Flea Market Find: A Mickey Mouse Life

I got this Life magazine from November of 1978 at the Flea Market for $3. The cover blurb next to Mickey reads "Why is this middle-aged mouse laughing?"

The article, titled Mickey's Children starts off with a discussion on the state of animation at that time, with a look at Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings." It even mentions one of my favorite non-Disney animated movies, "Watership Down."

We then get into a look at upcoming Disney animated features, "The Fox and the Hound" and  "The Black Cauldron" the retirement of the last of the "9 Old Men" and the young talent coming up. The article states that "Fox" would be released in 1980. It was actually released in 1981. "Black Cauldron" was released in 1985. It paints a rosy picture for a studio in serious trouble. The period after Walt Disney's death in 1966 through the Eisner, Katzenberg, Wells era, starting in 1984, were it's most dire.

I had never heard of the animated short "The Small One" previous to this, but it was the first animated short that the young crew of animators produced.

And that's it! I was expecting a lot more considering the cover. But wait, there's more! When I first bought this, I didn't even open it up. After I got home and looked through it, I was pleasantly surprised to find I had bonus material!

I'll feature these 2 items in a future "Flea Market Finds"