RKO Program from Japan 1953

Japan is one of the few countries to release Alice several years after its premiere, 1953 to be exact.  But that doesn't mean they did not have RKO promotional material.  This is one such item, an eight-page program - and one that I had never seen before until recently.

Original release items from Japan are quite difficult to come by, so I was thrilled to acquire this piece.  And I was surprised at how large it is, fully 8 1/2" x 12", which corresponds (most closely) with the standard size kiku 4.

The cover features some art we've seen before, that of the "Up to the Minute News" sheet of legal-sized paper I wrote about here, with an inset of Alice and the Broom Dog from the Tulgey Wood.  Even in 1953 the Japanese were ahead of their time highlighting unusual characters.

The remainder of the program (90% in Japanese) features character blurbs with photos of the actors, and a synopsis of the story with song lyrics to boot.  All in all a fabulous piece.

1951 RKO Lobby Cards from Mexico

This just in from the realm of 'Things I Don't Have, Have Never Seen Before, And Want Very Badly'.  Original 1951 lobby cards from Mexico!

The format of these cards is very similar to all the other, later lobby cards we've all seen from Mexico, an art border of some kind with a central image, usually taken from a publicity still.

These are no different, although the B&W central image is odd given that the rest of the card is in full color.  Later cards have a full color image.

I was only able to find images of 4 cards, there might indeed be more, but they must be pretty rare as these are the first I've ever seen.

If anyone out there has them, or images of others, I would love to see them!  And of course buy them :-)

1951 Studio Letterhead - Redux

Way back in 2008, in the 23rd post on this blog, I showed a piece of Walt Disney Productions studio letterhead for the original 1951 release of Alice in Wonderland.  What I didn't know at that time, or in reality didn't notice 'cause sometimes I miss little details like this (shiny!), is that there are TWO variations of this letterhead.  Whoa. (cue Keanu Reeves).

The first is the same as originally posted, a Disney studio letterhead, with the beautifully rendered art on Strathmore Bond with the studio address at the bottom.

What I didn't realize at the time (even though I had an example of it as a piece of correspondence), is that there is also an RKO version of the letterhead, with the same art, on Blackstone Bond with the RKO headquarters address in Cleveland, OH across the bottom.

I only recently noticed this as I came across the above blank sheet, and was no longer distracted by the contents of the correspondence in my pre-existing example (that will show up in a future post).  Will wonders never cease?

For those of you who'd like a piece of this blank RKO letterhead, you can find one in the Wonderland Bazaar.