For some reason I just love this ad which I spotted on ebay a few weeks ago and I thought you would, too.

Courtesy of Garry Apgar and King Features Syndicate (1939).

Jim Korkis recently stumbled upon this music sheet, supposedly illustrated by Floyd Gottfredson.

Merry Xmas to all of you!

This just in from Göran Broling:

[As you know I have a lot of Ollie's Christmas cards. I guess I received every one from 1978 until he had to quit making them himself just a couple of years or so before he passed away...

For the Christmas card in 1999 Ollie chose to use a photo of a Pinocchio bronze figurine, and pasted in a drawing of himself instead of Jiminy. His dear wife Marie became the Blue Fairy, always drawn with Mickey Mouse ears(!)

As a bonus Ollie also included a very interesting photo of himself and the sculptor, Disney artist Bruce Lau. The photo is from Ollie's home, and it seems that Ollie together with the sculptor are discussing the final approval look on the model used for making the figurine. As a mather of fact I even recognize what the model is standing on. It is Ollie's cookie box, because I have had cookies from that very same box at the same place with Ollie in 1998. :) Bright memories, I can tell you that!]

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[I think your Christmas listing of what you want Santa to bring should be a regular feature on your blog: Lost Treasures (that need to be found).

Here's my first contribution:

In 1929, the Disney Studios made two speciality films with Mickey Mouse. One of them is well known and copies exist: Mickey Mouse singing "Minnie's Yoo Hoo" with some reworked animation from "Mickey's Follies" as a sing a long for the Mickey Mouse Clubs that were in theaters at the time. The second may be one of the most rare Mickey sound cartoons and while there is documentation that it existed, no copy has turned up so far. Again, this was made for the Mickey Mouse Clubs. The film combines animation of Mickey and Minnie with live action of vaudeville star "Noodles" Fagan. I am not sure what the content is but judging by the fact that it was for the Mickey Mouse Clubs it may have involved some type of audience participation, perhaps another sing along.]

A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.

I will be on holiday next week. See you all again in 2011. On January 3rd.

What would I love to receive as a Christmas gift this year? If Santa Claus were all-powerful, here are some of the Disney-history-related items that would make it to my wish list.

What would YOU add to this list?

- Bob Thomas' lost interviews (especially those conducted in the mid-'50s for The Art of Animation and in the '60s for Walt Disney - Magician of the Movies)

- The lost interviews conducted by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston for The Illusion of Life

- Eric Larson’s autobiography manuscript (40 Years at the Mouse House)

- Manuscript of Jack Speirs' autobiography

- The rumored (but unconfirmed) autobiography of Roy Williams

- All of Dave Smith's not-yet-transcribed interviews

- All the letters to Dave Smith by people who knew Walt or worked for Walt

- All of Michael Barrier's and JB Kaufman's not-yet-released interviews

- A full-run of the DeMolay Disney comics

- A complete list of the Disney TV ads produced in the ‘50s

- Production information about the Disney TV ads produced in the ‘50s

- Production information / correspondence / other documents related to the Disney section created for Douglas Fairbanks’ Around the World in 80 Minutes

- Visual elements linked to Mary Pickford's Alice in Wonderland project

- The 1933 Technicolor test for Disney's / Pickford's Alice in Wonderland project

- All the lost Alice Comedies and Disney Oswald cartoons

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Here are some scans from a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Pamphlet from 1993. This is quite different for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 15 years later that just finished celebrating!

The front of the 1993 ticket pamphlet

The inside fold of the pamphlet

Inside of the pamphlet advertising tickets for the four (yes, only four) parties that year

There was then this map for the event which is almost like a very large postcard. Here is the front.

Here is the map on the reverse side, featuring locations for free pictures, hot chocolate, and cookies.]

Pete Emslie just sent me today a link to his great post Have An Ollie Jolly Christmas!

Merry Xmas to you all. The blog will be updated again on Monday.

Here is a great article just in from Jim Korkis about Walt Disney and the Toys for Tots program:

[Toys for Tots began in 1947. Walt Disney became involved the very next year by having the studio design the Toys for Tots train logo that is still used to this day.

Why a train for the logo? Well, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Walt had just returned from the Chicago Train Fair that summer and was already thinking about building a miniature railroad at his home.

Walt was also responsible for the first poster ever created for the campaign in 1956. It featured Donald Duck dressed as Santa Claus driving the Toys for Tots logo train. Over the years, Mickey Mouse, Dennis the Menace, Bugs Bunny and Captain America have been on various Toys for Tots posters.

Walt became involved with the group when he was contacted by the then Director of Public Relations for Warner Brothers Studio, Major Bill Hendricks who was part of the Los Angeles Marine Reservists. In 1947, Hendricks’ wife Diane had made a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband to give it to an organization that helped needy children at Christmas. Hendricks discovered no such agency existed so he started his own with the help of fellow Marines who collected and distributed new and used toys. The Marines used to refurbish the used toys on Reserve drill weekends but since 1980 have only collected new toys.

Kelvin Bailey, a reserve Marine officer and one of the Disney Studios pilots for the company plane, bumped into Walt in a hallway in 1965 and told him that even though the program had been around for seventeen years, it could benefit from a little Walt Christmas magic. Bailey was also the public relations man for the project.

Walt agreed and filmed a special television spot to promote the need to help children. Standing beside a barrel filled with new toys, Walt told television viewers: “Your local Marine Corps Reserve is doing everything possible to see that no unfortunate child is denied the pleasure of having a present to open this Christmas morning. Through their Toys For Tots campaign—and with your help—this can be done. If you’ll place a new toy in one of these barrels, the Marines will be happy to do the rest.”

Walt ‘s active participation in 1965 resulted in over a million children receiving Christmas presents who would not have had a visit from Santa that year. It was an increase of seventy percent over the previous year so in 1966, Walt was once again requested to make a television pitch.

Walt not only did so but drafted the Disneyland characters and actress Greer Garson, who was filming “The Happiest Millionaire” on the lot, to make appeals.

“Yes, Dad was really was dedicated to Toys for Tots. You might find in archives a photo of Chris, our oldest child, accepting an award on his grandpa's behalf the year after he died,” Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s daughter, wrote to me recently.

Walt was very quiet and modest about his charity work which was quite extensive from his support for the John Tracy Clinic, a facility for deaf children and their families, to the children’s wards at St. Joseph Hospital decorated by Disney artists to countless other unsung acts of generosity.

At this time of year, we can honor Walt’s legacy by thinking of those, especially the children, who are less fortunate that us and contribute what we can to make sure that everyone has a very Merry Christmas. ]

This just in from Ron DeFore:

[Didier – I enjoyed your Disneyland story – thought I’d share mine.]

The blog will not be updated until Thursday next week.

I could not leave however, without offering you some content linked to Christmas. Ask for it and Jim Korkis will provide. Here is a beautiful story he sent me yesterday:

[A Christmas Eve Memory from Jack Lindquist, the first President of Disneyland: Disneyland Christmas Eve 1955

"I was walking down Main Street (near the end of the day). There was a couple with two kids, about 8 and 10, on their way out. They were neatly dressed but not well-off. They got down to Emporium (store) and were looking in the window. They didn't go in, but I heard the little girl say, 'This really was better than having Santa Claus.' That said it to me right there: We're going to make it."]