Down the Rabbit Hole: Collecting Alice in Wonderland - Coming this June!

I am happy to announce that my long-awaited (at least by me) book is scheduled to be published this June in time for the 75th anniversary of the Walt Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland.  

Down the Rabbit Hole: Collecting Alice in Wonderland features a foreward by Brian Sibley and cover art by Kevin Kidney.  More than 3000 images are used to illustrate everything you'd ever want to know about the merchandise and promotion of Disney's Alice.   

We are in the process of planning our tour to promote the book, if anyone would like us to have an event in your area please let me know.  As soon as we have a finalized schedule I will share it here!

Writing, Editing, Photography on the Book is Complete!

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I am done with the book!  Only awaiting a few pieces of art for the cover and some interior pages, but all my work is done.  Now off to the publisher!

Japan Victor Company Storyteller Album

Previously I have posted about a JVC record that featured Alice songs on one side and Cinderella songs on the other (see Japanese Victor Record - Title Song).  But, did you know there was an entire storyteller album as well?  Well, neither did I until a couple of years ago.  Let's take a look!

This (along with all other "original release" items) was produced in 1953, which was the year Alice came out in Japan.  As with the previously posted record, this is sung and told by Izumi Yukimura, who was a very popular singer in Japan.  Issued as a two-record set in 78 rpm in an illustrated sleeve, 

each disc has illustrated labels, just like on the previous record. I particularly love the labels on these, with art of Alice and the pansies from the garden of live flowers.

The set also comes with a 16-page booklet filled with text, lyrics and black & white illustrations, which I imagine is pretty rare to find intact with the set.  

  

Brazilian Sticker Album - Editôra Vecchi

Lotario Vecchi and his brother Arturo founded Editôra Vecchi in Rio de Janeiro in 1913 after relocating from Italy.  Lotario returned to Italy and later founded Edisioni Lampo in 1939, leaving Arturo to run Vecchi.  The company originally focused on women’s novels (one can assume this means romance novels) but in 1929 began publishing comic books, for which the company would become famous.  The range of titles was large, reprinting content from famous comics around the world including Tex from Italy, Mad Magazine from the US, Smurfs from Belgium, and numerous Gold Key, Fawcett, and Charlton comic books.  From the late 1940s through at least the 1970s the company also created a range of sticker books on a wide array of topics, including Disney.  The company suffered financial problems in the early 1980s, forcing the company to close in 1983.

Os Livros de Ouro da Juventude #16 - Alice no Pais das Maravilhas

Vecchi printed an Alice in Wonderland sticker book, essentially a Portuguese version of the Italian Lampo sticker book which had been published in 1952 (we'll see that one in a future post).  There were at least two printings of this Brazilian version, one in the late summer of 1958 (dated July, August, September), the other in the winter of 1959 (dated January, February, March).  The book has the same format as the Italian, including all art, with 32 pages holding 240 stickers, each page separated by a velum sheet.  The album itself could be purchased for Cr$5, with stickers sold for Cr$5 per 15, although they could be purchased in quantities of 15, 30, or 45 stickers at a time.

The art is pretty nice on this book, with the weird brown line art on the pages being only slightly bizarre.

Interstitial art in these stickers book, no matter which country, tend to be a little weird, likely because that art was done in-house, whereas the primary art on the cover and stickers was likely done by the studio or at least the officially sanctioned artists for that country or region.

The individual stickers have text on the back describing the scene and providing the number so they could be properly placed in the book.

Mercury Records Featuring Roberta Quinlan and Richard Hayes

Mercury Records originally issued records from Alice in Wonderland in 1951 at the time of or slightly before the release of the film, and again in 1954 or 1955 as a part of their Childcraft line.  Songs and narration were performed by Richard Hayes and Roberta Quinlan.

The Story of “Alice in Wonderland”

Issued in 1951 as a standard 78 RPM album (A89) with three 10” discs, and as a single 33⅓ RPM (MG-25096) disc.  The cover of the album has exceptionally unusual art, especially for the time, and looks like it could be from a decade later.  This set is what is referred to as the “complete score” in the campaign book, but it is essentially a storyteller.

 

Childcraft Songs from “Alice in Wonderland” CM-37

Issued in 1955, this 78 RPM record consists of 4 songs from Alice with accompanying narration, basically an abridged version of the album above.  

An Australian release as a 78 RPM exists using the same sleeve just on a different weight of paper, however the labels on that version are quite different from the American version. 

EP-C-2

This 45 RPM version of the Childcraft Alice CM-37 is actually the B side of the Childcraft Pinocchio (non-Disney).  But at least they used the Alice sleeve art on the back of the cardboard cover.

Miscellaneous

There is an additional Mercury record by Quinlan-Hayes that has narration and songs but is not part of any of the albums above.  Mercury 5639 is a 78 RPM record with three of the eight songs contained on the full album, so not quite a storyteller but not just a single either.  It is also available as a 45 RPM record.

There is also what appears to be a single of the title song “Alice in Wonderland” by Roberta Quinlan on the Mercury label, but to date I’ve only found it as a sample record, the kind usually sent to radio stations to be played on-air.

Good-Win Paint Your Own Walt Disney Figures in Pottery

Good-Win (Strome & Co Ltd) of London, England was a manufacturer of games and puzzles in the early to mid-twentieth century.  While I have been unable to find much information on this company, they appear to have primarily made dominoes, jigsaw puzzles, and a few other games as well.  The parent company of Strome & Co. does appear in the catalog for the British Industries Fair from 1947 as a maker of a variety of toys and games.

To date only one Disney series has been identified from Good-Win, a series of three Paint Your Own Figures sets featuring ceramic pieces manufactured by Weetman.  These date from 1952 or earlier based on the characters available:  Mickey & Donald, Tweedle Dee & the Mad Hatter, and Flower & Thumper.  It is possible that other items exist since the box for this item pictures additional Disney characters from Cinderella, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Pluto, and the Three Little Pigs.

All items by Good-Win carry their logo of a boy crossing the finish line of a track race with the words Good-Win Reg Trade Mark.

The Paint Your Own Walt Disney Figures in Pottery set for Alice appears to have been made at the time of the film’s release in the UK, 1951 or 1952 at the latest.  A hand-written price on the label of 6/3 equates to about $0.88 in 1951, and $14.14 in today’s dollars.

The set for Alice contains figures for the Mad hatter and Tweedle Dee, as identified by the label on the bottom of the box.  The contents consist of one each of the small white ware figures manufactured by Weetman, with a paint brush, tray, and four tubes of paint.  An instruction sheet is also included, with some advice on how to glaze the figures with some sort of varnish when you are happy with your results - varnish not included of course.

Argentinian Coloring Book from 1959 - ¡Ven a Pintar! #4

From their series of Disney coloring books “¡Ven a Pintar!” this is the fourth in the series, featuring Alice.  Consisting of 16 large pages to color or paint, the line art is quite good and appears to be either copies of or redrawn from the Whitman Paint Book.

I've seen Alice depicted with the pink pinafore and stockings a few time from South American countries, but have never been able to figure out why.