Phonographs, Disney Style!

TWO DISNEY RECORD PLAYERS

One can’t play Disneyland Records (or any records for that matter) as a kid with out these babies. Sure there’s the Fisher Price record player but these two I have are cool with a capital C;

This first one is from Sears and it has two speeds (33 &45) to play your records on. The inside cover has a picture of Mickey Mouse in a stripe shirt with a comic book bubble saying, “Hi kids!” The tone arm is shaped like his arm and white glove and I can only assume you handle the arm by his pointed finger.

The second one shown here has got to be the coolest tie-in to Disney’s multi-platinum hit, MICKEY MOUSE DISCO.

I bought this on Ebay years ago and while it may look like a regular player, the front panel lights up to the music depending on the volume. The top lid bears the from cover of the MMD LP and the inside shows the rear cover artwork. I did some research and found out that this was manufactured in Canada and the owners of this record player were also treated to a free copy of the album, :D. Here is my YouTube video of it in action playing some tunes.

And BTW, the sound from both are obviously monaural but the sound reproduction sounds good for a a kids phonograph.

MICKEY MOUSE DISCO-30 YEARS AND STILL SHAKING, STRUTTIN', MOVIN' AND GROOVIN'!

This monthly post is dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the album, MICKEY MOUSE DISCO. It was released in 1979 and featured 9 disco songs-three of them Disney standards. Without a doubt, this is one of the best Disney LPs I ever owned and it still gets played to this day via vinyl or on CD when on the go. To see an ad for the album, see the previous post for Disneyland Record Commercials.

The album cover was beautifully done by Dick Duerrstein and illustrated by the Alvin White Studio. The front features Mickey and Minnie dancing with a cavalcade of disco lights on a dance floor . The rear cover features a smaller version of the title logo with a huge spotlight on the right right Daisy and Donald, Horace Horsecollar (with his cool plaid bellbottoms and platforms), Clarabelle Cow and Chip & Dale all dancing to the beat with more flashing lights.

The songs on the album:

Disco Mickey Mouse
Welcome to Rio
The Greatest Band
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Oscar Winner from Song of the South)
Macho Duck (a parody of The Village People’s Macho Man and featured Donald Duck, voiced by Jim Tadevic, NOT Clarence “Ducky“ Nash)
Mousetrap (written by album producer Jymn Magon)
Watch Out For Goofy (Goofy makes a cameo, voiced by Tony Pope)
It’s A Small World
Chim Chim Cher-ee (Another Oscar Winner from Mary Poppins and is Instrumental with a great sax solo)

The arrangements were done by Dennis Burnside, with the exception of It’s a Small World.

Interestingly, the tracks Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Chim Chim Cher-ee were both on the Musicor Records’ album CARTOON DISCO, released one year before and in the same arrangements but remixed differently. That album also featured disco versions of the Mickey Mouse March, Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, and Whistle While You Work. One has to wonder why these tracks weren’t included on Mickey Mouse Disco. If I had a wish, it would be an expanded version of Mickey Mouse Disco with the original release and the Cartoon Disco Disney tracks as bonus cuts.

Disney released the album in July 1979 and it went Gold in April 1980, then a month and a half later, it reached Platinum and in October 1984, it became the first children’s album to reach Double Platinum status.

It reached #35 on the Top 40 album charts. And Record World magazine named it the Number #1 Children's Album.

In addition, the album was released world-wide and international versions were released in the Latin American countries and in Japan. Also, tie-in merchandise were made such as record players, record cases, etc and a 7-8 minute cartoon was released featuring 5 songs from the album set to clips from classic Disney shorts such as Thru the Mirror, Clock Cleaners, Mickey’s Delayed Date, etc.

The album’s legacy still lives on as you can get the album on vinyl on Ebay but in digital form on Itunes.

After 30 years, that Mouse will never fail and never will this classic album.

Take your Disney Songs with you with DISNEY SONGTAPES

In the early 1980s, Disneyland Records released most of their 2500 series on cassettes with 24 page books with lyrics to all of the songs (unless they were instrumentals. From The Best of Disney Volume One to Disney's Merry Christmas Carols, listeners were treated to beautiful full-color Disney illustrations and easy to read lyrics, and like the Disney Storytellers on vinyl or cassette, were designed to help build reading skills. SEE the pictures HEAR the tape READ the book. SING!

These were inserts that held each cassette, much like the Disney Storytellers on Cassette.






Here is the list of Titles listed inside each booklet at the back.

Disneyland LP TV Advertisements

These best-selling Disney LPs featured animated advertisements that easily caught my eye and led me to add these to my collection. Today, they leave a lasting memory for me either in vinyl form or CDs.

MOUSERCISE (1982)



MICKEY MOUSE SPLASHDANCE (1983)



DISNEY'S CHILDREN'S FAVORITES Volumes I, II and III

Heidi

Mickey and the Beanstalk

This Storyteller was released in 1963 DQ-1248 and in 1968 in gatefold/booklet form ST-3974. Both versions feature Robie Lester as the Narrator and the voices of Jimmy McDonald as Mickey Mouse/Willie The Giant, Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, Pinto Colvig as Goofy and Marilyn Hooven as the Magic Harp. The 1968 version featured here has the entire story on Side One and various songs on Side Two.

SIDE ONE
My What A Happy Day
Finniculi Funnicula (Turkey, Lobster, Sweet Potato Pie)
Fee Fi Fo Fum
My Favorite Dream

SIDE TWO
Happy Mouse
Donald Duck Song
Quack! Quack! Quack!
Mickey’s Big Show
(Donald Duck Recites/Clara Cluck)
Mickey Mouse March

Main Street Electrical Parade Picture Discs

In 1972, Disneyland guests were treated to a brand new concept of entertainment brought to life by thousands of sparkling lights recreating scenes and characters from many Disney film classics. The Main Street Electrical Parade would quickly become the most popular parade in Disney theme parks ever after its 24+ year run at Disneyland Park. It would eventually spin off versions at Walt Disney World magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. You can see the classic parade now at Disney’s California Adventure.

To accompany the parade, the late Jack Wagner convinced the producers that the musical soundtrack should be all electronic music performed on the Moog Synthesizer and he found the song that would forever be part of Disneyland history, “Baroque Hoedown” by Jean Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. This tune would interweave several Disney and Patriotic tunes during the pageantry. In 1973, Disney released a picture disc of the Parade’s soundtrack, performed by Jim Christensen and Paul Beaver. The disc featured artwork of the parade on both sides and was sold at Disneyland. For $1.59.
Coincidentally at Walt Disney World, the same music was used for the nightly Electrical Water Pageant, the brainchild of the Electrical Parade which featured sea creatures recreated by lights to lighten the darkened Vacation Kingdom’s Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. The sea creatures then change magically into a Patriotic Finale featuring American flags and star units. This sold for $1.79 at WDW.


In 1977, the Main Street Electrical Parade was revived and updated from its original 2-dimensional look to a fully three dimensional presentation. The music was updated and performed by Don Dorsey (with the exception of the Cinderella, Dumbo and Small World units). The new version opened with the Electric Fanfare and closed with a disco-fied Disney medley featuring the Oscar-Winning tunes When You Wish Upon A Star and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. That same year the Parade made its East Coast debut at Walt Disney World and both Parks sold a recording of the new soundtrack in picture disc form with artwork of the parade. This sold for $ 1.79.