Goodbye 2012 - The Year in Review

It's been quite the topsy-turvy year for us here at the Vintage Disney Alice blog.  The real world made itself know in several ways.  There was work, travel, illness, and of course new acquisition!  Here is a sampling of what we saw this year.

Mickey Mouse Weekly issues from England

Zaccagnini figures from Italy

The Final Four Goebel figures

and lots of David Hall story art (just a little more to come)

and a few other odds and ends.  I hope to be a little more regular in my posting in 2013.  Wishing all my faithful readers a prosperous new year.

David Hall Story Art Stills - Alice Before the Bar

Her day of reckoning has finally come, Alice stands before the bar, pleading her case before the court.  This watercolor has so much going on in it, there are four details!  And again, I've not seen this reproduced anywhere else.  Labeled 'VI'.

The Jury looks on drearily.  I particularly like the stork with is pince nez.  Labeled 'VI A'.

The King and Queen of Hearts look quite somber as the White Rabbit reads the list of charges.  Labeled 'VI B'.

 Alice pleads her case from the witness box.  Labeled 'VI C'.

 And the Mad Hatter and March Hare appear to be looking up legal precedents.  Labeled 'VI D'. 

David Hall Story Art Stills - The Queen's Procession

This is a pretty fabulous watercolor, I wish I had a color image of it somewhere.  I swear I've seen it somewhere, but I just can't place it.  The royal procession approaches, with a huge retinue in tow.  Labeled 'V'.

Including the Queen's headsman (how creepy is that), with his even creepier assistant headsman/train bearer (do headsmen really need someone to hold their train?).  Labeled 'V A'.

And of course, every court needs a jester, this one complete with porcine steed.  Labeled 'V B'

David Hall Story Art Stills - Painting the Roses Red

Having escaped the Duchess, Alice finds herself entering the Queen's garden where she encounters some cards painting the roses!  This watercolor is labeled 'IV'.  I was so disappointed to find that this is not in the David Hall book, nor in Surprise Package.  BUT...

the original was included in an exhibition called Once Upon a Time Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios that was show in exactly two place - Paris and Montreal.  I was lucky enough to see the Montreal exhibit in 2007 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art,

where when we weren't being silly, I purchased the tome of a catalog,

and lo and behold, this image was inside.  Thanks goodness!

Zooming in on the rose bush we see three card painters busy at their work:  2, 5, & 7.  The deuce you say? This is labeled 'IV A"

This detail of Alice shows the design work on the garden grounds.  I love the card suits motif in the garden stones.  Labeled 'IV B'

David Hall Story Art Stills - In the Duchess's Kitchen

Well, there certainly is a lot going on here.  Alice has found herself smack-dab in the middle of a frightful scene in the Duchess's kitchen in this watercolor labeled 'III', and sadly not reproduced in the David Hall book.

 This detail shows the Duchess holding her screaming child (not a pig yet), and is labeled 'III A'.

 The details shows the Cook, getting ready to beat someone over the head with a frying pan, labeled 'III B'.

 And finally we see Alice, looking on in horrified fascination.  You can also just make out the Cheshire Cat at the bottom right.  Labeled 'III C'.

David Hall Story Art Stills - An Invitation to Tea

All continuity and timelines have been thrown out the window at this point, as we leap backwards in the story (although this scene never made it to the screen), to the Fish Footman delivering an invitation to tea with the Queen of Hearts to the Frog Footman at the residence of the Duchess.  Labeled 'II',

this watercolor IS reproduced slightly cropped in the David Hall book.

In this detail, labeled 'II A', we see Alice peering through the foliage as the Fish Footman makes his delivery.

Le Journal de Mickey #30 from France - Christmas Special

Let's continue the Christmas festivities, shall we?  Here we have issue number 30 of Le Journal de Mickey from France, the Christmas special issue from 1951.  While Le Journal never did a serialization of the film in its original release, this issue has a few Alice things.

First is a full page ad for Les Albums Roses - the French version of Little Golden Books.

In this detail you can see listing for the three Alice titles previously posted here, here, and here.

And a half-page ad for Tobler chocolate, featuring Alice in Wonderland.

The ad is presented as a comic strip (figures) of Alice and Dinah chasing the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.  The ad also mentions the collectible premiums that I originally posted here.

I have to admit, the art on this is pretty bad, fortunately the art on the premiums is MUCH better.

Merry Christmas - One Hour in Wonderland Copyright Book

Merry Christmas!  A real treat today, something I only just discovered in the past few months.  The copyright book for Walt Disney's One Hour in Wonderland: A Christmas Television Show.

Who knew this existed?  These copyright books turn up occasionally for the feature films.  Their intent, I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong) was to publish prior to release in order to secure copyright.  Usually these copyright books are pretty big, softcover stapled pages with a taped binding (like this one), and consists of the full script of the film with some stills thrown in to illustrate the story.

This is just like that except it is FAR shorter, and is only the script - no illustrations or photos of any kind - probably because they hadn't filmed it yet when they produced this (speculation on my part since the TV magazines had publicity photos available to them prior to their publication).

I am under the impression that these books were printed in extremely tiny quantities, like maybe fewer than 100.  As this is the first one for One Hour in Wonderland I've ever seen, I'd say that was probably the case.

TV Forecast Magazine - Week of December 30th, 1950

By now most of you faithful readers should be aware of the Christmas Day television broadcast of Walt Disney's One Hour in Wonderland, Disney's very first TV show. This edition of TV Forecast magazine (predating TV Guide by a couple of years), is from the week of Christmas 1950.

Inside is a one-page article with photos from One Hour in Wonderland, featuring Kathryn Beaumont, Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd, Bobby Driscoll, and the Firehouse Five + Two.

The exceptionally brief article - practically a caption - says that NBC expects there to be more of these kinds of programs.  They were certainly correct!

Film d'Oggi from Italy - December 5th, 1951

Taking a break from David Hall for the Christmas season, we have here a very cool magazine from Italy called Film d'Oggi, one that I searched for high and low for many years before finally acquiring a copy.  Fantastic cover art of Alice dreaming dreams of Wonderland characters floating around on snowflakes.

Some of you might recognize the art on these snowflake folk, it was used as the basis for a series of pins released by DisneyStore.com a couple of years ago,

and the Walrus was also featured in an Advent pin set way back in 2002.

The interior is what you'd expect (although in Italian), a few nice color images from the film - the Alice in the Tulgey Wood is an unusual choice and not frequently seen.

Accompanying the color stills is an article about the making of the film, with some standard studio shots of various animator interacting with Kathryn Beaumont.

David Hall Story Art Stills - A Mad Tea Party

From here on out the numbering of the stills changes, I'm not sure why.  Also from here on out, all the stills are watercolors.  First up is Alice arriving at the Mad Tea Party, labeled 'I'.  Once again, this is not reproduced in the David Hall book, I'd love to see it in color.  I love all the hats in the tree above the table.

The next is a detail, labeled 'I A', where we see Alice looking intently at the table set for tea for what appears to be hundreds of guests, with the table stretching out into the distance.

And finally, in another detail, labeled 'I B', we see the Mad Hatter and the March Hare speaking and gesticulating wildly apparently at an animated teapot pouring tea.  Notice the upside-down candle above the table?

David Hall Story Art Stills - Peering Into the Mad Hatter's Shop

Alice has made her way to the hat shop run by the Mad Hatter (guess the sign post was right).  This watercolor is signed in the lower left and labeled '97'.  Unfortunately this watercolor is not reproduced in the David Hall book, so we don't get to see it in full color.

 A closeup of the above, Alice seems to be trying to peer inside, and that giant doorknob looks like a giant eyeball to me.  And check out those creepy hat displays in the window, and the eyes looking out from the crawlspace under the window.  Gives me the willies.  Labeled '97A'.

David Hall Story Art Stills - All Roads Lead to the Mad Hatter

All roads appear to lead to the Mad Hatter, according to this bizarre sign post up ahead (where Rod Serling when you need him).  This watercolor is labeled '96'.

The full watercolor from which the above detail was taken, features Alice pondering which direction she should go, not that it matters.  Signed in the lower left and labeled '96A'.

This image is reproduced in full color in the David Hall book,

And the image is so iconic that not only was it selected for the cover of the Goldencraft edition of Surprise Package,

but decades later it was available from Disney as a fine art giclée.