Uncle Scrooge, Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Every time I read Uncle Scrooge it takes me back to my childhood. I can still picture myself sitting at the dinning room table on a Saturday afternoon. Having a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. And, of course, a very dog-eared copy of an Uncle Scrooge comic.

The great folks at Gemstone Publishing have put together a collection of Uncle Scrooge comics. (Walt Disney Treasures - Uncle Scrooge: A Little Something Special. Paperback 160 pgs.) They start with the master himself, Carl Barks, and go through the most recent storyteller, Don Rosa. This collection also includes several international stories - translated into English, of course.

Every one is represented in this book - Uncle Scrooge, Uncle Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie, The Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, etc. (I think I learned about Uncle Scrooge before I knew who Scrooge and Marley were.)

There's also this great companion book Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Comics: 75 Years of Innovation

YADG: Yet Another Disneyland Guide

This time we feature the 1972 Disneyland Pictorial Souvenir. There are quite a few changes from the earlier 1968 version that I have (see previous post).

There's a new front cover featuring Sleeping Beauty Castle, and the back cover replaces the tri-photo montage with the newly opened Bear Country Jamboree. The New Orleans Square section gets revamped as photos of The Haunted Mansion are added. Bear Country gets a two-page photo spread, and photos of The Indian Village are removed. The back inside cover now features Walt Disney World.

One of these days I'll get around to doing side by side comparisons of all of the guide books, but I'll have to fill a few more holes in my collection first.

1968 Disneyland Pictorial Souvenir and Guide

I don't know what took me so long to get a copy of this guide book. Of all the books during the Walt era, this has to be the most common one.

This was the first guide book published after the death of Walt Disney. The cover features a photo taken by the National Geographic Society from 1963. If you look closely, some of the guests in the picture are holding the 1962 edition of the guide book. (There are also misconceptions on the publication date of this book. Due to the photo credit from 1963, some people tag this book as the 1963 edition.)

After using different layouts for the guide books in the first decade of Disneyland, we now get locked into a format that will be kept for the next 20 years. It wouldn't be until the mid 80s that a larger book would be revealed featuring almost all new photos.

But, back to our 1968 edition. Almost entireley different from the mid 60s edition. We get our first views of New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean. But, alas, no Haunted Mansion. Also featured is the brand new Tomorrowland.

This is the Disneyland of my youth. Our first trip was June 13, 1969. Everytime I see that white, sparkly Tomorrowland with it's theme of world in motion, I always think of that trip.

Postcard Roundup

I'm still working on adding to my collection of Hallmark PDL cards. Here we have a nice overhead shot (taken from the top of the Matterhorn, perhaps?) of the Submarine Voyage making its way around the lagoon. The PDL cards were published between 1960 and 1962 which would make this a photo of an almost brand new attraction. I'm not quite sure which color scheme I liked better: the military grey or explorer yellow.

Another series I'm still slowly piecing together are the Art Corner postcards. Quite a few of

these cards show the Disney characters in artistic poses with a couple of them looking almost identical. The Art Corner was located in Tomorrowland where it stood for almost ten years. The original set of eight "Greetings From The Art Corner" cards sold for 45 cents!!