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.

In-Store Advertising Poster for Walt Disney Presents & Disneyland Records 1959

 Alice in Wonderland has had a love affair with Christmas throughout the years.  Most fans know that Disney's first TV show was One Hour in Wonderland on Christmas Day in 1950, and the film (edited) was broadcast on the second episode of the Disneyland TV show in 1954.  But did you know it was on TV a second time on Christmas Day?  In 1959 on Walt Disney Presents (the next incarnation of the Disneyland TV show), Alice in Wonderland was again broadcast.  And for whatever reason, promotional adverts were created for stores that sold the various Alice records.  This is one such poster, about the size of a lobby card, advertising the show itself on Christmas, and the records for sale in the shop.  

The first record advertised is the "Story-teller Record and Book" for $3.98.  That record is the first pressing of ST 3909 as told by Darlene of the Mouseketeers.  This first pressing is fairly scarce, being replaced by the much more common plaid-cover "Magic Mirror" record a few years later.  Collectors refer to this record as the "Enchanted Circle" cover.

The second record advertised is the "Original Hit Song Sound Track" for $1.98.  That record is the first pressing of DQ 1208 which is identified by this red cover with a back cover featuring 9 color images of other DQ records.  Second pressings have 5 black and white images.  Later pressings of this title have a purple cover of Alice sitting with the Cheshire Cat.  The DQ 1208 record was the successor to the exceptionally rare WDL 4015.

In today's dollars those records would be about $35 for the storyteller, and $17 for the soundtrack.

Little Nipper Giant Storybook Record Album

The large complete storyteller record, called the Little Nipper Giant Storybook Record Album (could they not come up with a shorter name?), was issued in 78, 45 and 33 ⅓ RPM formats.  

The records were located on the inside covers in special paper sleeves that were pasted to the covers.

The 78 version almost always has significant damage to these sleeves as the records are so heavy.  

The 45 version records are much smaller and lighter, and as such these sleeves are almost always intact.  

The 33 ⅓ version has a single record that is about the same size and weight of a 78, so the single sleeve on the inside front cover is also almost always quite distressed too.  So the moral is:  If you are looking for a very nice copy, go for a 45 set.

Alice was the first (and only) Disney storyteller to use this new large book format rather than the familiar album format.  Art by the incomparable Mel Crawford.

For a complete scan of the interior of this book, go visit this amazing site:

Buzza Cardoza Birthday Card Record

I hesitated to post this as it is so atrocious, but what the heck.

This is a record greeting card by Buzza Cardoza of Anaheim, California. The content is really pretty unlistenable, but I suppose if you are 5 or 6 years old it is tolerable.

Don't know who the scary voices are, but certainly not Ed Wynn, Jerry Colona, nor Kathryn Beaumont.

Believe it or not, there are actually two versions of this. Cover and inside greeting differ slightly although it appears as though the record itself is the same.



Don't say I didn't warn you...

Alice au Pays des Merveilles Storyteller by Marie-Claire Marty

This is a French storyteller EP from I think 1951. It has Alice on side 1, and Snow White on side 2. The voice of Alice is provided by Marie-Claire Marty, the film voice of Alice in the original 1951 release in France (which is why I think this is from 1951). Her voice is very good, she's the proper age - about the same age as Kathryn Beaumont - and her vocal quality is very similar. In fact, she also provided the voice of Wendy when Peter Pan was released in France in 1953, just like Kathryn Beaumont did. You can find out more about Marie-Claire Marty at the French Wikipedia site entry, and if you read French there is an interview with her here.

They changed voices when they re-released the film in 1974, don't know why.

The storyteller consists of 4 scenes, and lasts about 12 minutes. Since I'm having so much fun with my new toy, I'm including the first scene here.