WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Sixty-one years ago tomorrow, Kinematograph Weekly published this article by Walt Disney on the making of Alice in Wonderland... 

Many thanks to Richard Holliss for the copy of this article from Kinematograph Weekly for 31 May 1951 and to Matt Crandall (Vintage Disney Alice blog) for a scan of the cover.

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Pamper your cat - regardless of which British county it comes from...

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Hotel sewing-kit, EuroDisney, 1992

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

Key-rings big enough to ensure you never again lose the keys to the cottage –– or the castle dungeon...

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, Disneyland Paris Resort post card

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak, who died last week, was born in the same year as Mickey Mouse. Here he is writing about his favourite childhood companion:

Mickey Mouse was our buddy. My brother and sister  and I chewed his gum, brushed our teeth with his toothbrush, played with him in a seemingly endless variety of games, and read about his adventures in comic strips and story books. Best of all, our street pal was also a movie star. In the darkened theater, the sudden flash of his brilliant, wild, joyful face – radiating great golden beams – filled me with an intoxicating, unalloyed pleasure...

Though I wasn't aware of it at the time, I now know that a good deal of my pleasure in Mickey had to do with his bizarre proportions: the great rounded head extended still farther by those black saucer ears, the black trunk fitting snugly into ballooning red shorts, the tiny legs stuffed into delicious doughy yellow shoes. The giant white gloves, yellow buttons, pie-cut eyes, and bewitching grin were delectable finishing touches...

A gratifying shape, fashioned primarily to facilitate the needs of the animator, he exuded a sense of physical satisfaction and pleasure – a piece of art that powerfully affected and stimulated the imagination.

From Caldecott & Co: Notes on Books & Pictures by Maurice Sendak, Reinhardt Books, 1988

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

Happily Ever After 'credit card'

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

 

 

 

Hallmark Christmas Tree Decoration, signed by Kathryn Beaumont.

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

EuroDisney postcard, 1992

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

Tell me, Magic Mirror: can it really be??

Mild-mannered Minnie as the Wicked Queen...?

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Tweedledum and Tweedledee Salt and Pepper Shakers
Disney Studio Store 2001

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

Mickey Mouse, rubber-stamp.

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Post card/book mark from The Walt Disney Gallery in Disneyland.

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: one of a series of Disney film-poster re-designed with a minimalist interpretation by freelance graphic designer, Rowan Stocks-Moore.

You can view all Rowan's re-designs here.

And you can also order numbered prints priced at £12.96 GBP. I'm certainly thinking of ordering a couple – if only so as to be able to sing: "Some day my prints will come..."

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

Postcard with press-out stand-up figures from Disneyland Paris Resort.

PASS MARKS

Thirty years ago TODAY, I paid my first-ever visit to the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, California.



The Mouse on the front, the Cheshire Cat on the back!

What pleasure I got from a small piece of card and – guess what? – somehow, on leaving the studio at the end of an unforgettable day that, for a rabid Disney geek, was a dream come true, I inadvertently managed not to follow the instruction printed in bold!

Curious how such trifling things are often a 'pass' to treasured memories!

However, I have to say, a later pass (2001) isn't quite so evocative...

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co

Disneyland Character of the Month Collection Christmas Tree Decoration by Peter Emmerich, 2000.

Check out Peter Emmerich's Sketchbook.

WEDNESDAYS IN WONDERLAND

MICKEY MONDAYS: Manifestations of the Mouse

A Disney Dollar's money-clip.

THE DISNEY ANGLE

in 1958, an article was published in The Wall Street Journal exploring the financial workings of the Walt Disney Company in which its business philosophy was summarised as: 'Dream, diversify – and never miss an angle'.

That quote inspired a radio programme, Never Miss An Angle, that I made in 2001 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Walt Disney which is being repeated this evening on BBC Radio 2.



After tonight's broadcast, Never Miss An Angle can be caught up with via BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.

SNOW ON SATURDAYS: Images of Miss White & Co