Yogi's Jolly Christmas

Yogi Bear's back in the minds of at least a few folks this holiday season as he appears in a new computer-generated movie but many moons ago that smarter-than-the-average bear made Christmas a little merrier by appearing in a holiday-themed comic book. The Christmas-centric Yogi Bear Jellystone Jollies # 11 was cover-dated January 1963 so was on the stands for Christmas 1962. Featuring a festive cover (I like the way the art tells a sequential story rather than just a single gag), this Jellystone jam-packed holiday extravaganza was a incredible 80 pages long (and cost a then pricey 25 cents)! You can read at least one of the interior comic stories at the Magic Carpet Burn blog, so get that Thermos bottle of hot cocoa out from your pic-a-nic basket and have a few sips as you enjoy some more Hanna-BarBEARa Christmas goodness.

Christmas Fun With Snagglepuss And Others

Christmas 1965 brought a holiday treat in Merry Christmas with The Hanna-Barbera Organ and Chimes—not so much with the record itself which features Christmas music that doesn't include the characters singing nor even narrating, but in the artwork, which is a Hanna-Barbera Christmas delight. Put on some favorite Yuletide tunes (if you would like to hear the album itself, which is actually very nice if pretty generic, you can visit the Check The Cool Wax blog, where you'll find many other Christmas music goodies) and gaze at its glories. How many of the H-B characters pictured in this album art can you name (the Flintstones don't count)?

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh, Part 6

For this final installment of the grand Winnie the Pooh artwork for the 1972 Sears Christmas Catalog, we follow Pooh to Mexico for more "BEARin' of the Gifts"—and I hope you agree that this rare Disney art is a true Christmas gift, simple but festive. This is the concluding installment but please go back and enjoy the first five as you celebrate the holidays according to your own Christmas customs and traditions.

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh, Part 5

Here's Gopher again and the rest of Pooh's true blue friends too to celebrate Christmas in Germany. I seem to remember hearing the art is by Disney Legend Burny Mattinson, who worked on Walt Disney's original Pooh featurettes as well as the all-new Pooh due in 2011. Come back tomorrow for conclusion of this special Pooh art from the Sears Catalog for the 1972 Christmas Season.

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh, Part 4

Time for a small smackeral of something sweet for Christmas, and that must mean Winnie the Pooh. Feast your eyes on this sweet treat that takes us to Christmas in Sweden. (Click on the image for a larger image.) I like how the artist incorporated some of the smaller characters, such as Piglet ( A Very Small and Timid Animal, indeed) to let the catalog reader know there's more. In Part 1, back here, we even had Gopher, that Disney-created critter who was included in the catalog even though he's not in the book, you know. Stop back tomorrow for another Yuletide sweet treat from Winnie the Pooh.

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh, Part 3

Today we follow Winnie the Pooh and his friends to Italy for more Christmas celebrations. In the introduction to this sweet-as-hunny artwork, the Sears Christmas Catalog for 1972 stated that the childlike Pooh characters are a perfect match for the wonder of Christmas, and I think you'll agree. Come back for Part 4 tomorrow, and in the meantime click on the image for a larger view.

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh, Part 2

Here's Part 2 of that splendid Winnie the Pooh art created especially for the 1972 Christmas catalog. Sears was the first Disney licensee to create Pooh merchandise, and their agreement with Disney was exclusive for many years. Sears occasionally ran Pooh art but it was usually just a spot illustration here and there. To my knowledge, Sears never before or after published anything as spectacular as this Pooh Christmas art. Part 2 covers Christmas in Spain, so enjoy, and remember to click on the image for a larger view.

Christmas 'Round The World With Winnie The Pooh

Back in July I promised more about that very special Christmas art featuring Winnie the Pooh, and starting today, I will post it all for Christmas. This rarely-seen Disney artwork was created for the Sears catalog for "the 1972 Christmas Season," and is a holiday delight as I'm sure you will agree. Here's part 1, all about Christmas in Holland. Be sure and click on the image for a larger view... and be sure and check back for the next five days so you can feast your eyes on all six Pooh views of Christmas customs and traditions 'round the world.

Sweet Tweets From Disney

Disney has officially started tweeting from its Twitter account, @Disney, yesterday, December 5, 2010, in celebration of Walt Disney's birthday. And that's appropriate because the tweets are to be very Walt-centric. Disney's tweets are planned to include links to, art, video clips and photos. Disney started its tweets with a look at Walt and his Tomorrowland (ready for a rare color image of Walt playfully interacting with GARCO the robot?), and soon will segue to Christmas. If you hook up with only one Twitter account, make sure you sign up with Disney's. To celebrate @Disney on Twitter, here (above) is a detail from a piece of Retta Scott Worcester's exquisite art for the 1950 Cinderella Big Golden Book, immortalizing the second Disney princess's bluebird friends. After all, a bluebird is the symbol of Twitter, promising tweets that offer the sweet treat that only Disney can deliver.

Happy Birthday, Walt: A View On Art

To honor Walt Disney on this, the 109th anniversary of his birth, here's a rarely-seen 1964 photo from the Los Angeles Times of Walt visiting an early version of the California Institute of Arts (CalArts), the famed arts school founded by Walt. 1964 was also the year Walt threw the Hollywood premiere of Mary Poppins on August 27, 1964, as a benefit for the burgeoning school, at which Walt screened a short film entitled The CalArts Story. In 1966, Walt had this to say on the subject of the Disney Studio producing "art": "An artist who consciously goes about producing art can become inhibited. It's always easier to talk about art, or to strike a beatnik pose, then it is to create. My artists are asked to 'let go'. We encourage a free-flow of ideas. It is always interesting to me how many people can vividly recall a sequence from a favorite Disney film—they can even tell you the colors! This may be nostalgia, or it could be that these films and their creative ideas are becoming a part of art history."