Parents magazine September 1951

Thanks to Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Research for alerting me to the existence of this magazine, although it did take me nearly 5 years to locate a complete copy of it.  The September issue is a trove of Alice content, both large and small.

First up is a tiny tiny blurb for Alice in the Family Movie Guide section.

Apparently it is an excellent film for adults and youths but children need some preparation.  And it is a Parents' Magazine Family Medal Award film to boot!

Next up is an ad for an Alice school bag.

While not the Disney bags we saw back in this post, it nevertheless exhibits a phenomenon that still occurs today:  third party merchandising.  Seemingly for every Disney movie ever released, there is a slew of other merchandise that is NOT Disney, but riding the publicity wave caused by the Disney film.  In this case, other Alice merchandise not licensed by Disney but still Alice themed.  One of the problems with filming stories in the public domain.

Next up is this great ad for Children's Digest magazine, which I blogged about way back in the first year of the blog, nearly six years ago!  Wow, has it been that long?

And finally another great ad, this time for Alice in Wonderland themed children's clothing.

Togs like toys for girls and boys.  What a great tag line.  And this ad solved a mystery that had eluded me for nearly 20 years.  It mentions picture buttons.  I have one of these, but have never been able to figure out from where it came.  Now I know!

1968 Hollander Vinyl Bubble Umbrella

So it is a rainy day here in the Tulgey Wood, a perfect day to post this very mod clear vinyl bubble umbrella.

Manufactured in 1968, to me this just looks like Twiggy wants to walk down Main Street USA holding this.

Clear vinyl with blue trim, it sport large images of Alice and the White Rabbit.

Made exclusively for Disneyland by Hollander, the label proudly proclaims 100% vinyl!  Thank goodness there are no non-vinyl substitute materials in this umbrella.

And of course, as with everything in the 1960s, made in Hong Kong.

National Leather Manufacturing Company Schoolbag WD37

Last but not least, model WD37, another schoolbag, but with some differences.  Firstly, it is smaller, about 2" small in each dimension.  Secondly, it has neither a pencil pocket, lunch pocket, nor reinforced corners.  Thirdly it has a snap closure flap. and finally it only comes with a shoulder strap.

And most importantly, I don't have one.  So keep your eyes peeled out there!

National Leather Manufacturing Company Schoolbag WD30

Next up is WD30, the Schoolbag.  These days I believe I would call this a satchel.  The 'rubberized' material makes this very stiff after 60 years, but the 'texon' flaps are in good shape.  This first one is the handled variant.

There is also a variant with a strap

and a variant with no corner reinforcements.

This particular variant actually  has a different stock number JWD30 based on the catalog pages for the Peter Pan models, even though they don't specifically list an Alice J model.  It also came with either a handle or a strap, but I only have the handle variation.

All of these bags came in plaid as well, and I have had plaid ones in the past, but don't have any at this time.  Gotta make room for new stuff after all, can't have EVERY variation (although I do make a pretty good stab at it).

National Leather Manufacturing Company Utility Bag WD20

Next up is WD20, the Utiility Bag.  To me this looks like a smallish bowling bag, but I've also seen vintage airline bags with this shape as well.

Given that this is 'plastic' (probably some sort of vinyl really) these bags are in remarkably good condition, and remain very supple.

So far I've only seen the two colors here, but it is possible that there are others.  No plaid though.

National Leather Manufacturing Company Shoulder Bag WD10

And now the bags themselves.  First up is WD10, the shoulder bag.  This example is a solid red, but I have seen them in plaid as well.

Catalog detail stating that WD10 comes in assorted plaid and plastic colors.

The material on this is pretty strange (called texon) which feels sort of like vinylized cardboard.  Whatever it is, it is stiff and brittle after 60 years.

National Leather Manufacturing Company Catalog 1953

I was very excited when I found this, a retailer catalog for National Leather Manufacturing Co., Inc. of Brooklyn, NY, as it features several children's bags that I have long wondered about. The catalog lists a wide variety of leather bags and brief cases for business use, but has a large section devoted to Disney bags in the first six pages, along with some other character bags following (I especially like the Captain Video bag).

There is an emphasis on Peter Pan, as that was the new film they were promoting with this catalog (dated January 1953).  According to Tomart, they were a licensee starting in 1951, so it is likely that the Alice bags were available as part of Alice's release, although until a catalog is found from that period it is only speculation.

Of primary interest to me are, of course, the Alice bags, starting with WD30 pictured above, the Alice in Wonderland schoolbag.  Listed as coming in assorted colors and plaid twill, rubberized.  The art is so-so, and as you see, is the only art used on the entire line..

Next up is WD10, the Alice in Wonderland shoulder bag, and WD20, the Alice in Wonderland Utility Bag.  The shoulder bag is essentially the same material and construction as the schoolbag, but the Utility Bag is a vinyl bag, looks kinda like a smallish bowling bag.

Finally WD37, the Alice in Wonderland schoolbag with shoulder strap rather than handles, and no pencil pocket.

Prices listed here are per dozen, which boils down to wholesale pricing per bag as follows:

WD30 - $1.00
WD10 - $0.40
WD20 - $0.90
WD37 - $0.56

$1 in 1951 dollars is equal to about $9 in 2013 dollars, figure that retail markup is about 2x, yields retail pricing on these bags as follows:

WD30 - $18.00
WD10 - $7.20
WD20 - $16.10
WD37 - $10.08

I guess that looks about right.  Stay tuned for more on these National Leather bags.

Louis Weiss Child's Umbrella

Given all the rain we've been having here in NoVA recently, umbrellas have been on my mind, so why not have some more umbrella posts?  Surprising as the umbrella previously posted here was, more  surprising is that there were two different companies that manufactured an Alice umbrella for the original release.  This image from the campaign book shows the umbrella made by Louis Weiss Umbrellas Inc.

And here we see it in my dining room.  I do like the bright red color, I don't think this umbrella ever saw any use the color is so bright.

And the screen printed image of Alice with the Caterpillar is so clean and complete.

Umbrella by Elrene Mfg Co

Next up in the parade of vinyl is this umbrella.

This is a child-sized umbrella, and I'm quite sure that they made it in all four colors.  What's neat about the umbrella is that it gives us an idea of what the fabric looks like (spoilers!).

The handle is cool, some sort of resin or plastic molded in the shape of Donald Duck.

Small Fry Shoulder Bag by Salient

Years ago I acquired this cute little girl's shoulder bag that featured art of Alice and the White Rabbit with a Rocking Horse Fly (you don't see that every day).  For years I did not know who the manufacturer was, but I suspected it was a company called Salient Inc. of East Longmeadow, MA, who (according to Tomart and the CMD) had a license to produce children's purses and wallets for the years 1951-1952.  Salient is listed in the CMD, but there is no merchandise page in the CMD.

Flash forward a few years, probably around 1998, and I was at the Atlantique show in Atlantic City NJ (now sadly departed) when I came across this brown cardboard box.  The dealer had one of these handbags sitting on the top of it.

I opened the lid and saw this:

Holy crap!  A full box with original built-in store display for the Alice shoulder bag (throw in a few Donald Duck and Pluto for good measure).  While it is difficult to read, the lid has a stenciled 'Small Fry Shoulder Bag' on the top, and a smudge that was probably the item count.  This box held 18, I don't know if that is correct as it is really, really full.  My guess would be that it originally held a dozen.  And how clever is it to create a built-in store display in the shipping box itself?  I love it.  Here is a cleaned-up scan of the inside lid/counter display.  Shoulder bags for little ladies indeed!

There must have been a small find on this bag back in the 1990s, as they turn up every once in a while in mint condition - I have a few extra as well in the Wonderland Bazaar if you'd care to have one.  But this is the only full box with all three styles I've come across.