Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

From 1974 to 1982 Schmid produced a series of Mother's Day plates.  The plate in 1975 featured Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  The plate is 7 1/2 inches in diameter and comes in a box with the same design.

The other characters featured in the series were:
1974 - Mickey, Huey, Dewey, and Louie
1976 - Minnie, Figaro, Pinocchio, and 3 Pigs
1977 - Pluto and cats
1978 - Bambi and Flowers
1979 - Bambi, Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Thumper, 2 of Donald's nephews, and woodland animals
1980 - Minnie, one of Donald's nephews, and Mickey's two nephews
1981 - Dalmations
1982 - Mickey, Minnie, and Mickey's two nephews

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Popcorn Bucket

Recently there have been a ton of fun shaped popcorn buckets hitting the Disney theme parks (especially Tokyo).  I was so thrilled and jealous to see a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train bucket hit the scene in the last month or so.  Well, thanks to a kind Florida resident, I am now the proud owner of Mine Train bucket complete with popcorn!  Quite the feat for a Cali resident like myself!

The wheels spin

The handle can be positioned up or down

The car body moves back and forth

The jewels open up to reveal...popcorn!

Snow White Radios

I recently ran across Phil's Old Radios - a website dedicated to antique radios.  In the late 30's Emerson created several radios featuring Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Bellow is a page from my favorite price guide Offical Price Guide to Disney Collectibles by Ted Hake:

The radio picture bottom left and description is top right

The radio is a beautiful piece and would certainly be a top collectable to have...and I know nothing about verifying or authenticating something like this.  That is why Phil's Old Radios is so helpful.  Phil has a whole article on this Emerson radio.  The Disney price guide values this quite high ($825-$3250) so when looking at one it would be important to know what you are looking out.  I found the article very helpful in understanding a bit more about this fantastic piece.

In addition, Emerson made a second radio that Phil has taken the time to restore.  Again, it is a lovely piece and the process of restoration is a fascinating one.  I love the acorn radio dials on this one.  Check it out!

Walt Disney Family Museum Mercandise

There really is not much special merchandised offered at the museum to go along with the Snow White exhibit, that are specifically for the exhibit.  The museum does have some collectibles that are only available at the museum that are Snow White related.

There are 3 posters that are specific for the exhibit.  There is also a red one featuring a close up of Snow White and a purple one featuring the Hag.  These three posters are the only things to actually feature the exhibit.

Front Side

Back Side

Closed

Open

Member's monthly button program featured Snow White art in December.  Postcard was free to anyone at museum with a trivia section to fill in for members.

This is displayed in the exhibit.

While not special for the exhibit, this is one of the few merchandise pieces with Snow White and the Walt Disney Family  Museum Logo.  They also had a small trinket box that features Snow White and the logo.

Happy Easter!

From my collection

The Piece that Started it All

As a collector I often am asked how did this all begin?   I don't have a great answer to this.  I suppose that because both my parents collected things (although never to the scale I do) it was just part of my life.  I had gone to train shows with my dad and Shirley Temple conventions with my mom.  (for a few years my brother got into Star Wars, but after discovering that he couldn't get EVERYTHING his enthusiasm waned.)  That being said I do remember the first piece I bought myself.

There was a great little toy shop in a local shopping center, you know, one of those shops that have toys you couldn't find anywhere else but were so far out of your allowance pocket change price range.  Well, the toy store was going out of business.  My kid brother was going to buy some Playmobile toy or maybe one of those Thomas toys; the wooden, magnetic ones.  Anyway, I was waking around in this toy store, and I ran across this:

Now, I had stopped playing with my Barbie dolls by then.  I was still a kid but my interests were more toward makeup and music.  But I saw this Evil Queen costume and I just wanted it.  You know the feeling, you look at the thing and think - what do I need this for? what am I going to do with it? - and yet you still decide to buy it.

When it was time to check out, my mother was confused by my purchase.  I had been saving to go the the record store next store to buy some popular band's tape, and yet I had decided to spend the money on this.  To this day I'm not sure that I knew I was starting a collection, but I did know I had no intentions of opening the package.

I wish I had a better 'Why I Collect' story.  I met someone at a Disney gathering who collected Pete's Dragon.  You see after the Northridge earthquake he found that everything had been destroyed.  It was a traumatic time for all of us in living in the area, and many of us learned the importance of QuakeHold.  So he went on to say that he had quite a few figurines he had amassed over time, not exactly a collection, but they were dear to him.  All were destroyed; except one.  Peter Pan.  The figure was sitting safely cradled in his childhood Pete Dragon toy.  See - that's a great story: natural disaster, destruction, and a thankful and hopeful tear running down the cheek. 

So no great story for me.  No family heirloom that centers the collection.  No childhood memory I bringing back.  I just stubbornly bought one toy I knew I wasn't going to play with and off it went.  All my family members continued to support my collection through birthday, Christmas, and even graduation presents.  I often look at everything I have and think - how did it get so big?  But I suppose that is true of many of us.

So, do you have a collection story?  How did it all begin for you?

Happy Helping Hands

In this see-through storybook the dwarfs are off to do their chores: Doc wash the windows, Grumpy collect apples, Sneezy collect flowers, Dopey dig a well, and Sleepy clean out the chimney.  Well Grumpy 'borrows' the ladder from Happy, Bashful and Doc play with Grumpy's basket, Sleepy takes a nap, Dopey creates a mess, and who thought it would be a good idea for Sneezy to pick flowers?  Published in 1996.

Uh Oh, Dopey!

Poor Dopey and Grumpy wake up late and are left at the cottage - all the other dwarfs have already gone!  In the rush to leave Dopey mayhem for Grumpy - It seems the better title would be Uh Oh, Grumpy!  Of course all turns out fine and Snow White thanks Dopey and Grumpy for cleaning up the cottage.
The book is a board book with a rubber Dopey squeaker in the center.  You squeak Dopey each time the book says "Uh Oh, Dopey!" (published 1994)

If You Met Snow White

 

Snow White tells her own tale in this version.  When talking about her stepmother: "she was very beautiful, but she had little time for me."  Of the nasty business in the woods with the huntsman all she has to say "one day I was taken from the castle and left alone in the woods" - seems the little princess is blocking some memories.

Well, she found the dwarfs where they made her a bed and she does all kinds of things for them: finding glasses, picking berries, gathering flowers, singing, listening to Happy yodel, and playing the concertina.  And what does she do for fun?  Ride in the dwarfs mine cart, wade in a pool with her animal friends, and sketch - of course!

Released in 1996

Snow White: A Read-Aloud Storybook

A read-along storybook, there are large wonderful pictures in this book.  The Queen/Hag has quite a few pages throughout.  This book was released in 1999.  Ten years later, the book was re-released as a 'limited collector's edition.'  The differences are the front cover, the inside of the front cover and back cover, and the special poster that is included.  The poster is the image on the front cover.

The Seven Dwarfs Find a Home

This book, released in 1948 (this is a 1952 release) is a Mickey Mouse Club Book with pictures by the Walt Disney Studio.
You see, the dwarfs had a mine, but nowhere to call home.  They slept in tress, caves, or just on the ground.  Doc, being the practical leader he is, decides they need a home, and calls upon the forest animals to find one.  Which they clean up to call their own.  Luckily there were seven little beds already, and Happy cooked a wonderful meal.  Grumpy played the organ (again, how lucky to have it t here) and Doc insisted they wash up.
My question is when did the dwarfs get so lazy?  They did just fine cleaning up the place when they moved in, Sneezy even used the broom.  So how did this group get so lack?  And who were these mysterious people that lived in the cottage before the our dwarfs found it?  There was really another group of seven individuals who used seven little beds with names carved on them.  Just sayin'

Dopey Loses the Diamonds

Poor Dopey! Home from work one day and low and behold, the bag Dopey was carrying ripped and he lost all the jewels.  After much searching, they didn't turn up.  Lucky for Dopey, the forest animals collected the diamonds and decorated the cottage.
The book, published in 1994, was illustrated by Toby Bluth and features 'glittering faceted foil.'

How to Draw

This Walter Foster how to draw book, published in 1993, includes instructions on how to draw Snow White, the dwarfs, the Queen, the Hag, the Prince, the Huntsman, and many of the forest creatures (including the vulture and raven).

De Sju Sma Dvargarna

This book, published in 1989 in Swedish, is titled: The seven dwarfs are visited.  The dwarfs spend time fixing up the cottage for a visit from Snow White and her prince.  The inside covers of the book feature a run down on the names of each dwarf:
Sleepy: Blyger
Dopey: Toker
Bashful: Prosit
Happy: Glader
Grumpy: Butter
Sneezy: Trotter
Doc: Kloker

Snow White Book

In this book, published in 1967, there isn't a clear story.  The book begins by asking questions about who could possibly live in this little house.  We find it is "seven funny little, tiny little, lonely little men."  They resist Doc's chore chart and discuss, over breakfast, how they wish they had someone to care for them.  Off to the mine at night (where Dopey thinks about his wish to be tucked in at night).  They come home and begin asking questions about the changed state of their home and welcome Snow White.  My favorite part of this book is that Snow White's skirt looks like it has been colored by a child with crayon.  Not sure I understand the style.

Tales from the Cottage

This book published in 1994 features seven chapters: one for each dwarf.  Snow White has just finished telling her tale of her prince and is ready to send the dwarfs to bed.  They protest because Snow White has shared her story, but they haven't shared their stories.  And so it begins -
Chapter One: Doc of all Trades.  Doc story has him following the animals to help out one of their own in trouble - a dragon - yes, I said dragon.
Chapter two is Sleepy and the Nap Before Christmas.
Chapter three is Dopey's tale: Snow Time for Fun.
Chapter four: Sneezy's Story, where he actually manages to blow the roof of the cottage off.
Silence is Golden is chapter five. Bashful is sent to town to sell some jewels where he is too shy to talk. 
Grumpy's Story, chapter six, has Grumpy saving a baby bird - aww.
And finally - Oh, Happy's Day, where Happy manages to turn a bad day into fun for his pals.

The Complete Story of Walt Disney's Snow White

This book was originally published in 1937 and was reissued to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Snow white.  The book is illustrated with original drawings and is some of the most beautiful art there is.  The story includes Snow White's mother and the dwarfs making the bed.  In fact, it also features the making of the bed as well.
The story is the same as the Magic Mirror book I featured earlier but there are far more illustrations in this version.

The Making of the Classic Film

The essential book for any fan of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs fan is Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs & The Making of the Classic Film.  I am aware of three different versions that have been published.

This is the first version published in 1987 for Snow White's 50th anniversary.

This version was released in 1994 to coincide with the promotional push that came with the video release.

This version was also released in 1994 but only as part of the the Exclusive Deluxe Limited Edition Set.  The deluxe set (seen below) included  a videocassette of Snow White, a special commemorative making of Snow White video, the book, and ten limited edition lithographs of the original theatrical posters.  A$120 value (sold at Disney Store for $74.99).

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Golden Books

In some earlier articles this month I featured the original Golden Book.  Here are some other Golden Books in my collection.

This book was originally published in 1952, the photo copy is the twenty-seventh printing in 1972.  Some interesting features include a title page that depicts the dwarfs making Snow White's bed (a scene cut from the film).  It also depicts Snow White's mother doing needle point wishing for a little girl and snow white as a baby.
The regular story is told but interesting the colors on the the Queen's robe and Snow White's rags are all different than the film colors.  On some pages Snow White's yellow dress has red polka dots.  (They disappear while Snow White cleans the dwarfs home.

This book, published in 1948, depicts a different looking mother, and again the colors are off.  This book is a Mickey Mouse Club Book produced under the supervision of the Walt Disney Studio.  The story includes the making of the bed scene and the Queen address the mirror by saying: Mirror, mirror on the wall.

Same as above version but the fortieth printing in 1976.

1984 printing.  Story has changed back to film version and colors are true to film.  Even includes great art of the hag falling off the cliff.

1984 paperback version.

1984 large hard cover version.  Only difference is on cover page art.

1992 paperback shaped version.  Features different art than previous versions.  Great pictures of the Queen.

Published 1999.  Different cover art but inside is the same as the 1984 books.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Paint Book

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Paint Book...to color with paints and crayons.  Published by Whitman Publishing Company in Racine, Wisconsin in 1938 (by Walt Disney enterprises Hollywood, Calif.).
The first page features the queen sitting by the window sewing wishing she had a little girl.  The book I have is missing quite a few pages but the story continues to follow the movie.  The end of the book is seven pages dedicated to the dwarfs.  Each dwarf has a page and a short description.
The art on the cover of the book is the same as the artwork on the back.