2013 Year in Review

This year was a sporadic one for the blog, but we covered some interesting topics.  The majority of the year was spent on animation art, in particular animation drawings. I even tried my hand at a little animation myself :-)

We also looked at a variety of Italian movie posters

A new Zaccagnini discovery

Some David Hall storyboards

A few cels

And who could forget the Vinyl Aprons!

A variety of trading cards from around the world

Some really cool dolls

And some early attraction tickets

And last but not least, some really big leaves!

I wish every one of my faithful readers a safe and prosperous new year.  See you in 2014!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers out there, from the Vintage Disney Alice blog!

Le Patriote Illustré from Belgium - December 23, 1951

Another great Christmas cover from Belgium, this time on the December 23, 1951 issue of Le Patriote Illustré.

This feels more like a very large newspaper supplement than a magazine, as the pages (including the cover) are newsprint.  Inside is a brief article on Alice,

with some very nice color images from the film, including the Doorknob, who is rarely seen. And of course Bill.

Ons Volk from Belgium - December 20th, 1951

This is one of those items that I knew about for a very long time before I actually acquired a copy.

This is a Belgian magazine, in Dutch, from Christmastime in 1951.  I love the cover, which is good because that is the only thing Alice about this magazine.  I've seen this art reproduced in other places, most notably a music book from the 1950s here in the US, but this magazine cover (I think) is the largest reproduction of the art - and in full color, the music book is only line art.  I love this cover so much that I made it my Christmas card for 2012.  Hope you like it too!

Constanze from Germany - December 15th, 1952

This magazine from Germany features a cover with two ridiculously adorable children taking a bath...or are they?  Looks like perhaps these children were pasted into the picture based on hard crop lines in the bubbles.  Go figure.

Anyway.  This issue features your standard screenshots of the film with accompanying text, although I must say the color reproduction here is quite good.

How often do we see pictures of the bread and butterflies?  Not nearly often enough!

Photos from the Arkansas Exhibit

The people at the Arkansas Secretary of State have generously sent me a bunch of photos of the Little Golden Book exhibit.  I encourage anyone who lives nearby or is planning a trip that passes through Little Rock, AR to stop by the exhibit.

Arkansas State Capitol LGB Exhibition Starting December 7th 2013

The Arkansas State Capitol will be having an exhibition of Little Golden Books and associated materials beginning December 7th, 2013, and they are reproducing material from yours truly and his blogs as a part of it; namely the Golden Catalogs and the various foreign incarnations of the Alice books.  If you are in that area I encourage you to go!

Cel of the White Rose from the Garden of Live Flowers

Rounding out our flower garden series of posts is this cel of the White Rose.  A very scarce character, she only appears during the song, twice briefly.

The voice of the White Rose was Norma Zimmer, who is probably best remembered as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.  I remember watching this show with my grandparents when I was a kid.  I was pretty young, so I don't really remember her on the show, but I do remember hearing Lawrence Welk introduce the Champagne Lady.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Sadly Norma Zimmer passed away two years ago in 2011.

Cel of a Tulip from the Garden of Live Flowers

This is a nice cel, and of a rare character as the Tulips are really only onscreen for a brief time just before the song, one line in the song, and when they are comparing Alice to a weed.

This particular cel is from their first screen appearance, when they ask Alice if she'd like to hear Tell it to the Tulips.

Cel of the Iris from the Garden of Live Flowers

We've had a successful year here in the Tulgey Wood, and have managed to acquire a few new cels to expand our tiny collection.  I must say that I particularly love cels of the various flowers, and this is no exception.  Here we see the Iris in mid warble as she warms up her voice just before the musical number "All in a Golden Afternoon".

1951 Spanish 1-Sheet

Something we haven't seen on the blog yet, original movie memorabilia from Spain!  I call this a 1-sheet, but it is really 70x100 cm, so more like 27x39.  I'm not sure what the Spanish call it, but we'll settle for Spanish 1-sheet until otherwise notified.

Signed in the lower right, MCP, this was the monograph for a trio of Spanish poster artists  - Ramon Marti, Josep Clave, and Hernan Pico - usually known for their film noir and action posters, guess they decided to lighten thing up in the studio they day they did this.

The art on this is similar to the American 40x60, but much nicer.  I just had this sent off for linen-backing, and will proudly hang it on my wall after having lived in a box for 14 years.

UPDATE:  I just received my poster back and it looks AMAZING - don't you?  Thanks to the folks at Poster Mountain for doing such a great job!  I plan to send a lot more of my posters their way for mounting and restoration.  You should too!

Cyber Monday at the Wonderland Bazaar

It's Cyber Monday, and that means the holiday shopping season is in full swing.  I've stocked a few new items in the Wonderland Bazaar, so if you see something you like, or would like to see something specific, drop by the Bazaar.  I have SO much stuff that is not listed, please ask if I might have something you are looking for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my faithful readers here in the USA.  For those in Canada, I'm a tad late, and to those elsewhere, have some roast turkey anyway.

A truly hideous pin, one wonders if they are preparing to roast the Cheshire Cat, or if he ate the whole bird!  Either way, Alice has been using far too much collagen for her years.

RIP WDCC

While not earth-shattering in the grand scheme of things, I did receive news this week that surprised me:  The Walt Disney Classics Collection is no more.  In a nutshell here's what happened.  Late last year (2012) Enesco announced they would not be renewing its license for WDCC and that the license would go to another vendor.  In early 2013 it was announced that PMI (that's Precious Moments Inc) had acquired the license.  This was met with skepticism by the WDCC community, but when some images 'leaked' of some proposed figures (see below), the internets exploded.

While I do have a few WDCC, I can say that it is not a focus of my collection, but even I have to say these look pretty bad.  Anyway, PMI stated that these were only mockups and not production figures, but lo and behold these were later released under the Disney Showcase imprint.  Then this past week PMI announced on their Facebook page that they and Disney had jointly decided to not move forward with the WDCC line.

Meaning, WDCC is dead and gone.  It may resurface one day, but I doubt it.

You Like Me, You Really Like Me! 500,000th Visitor

A milestone for the blog passed this week, just over 500,000 page views since the inception of the blog.  Who would've thought so many of us were out there?  Thanks to all my faithful readers out there!

National Leather Manufacturing Company Schoolbag WD37

Last but not least, model WD37, another schoolbag, but with some differences.  Firstly, it is smaller, about 2" small in each dimension.  Secondly, it has neither a pencil pocket, lunch pocket, nor reinforced corners.  Thirdly it has a snap closure flap. and finally it only comes with a shoulder strap.

And most importantly, I don't have one.  So keep your eyes peeled out there!

National Leather Manufacturing Company Schoolbag WD30

Next up is WD30, the Schoolbag.  These days I believe I would call this a satchel.  The 'rubberized' material makes this very stiff after 60 years, but the 'texon' flaps are in good shape.  This first one is the handled variant.

There is also a variant with a strap

and a variant with no corner reinforcements.

This particular variant actually  has a different stock number JWD30 based on the catalog pages for the Peter Pan models, even though they don't specifically list an Alice J model.  It also came with either a handle or a strap, but I only have the handle variation.

All of these bags came in plaid as well, and I have had plaid ones in the past, but don't have any at this time.  Gotta make room for new stuff after all, can't have EVERY variation (although I do make a pretty good stab at it).

National Leather Manufacturing Company Utility Bag WD20

Next up is WD20, the Utiility Bag.  To me this looks like a smallish bowling bag, but I've also seen vintage airline bags with this shape as well.

Given that this is 'plastic' (probably some sort of vinyl really) these bags are in remarkably good condition, and remain very supple.

So far I've only seen the two colors here, but it is possible that there are others.  No plaid though.