Sears Sells Seasonal Spinners

From the 1964 Sears Christmas Catalog (aka the "wish book"), here's a glimpse into the past: a selectional of pleasing platters of Christmas music. This catalog page includes such perennials as Bing Crosby's Merry Christmas, Andy Williams' A Christmas Album and (one of my favorites) Tennessee Ernie Ford's The Star Carol.

An LP For The Littlest Angel

This musical presentation of the Hallmark Hall of Fame debuted on December 6, 1969, and was rebroadcast for several years thereafter by NBC. The soundtrack album for The Littlest Angel was a particular treat as it featured a decorative pop-up made up of photos of favorite moments from this television holiday classic. 

Dot Records Does Christmas

Some Yuletide LP albums from Dot Records of yore are highlighted in this colorful ad from TV Guide for December 15, 1962. This vintage advertisement gives a glimpse at the artwork as well as the artists that were being presented for Christmastime that year. Though some of thee covers and the singing stars they represent may have been somewhat forgotten over the sprawling decades they are still timeless, as this ad attests.  In operation from 1950 through 1977, the Dot label was revived just this year. Interestingly, the Christmas LP ads of the 1960s usually spiced things up by adding one or two non-holiday albums and this ad is no exception. Included is the 2-LP set of the original soundtrack score of The Ten Commandments (1956) by Elmer Bernstein—but perhaps this shouldn't be too surprising as Paramount Pictures (the studio behind The Ten Commandments) owned Dot records at the time.

Disney Catalog At Christmas

The much missed Disney Catalog published often wonderful art as their cover. Here's a typically delightful entry for Christmastime 1993 showcasing Dopey and his sure-to-be-disastrous tree decorating. 

A Partridge Family In A Pear Tree

It's December and that means it's time for the annual Christmas celebration here at Tulgey Wood. This year I hope to focus at least a little on that seasonal staple, the Christmas LP album. To start things spinning here's what a lot of folks might consider an unlikely inclusion. Believe it or not, A Partridge Family Christmas Card is one of my favorite Christmas albums. This album was originally issued in 1971 in conjunction with the TV series, which ran on ABC from to 1970-1974. Perhaps even more surprisingly i never even heard this album until a few years ago. I am not a fan of the series so I felt no desire to listen to it—but I accidentally stumbled across it on the internet and decided why not? I'm so glad I did because there are some terrific covers of classic Yuletide tunes here. To take one example I have never cared for the song "Blue Christmas"—that's right, not even Elvis Presley's famous recording of that seasonal standard.  But now that I have heard this album, I'm a fan of the song, or at least David Cassidy's version.  Some of David Cassidy's (or should I say Keith Partridge?) other songs are just as fun and intriguing. For example, his rendition of frosty the Snowman is so underplayed it's over the top. As you can see from the images below, the album featured an actual photo card from the fictional fam. The fact that the card is often missing from the album makes this a highly sought collectable's item. Reportedly, this was the top-selling Christmas album of 1971. 

Thanksgiving Leftovers 2014

As has become the custom here in Tulgey Wood, we are featuring the annual poster for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as an after-Thanksgiving Day treat. I scanned this out of the November 17-23, 2014, issue of New York magazine so I thought I would throw in Macy's ad/announcement/invitation that faced the poster just for good measure.

The Sweetest Story Ever Told: Walt Disney’s Cinderella

This article is part of the Fairy Tale Blogathon, hosted by Movies Silently.  Illustrating this piece are some of my favorite Cinderella images. Be sure and also read the article I wrote about Walt Disney's Cinderella at D23.com.  It's Members-Only content but you can join D23 for free at the website. 

Why the propensity for perturbation when it comes to the Disney Princesses?  Though there may be a slight something to the charge that these fairy-tale royals overemphasize physical beauty, material wealth and idealized romance to the detriment of little girls, there is also something to be said about the much more important values the Princesses in general embody. Aside from being pretty in pink (or blue) these lovely lasses offer active examples of such virtues as kindness, thoughtfulness and putting the needs of others before one's own just as often (if not more often) as they dream of handsome princes and elegant gowns.

Certainly anyone who actually watches Walt Disney’s Cinderella (1950), to take one very specific example, can see in the scullery-maid-turned-princess a positive character who can be a spiritual role model for girls and boys (and men and woman) of all ages. A story of miracles, of hatred answered with kindness, of paradise restored, Cinderella can be seen as an allegory about good and evil, with virtue triumphing over injustice and cruelty.

Like many fairy tales, which many still overlook as mindless fantasies for preschoolers, Cinderella is a primal story that powerfully explores spiritual issues. Certainly the most famous of all the fairy stories, the Cinderella legend is found in some form in many cultures; there are at least 300 versions of the tale featuring a downtrodden heroine who triumphs over adversity in every language. Walt Disney based his animated version on poet Charles Perrault’s French adaptation, published in 1697. Walt was long interested in animating the richly potent tale; he produced a silent Laugh-O-gram short of the story while he was still in Kansas City in 1922. In the 1930s, a Cinderella Silly Symphony was in development. With the enormous success of his first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), it was only a matter of time before Cinderella became Walt’s second princess.

As carefully established in the opening narration (delivered by Betty Lou Gerson, who, believe it or not, was also the voice of Cruella De Vil in Walt Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1961) in the resulting animated feature, Cinderella is “abused, humiliated and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind. For with each dawn, she found new hope that her dreams of happiness would come true.” This graceful (literally, full of grace) young woman who returns good for evil, has the three eternals: faith, hope and love. The disgraceful (again, literally) cruelty of her Wicked Stepmother and spoiled stepsisters do not change Cinderella; she remains her same caring self.

Cinderella’s love is concretely manifested in her actions toward the mice and birds who are her only friends. Her care for these humble creatures is a sign of Cinderella’s grace-filled state; she is in harmony with nature (except for the evil cat, Lucifer, who is literally named after the devil), an indication of her pre-fall Eden-esque status. Disney animation brings these humble creatures to life with such delightfully delineated personalities; even though some adaptions of this fairy tale mention that the mice who are later transformed into horses are Cinderella’s pets, I’m not aware of any other version of the cinder-girl’s story in which the animals are defined characters. Walt's skillful storytelling establishes this by the introduction of the new mouse in the house Cinderella's rescue of a new mouse from a trap, implying she has done the same for the other mice. She names (or christens, in what are many symbols throughout the film that can be seen as signs of new life at the least or overt baptismal signs at the most) the chubby new mouse Octavius (Gus, or "Gus-Gus," as Jaq calls him, for short). She also gives Gus new garments, as she has done for the other mice and birds; Cinderella, who has nothing, still finds ways to give to her friends. This supposedly simple fairy tale echoes parables such as the Widow’s Mite.

Gus, Jaq and the others return Cinderella’s love in kind. Seeing their benefactor’s heartfelt desire to attend the Royal Ball (Cinderella modestly doesn’t even think of meeting the Prince while the unworthy stepsisters think of nothing else), the mice and birds give their all to fashion a ball gown for their friend.  In a shocking act of brutality, cruelly engineered by the Wicked Stepmother, the stepsisters rip this new garment off of the girl, leaving her in rags.

It’s significant that, in this Disney version of the famed tale, it’s only after the animals act out of love for their “Cinderelly" do the heavenly powers step in, giving what Walt himself termed a “miracle” an even greater emotional wallop for the audience. Aside from the fantasy of the talking animals and the like, the only magic in the film comes in this all-important sequence. The Fairy Godmother—a being of light, like an angel—materializes out of glowing star-like sparkles and reassures Cinderella that, even though the girl is convinced her faith is broken and gone, it is that very faith that makes the Godmother's presence possible. And if there is any doubt that this Godmother represents powers on high, she pointedly says, “Even miracles take time.”

No further evidence of the spiritual punch of this animated tale—sadly dismissed by some as a mere kiddie film— is needed than the anecdote master animator and Imagineer Marc Davis shared on more than one occasion: “Somebody asked Walt what his favorite scene in all the animation that we had done and he said, ‘Well, I guess it would have to be where Cinderella got her gown.’ I think he particularly liked this scene because here the poor comes out on top.” Animation artist, Imagineer and Disney guru John Hench noted that fairy tales “all fall into a pattern, often a Biblical pattern. In the case of Cinderella, she was very high-born [and] was reduced to a kitchen maid.  This is clearly Man being kicked out of Eden.  Along comes a redeemer, a prince, and there’s always a gimmick, a key, a talisman…In Cinderella it’s a glass slipper.  And the person is returned to the former state.”

But at the end of Walt Disney’s Cinderella, the erstwhile scullery maid is more than restored—she is elevated. In this heavenly scene, Cinderella has married the prince, future ruler of this land, and with a compassionate princess— who has known oppression and poverty—at his side we can assume that this royal pair will share the kingdom’s peace and prosperity with all, ensuring that the poor “come out on top.”  But can we really be sure Cinderella lives happily ever after?  Of course, for in the happy ending of this particular princess, the meek have inherited the earth.

Starting Today: The Fairy Tale Blogathon!

The Fairy Tale Blogathon starts today! Tulgey Wood is a proud participant—check back on November 11 for my contribution. In the meantime, be sure and check out the other bloggers blogging for this blogathon, hosted by Fritzi at Movies Silently. Through this blogathon I have already discovered several new-to-me blogs, including Sister Celluloid (covering MGM's 1955 The Glass Slipper, a poster for which is below) and The Last Sentence.  

Once Upon An Upcoming Time: The Fairy Tale Blogathon

No sooner has the Countdown to Halloween blogathon ended for 2014 that it's time for another blogathon. Fritzi at Movies Silently is hosting a Fairy Tale blogathon later this month—and Tulgey Wood is one of the proud participants. Check back on November 11 for my contribution to the fairy-tale fun. 

Bottom Of The Goodie Bag

Halloween would't be complete without checking the bottom of the trick-or-treat bag for one more special treat (or trick?). "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" qualifies as a Halloween treat because of its spooky hero, an upstanding vicar who disguises himself as a ghostly Scarecrow to fight injustice during the reign of King George III. Below is the comic book published for several issues during the Scarecrow's original ride on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1964. Also take a look at the recent comic by Scarecrow fan and comic artist Bret Blevins that ran in the new defunct Disney Adventures magazine. And for much, much more about the "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh," please stop by and read the article I wrote for D23.com. Be sure and check out "From the Jaws of Hell:The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" by Jim Fanning.