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.

Little Nipper Junior Series Alice in Wonderland from 1953

Y-485 Alice in Wonderland

Likely issued in 1953, this 78 RPM entry in RCA Victor’s Little Nipper Junior series features a vivid yellow cover with new art of Alice and the dancing Tweedles.  Featuring Kathryn Beaumont and Ed Wynn from the original cast, this is an abridged single disc version of the standard Little Nipper storyteller.

EYA-46 Alice in Wonderland

The 45 RPM EP of the Junior series record above is actually the B side of a similar Peter Pan record, hence the 1953 release date.  Surprisingly the cardboard sleeve prints the Alice art on the back which makes this particular record much easier to identify.

Columbia Record Featuring Rosemary Clooney

Rosemary Clooney recorded this record of four songs with the Percy Faith Orchestra for release on the Columbia label in both 78 RPM (MJV-112) and 45 RPM (MJV 4-112) formats.  The cover art is unique to this release, and is more reminiscent of Tenniel than Disney.  Although even that is a stretch.  Best to say it is unique.

I do like the fact that the 45 RPM sleeve has a hole in the middle just like a plain sleeve.

Mayfair Record Featuring June Winters "The Lady in Blue"

The Lady in Blue, a character popularized by singer June Winters, released a number of children’s records beginning in 1947, with the Alice in Wonderland title Songs from Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland being released in 1951.

Issue in both 78 RPM (K-128) and 45 RPM (K-128-45) formats, the record includes the songs Alice in Wonderland, I’m Late, All in a Golden Afternoon, and The Unbirthday Song.  The paper sleeve features art inspired by the original John Tenniel illustrations; the art on the 78 RPM label  features Alice, but not based on Tenniel.  The 45 RPM label is just a standard 45 RPM label with no art at all.  Based on this one might assume that the 78 was more targeted at the children's market whereas the newer 45 format more at the adult market.  But who can say for sure.

Founded in 1946 by June Winters and her husband Hugo Peretti, Mayfair Records specialized in children’s records featuring “The Lady in Blue,” June Winter’s character made famous throughout the late 1940s and 1950s.  By 1949 The Lady in Blue's popularity had increased dramatically, with her own fan club, comic strip, and numerous appearance on radio and television.  By 1951 The Lady in Blue radio show was airing nationwide on NBC Radio.

Mayfair was acquired by Roulette Records in 1957, with Hugo Peretti staying on as head of the children’s record division.  The Lady in Blue continued to release records on the Roulette label until June Winters retired in the 1960s.

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.

Golden Catalog - Fall 1951

I thought I'd add this post as an extension of my Sandpiper post, to illustrate all the other Alice related items that were in the Fall catalog from 1951.

First up is the page describing the Golden Story Coloring Book (see posts here and here for more details).

Second is third of the Little Golden Books from Alice, The Mad Hatter's Tea Party. This is other LGB from Alice to get a single (A) printing, along with the Live Flowers book.

Next is another one of those items that for years I couldn't confirm even existed. Just like the Sandpiper book I had seen references to the DBR-1 and DBR-2 Big Golden Records (or Disney Big Record - DBR), but had never actually seen them, nor had anyone else. But I did finally acquire them about 5 years ago, and I will be posting them in the not too distant future. Too bad the covers are so boring...

Lastly the Big Golden Book; a small entry for the Alice book amongst the other BGBs of the day. Oddly, of the catalogs that I have, this is the last time the Alice books are ever mentioned, even though the BGB and the LGB White Rabbit remained in print for more than 30 years.

Mindy Carson with Three Beaus and a Peep (no kidding) on RCA

This will be my last audio post for a while, but this one is one of my favorites. Mindy Carson was a pop artist in the 1940s and 1950s, who had some hits prior to - and after - these covers of Alice songs. Her career did not extend much beyond this, but these covers are quite fun. You can read more about Mindy Carson on her Wikipedia page.



These particular recordings came from a promotional copy of the disc, probably used in a radio station.




A Side is I'm Late


B Side is Twas Brillig (my all-time favorite cover of an Alice song).


There is a compilation CD available of her greatest hits (including these two songs), grab it on Amazon from the link below.

Dennis Day Sings A Very Merry Unbirthday - RCA Y-430 Birthday Fun

This is pretty fun, Dennis Day explaining to a dog (Little Nipper) what an unbirthday is.


I like the cake on the label with a piece cut out. On side 1 the cake is whole.

Alice in Wonderland Title Song by Ray Nolan - Argentina

In honor of my daughter's first day back at William & Mary, and new course MUSC 365: "Alice in Musicland", I'm going to be posting music for a while.

The is a record from Argentina featuring Ray Nolan performing an instrumental of the title song Alice in Wonderland - Alice en el Pais de las Maravillas. It is a 78, but in the smaller 7 inch size, like a Little Golden Record.

The vinyl on this record is interesting, it looks like plain black vinyl, but if you hold it up to the light it is translucent.

Japanese Victor Record - Title Song

What a great label. This 78 from Japan Victor Company is the title song Alice in Wonderland. The custom label is really cool, and not very common from what I've seen in general for vintage Disney records; most record companies just used generic labels. Flip side of this is from Cinderella.


Interesting to note that the Japanese entity of RCA Victor later left records entirely and moved solely into electronics (JVC is Japan Victor Company), although in Japan they still use the Nipper logo.

UPDATE: Take a listen!

Peter Puppet Marionette Show

Peter Puppet Playthings made a lot of Disney marionettes, but as far as I know, this was the only full-blown marionette theater set they made with a Disney theme. As with most licensees, they were hoping for a big payday with Alice, probably why they decided to go all out with the marionette theater. And they advertised heavily. This is a very cool full color ad from Playthings magazine advertising the set of three marionettes (Alice, Mad Hatter, March Hare).

The marionettes themselves are pretty scary looking, and not that hard to find. They came in themed boxes with Alice art, and this brochure advertising the marionette stage.

According to the brochure, the full set consisted of stage, curtain, and two backdrops (actually a single double-sided backdrop).

It is difficult to see the backdrop in this photo as my display space is a little cramped so only a fraction of it is visible behind the Alice marionette. It is a miracle that this theater survived at all, since it is really cheap cardboard with screen printed graphics. It probably survived only because whoever owned this stored it in its original box, which is in pretty bad shape. They did a decent job coloring the backdrops too.

The brochure goes on to say that there is a record with the movie theme included as well. And there is, the Golden Record. I guess Peter Puppet worked out some sort of deal with Simon and Schuster to distribute the record with the theater.

And you can't have a puppet show without tickets. Yes, these are Globe tickets.

Not listed but also included is a script for the show.

The two scenes in the script nicely match the two backdrops as well.

Believe it or not, there are actually two variations of the theater. Stay tuned for pictures of the other style...