Wishing Upon a Christmas Star

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is having an amazing day. And if you happen to make it to my site today, thanks for taking time out of your day to drop by.

I'm a big fan of Old Time Radio. There's just not much on modern television, if you ask me. I don't particularly think most current comedians are funny, and call me old fashioned, but I like wholesome entertainment. I listen to OTR many times throughout the week, and especially love the old Christmas episodes from some of the great old shows. One of which aired on December 25, 1939. It wasn't the first Disney submission to the Lux Radio Hour, but it was aired on Christmas day, and so I bring it to you now. I hope everyone enjoys it!

"Christmas night. Dinner is over and your sitting comfortably in your favorite chair beside the fireplace, gazing dreamily into the flames. You're relaxing for the first time today, and you've made a solemn resolution that nothing shall move you from this place for at least three hours. You won't be surprised if, at a time like this, that burnt ember on the hearth should move a little and sit up, for you've just noticed that it isn't an ember at all, it's a cricket. And not an ordinary cricket, either. He wears a beaver hat and a long green cutaway coat, and in his hand he carries a furled umbrella. He sits looking at you out of his large, rather mournful eyes, and then, just as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he begins to sing..."

Lux Radio Hour - December 25, 1939

Christmas smiles!

My apologies for not updating the blog in a few weeks. The holiday season has hit me hard and I've been crazy busy. I hope to get in a couple more posts before the year is out, however.

I've posted this already, but being that it's seasonal, I'm throwing it in again, just because the T. Hee drawing is so charming! This Santa and reindeer makes me smile, and I hope it makes you smile, too!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And Happy Holidays for those of you who don't celebrate it! :D It's a beautiful season for everybody!

Turkey with a side of Mouseketeers

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! Thanks to all of you who continue to visit my little blog. I am thankful for all of my readers, and also thankful for all of the other awesome blogs located at the left of this. Great people, great blogs, great photos, great info!

For today's offerings, I give you a quick entry, just something fun to read while you're waiting for your turkey to reach 165 degrees! I'm such a fan of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and here is a nice article on a day in the life of a Mousketeer! I wish I could have been a Mouseketeer. Only the 50's mice were far cooler than the after mice I might have qualified as. I must settle with collecting original MMC things instead. My favorite piece will always be a photo of myself, my mom, and a dear friend of mine with Mouseketeer Bobby. What made it so special was that he was a favorite Mouseketeer of my mom back when she was just a tiny thing, and she always wanted to meet him. We just ran into him, almost literally, and he was gracious enough to pose with us. Fun how life works sometimes!

Welcome!!

To all of you newcomers who subscribe to "Daily Dose of Disney", welcome!! I hope you enjoy your tour around the Sacred Tree blog, and that you visit again soon. Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave comments!

(Thanks also to Karen with "Daily Dose of Disney" for her kind gesture of suggesting my blog for today's Dose.)

Distant Disney (Mad) Hatter??

Is it or is it not THE Disney? That is the question. I received this hatbox earlier this year and the only information I have about it is that it is from around the turn of the century, and it was found in an antique store in Illinois. That's it! I thought, the Disney family name is just not common, there must be some connection. While I knew Walt's immediate family wasn't making hats, perhaps there was a distant Disney relative to Walt... perhaps an uncle or cousin... who was in the millinery business. Could it be?! All I could locate was an ad from the early 40s. Nothing substantial.

I wasn't able to find any information to support my theory, so I posed my question to the fabulous Jim Korkis... who is a peach! Or a Florida orange, whichever he prefers! *wink, wink, Jim!* He hadn't any information on it, so Dave Smith was asked and had this to say (Thanks, Dave!):

"We have an ad for the Disney hats, dating from May 29, 1911. The ad says they were established in 1885. They were on Times Square in New York City, at 1486 Broadway near 43rd Street. This would not be our Disney family, but more likely a branch that came over to the U.S. from England, whereas our branch came from Ireland to Canada."

So there you have it. Maybe a distant cousin was the mad hatter in the family! We will probably never know for certain, unless any of you fine readers know a bit more than stated here. Otherwise, it's still a great piece I wanted to share. I would definitely have been proud to wear a Mr. Disney hat... if it came in a Ms. Disney collection, that is! I don't know if I could work a fedora or bowler.

A Look Back: 1959 Family Films

I tried to find something Disney related that went with Halloween, but alas, I found nothing unusual enough to post. So I look to tomorrow, November 1st. I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who finds it insane that there are only two more months left of 2007. Craziness!! I don't know what 2008 holds for the Disney company, but one thing I do know... the films will not be as sweet as they were in 1959.

This beautiful, colorful, highly charming ad is from the December 1958 issue of Life magazine. It gives you a happy look ahead to what the Disney company had in store for everyone in the coming year. Does it get more fun than Sleeping Beauty and Darby O'Gill? I'm inclined to think not. The storytelling in the films from this general time period in Disney history is so spot on. It's rare to find anything of its kind in our modern times. And when I say storytelling, I mean it's as it is in a storybook. I'm not talking brilliant cinematic film writing here. I'm talking about that feeling you had as a kid reading your favorite tales. The charming, unforgettable, warm, inviting kind of storytelling. And who doesn't like a good shaggy man-dog story?!

Don't even get me started on the art, either. Eyvind Earle's fantastic and inspired background art in Sleeping Beauty is something in itself. Absolutely beautiful. Everything is so realism-driven now, even in animation. You don't see anything like this anymore.

And actors. Sean Connery in Darby O'Gill. Can I get an Amen, ladies out there?!?! (Do I even have female readers? If you're out there, yell. Sometimes I think men are the only ones who comment on my blog.) Okay, perhaps that's more eye candy than his most brilliant piece of acting, but it will do, and I will not complain.

Yeep, yep, yep. 1959 was a good year.

Happy November, everyone!

Gurrmobiles 1957

I admit it... I know nothing about cars. I can drive them and fill them with gas, and one of the proudest days in my life was one in which I changed my own oil (with some help). Yes. I did call everyone I knew to tell them I accomplished this. It was big for me! I'm the type that panics when there is some minor sound and am fairly convinced any oddity means the car is sure to blow up. This is not to say I don't like cars. I love vintage cars! I have always wanted one, and the day I can drop an entirely eco-friendly engine into one sweet convertible that reminds me of the baby blue Sunbeam Grace Kelly drove in "To Catch a Thief" is the day I drive off in green supah-style! But until that day, I enjoy seeing a vintage car here and there. Some of my favorites happen to be in my favorite place- Disneyland.

This is a fun little article from the August 1957 edition of Walt Disney's Magazine. It goes into a little more depth about the antique vehicles than I knew of previously. It seemed that they did kind of the same thing I want to do (in an non eco-friendly way, of course) back in '57. For this brief moment, I will consider myself cool like Bob Gurr. I might even refer to my jaunty little dream car as a Tinkmobile.

Vanity Fair, October 1933

Here is a great piece from this month, back in 1933. The one thing that I don't like about it, is that the article is so TINY!! So much shorter than the accompanying pieces in the magazine. However, it's a great photo of Walt and some over sized Mickeys. I have always loved vintage Hollywood photography, and this is a great example of that. I have included the easier to read version of the minuscule write-up for your convenience.

In other news, I have launched a new website based on my art. For those who have visited the old site, thank you! I have received some lovely feedback from very great people. I hope those who visit the new site will enjoy all of its upgrades. I welcome any feedback! Simply click over to "My Art" on my links column, or click here... www.DevynSamara.com

Happy weekend, everyone!

What's in your bag?

I think I might be a strange Disneyana collector. I rarely collect things for it's monetary (or future monetary) value as it seems many people do. Often times, I collect Disneyana things that I would have purchased if I were a kid at the time they were created. And I SO would have purchased this! I mean, c'mon, it's the carpet bag! I would have spent hours pretending cool things came out of it. I wouldn't have pulled out a lamp or a mirror, or anything else Mary yanked out of her carpet bag... no, I would have gone for the big guns- a pony!! Oohhh yeahhh. That's where it's at! Or maybe a doll house! Furnished of course.

I think they should have sprung for a different, non-plastic material for these bags, but my imagination could have carried it off. Still a very cute and colorful piece for kids! What would you have pulled out of a magic carpet bag when you were a child?

70 years ago today...

... you might have opened up your Sunday morning paper (straight to the funnies/comics, of course) and read this!

This is a cute piece from The San Diego Union from Sunday, August 29, 1937. Two very nice strips of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. It must have been fun to open up the paper every Sunday and read these. I know if they were available when I was a kid, I would have been all over them!

*Note: I have left this a large file for your viewing pleasure. Please excuse the bit of glare from the flash, as the strip is behind plastic. Happy reading! :)

Help me solve "Mary's Medicine Mystery"!

Maybe not as fun as solving mysteries at Disneyland in "Minnie's Moonlit Madness", but it will have to do until next spring, folks!
Mary holds a mystery. Oh yes she does. One that neither myself or anyone else that I have asked (and there have been many) can figure out. It fits all into this cardboard box of confusion!! So I turn to you sensational blog visitors for answers. How on earth do you use this thing?!
First thing's first. I received both the Mary and the spoon together, although I am fairly certain that they were sold separately. Now, I have the original Mary in the box, as you can see, and by all accounts I cannot see that there is a piece missing. It says 1 piece on the box. She fits very snugly in the box, with no room for anything else that I can tell. Please correct me if I'm wrong. That being said...
As evidenced in photo #3, Mary has two indentations in the shape of spoons on either side of her. One is labeled with Tablespoon, and the other with Teaspoon. Handy dandy! Mary also has a little slot, as you can see in photos #4 and #5, for what I can only assume would be part of a spoon.
It would make sense to me if a spoon was supposed to lean against Mary, or sort of clip into that slot portion, only no spoon I have every tried fits to it at all, not even, as far as I can tell without removing it from the original plastic, the Mary spoon pictured. They all fall down. You can lean a spoon up to it if you balance it correctly, but it doesn't come into contact with the slot or the spoon part.
You cannot even fill the built in spoons up with the supposed medicine because it would drip all out the slot portion there onto the ailing. So what's the deal!? Were these types of things common in and before the 60s? I've never seen any other form of this, nor has anyone I've ever asked.
Please help! And if you can't, ask your friends, neighbors, and relatives, or even just get creative. Help me solve Mary's Medicine Mystery!

Life at Disneyland, 1958

Thank you to Major Pepperidge for snapping me out of my blog slackerdom! My apologies to everyone who stops by hoping to see an update. This summer has been a busy one, but I will do my utmost to wipe the paint off of my hands and update the blog at least once a week again!
We continue with this article/photo/thing from a special issue of Life magazine, December 22, 1958. It's a really timeless shot. It looks like it could be from any year. Timeless magic!

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!!!

Happy 52nd Birthday, Disneyland!!!

My absolute favorite place on earth! Back when I used to live in Orange County, I was able to attend every July 17th in honor of the day (yes, I have been called a Disney dork). For the 35th I even got into a commercial and on TV! Go me! So, being that I am too far from the OC now, I will have to celebrate with this birthday themed entry to my blog. This comic book, dated August 1958, celebrates a Disneyland birthday party. I haven't read it in a few years, but to the best of my recollection it's a birthday trip through Disneyland with the Mickey and friends. Cute little story with some activities included.
I hope everyone who's attending today has a great time! Eat a churro for me! ;) (or a Dole Whip, whatever suits your fancy!)

How to Catch a Cold

I stumbled across this today. Something I personally didn't know existed. So I figured most likely a good percentage of other people probably haven't seen it either. So I'm posting it. Simple as that! :P
But seriously, this is a very nice piece from 1951, sponsored by Kleenex, with some cute Disney animation. Plus it sends a good message: Keep healthy, and most importantly, don't let people sneeze all over your newspaper!

School's Out!!

Congratulations, kids! School's out! You can put things like the above item away and do as I used to and forget school even exists! So in honor of your summertime freedom, I bring to you this bit of school-related Disneyland merchandise from the past. I really like the stylized 1950's graphics on the front of the case, and personally think that having this in my desk at school would have made the day a whole lot more fun. It does surprise me that the pencils (and really the whole case) are unused. They fit to the box along with the ruler, so I would assume those are original to the piece, but as far as the funny looking eraser and the sharpener, I'm not sure, as they both look used and I cannot see why they would have put a non-Disney character eraser in it. Either way it's a charming little piece of kid merchandise.

Circa 1959

The busy, busy life of Tink. June has been a great month so far, but has left me far too busy to blog. However, today I return with some fun footage I found.
This footage, circa 1959, has a little bit of everything. Some Frontierland that looks so authentic, it nearly had me questioning if it was a real old Western town, or actually Disneyland. There's a nice shot of the Midget Autopia, too. It's really nice footage, and in some sections you can see how parts of Disneyland haven't changed much at all. For me, I love to see that!
Happy weekend everyone!

More Tink on the Small Screen

If all of you out there are like me, you're amazed that there were that many commercials back in the 50's containing Disney characters. Here are some more I haven't seen posted up anywhere before for your viewing pleasure. They appear to be from the holiday season, perhaps in either 1954 or 1955 I'd guess. Be sure to watch both clips as they contain an intro section to the Disneyland television show with all of the sponsors.
"A new cap that unscrews." Now, this has left me wondering what other kind of caps there would have been on the peanut butter jar. Did some just pull off or something? And "Fruit Cocktail Eggnog Pie". How bad does that sound?!

Peter Pan Blocks

Moving back to some Disney merchandise, here's a nice piece from the 1950's. It's a set of Peter Pan blocks, as you can see, and on every side they make up one of these lovely pictures you see in the third photo. Each of he photos tells a bit of the story as well. My personal favorite is the mermaids! I love these pictures as they remind me of the Little Golden Book illustrations of my childhood. So fun and vibrant! I would have been very happy to play with these as a kid in the 50s!

A New Old Commercial Featuring Jiminy Cricket

Here's a very fun and recently uploaded little 1950s advertisment featuring Jiminy Cricket. This one's animation of Jiminy is far more traditional than the other that has been on YouTube for some time now. Join the "sipping and singing society" and enjoy!

Happy 50th!!

On this day, April 29, 1957 the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through opened to the public. So in honor of this day, I present to you footage from this, very missed, attraction. I cannot imbed it, so feel free to visit here and relive some fun memories! Happy Birthday!!!!

Who's calling?

Don't you just love finding Disney(land)ana that's fresh and crispy like it's brand new?! I love that!! This is one of those pieces. So new feeling that the cover is still tight and somehow no child back in the 50s drew inside of this. Not one pencil mark. Love it, and especially love the vibrant turquoise color of this. It's one of those pieces that you can easily picture as one of the last things purchased in the park, in the Emporium perhaps, on the way out.

Monday's Catch of the Day!

All righty, things have slowed down a bit and I have time to do some more blogging again. Sorry to keep everyone waiting!

I thought I should do a bit of vintage Disney merchandise, so I pulled this odd little number from my collection. When I received it, it was very badly tarnished, but with a little care I got it looking quite sweet and shiny again. It is a pendant- a lobster to be exact... an odd choice for Disneyland merchandise, with a tag attached that says "New Orleans Square" on it. It appears to be something from the late 60s. I've never seen another or any other crustaceans from N'awlins. Does anyone have any idea which shop might have carried this? I'd love to find out.

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope it's a great week! :D

On a side note, in addition to being an artist I also work in medical research in search of a cure for paralysis/spinal cord injuries. We are a private group and are in desperate need of more funding to move things into human clinical trials. We have applied for funding and find out this week if we get it. Any prayers you all could make would be so greatly appreciated! We need this so badly! Thanks! :D

Disneyland 1968

My apologies for not updating the blog as much as I would have liked to for the past few weeks. Too many things going on. However, I fully intend to get back to some more regular posting in the very near future. Until then, enjoy this fine Disneyland footage from 1968 recently uploaded. There are some great Frontierland shots in this! Enjoy!

The Horse of the West

Two posts for today to make up for the dry spell. ;)

While YouTubing, I came across this recently uploaded file of Walt introducing the upcoming Disneyland programming for the following week which is scheduled to be "The Horse of the West". It looks good! It also looks like it would make me cry, but I'd love to see it anyway. Does anyone remember this one? It didn't sound familiar to me, but I hope to come across it one day.

Incidentally, I also came across this interesting YouTube file of Fantasmic!'s first commercial. There are a few shots before the final edited version of the commercial. Kinda cool!
Happy Tuesday, folks!

A Very Ducky Artist

A couple years ago I was lucky to meet Dick Alexander, an animator who worked for Disney in the good ole days. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to talk with him, as the event we were at was of a musical nature, but he was kind enough to draw for me the above picture. I remember he said he worked on The Duck a lot, and if memory serves I think I recall him saying he did some work on Pinocchio, though I could be mistaken. Does anyone have any additional information on Mr. Alexander? I'd love to learn more about him! I just thought it was so cool that he'd take the time to draw something for me. He was a very nice man!

Aerial, not Ariel

Here is a very nice, and very early aerial shot of Disneyland's eastern side. As you can see there isn't much in the Tomorrowland/Fantasyland area yet, and the photo gives a nice view of the future home of the Matterhorn and the Subs. The surrounding area is still covered in orange groves, which must have made Disneyland smell spectacular during orange blossom season. Especially mixed with the ever lingering scent of waffle cone!

This photo opens up very large for your viewing pleasure.

Peter Pan Sweatbox Meeting Notes- pt. 4

Here is the conclusion to the Sweatbox notes. I hope you've all enjoyed them! :D

Peter Pan Sweatbox Meeting Notes- pt. 3

Part 3! Happy reading!

Can I be the 'Disney Kid'?

I don't recall seeing this posted on any other blogs lately (though it's very possible I could have missed it), but if you've seen it, I think it's cute enough to watch a 2nd time. What is it with the 1950s and having 'Kids'. I've heard of the Frito Kid, but now the Cheerios Kid? How many more were there? The Maypo kid was pretty cute, but I don't think he was officially called the Maypo Kid was he? Okay it's late, I'm sleep deprived, and just thinking silly thoughts now. Please excuse me. :P

Peter Pan Sweatbox Meeting Notes pt. 2

Here is part 2. Enjoy!

Peter Pan Storyboard

For those of you who don't make the Disney History blog a daily stop (and you should!), I would recommend heading over there. I have lent Didier Ghez a storyboard from Peter Pan that goes nicely with the sweatbox meeting notes that I have listed this week. Check it out! :)

Photoplay

Thanks to a reader, Brian, he informed me that the last page of the Photoplay article I posted in February was no longer working. I tried to fix the link in the original post, but for some reason it refuses to work. I am posting the last page here for those who were not able to read the original here.

Peter Pan Sweatbox Meeting Notes- Jan. 28, 1941 pt. 1

Being the week of the release of Peter Pan- Platinum Edition, I've decided to post what is one of my favorite Disney possessions. They are sweatbox meeting notes from January 28, 1941. I think the most significant part of this is that you can clearly see how much of this movie is from Walt. His ideas are so clear and it is fascinating to see in these notes just how his mind worked. He does much of the speaking here, and as you will come to find, his thoughts in 1941 came to fruition in many ways over a decade later when the film was released.

*Note: my scanner bed isn't legal-sized unfortunately, so much of the white exterior portions of the scans had to be cut off. All of the dialog is in tact, however.

Merr-Hee Christmas!

Okay, I'm super late for Christmas, but I didn't have my blog until January! This is a fun piece though, and I can't wait until December to upload it.

Disney artist T. Hee appears to have taken some time out of his animating (it's written on what appears to be thin animation paper) to make a very long Christmas card list for himself. I love the sketch on the side of what, I assume, was the design for his Christmas card that year (undated). It is also great fun to see the names of so many great artists and people including Frank Thomas, Bud Swift, Roy Disney, Bill Peed, and even Fred Moore's brother-in-law in Lancaster (whomever he may be!). Also of note is his misspelling of Ollie Johnston's name.

I know my Christmas card list every year is no where near as fun as his was.

The Last Word

Today we bid aloha to selections from the Storyboard magazine. The best way to do that, of course, is with some Walt quotes. Happy reading and happy Sunday!