Sing Along with the Dapper Dans in the Magic Kingdom

By Nick

It was an absolutely gorgeous day at the Magic Kingdom. My wife and had found a prime spot in the shade for the Festival of Fantasy, the 3 o'clock parade. We had 20 minutes to go, when the Dapper Dans came strolling up, and stopped almost directly in front of us, and proceeded to entertain the crowd with a sing along.

They sang and played a medley of Zip a Dee Doo Dah, Small World, and the Mickey Mouse Club March.

Not too many sang along, but my wife and I did! Would you have been singing along?

Mickey Mouse Club Stationary Set

by Nick

I posted an article awhile back about The Disney Store's 25th Anniversary merchandise. Included in that article was a nice set of Disney Stationary. This got me thinking that I should actually use that stationary to send a thank you card to friends who have contributed articles to this blog.

I'm going to let you in on a secret. I used to be much more organized than I am now. As I've gotten older, my brain has stopped seeing things in neat organized grids. Now it's a free for all.

I went looking for that Disney stationary, and could not find it. Barbie had no idea where it was either.

Another secret. Once my mind gets on something, it's hard to get it off of it. I still wanted to send out those thank you cards, so I needed a set. So I searched on eBay for a stationary set, and found this really great Mickey Mouse Club Note Card Set.

 

The cards come in a flip top card file box.

Included are 20 notecards with Mickey in costumes from the Mickey Mouse Club animated introduction.

 

There are 20 lined envelopes and stickers with the original Mickey Mouse Club logo.

I can't thank the people who have contributed their time and talent to our blog enough, and I thank you all for reading!

Flea Market Find: The Best of the Mickey Mouse Club DVD

By: Nick Maglio

I picked this The Best of the Mickey Mouse Club DVD up at the Columbus Flea Market in New Jersey for $5.

It was brand new in it's shrink wrap!
I love the old Mickey Mouse club, which had 3 original seasons which aired from 1955-1957, before being syndicated.

Each day of the original Mickey Mouse Club featured a different theme.

Included on this DVD are 5 episodes, representing each day. 2 episodes are from the 3rd Season of the series, after it had been paired down from an hour long program down to a half hour show.
The other 3 are from it's syndication days of the 1960's, when original hour long episodes were edited down.

• Monday - Fun with Music Day, from September 30th, 1957, gets this disc off to a slow start. There is a cute musical number about a young lady at a pet shop, but then we have a lengthy preview of a 'Hardy Boys" Serial, titled "The Mystery of Ghost Farm", which made me just want to see said serial! Before you know it, Jimmie is singing farewell.

• Tuesday - Guest Star Day, which the box says aired in October of 1957, but the DVD itself says originally aired August 28th, 1962. (?) This episode is much more entertaining, with guest star Olympic ice skating medalist Ronnie Robertson doing a comical skating routine, before showing off his skill as the "Fastest Spinner in the World". This is followed by a "Mousekartoon", the excellent Academy Award winning Ferdinand the Bull  from 1938. I'll take a closer look at Ferdinand in a future Musings article.

• Wednesday - Anything Can Happen Day, aired November 12th, 1964. You know anything can happen on Wednesday by the surreal opening cast parade, followed by Disney animator Ward Kimball's Dixieland Band, The Fire House 5+2, playing a couple of tunes, with Mouseketeer Cubby playing drums with a guy in a Tiger Costume cavorting around! Whew! There is also a great Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1932 called Mickey's Nightmare. This sounds like it might be scary, but Mickey's nightmare is about the stork delivering too many kiddy mice to him and bride Minnie to take care of!

• Thursday - Circus Day, from October 11th, 1962. The cast is properly adorned circus performers, and the guest stars are jugglers, the Hap Brothers. The "Mousekartoon" is Silly Symphony The Pied Piper from 1933. 

• Friday - Talent Round Up Day, aired October 25, 1957. A rather light episode to end this collection on, with a young lady from Chicago becoming an Honorary Mousekeeter, who sings and dances. Then comes a Mickey Mouse Newsreel featuring Annette in Hawaii. The episode is wrapped up with a fable from Jimmie about a cat who is unable to outsmart a bird.

All and all, it's a nice little diversion, and a nice look back at history.

Mickey and Jiminy Cricket Mickey Mouse Club Big Figs

On a trip to Walt Disney World in 2011, my wife and I fell in love with, and bought, these 2 big figs from the Animation Gallery at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

 

They were released to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Mickey Mouse Club, and are limited to 1955 pieces each.

Mickey is 14" tall.

Jiminy Cricket is 10 1/4 inches tall.

Each day of the original Mickey Mouse  Club featured a different theme.
Monday - Fun with Music
Tuesday - Guest Star
Wednesday - Anything Can Happen
Thursday - Circus
Friday - Talent Round-up

There was an educational series of cartoons on the show as well, one featuring Jiminy Cricket, teaching, and yes, maybe preaching, the proper way to do certain activities. I got this list of the shorts from Wikipedia:

I'm No Fool With A Bicycle (10/06/55)
I'm No Fool With Fire (12/01/55)
I'm No Fool As A Pedestrian (10/08/56)
I'm No Fool with Water (11/15/56)
I'm No Fool Having Fun (12/15/56)
I'm No Fool in a Car (1957)
I'm No Fool in an Emergency (1957)
I'm No Fool in Unsafe Places (1957)
I'm No Fool in Unsafe Places II (1957)
I'm No Fool on Wheels (1957)
I'm No Fool with Safety at School (1957)
I'm No Fool with Electricity (1957)

You'll note the M in I'm and the N in No are chipped. For whatever reason, neither my wife or I really took note if this when we bought them, and, indeed, didn't even notice this until she took these pictures, and they have been sitting in a very prominent spot in our living room for over a year!

Doh! We agreed, we were just too blinded by Jiminy's charm to notice.

They say they were created especially for Disneyland, and we got them at Walt Disney World.
These were the only 2 figures they had left in stock, and were the only 2 we saw throughout our trip, and actually, I've never seen them since, so maybe it was just good fortune we came upon them to begin with?

Both figures were designed by artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily.
Please click here and here to see a set of collectible plates designed by this same duo!