First Draft of the Ceramics Chapter Complete!

 Well, one down, a dozen or so to go!

Twenty sections in this chapter, probably the most of any chapter (I hope!)

Whitman Stationary Set

During the time of the original release for Alice (and for many other Disney films too), a lot of items were made under the auspices of any of the subsidiaries of the Western Publishing.  This includes Whitman, Golden Press, Sandpiper Press, Dell, and probably more that I'm not aware of.  There is also a link to Simon & Schuster that we'll go into in another post.  This item, the Alice in Wonderland Stationary Set, was made by Whitman.

This set (stock number 2054-25) consists of 18 sheets of illustrated paper (in red ink no less) with 12 envelopes.

The illustrate folder is what really sets this item apart, with beautiful graphics of the garden of live flowers on the inside (including an ultra close-up of a rocking horsefly), and tea party graphics on the outside.

The paper consists of three different designs, including my favorite the Caterpillar.

In the 1990s these were not too difficult to find, but as time has worn on it has become more scarce, as with pretty much everything else.  Finding a complete set with the correct number of sheets and envelopes is now quite difficult.

Zaccagnini First Draft Complete

 I just completed the first draft of one of the most difficult sections in the ceramics chapter, that for Zaccagnini.  Not counting the years it has taken me to acquire all the various information and references, I've spent hours just to create 2000 words.  Gotta pick up speed...

Weatherby & Sons "Falcon Ware" - Walrus and Queen of Hearts

This is my first pass at the section on this manufacturer in my in-progress book.  As I (hopefully) unearth more information on this company and figures, this section will expand.  Or not.  Who knows?

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Falcon Ware by J.H. Weatherby and Sons (UK)

Falcon Ware was a company located in the English town of Stoke-on-Trent, home to Weetman and approximately all the other pottery companies in the UK.  This company had a long and storied history, dating all the way back to 1891 under the parent name of J.H Weatherby and Sons, Ltd., and closing permanently in April, 2000 after 109 years of continuous operation as a family run business.  Sadly the buildings themselves no longer exist.

Image courtesy thepotteries.org

Falcon Ware takes its name from the name of the pottery works itself, which was an existing, though disused, pottery works when purchased by Weatherby in 1891.  The majority of its output in the first half century were traditional table ware, but in the 1950s they began to make nursery items, and novelty animal figures.  Enter Walt Disney.

In 1958 Weatherby planned a series of at least seven figures based on Disney's Alice in Wonderland.  On February 2-6 of 1959 they exhibited at the Blackpool Gifts and Fancy Goods Fair at the Imperial Hotel.  By this the range had been reduced to six figures consisting of Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Walrus, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat.  The figures and their appearance at Blackpool was advertised in at least one periodical in the UK (Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review, February 1959), and price sheets from Weatherby are known to exist.

Advert from Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review, February 1959

Sadly the deal seems to not have been completed or perhaps canceled, and most of the range never produced.  But, there does exist an archive photo from the Weatherby family that I have reproduced below.  I have been unable to contact either the author or the Weatherby family, and the publisher is no longer in business.

Image courtesy of Susan Jean Verbeek, The Falcon Ware Story, (Pottery Publications, 1996)

Fortunately at least two of these figures appear to have been sold in some fashion.  Multiple examples of the Walrus and the Queen of Hearts have been seen over the years, and they are presented here.  Unmarked as they are, for years I suspected these might be Disney, but more likely knock-offs.  It wasn't until I discovered the Verbeek book that I realized their true history.

The Walrus

This was the first Weatherby Falcon Ware figure I acquired.  While I had no idea what it was, and it was not sold as Disney, it just looked right.  The design and style of him just screams Disney, and bears more than a passing resemblance to the Weetman figure.  Not surprising given that the two factories were less than four miles apart.

Scarcity:  🔎🔎🔎🔎

Value: 💲💲💲

The Queen of Hearts

This figure of the Queen of Hearts is what led to my discovery of the history of the Weatherby Falcon Ware.  The auction listing actually referenced the Verbeek book in the description, and I was able to get a copy of the book even before the auction closed.  The look of this figure marks it as clearly Disney.  I am not aware of any other incarnation of the Queen that has the same color scheme and design as in the Disney version.  All this figure is missing is the black stripes in the front of her dress!

Scarcity:  🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎

Value: 💲💲💲

Progress...

 

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.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Better Living Magazine - September 1951, Featuring McCall's Sewing Patterns

Every have one of those things you've been searching for, a small little insignificant thing that is in no way truly important yet still compels you to keep searching for it?  Well this magazine was one of those items for me.  I've known of its existence pretty much since the beginning.  It appeared in a magazine index (remember those) at my local library in which it listed the article "Straight from Alice in Wonderland," which of course intrigued me.  But I could never locate an issue.  Until now.

Thirty years in the making have brought you this post.  This magazine was new in 1951, this being only issue #5, which probably helps explain my difficulty in finding it.  In the periodical publishing/distribution world, issues are ordered three months in advance.  So a retailer in this case would have ordered issues 1-3 before ever actually receiving an issue.  By the time issue #4 was ready to be ordered, they would have received and been selling issue #1, this influencing their orders for #4 and so on.  Thus, if sales of the first issues was not up to expectations, they would most likely reduce their order.  This being issue #5, sales for #s 1 and 2 would have been available, and order adjusted accordingly.  Now, as I said, I knew of this magazines existence, but I had never seen ANY issue in the wild until eBay came along, but never this issue.

One thing going for this issue is the cover, featuring Luana Patten from Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart.  Always good to have a cute kid movie star on the cover of your new and not original women's magazine in the 1950s.

Table of contents lists pretty standard fare, of course with the object of my search on page 48.  Note also the thumbnail photo of the cover with Luana in the upper left.

And at last we've reached the object of my years long search, a two page sponsored article by McCall's featuring a cute little girl dressed in the Alice clothes from the sewing pattern posted here.  I like the photo on the right with her playing with the Peter Puppet Mad Hatter marionette as posted here.  I must say in that photo on the left our little Alice has definitely had enough for the day.  Note also the single line of text below the photo that says "WHERE TO FIND IT page 80."

Where to find it is just that, it lists where to get the patterns, and includes a handy order form to order them directly from Better Living.  It also includes where to get the Mad Hatter marionette.

So, thirty years later, was it worth the wait?  Probably not.  But I am glad to have it.

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