Key Matching Cel and Master Background

Yeah baby!  One of the final holy grail items for the collection is now safely ensconced in the Tulgey Wood:  a key MATCHING cel and master background!  Woohoo!  Great scene of Alice running through the Tulgey Wood following the Mome Rath path, just before she encounters the Brush Dog.  What a treat.  A great beginning to a new era.

New Year, Renewed Hope

 It's finally 2021, and given EVERYTHING that has been going on in the world, and especially here in the US, the blog has suffered even more than usual.  The past five years have been busy for me, what with starting my own business, a couple of exhibitions, and numerous other crises seemingly at every corner.  

But, hope springs eternal, and with the new year fresh upon us, I too remain hopeful and plan to be more active here on the blog.

With that, I thought I'd share one of the more terrifying things that happened in 2020, just to give you an idea on what's going on here in the Tulgey Wood.  Not quite one year ago, Jan 14th to be precise, we had a pipe burst under our foundation, and the bottom floor of our house flooded.  Which coincidentally is where the collection is housed.  Fortunately my wife was actually in the room when it happened, and was able to get the water shut off before it rose too much, but it was pretty scary.  More so for me as I was out of town on business and just had frantic phone calls to decipher what was going on.

Flood waters in the lower level, filled with what will be forever known as 'Flood Mud'

Flood waters have been removed, most of the mud removed, 'flood cut' of the drywall and insulation removed.

This room needed a more aggressive 'flood cut', this is where the collection is housed.  As you can see, both this and the previous room are empty...

... and stored in every room of the house, starting with the kitchen...

... and dining room ...

Repairs underway, we eventually needed do completely replace the drywall in both rooms.  Joy.

Main room today.  Nearly completely put back in place, the bins you see in the front are to go in the barrister bookcases in the back left and back right of the photo.  Then we'll be done in this room.

This room is another story entirely.  All new cases need to be installed, and we're not there yet.  But the room itself is restored.

New Book by Pierre Lambert Hot Off the Press!

 Over the years Pierre Lambert has written a number of excellent and beautiful books on all topics Disney Animation.  This past fall his long awaited (by me at least) book on Alice was published.  It does not disappoint.  If you love Alice, or even just love Disney animation, you'll love this book.  And check out pages 68, 128, 179, and 184 for my minor contributions, only slightly mis-attributed...stupid printer ;-)

The book is entirely in French, but 90% is just beautiful art so don't let that stop you.  Right now it is only available outside of the US, but you can order directly from the publisher here or from the French Amazon here.

Australian Cinema Glass Slide

Today we take a look at something that I didn't think I'd ever see, let alone see again!  This is a glass slide used in movie theaters (or cinemas as our friends down under would say) to advertise upcoming films.  The fact that this has survived almost 70 years in this pristine condition, and loose no less (no holder or cardboard sleeve) is amazing.  I much prefer this one to the one made for the American release.

Everybody's Weekly from July 21st, 1951

This comes in courtesy of my friend Charlie Lovett, Carrollian extraordinaire.  A British publication from the original release, Everybody's, dated July 21, 1951, a mere 5 days before the world premiere in London, priced at 4d (4 pence in 1951 is about 65 cents today).  Let's take a look, shall we?

Everybody's was a weekly tabloid-sized news magazine or paper that was published under various names from 1913-1959.  By the time this particular issue was released, it was being published as simply Everybody's.  Typical tabloid fare for the time, with lots of current events and celebrity stories, original fiction, sports, and of course movies.  That's where we come in.

This particular issue contains a three-page illustrated article on the soon-to-be released Disney's Alice in Wonderland.  As was common at the time in the UK, the movie is referred to as "Alice in Disneyland,"  presumably because of the issue taken with the Disney-fication of such a classic English story.  But I digress.  The article is constructed in much the same way as all of these glorified press releases of the day were constructed, as a series of standard stills from the film with captions describing the action, with some small commentary by the author.  This publication, as with many others from the UK at the time, have this strange black, white, and orange color scheme.  I'm sure there must be a reason for it, but I do not know it.

This article is not only not critical of the Disney adaptation, but practically doesn't mention it all.  The majority of piece expounds on the idiosyncrasies of Lewis Carroll, and hardly mentions the film except to say that the author thinks Carroll would have approved.  A grand total of 4 sentences of the 19 total are devoted to 'the film', one of which isn't really a sentence (this author is the king of the run-on sentence and sentence fragment).  One wonders if the author, Jonathan Routh, even saw it.

Goebel DIS 084 Dinah - Color Sample (!)

It has been quite some time since I've posted here, and as the world has almost COMPLETELY changed it is not surprising.  But, during these crazy times I have still been on the lookout for new additions to the Tulgey Wood, and boy did I find a doozy.

This is the (already super rare) Goebel Dinah figure (DIS 084), but in test colors that are actually film correct!  That's right, the Goebel company actually create color samples of the Dinah figure in the correct colors, submitted them to Disney, and were rejected in favor of the incorrect black color.  One can only assume that at the time the color had not changed, or that the person in charge of approving these things did not know that the colors had changed and was relying on previously distributed color guides.  You can see my previous extensive post on the production version of this figure here.

The key to understanding this piece is the "MM" painted on Dinah's chest.  MM is the abbreviation Goebel used for "Malmuster", which translates (loosely) to Color Sample.

Note that this is a production ready piece, complete with standard Goebel markings on the underside of the figure.

It is unclear exactly how many of these kinds of color samples were made, presumably not very many.  They do turn up from time to time, but this is the first I've seen from the Alice set, and perhaps even from the Disney set as a whole - at least of the vintage 206 figures.

While it is unclear exactly what the origin of this piece is, it was included in a lot of other Goebels, some of which had the archive tag (plombe) attached, which leads me to believe this was part of the massive Goebel archive sale that took place in Germany back in early 2012 - which was the source of the Final Four of my collection.

Many thanks go to my friend Alfred Stumböck for his invaluable assistance in figuring out exactly what this figure is.

Happy 2020! And Boy Has It Been Hectic!

So I'm only 6 weeks late on my New Year's post, but I have an excuse.  Well, part of one anyway.  We had a major SNAFU here at the Wonderland blog, or more accurately in the Tulgey Wood.  That's right ladies and gentlemen, we had a pipe burst and flooded the Tulgey Wood! 

Fortunately we got off pretty easy since Wendy was home at the time and was able to get people out to start correcting things almost immediately.  Losses have been - not minor - but not tragic by any means.  It has just been a real pain and reconstruction has only just begun.  We'll see how we fare once it is all said and done.

But, to leave you on a better note, here is a lovely picture of the cover of the sticker album that goes with the wrapper that is this year's banner.  Post to follow...eventually.

The Collection is on Tour in NZ - And I'm on the Radio!

The ACMI exhibition continues its world tour, next stop New Zealand's Te Papa.  And yours truly was interviewed on the radio last week on Radio New Zealand's "Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan".  Take a listen!

A Quick Interview at D23

So we’re at D23 this week helping some friends out, and I got interviewed about the Dinah Goebel figure I brought to sell. Check it out from Provost Park Pass at the 3:15 mark.

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:

Wonderland Exhibit in Singapore - Opens Saturday!

Callooh callay!  The Crandall Collection is on display in the traveling ACMI exhibition "Wonderland" and next stop is Singapore!  Opening this Saturday, the exhibition runs from April 13 - September 22, 2019 at the ArtScience Museum.  Check out the link for more details.  If you are in the area between now and September, check it out, and send pictures!  I don't think I'll be able to make it for this stop.

Ready for Business at the DC Big Flea

All Set Up at Disneyana Fan Club in Anaheim!

Come on down and buy cool stuff. Help me finance my book!

Happy New Year!

So another year has come and gone, and while I have taken some major steps forward in preparation for an upcoming project, the blog has suffered.  Looking back at the history of posts over the past few years it is abundantly clear exactly when I started working for myself  - I'm sure you can guess when too!

That being said, I do have things happening on the Alice front and will continue to update the blog with content as I get the chance.  The first being - today!

This year has been a good one for art acquisitions.  I have been fortunate enough to acquire three new Mary Blair pieces, although I did have to part with another to finance them.  But so it goes, you gotta sell to buy!

I was also lucky enough to score an original page by Mel Crawford from the Little Nipper Storybook which I have not posted yet but have mentioned in several posts - mostly about Japanese books.

And the Australian exhibition closed in October, but is now traveling the world, first stop Singapore!  I will post details when I have them.  Happy New Year to all!

A Fun Preview of a Book Item

We had some fun photographing the Model Craft Molding Set...

Dayton Disneyana

All set up and open for business!

Chicago Toy Show

I'm set up at the Chicago Toy Show (first time ever!) at the Kane County Fairgrounds. Come by Sunday 4/21 and buy cool stuff. This looks to be a great show!

Off to the Exhibition!

See you in Australia!

Exciting News Post #2 - Book Photography!

Well, I guess I'd better get to writing...

Original Film Poster ... From Greece!

Wow, who knew I'd come across one of these...ever. Original release movie poster from Greece. Love the art on this, very subdued, but still totally in tune with other art of the time. Now I need to find out what else there is from that release!

I do not have an official release date for Greece, but the poster still lists RKO as the distributor, so it must be prior to 1955.  My guess would be the same as the rest of Europe, late 1951 or early 1952.