Lewis Carroll Society of North America Spring Meeting in NYC

Tomorrow is the spring meeting of the LCSNA.  If you are in the city you should definitely stop by, there are always very interesting topics on the bill.  Free to the public, I'll be there with a smattering of Alice goodies, and there are usually one or two other people with things with which to tempt you.  At the New York Institute of Technology, details can be found here.

Alice Attraction Rehab Underway

So our friends over at MiceChat have recently posted some photos of the Alice attraction as it is undergoing rehab.  Fingers crossed that the exterior vine track will stay!  Head on over there to take a look at their photos!

Kent Feedsack - Merit Chicken Feed Advertisement - October 1951

This is awesome, the only one I've ever seen, and I don't even know from which publication it came.  It is an ad for chicken feed featuring the Alice in Wonderland feedsack promotion.

This ad came out of a fantastic scrapbook I purchased about 10 years ago that belonged to a little boy in Texas.  This kid was just like me - totally obsessed with Disney's Alice.  The entire scrapbook is filled with all things Alice from when the movie came out, and this filled an entire page.

Based on the date on the bottom of the page it must be some sort of monthly  publication, and it is oversized, page size is about 11x14, and this is page 55.  It is newsprint rather than glossy, and it has browned considerably; the scan above has been heavily photoshopped by me.  If anyone has any idea from which publication this came, I will be in your debt.

UPDATE:  I now know that this is from a publication called The Farmer Stockman.  Let the search begin!

Kent Feedsack - Homemade Items

Since the entire purpose of these printed feedsacks was to enable homemakers to sew clothes or other items from them, let's take a look at some!

This is a baby blanket made with not one but two full feedsacks, and one of each pattern.  Interesting that they chose the yellow and green colors, guess this was a shower gift and they chose non-traditional gender colors.

This looks like a smock or dress or pinafore for a very young girl, no more than 18 months I would guess.  It laces up the back.

This is an apron, probably made for a little girl to help her mother with the chores.

And this is another apron, could be for a girl or Mom, but is in very good shape, doesn't look like it was every used.

I love stuff like this, things that were actually used as they were designed.  I have a few other items like this, but they appear to be small tablecloths or perhaps basket liners and as such just look like a big square, so not the interesting to photograph.

Kent Feedsack - Alice Cast in Yellow

Last of the series, and again a color unique to this pattern, yellow.

This colorway is special, well sort of.  It is the one and only example I have that remains a flour sack complete with label.  All others that I have have had the label removed, although some remain sacks.

Notice the Percy Kent logo in the upper right corner of the label.

So that makes two patterns, two styles (feed and flour), and 5 colors per pattern, with 4 colors specific to one pattern or another (to date).  That makes 10 distinct colorway/pattern combinations, with another 10 potential variations for feed/flour - although I've only encountered feedsacks in two colors and only in the Alice Cast pattern.  I don't even know if the two different fabrics correspond to differences in flour vs feed, but it is the only distinction I can imagine.

Kent Feedsack - Alice Cast in Blue

A new color, specific to this pattern, blue.

This is the only feedsack I've encountered in this color, and it is a true feedsack with the loose open weave.

Kent Feedsack - Alice Cast in Pink

Third in the series, and again the last of the common colors of the two patterns is pink

This example does have a good image of the selvage printing.  Unlike the Painting the Roses Red pattern, this pattern simply states From Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland © WDP.  Again, this colorway is the only variation in this pattern for which I do not have a full sack.  Help me find one :-)

Kent Feedsack - Alice Cast in Green

Second in the Alice Cast pattern is green.

Lots of odd color combinations here, but the King and Tweedles are fairly normal.

Kent Feedsack - Alice Cast in White

The second of the two feedsack patterns is called the March of the Cards in the CMD, but it contains a wide variety of characters from the entire film including Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Card Soldiers, a Rocking Horse Fly, Bread and Butter Flies, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the King of Hearts, a Baby Oyster, the Caterpillar as a butterfly, and a Daisy from the Garden of Live Flowers.  Quite an all-star cast, that's what I'll call it as the selvage does not list a pattern name.

This particular color and pattern combination is the only one in which I have both flour sacks and feed sacks.  The flour sack is a tight dense weave

whereas the feedsack is a looser more open weave.  Hopefully you can see the differences in these comparative images.

I must say Alice looks fairly demented with her pink eyes and green lips.

30th Anniversary of the Re-Opening of Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland Attraction

We interrupt the feedsack series for this special post.

Thirty years ago today, Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland attraction re-opened following a multi-year rehab (trailing one year after the rest of the Fantasyland rehab) and opened to much acclaim.  The new attraction, while removing a few beloved scenes (the Upside Down Room) saw a huge improvement in the overall quality of the experience.  To celebrate the opening, there was an exclusive event at which this figure of the White Rabbit was given out to very special guests.

The entire theme of the promotion was something like "Don't be late", so naturally the White Rabbit was the official mascot of the promotion.  Issued in a very limited edition of only 60 pieces, this particular example is #55.

Signed, dated and hand number by the artist, it is very hard to come by.  I was fortunate enough to acquire this one many years ago, probably in the second or third year of my collecting.  I've only ever seen one other example for sale, that one was particularly cool because the watch was a Mickey Mouse watch.

Kent Feedsack - Painting the Roses Red in Aqua

Last of the Painting the Roses Red sacks, again in a color only found in this pattern - aqua.

Full sack on this one, with an interesting bit attached.

This appears to be a remnant of a sewn in tag.  Notice also the stitching holes in the fabric, showing the rounded corners of the original sack.  Neat.

While I don't have an Alice sack with a sewn tag, I did find this image of a different PK flour sack with a sewn tag.

Kent Feedsack - Painting the Roses Red in Periwinkle

Next up is Painting the Roses Red in periwinkle!

What an unusual color, and specific to this pattern in my experience, one of two colors specific to the flowers pattern.

Kent Feedsack - Painting the Roses Red in Pink

Next up is the pink variation of Painting the Roses Red.

What I find amusing about this particular variation is that they swapped the colors of the foliage and the petals for the Red Rose, making her in effect the Green Rose.  I am looking for a full size example in this colorway, and I have others to trade if anyone is interested.

Kent Feedsack - Painting the Roses Red in Green

Next up is the Painting the Roses Red in green.

This example has a very distinct pattern name printed on the selvage.  It is also a full sack, although this one has been opened so it is a full yard of cloth 46" wide.

Kent Feedsack - Painting the Roses Red in White

The first feedsack pattern is what the CMD called the Garden of Live Flowers but on the fabric itself is called Painting the Roses Red.  This example is white, which appears to be the most common color in this pattern, which is by far the most common of the two based upon what I've encountered over the years.  This sack is probably a flour sack given the weight of the fabric and the density of the weave.  In actuality, almost all the Alice sacks seem to be flour sacks although I have a couple of the feed variety.

The pattern is a repeated block of the various flowers from the garden, including the Red Rose, White Rose, Iris, Pansies, Daffodils, Lilies, and Tulips.  The pattern repeats both right-side-up and upside-down, so that there is no true right orientation.  This particular example is a full sack, measuring 36x23, which if were taken apart would be 36x46, a very nice size piece of fabric with which to make a child's garment!

Percy Kent Bag Co, Inc 'Ken-Print' Feedsacks - Character Merchandise Division Catalog Page

Time for another series, this time we are leaving the world of production art and moving into the world of promotional licensed merchandise - in this case feedsacks.

It used to be that people bought flour and other dry goods (including animal feed) in large fabric sacks, and then made staples like bread from the flour rather than purchasing bread outright.  These feedsacks or flour sacks were often printed in colorful patterns that could be repurposed in any number of ways - usually in quilts or similar needle work.  Disney (among others) licensed their characters for print fabric used in these sacks.  In 1951 Disney licensed the Alice characters for a series of these sacks in 3 patterns:  Garden of Live Flowers, March of the Cards, and Mad Tea Party.  Of these three, only two seem to have been produced; I've never seen a sack with the below Mad Tea Party artwork.

Over the next several days we'll be exploring the various patterns and colors released as a part of this promotion.  Stay tuned!

It's Official! We're Going to the Disneyana Fan Club Show and Sale This July!

You heard it here first, we will be making the cross country trek to Anaheim to set up at the Disney show formerly known as the NFFC this July.  It's going to be a helluva trip, 5-6 days of driving for 1 day of selling.  Call your friends, and come on down to the Crowne Plaza on July 20th and buy lots and lots of our stuff.  Please?

And no, this isn't an April Fool's Day post, we really ARE going to the show :-)