Book Club Invoice - 1976

The Wonderful World of Reading book club is still alive and kicking today. Here's a look at a bill from 33 years ago...

The strange thing is, this invoice is still around but I haven't seen those books in years!

Surprise For Mickey Mouse

This 1971 Little Golden Book is not only a Surprise for Mickey Mouse but it's also a surprise for readers. With no indication on the front cover, this book is actually about one of the original attractions at Walt Disney World. The story starts off with Mickey Mouse receiving a telegram informing him that he is to conduct the orchestra at Walt Disney World's new Mickey Mouse Review. Mickey is so excited that he rushes to tell Minnie the good news. However, Minnie doesn't seem all that interested in Mickey's good news. When Mickey bumps into some of his other friends like Horace Horsecollar, the Three Little Pigs, Geppetto and Donald Duck, none of them seem to find much interest in Mickey's new gig either.

Sometimes when you pick up older kids books like this one you'll find a few words or phrases that have dropped off the "vocabulary radar" in more recent times. In this book my two favorite sentences are: "Mickey walked on feeling terribly forlorn..." and "...Mickey brooded all the way to Florida." They crack me up every time. I also like the part: "Good luck," said Practical Pig calmly, "And don't touch my new wall. The mortar's still wet." Just an odd word that you don't see often in a Little Golden Book.

In the end, Mickey and his nephews make their way to Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom...

...and all of Mickey's friends surprise him by being part of the Mickey Mouse Revue.
In case you're not familiar with the Mickey Mouse Review, it was an audio-animatronic show featuring dozens of Disney characters singing a medley of tunes from Disney films. The show ran in Fantasyland (where Mickey's Philharmagic now runs) from opening day until September 1980. The stage show got a second life when it was moved to Tokyo Disneyland in 1983.

I can imagine how exciting it must have been to have had this book as a child in the 70's, read it a thousand times and then to get to Walt Disney World and see that the Mickey Mouse Review was actually there waiting for you beyond the castle walls. That must have been very magical!

Summer Fun with Mickey & the Gang

Here's Mickey and friends enjoying their summer in a handful of children's books...

1983, Random House/Wonderful World of Reading Book Club

Originally published 1950, Golden Book/Western Publishing

1991, Disney Books by Mail

1974, Golden Book/Western Publishing

2007, Disney Press

Black Hole Golden Book

As I've stated before The Black Hole cracks me up. Don't get me wrong, it's a good film and all but it's just such an un-Disney movie from a time when Disney films were very formulaic. Thirty years later the merchandising still makes me smile. Case in point, this Little Golden Book from 1979. First, you've got the title: The Black Hole: A Spaceship Adventure for Robots. That sounds like the literal title translation from an overseas market. Second, you've got a Little Golden Book, famous for cute stories like The Poky Little Puppy and The Saggy Baggy Elephant and this one is about murderous robots about to be sucked into the dark abyss of cold, empty space.

Poor Black Hole, it doesn't even get the fond recognition that other not-so-classic Disney films get, like Pete's Dragon, Bedknobs & Broomsticks and The Aristocats have achieved.

Anywho, here's some of the slightly bizarre uncredited illustrations...

I don't care how big of a Disney fan you are, ya gotta admit V.I.N.C.E.N.T. has always been a poor man's R2-D2.

Wall-E Scholastic Art

It's funny how sometimes the movie studios do everything in their power to keep details about plot and characters in the summer blockbusters hush-hush and then they release books with the whole story inside a month before the movie comes out! Yesterday the mailman dropped off our latest shipment from the Scholastic Disney Wonderful World of Reading club. My kids (and I) were excited to find a copy of Wall-E tucked inside the envelope. I'm going to try and keep the kids from making me read it to them before we go see the movie because last year the Little Golden Book of Ratatouille kind of gave away the ending of the movie before it was in theatres. Anyway, the cool thing about some of the kids books based on the Pixar films is that the illustrations are done in a stylistic fashion that looks different than the actual movie. I don't think there's any spoilers here, but I will say there are some cool looking things in this book. Here's some of the art work from this adaptation of the movie which opens June 27.

Mickey Mouse's Truck Book

I realize I've already covered one kids book this week here on the blog, but yesterday we dug this great little book up from the bottom of a basket of books in our living room. It's honestly been a couple of years since I've seen it. Mickey Mouse's Truck Book is a simple little board book from 1984 that shows Mickey doing different jobs all with the help of a truck. I guess it's supposed to tap into that natural fascination that little boys have with trucks. As I was reading the book to one of my kids I was appreciating how simple and low-key the illustrations were. I guess I'm getting used to Mickey books being rendered in the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style. The pictures here seem almost old fashioned and then I noticed that the book is only 24 years old...and then I felt old! Anyhow, I thought some of you guys might also have the same appreciation for these quiet drawings so since the book is only 10 pages long, I scanned the whole thing.

Vintage Wonderful World Book Ad

This ad appeared in the back of a Little Golden Book. This particular book has been sitting on the used book sale shelf at my local library since October. It's missing the back cover and several pages inside, but for a dime I figured it was worth salvaging just to scan this ad. However, the title page of the book is among the many pages missing. Therefore, it's hard to date this ad. The latest movie mentioned in the books is Robin Hood which would make this ad mid-70's, however if they are talking about the live-action Robin Hood and not the 1973 animated feature this ad could date back to the early 60's as Sword in the Stone and 101 Dalmatians is mentioned. Either way, it's a neat 4-page ad with some vintage character art work. These books are pretty easy to find at an antique mall or flea market. I've even seen the whole set, with the box, for $20.00.

Baby Gyro

Baby versions of the Disney Characters (known oddly enough as Disney Babies) have been around for almost 25 years now helping sell baby clothes, baby furniture, baby bedding and anything else you might need for a baby. They've also appeared in a number of books geared towards the under 4 set. Usually the Disney Babies consist of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. Of all the other Disney characters out there, it's kind of strange to find Gyro Gearloose presented in his younger years. In the 1991 book, Safety First, you'll find Baby Mickey along with his good buddy Baby Gyro getting ready for a day at the park. It's odd that they chose Gyro Gearloose for this story, as he's an inventor and yet there are no inventions, gizmos or gadgets in the book.

Here we see Baby Gyro and Baby Mickey, apparently home without adult supervision, enjoying some delicious scalding hot soup. Careful guys, that soup is hot! Always wait for a grown up to fill your bowl with soup! What...no grown ups!? OK, go ahead!

Here Baby Gyro and Baby Mickey head off to the park in the big city all by themselves. At least they remember to stay on the sidewalk and always use the crosswalk!

Not Just Any Disney Joke Book

Get ready for some big time comedy, folks! This isn't just any ol' joke book - this is The ULTIMATE Disney Joke Book by Chip Lovitt (1995, Disney Press). I dug this out of a used book store this weekend. It's 64 pages of zingers and puns featuring a who's who of Disney animated characters. Most of these jokes have probably been printed 1,000 times before in slightly different forms in books like 101 Best Hamburger Jokes and Super Silly Sports Riddles. But ya gotta give this book credit for including characters from just about all the classic Disney animated features. A good deal of Disney's output in the mid-90's centered on "the new Disney" characters from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. You'll find all them here along with Mickey and the gang, Snow White, Pinocchio and even Prince Philip.

Get ready to dust off your funny bone for a sampling of comedy Disney-style:

What's Mickey's favorite type of TV show?

A Minnie-series.

Why is the movie Bambi like ninety-nine cents?

Both are about a buck.

Why won't Cinderella ever be a great soccer player?

She runs away from the ball.

One more...

What has sixteen legs and catches flies?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs playing baseball.

You can go get a tissue now to wipe the tears of laughter from your eyes.

Mickey Is Happy

Here's another one of those great used book store finds! MICKEY IS HAPPY (1992, Disney Press) is a very simple book made up of only five sentences. Each sentence tells how one of the Fab Five is feeling, and each feeling is accompanied by a fabulous illustration by Richard Buerrstein. The pictures are bold, colorful and full of expression! My kids love this book and even though it's only 12 pages long we spend quite a bit of time with this book when we read it. Each of the kids shows off their happy, sad or scared face with the turn of every page.
I could easily scan the whole book, but I'll just share with you a few of the wonderful graphics that make this book special in our home:

There's two other books in this series; In-Out A Disney Book of Opposites and One Mickey Mouse A Disney Book of Numbers.

Pluto and the Adventure of the Golden Scepter

Our favorite Orlando resort serves as the setting for Pluto and the Adventure of the Golden Scepter, a 1972 edition in the classic line of Little Golden Books. This off-beat tale follows Mickey's nephew Morty and good ol' Pluto as they help the King of Cinderella's Castle relocate his missing scepter. Pluto doesn't quite understand what a scepter is, and when Morty tells him it looks like a stick the two head off into the Magic Kingdom where Pluto tracks down every kind of stick you'd find in the park. The pictures in the book offer some unique renderings of Disney World landmarks.



Pluto mistakes Minnie's riding crop for the missing scepter. Minnie looks great dressed in the classic ambassador uniform. The background offers a retro look at the original opening day Tomorrowland.






Poor Goofy! Times were tough for him in the early 70's. Goofy had to start each morning picking up trash around the park. Why, he didn't even have his own trash-picking-up stick! He had to borrow one from Humphrey Bear every day.







It turns out the missing scepter had made it's way to the Jungle Cruise where this little elephant had been using it to scratch his hot dusty back. Morty suggests that the elephant take a shower in this waterfall. "Why, he enjoyed that shower so much that he stayed there ever after. (He is now the most contented elephant-and the cleanest, too-in the whole jungle.)" A nice tie-in to something that you can actually see at the park.

Sneak Peak of Cinderella

The 1948 book Walt Disney's Mother Goose uses the Disney cannon of characters to illustrate classic nursery rhymes. In addition to Mickey, Donald and Goofy, the likenesses of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi are used several times thoughout the book. But tucked away inside the pages next to the rhyme Little Betty Blue is an illustration featuring a much younger, cartoonier looking Cinderella than the Cinderella we've all come to know and love from the 1950 animated classic. The dress appears to be close to the one she wears to the ball in the movie, but Cindy herself has a more rounded look, a little more youthful. It looks as if the studio snuck in this sneak preview of their newest star even though she still had some evolution to go through before she hit the big screen. It's the one picture in the book that sticks out from all the other traditional looking characters. Everytime I read the book to my kids I start wondering what the story behind this version of Cinderella is.

Check out this other great picture from the same book. It features stars from almost every Disney animated film to have been released at that time. (I don't see Fantastia represented.)

Disneyland On The Air

Disneyland and Walt Disney World have served as the setting to many children's books throughout the years. Sometimes the theme parks are the homes of the classic Disney characters, other times it seems that Mickey and the gang are busy running the parks. And once in a while, the Disney parks just play host to the vacationing antics of Mickey Mouse and his friends. In this 1955 Little Golden Book Disneyland On The Air Mickey and Donald arrive at Disneyland for a live broadcast of the Disneyland television program.






This book was perhaps one of the first to use Disneyland as a setting for it's story. A brief note on the copyright page before the story begins reads: Disneyland, in southern California, is truly the land of childhood's dreams come true. Millions have visited this magic land on TV, and soon will in reality. Here for the first time some of its delights may be sampled in book form." Actually not much of Disneyland is featured in the book.

There are a few exterior depictions of Main Street U.S.A. in the opening pages of the tale, but other than that only a few small illustrations on the front cover give any hint to the contents of the park. This picture to the right suggests Main Street U.S.A. as a real working thoroughfare with foot traffic traveling from inside the park to the Opera House. Also, I suspect Walt Disney would not have been happy with a modern automobile taking a spin down his turn-of-the-century Main Street.

One last image from this book...this somewhat disturbing illustration of Donald pulling two guns on Mickey. The question is: How did Donald get those guns past the exhaustive bag search at the main gate? This kind of thing would never happen today (without a cautionary introduction from Leonard Maltin!)