Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Spookily Setting Up 50 Happy Years
Donald Duck tangles with Magica De Spell and her raven Poe in the cover illustrating "The Raven Raiders" in Donald Duck issue #153 (1973), cover art attributed to John Carey (Pencils) and Pete Alvarado (inks). A suitably spooky cover for our Countdown to Halloween 2018 thanks to the presence of the sinister sorceress and her creepy ravens, but it's more than that. Readers who look closely will observe the famed 50 Happy Years logo (in the lower right-hand corner of the cover) used to celebrate Disney's golden anniversary in 1973. I have mentioned the 50 Happy Years campaign before as in here, here and here, but now I have written an article exploring some details of the year-long celebration for D23.com. Click here for Did You Know? Eight Golden Anniversary Facts About Disney's 50 Happy Years, written by me for D23. Enjoy discovering some little know elements of this 1973 mega-event—and be sure and come back to Tulgey Wood for more Halloween fun throughout October.
Poor old Unca Donald never gets a break!
ReplyDeleteI have been nostalgic for the "50 Happy Years" celebration. One thing you didn't note in your article was that every issue of "Walt Disney Comics Digest" published in 1973 contained the "50 Happy Years" logo on its masthead where normally the face of a popular Disney character would go. Not only that, the contents of that publication delved deeply into the Disney comics archives for some remarkable issues--an all Mickey Mouse issue, an all Donald Duck/Carl Barks issue, a reprint of the giant-sized comics version of "Mary Poppins," and a reprint of "Uncle Scrooge and Daisy Duck's Showboat," just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteI watched the TV special, I got the coffee table book as my all-time ultimate Christmas gift, I savored the record album, and I saw the 1973 edition (all of them, actually) of "Disney on Parade." I also attended a special anniversary preview showing of "Robin Hood". If memory serves, the TV special was repeated toward the end of the year-long celebration, because I'm pretty sure I saw it twice.
1973 was a hugely wonderful year to be a Disney fan!