something like this would not be that hard to come by. They must have been printed by the thousands, and were made to be given away. It really is a nothing little thing, just a single sheet folded, one color printing (magenta on the front cover, blue on the inside). Cover art is the same as the A-style half-sheet (but reversed),

the inside art is the same as the B-style half-sheet and 24-sheet.

The back cover has the date and time for the Paramount Theatre, and advertises that Nature's Half Acre will accompany it.

Playthings Magazine - August 1951

This is the August 1951 issue of Playthings magazine. By this time the film was in general release, and merchandising was in full swing. Earlier issues had a lot more advertising for merchandise leading up to the release, but there are still some cool items in here.


First is a full page ad for Gund toys. This ad depicts the complete set of dolls (Mad Hatter, March Hare, and White Rabbit) as well as 3 of the vinylite toys mentioned in a previous post.

There is also a full page ad for the large-sized 12½" Duchess doll. This is a very rare doll, much harder to find than the standard 7" doll.

There is also an article that talks about a toy shortage predicted by some guy named Freud, and has a nice picture of Kathryn Beaumont playing with the Model Craft Molding Set.

The article also lists a few other items that were released as part of the Alice merchandising machine in 1951.

There is also a blurb about Alice in Wonderland Whitman publications

What's nice about this is that it pictures all the Whitman products released in 1951, including the Whitman 2140 from this post.

Then there is the first of two items about Alice in Wonderland balloons. Believe it or not there were TWO companies that made balloons for the Alice release. This first one talks about those released by Eagle.

Nice graphics of the so-called Head and Body Tossup Balloon, a balloon with cardboard feet so that it stands up!

And finally a quarter-page ad for the other balloon company, Oak Rubber Co., with lots of different balloons illustrated.

I find it interesting that they also have the stand-up balloons, something I'm sure Disney would never do today. I especially like the March Hare balloons with ears - forerunner of the Mickey head balloons at Disneyland I imagine.

The Great Goebel Posting - Addendum

Walt's Office
A very kind reader sent in the photo below. It is Walt Disney's working office as taken at the studio in 1968. For those of you who visited Disneyland a lot (like me), this office resided in the pre-show area of Mr. Lincoln for years. I believe it is now located in Walt Disney World.

If you look closely at the window sill, you will notice the Queen and King nodders! For years I would stare at them in Mr. Lincoln (but for some reason never took a photo of them) wondering if I would ever see them in person. Well, I'm half way there! Thanks again kind reader for sharing this photo with me.

Labels
As mentioned in several posts I have not seen any named character labels on the Alice figures. But I have seen variations on the generic Walt Disney Character labels. The most frequently encountered is the round label.

There is also a scalloped edged label that I've seen on some of the nodders, and as hang tags


And on one occassion I've seen a rectangular label (on a Carpenter figure DIS 64 that I was unsuccessful in acquiring).


Catalog Pages
Here are the two Goebel catalog pages that illustrate the entire Alice series.



More Disney Goebels
And last but not least, for those interested in more Disney Goebel figures, I'm attempting to catalog every vintage Disney Goebel figure over at my other blog Random Neat Stuff.

Goebel DIS 110 - Walrus Decanter Set

The final item in the Alice in Wonderland series is the fifth Walrus in the set (what character needs 5 incarnations?) - DIS 110, the decanter set.


The set consists of a figural Walrus decanter (his head is the stopper, how cool is that?), a tray, and six cups. Interesting thing about the cups and tray is that they have their own unique numbers. Each cup is marked KL 66 B, and the tray is marked (I think) RG 108 / E - the incising on my tray is pretty faint.

Even though the numbers on the tray and cups do not match those on the decanter itself, I am certain they are correct for the set, as I've had two over the years and they were both the same. Plus the Goebel catalog page illustration shows the same tray and cups with the decanter. Perhaps the tray and cups are generic for other decanter sets made by Goebel.

And that concludes the Alice in Wonderland series of Disney Goebel figures.

Goebel DIS 108 - Dodo Ashtray

Ok, so I know the Dodo is one of three characters in Alice in Wonderland that smokes, but does he really need two ashtrays? DIS 108 is the SECOND Dodo ashtray, this one based on the DIS 66 figure.

UPDATE 7/18/2012: I have recently acquired this figure,

Goebel DIS 107 - Tweedledee and Tweedledum Ashtray

DIS 107 is an ashtray based on the DIS 65 figure.

UPDATE: I have finally acquired this figure

Goebel DIS 106 - Walrus Ashtray

The next three items are the remaining ashtrays, beginning with DIS 106, the fourth Walrus piece in the set. This consists of a standard ashtray dish - that appears to have been used for a number of different ashtrays in the Disney series - with the DIS 63 figure applied. TOMART's description for this item is incorrect as it refers to it as DIS 68 as an ashtray. DIS 68 is a Bambi wallpocket.


UPDATE: I have finally acquired this figure! Yay!

Goebel DIS 97 - Walrus Nodder

The last of the nodders. In fact the last of the Disney nodders. During the writing of these posts I came to the realization that the ONLY nodders in the Disney series are of Alice characters. This is DIS 97, the third Walrus in the set. TOMART says "standing thick man with stick and cigar as rocking figure". You can see how if you didn't have pictures of the figures it would be difficult to identify who is who, the descriptions for the Tweedles and the Walrus are pretty similar.


This particular nodder suffered the previously mentioned wrecking ball syndrome. But, it is complete with only a couple of spots where there is loss at a repair site.