Geppi's Entertainment Museum Exhibition Extended!

I just received word from the museum that due to popular demand, my Alice exhibition has been extended through the end of the year!  So if you haven't had a chance to come see it, you've got three more months. Come on down!

65th Anniversary of Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland's World Premiere in London

While the official release date may be July 28th, 1951, Walt Disney's animated classic Alice in Wonderland had its world premiere in London on July 26th, at the Leicester Square theater.  Kathryn Beaumont and Walt Disney were in attendance, and I'm sure a grand time was had by all.  Let's hear it for 65 wonderful years!

Open for business at Disneyana Mania

Second Big Announcement for 2016

Time for the second of three big announcements for 2016 here on the VDA blog.  Yours truly will be the keynote speaker at this year's Disneyana Fan Club banquet on July 15th!  So if you're in the area and coming to the DFC convention, sign up for the banquet and watch me make an ass of myself in front of hundreds of people.  Well, I hope not, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility :-)

DisneyanaMania
July 13-16, 2016
Wyndham Hotel - Anaheim / Garden Grove
12021 Harbor Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92840

Ready For Business

All setup and ready to go!

Dayton Disneyana This Weekend

We'll be set up at Dayton Disneyana this weekend, if you're in the area come on by and buy cool Alice stuff!

Alice at Awesome-Con

Me and my Walt Disney signed Alice cel at the past weekend's DC comic-con, which has the regrettable name "Awesome Con". Alice can be seen through October 2nd at Geppi's Entertainment Museum.

Through the Looking Glass and Jello Commercials

So my family and I went to the new Burton-esque Alice film (meh). But what was amazing was during the pre-show (I love the pre-shows at the Alamo Drafthouse) they used MY video clip of one of the Alice Jello commercials. Pretty cool.

Happy Memorial Day!

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day everyone!

Disneyland Alice Attraction Color Photograph July 1968

A very nice snapshot of the Alice exterior with very cool leaves and the dearly-departed vine.

Looks a little overcast on this day, but the colors on the leaves are great!  Well, they are now, I did have to restore this a little.  I think you'll agree it looks better now ;-)

Little Golden Records

Given the past two days' posts on the DBR records, it seems only fitting to post about their smaller, much more common cousins, the Little Golden Records.

The Disney series of Little Golden Records was introduced very shortly before Alice was released, as can be seen in some of the S&S catalogs of the day, and by the relatively low product numbers on the Alice series of records (RD18-25).

As with most other Alice items from the original release, S&S went all out on this set, and produced eight records for the series, each with full color cover art!

Interestingly, the title song RD18 was also released in the Peter Puppet Playthings marionette theater set that I've previously posted about here.

Over the years it has become clear that some of these records are much scarcer than others.  In my experience RD22 (All in a Golden Afternoon) is the hardest to find of the set,

followed closely by RD23 (Alice in Wonderland Meets the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat).

My assumption is that these titles just weren't as popular with kids and they got thrown out more frequently than the others.

Additionally, all of the titles are difficult to find with their paper sleeves in any kind of decent condition, these were kids records after all, and while the records themselves were designed to suffer a great deal of abuse, the sleeves are just paper.

Big Golden Record DBR-2 Six Songs from Alice in Wonderland - Part 2

Second in the series, and probably rarer still than Part 1, but who can say for sure?  I've only ever seen two copies of each with their sleeves and maybe an additional 4 of part 1 without.  Regardless, insanely rare doesn't even begin to cover it.  I know the WDL-4015 is rare and valuable, but it is way more common than these.

Same additional titles on the back of both parts 1 and 2.  I've seen Peter Pan DBRs too, and a Jiminy Cricket MMC title that escapes me at the moment, but Disney titles in this format are small in number.

Labels for part 2 are blue rather than purple

Big Golden Record DBR-1 Six Songs from Alice in Wonderland - Part 1

What we have here ladies and gentlemen is possibly the rarest of all the Alice records.  Big Golden Record DBR-1, Six Songs from Alice in Wonderland, Part 1.  Together with Part 2, these comprise the rarest recordings (domestically) that I am aware of.

For years no one would believe me that these even existed, as I had no physical evidence, only a single reference in a single printed ad, but I was convinced they did indeed exist.

And lo and behold, about 7 years ago I was finally rewarded when I found both in a single lot of old children's records.  Fantastic!

The recordings themselves are nothing special, just a rehash of the same titles on the Little Golden Records, but the format is different.  The size of a standard 78 RPM record, with illustrated labels, and not too interesting sleeves, these must have been short lived indeed, for though there are literally 100s of LGRs, there is only a tiny number of titles in the BGR series.

I've heard it said that the DBR nomenclature on these titles stands for Disney Big Record, but have no confirmation of that.  Part 2 tomorrow.

Exhibition Site at GEM

Geppi's Entertainment Museum has (finally!) restored their site and the landing page for the Alice exhibition is back up.  First time I've seen it :-)

Mary Blair Alice in the Bottle on the Sea of Tears

What a cool image, I'm not sure I've ever seen a Mary Blair quite like this one.  I love the fish underwater and bubbles.  And at 8x10 it is quite large.  

Lewis Carroll Society Spring Meeting This Week April 14 - April 17

For the first time since 2008 the Lewis Carroll Society of North America (LCSNA) will be having its Spring meeting here in the DMV area, featuring pub night at the renovated Green Dragon (temporarily renamed The Jabberwock), and a visit to the Alice exhibition in Baltimore.  All events Friday and Saturday are open to the public, check the Carroll website for full meeting details.  See you there!

Animation Scoop Magazine Interview on Alice Exhibit!

Animation Scoop magazine posted this interview about the Geppi Alice exhibit!  Thanks to Leslie Combemale and Jerry Beck for the coverage :-)

Exhibit Opening Night Article in Scoop

 Geppi's online magazine Scoop posted an article on the opening night party for the Alice exhibit (along with Amanda Conner's art exhibit).

Interview in Geppi's Scoop

Just in time for today's exhibition grand opening, Scoop, Geppi's online magazine for all things fandom, published an interview with me.  Take a peek!

Exhibition Premiere Party Tonight!

If you're going, I'll see you tonight!

Two More Days!

Happy Easter! Pictorial Review - March 25, 1951

Happy Easter!  In celebration I give you this very colorful cover to the March 25, 1951 issue of Pictorial Review, a Sunday supplement magazine.  No article inside, but really, who needs more than the cover anyway?

David Lesjak from Toons At War recently posted the original line drawing for this cover on the Disney History Institute facebook page, go check it out!  And look for his forthcoming biography of Hank Porter, the artist on this and many other covers.

Wonderland Exhibit Setup Complete!

Whew!  Last week I delivered the last of the items and Monday I went up to help setup.  As of today the exhibit is up and ready!  Can't wait to see it in its final incarnation.  Hope to see as many of you there as possible over the next six months!

Chicago Biscuit Company Alice Tea Party Sugar Wafers Store Display

Well, here's something I've never heard of before.  I know that there were several food items created during the original release, but I've never heard of these.

Apparently CBC (Chicago Biscuit Company) - which was a division of Leaf brands (of baseball card fame) - created some sugar wafers (probably like nilla wafers) and themed them towards tea parties for their Alice tie-in.  But I've never seen packaging nor heard of them before I acquired this store display/price card.  The little rosette in the bottom corner would show the price of these lovely confections I'm sure.  Would love to know more about them if anyone out there knows anything.

Yowza! Cookie Cutters A-Go-Go

Today a complete set of Domar cookie cutters sold for almost $700.  Very nice indeed.

GEM Preview Articles in SCOOP

Looks like I made some ink!  Geppi has an online magazine called SCOOP that publishes lots of stories about pop culture related items, and they published not one, but two preview articles on the exhibition.  Go check 'em out!

Royal Stars of Wonderland Card Album

Wow, something I thought I'd never find.  You may recall this post from 2009 on the Royal Pudding premium cards that appeared on the backs of the boxes.  Each box bore one of sixteen different images from the film (I still need five - hint hint), and also on the back was an advertisement to send away for a collectible album in which to store your fantastic cards.  This is that album.  Woohoo!

 I confess, I was expecting something a little more impressive, but I guess I shouldn't have done.  After all, Royal made MANY different 'Stars' sets, and I'm sure it was way more efficient to create a single album that could contain any set.

The album contains 8 pages with very thin plastic envelopes, holding a total of sixteen cards.  Now if I could just find the remaining cards ....

Mary Blair Alice at the Tea Party

Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly can't seem to get enough of Mary Blair - certainly not in the past few weeks anyway!  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to acquire this Mary Blair.  It features Alice, the White Rabbit (?), the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse all at the mad tea party astride a very large tea service.  How cool is this!

I just love the swirling steam and the detailed line work in the objects and flora.  Genius.

Coro Alice Heart Charm

A newly discovered Coro piece is this Alice Heart charm, most likely from a pendant necklace.  It is a manufactured piece and not something altered after the fact as can be seen by its construction.  While the CMD only lists a few items, there have been several items discovered that aren't a part of that page.  I would love to find a Coro catalog to see if there are any other items yet to be discovered.

Lost in Wonderland Exhibition Update!

We now have official advertising on the Geppi's exhibition.  Alice will be joined by Harley Quinn as depicted by the amazing Amanda Conner.  Plan your trip now!

In case you are wondering about the art for my exhibition, Disney is notorious for their ... reluctance to grant permission to use imagery for things like this, so they opted to avoid it altogether.  But, as you know there will be plenty to see inside the exhibition.

Mary Blair Cheshire Cat Playing with His Head

I love images of the Cat playing with his head, it's just so bizarre!  This Mary Blair was tailor made for me, the only improvement would have been if he was standing on it!

As with the previous piece, the atmosphere is dark and moody - perfect for the Tulgey Wood, and especially so for the Cheshire Cat.  And again, great line work details for the foliage of the tree.

Mary Blair Alice Approaching the Tulgey Wood

It has finally happened - there is a Mary Blair in the house!  Woohoo!  I was lucky enough to acquire not one, but two Mary Blair concept paintings, this being the first.

We seem to specialize in images of Alice's back here at the blog and this is no exception.  But I do love the signs at the entrance of the Tulgey Wood, and the dark line work of the trees surrounding the clearing just before she enters.  Stay tuned for #2 soon!

Lost in Wonderland

I am finally able to tell you one of the two big items for this year.  Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, MD will be exhibiting the collection you know and love from this blog for a six month run beginning April 1st!  The exhibition is entitled "Lost in Wonderland" and will feature a portion of the collection primarily devoted to those items from the original release.  Stay tuned for more details!

Disneyana Show this Sunday in Anaheim

We'll be exhibiting this Sunday at the Disneyana Fan Club show and sale (thank you Brian!), come on down and say hello and buy cool stuff!