Too much espresso coffee can send you just the tiniest bit mad!
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PEANUTES
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Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Monday, 12 March 2012
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
ROBERT B SHERMAN (1925-2012)
I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing, yesterday, of Robert B Sherman who, with his brother Richard M Sherman, was one of the all-time great showbiz song-writing partnerships.Their words and music provided the background score to my childhood and to that of many others.
Later, I had the great good fortune to get to know Bob and Dick as friends and have fond memories of conversations (often seated around a piano) about their songs for films, shows and television and, of course, their unique collaboration with Walt Disney.
Rest in peace, Bob.
It's a world of laughter, a world or tears,
It's a world of hopes, it's a world of fears,
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware,
It's a small world after all.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Today we are moving home, so here's a picture of Mr Mouse (and friends) on the move...
Artwork from a card notifying the change of address of Disney's London office (from Soho to Hammersmith) in February 1997.
Artwork from a card notifying the change of address of Disney's London office (from Soho to Hammersmith) in February 1997.
Monday, 20 February 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Badge from the opening day of the new Tomorrowland at Disneyland, 22 May 1998
Saturday, 18 February 2012
"I'M WISHING..."
Did you happen to get any trinkets – diamond rings, that sort of thing – on Valentine's Day? If so, here's the ideal place to keep such trophies of the heart...
Incolay/Cameo Onyx Disney Snow White Heart Trinket Box, c.1980
Incolay/Cameo Onyx Disney Snow White Heart Trinket Box, c.1980
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
COMING ATTRACTION SIGN (1988) by Chuck Young for Tomorrowland in Disneyland
Sold as a postcard in The Disney Gallery, New Orleans Square, Disneyland
Monday, 30 January 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Cloisonné pin celebrating Disneyland's 45th anniversary, 2000.
Friday, 27 January 2012
DREAMS OF WONDERLAND
Since today is the 180th birthday of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to us today as LEWIS CARROLL, I thought that this would be an appropriate image with which to celebrate such a special day...
'Day Dreams' is a fantastic piece by Disney fine artist, Michael Peraza.
Mike Peraza began working at Disney by helping to design the multiplane shots in The Fox and the Hound, before going on to work on layouts (and title cards) for Mickey's Christmas Carol and then The Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid for which breakthrough Disney film he provided the art direction.
The staggering role-call of other films and TV series with which he was involved includes TRON, Return to Oz, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Duck Tales; Tailspin; Chip and Dale - Rescue Rangers; Goof Troop; The Jungle Book 2, as well as a number of non-Disney projects, among them: Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Don Bluth's Thumbelina and Fox's Anastasia and Ice Age.
On his informative and diverting blog, Ink and Paint Club: Memories of the House of Mouse, Mike shares many fascinating recollections of the films he worked on and the filmmakers he worked with during what was the Renaissance of Disney animation.
The blog is full of riveting stories and never-seen-before images. Check it out!
Then, when you are done there, pop over to Mike's Fine Art Illustration website and enjoy the sensational pieces of Disney art that he has specially created and which capture the magic of classic Disney films such as Pinocchio and Peter Pan...
The Little Mermaid...
And Dumbo...
'Day Dreams' is a fantastic piece by Disney fine artist, Michael Peraza.
Mike Peraza began working at Disney by helping to design the multiplane shots in The Fox and the Hound, before going on to work on layouts (and title cards) for Mickey's Christmas Carol and then The Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid for which breakthrough Disney film he provided the art direction.
The staggering role-call of other films and TV series with which he was involved includes TRON, Return to Oz, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Duck Tales; Tailspin; Chip and Dale - Rescue Rangers; Goof Troop; The Jungle Book 2, as well as a number of non-Disney projects, among them: Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Don Bluth's Thumbelina and Fox's Anastasia and Ice Age.
On his informative and diverting blog, Ink and Paint Club: Memories of the House of Mouse, Mike shares many fascinating recollections of the films he worked on and the filmmakers he worked with during what was the Renaissance of Disney animation.
The blog is full of riveting stories and never-seen-before images. Check it out!
Then, when you are done there, pop over to Mike's Fine Art Illustration website and enjoy the sensational pieces of Disney art that he has specially created and which capture the magic of classic Disney films such as Pinocchio and Peter Pan...
The Little Mermaid...
And Dumbo...
Monday, 23 January 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
'M'-shaped box of sweets from Candy Palace, Disneyland, c.1990
Friday, 20 January 2012
Monday, 9 January 2012
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
A Topolino (Mickey Mouse) clock spotted in the window of a curio shop in Venice, Italy...
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Sunday, 1 January 2012
Friday, 30 December 2011
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Saturday, 24 December 2011
A (SEASONAL) DREAM IS A WISH...
I sincerely hope that your
CHRISTMAS...
CHRISTMAS...
...will be a FAIRY-TALE
Come True!
Come True!
Images: Tapestries and frescoes in Auberge de Cendrillon, Fantasyland, Disneyland Pari
Monday, 12 December 2011
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Back in 1982, prior to the opening of EPCOT Center, I was interviewing a top Disney executive for a BBC television documentary I was making about Walt Disney World's second gated attraction.
"Will Mickey and the other familiar Disney characters have a role at EPCOT?" I asked. Mr Exec shook his head. "No," he replied with firmness, "you will only ever encounter Mickey and the gang at their home in the Magic Kingdom."
Well, it didn't take long for that policy to undergo revision as you can see from a publicity photo from 1985, showing the Mouse dressed as an archetypal image of the nation that once owned America as a colony...
Mickey's outfit is inspired by the distinctive costume of 'The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard Extraordinary', popularly known as the Beefeaters.
The caption reads:
CHIEF CHEESEATER -- You've seen the famous Beefeaters of the Tower of London. Now meet Mickey Mouse in his costume for WorldFest, December's international festival in the United Kingdom Showcase at Epcot Center. Special holiday entertainment, yuletide decorations, sidewalk food stands and week-end performances of "Skyleidoscope" with its racing dragons and rainbow aircraft are among special features in World Showcase during December.
"Will Mickey and the other familiar Disney characters have a role at EPCOT?" I asked. Mr Exec shook his head. "No," he replied with firmness, "you will only ever encounter Mickey and the gang at their home in the Magic Kingdom."
Well, it didn't take long for that policy to undergo revision as you can see from a publicity photo from 1985, showing the Mouse dressed as an archetypal image of the nation that once owned America as a colony...
Mickey's outfit is inspired by the distinctive costume of 'The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard Extraordinary', popularly known as the Beefeaters.
The caption reads:
CHIEF CHEESEATER -- You've seen the famous Beefeaters of the Tower of London. Now meet Mickey Mouse in his costume for WorldFest, December's international festival in the United Kingdom Showcase at Epcot Center. Special holiday entertainment, yuletide decorations, sidewalk food stands and week-end performances of "Skyleidoscope" with its racing dragons and rainbow aircraft are among special features in World Showcase during December.
Monday, 5 December 2011
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Happy 110th Birthday
WALT DISNEY
Today's Mickey is Blaine Gibson's 'Partners' statue: a bronze likeness of the Mouse standing hand-in-hand with his creator in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Disneyland.
Image: Brian Sibley
Image: Brian Sibley
Monday, 28 November 2011
B.M.: 'BEFORE MICKEY'
A highly significant pen-and-ink drawing by Walter Elias Disney will go under the auctioneer's hammer on Wednesday 30 December in the Holabird-Kagin Americana 2011 Grand Final Auction to be held at the Atlantis Casino Resort, 3800 S. Virginia St., Reno, Nevada, 89502, United States.
Boldly drawn with great confidence and competence in the style of 'twenties comics, the drawing is a reminder that whilst in his later career, Walt didn't draw the 'cartoons' that carried his name, the young Disney was no slouch at the drawing-board!
Made in c. 1921 and measuring 8" x 4 3/4", the drawing is attached to a blue page with a heading titled 'Miscellaneous' from 'The Girl Graduate's Record Book' that belonged to Walt's sister, Ruth Disney Beecher. The reverse side of this page has "another work of art and a poem" signed Ipkigenia Gilhouse with the date '21, but it is the Disney sketch that has set the opening bid at a cool $17,500.00!
Many thanks to Michael Goldberg for telling me about the sale, though I doubt I'll be able to keep up with the bidding for long!
Boldly drawn with great confidence and competence in the style of 'twenties comics, the drawing is a reminder that whilst in his later career, Walt didn't draw the 'cartoons' that carried his name, the young Disney was no slouch at the drawing-board!
Made in c. 1921 and measuring 8" x 4 3/4", the drawing is attached to a blue page with a heading titled 'Miscellaneous' from 'The Girl Graduate's Record Book' that belonged to Walt's sister, Ruth Disney Beecher. The reverse side of this page has "another work of art and a poem" signed Ipkigenia Gilhouse with the date '21, but it is the Disney sketch that has set the opening bid at a cool $17,500.00!
Many thanks to Michael Goldberg for telling me about the sale, though I doubt I'll be able to keep up with the bidding for long!
Monday, 21 November 2011
MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse
Think Mouskashoes and you might suppose we would be talking about a pair of bright yellow boots, but not necessarily!These Mouse-eared-and-tailed high heels are something else...
They are made by Mellow Yellow and you can check them out at Sarenza.co.uk, although their website says they are currently out of stock. I bet Minnie got the last pair!
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
WONDERLAND WONDERBOOK
It was 1969 – most of my readers probably weren't born – and I was in a state of HUGE excitement: Disney's 1951 animated feature, Alice in Wonderland was being reissued in Britain and was coming to my local cinema.
I was (in addition to being a rabid Disney fan) a crazed Carrollian having fallen in love with the book long before I could even read from having it read to me by my parents.
In those prehistoric, pre-video days I had seen stills from the Disney version, and clips on TV, I had read comic- and picture-book versions and listened endlessly to the Disneyland Storyteller LP, but... I had never SEEN the FILM!
I loved it! As passionately as I felt about the book, I was not so much a purist as to worry about the departures from the original text (although I thought it was more than a bit unfortunate to have mis-spelled the author's name on the credits!) and I went back more than once to the cinema that week to see it again - and again!
The supporting feature was the live action film based on Sterling North's book, Rascal, about raising a baby raccoon which - like all the sentimental Disney animal-pix – I also enjoyed and each visit I managed to pick up the promotional giveaways for the release: the ingenious Alice's Magic Wonderbook, the four pages of which could be manipulated so as to reveal six or, if you were very clever, eight pages!
Here are all those pages...
I was (in addition to being a rabid Disney fan) a crazed Carrollian having fallen in love with the book long before I could even read from having it read to me by my parents.
In those prehistoric, pre-video days I had seen stills from the Disney version, and clips on TV, I had read comic- and picture-book versions and listened endlessly to the Disneyland Storyteller LP, but... I had never SEEN the FILM!
I loved it! As passionately as I felt about the book, I was not so much a purist as to worry about the departures from the original text (although I thought it was more than a bit unfortunate to have mis-spelled the author's name on the credits!) and I went back more than once to the cinema that week to see it again - and again!
The supporting feature was the live action film based on Sterling North's book, Rascal, about raising a baby raccoon which - like all the sentimental Disney animal-pix – I also enjoyed and each visit I managed to pick up the promotional giveaways for the release: the ingenious Alice's Magic Wonderbook, the four pages of which could be manipulated so as to reveal six or, if you were very clever, eight pages!
Here are all those pages...
And, finally, the secret 'hidden' pages 7 and 8...
Ah, those were the days! Still, now you can watch the film any time you want on DVD and, on Blu-ray, you can watch me and others on the bonus extras talking about the book, the movie and those twin geniuses, Lewis Carroll and Walt Disney...
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