HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011!!!

I Have Pooh On My Blog

In the last half of the 90s I worked in a high school as a Resource Room Tutor. One day I happened to be walking down the hall wearing a shirt with Winnie The Pooh on the upper right hand corner. The teacher on hall duty saw me and said "You have Pooh on your shirt" to which I replied, "Oh jeez, I thought I had washed all of it off!" The joys of double entendre! Anyway, I told you that to tell you this; Winnie The Pooh was a favorite character of mine as a child and I couldn't go to bed without my stuffed Pooh Bear. I am happy to say that my son now shares this love of the character and it gave me a reason to digitize some of my Disney records so that I could put them on his i-pod and listen to them with him. One of those records I share with you today. It's the story of "Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too!" Like "The Story of Star Wars" and others, this is a story with the dialogue and music taken right from the soundtrack to the film. Before VHS, DVD and On-Demand, this was the only way to relive the films or tv shows at home over and over again. I share this with you in hopes that you not only enjoy it, but that you share it with your little ones. Here is "Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too". Enjoy!

Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too

Pirates, Captain Flint! Pirates!

As a kid, I loved going to the library. I loved reading but I also loved checking out records. The library in the town I grew up in had an amazing record selection and my favorite section was the spoken word section. Not so much for the records where someone famous was reading some famous author's works but because this section housed all the old time radio records and story records. One record that I checked out repeatedly was the story record to the Disney classic, "Treasure Island". I had seen the film on "The Wonderful World of Disney" and fell in love with it. Since this was long before the DVD or even the VHS tape, the only way I could enjoy the film over and over again at my leisure was to check out this record whenever I wanted to relive the classic story of Treasure Island. For years I looked for the record and could not find hide or hair of it until I was in a really cool record store in Seattle a few years back. As with all things of this nature, I now see it everywhere. Of course, it doesn't matter now that I own it. I present it for you now. Here is "Treasure Island." Enjoy!

The Story of Disney's Treasure Island

Disney's Trick or Treat

When Children's Heros Go Disco Part 5

Here's a Super 8 film for "Mickey Mouse Disco". It was released in 1980 and was occasionally shown on television during the early days of the Disney Channel (back when you had to pay for it). Shortly after that it disappeared into obscurity and has yet to be released on DVD.

When Children's Heros Go Disco Part 4

After the huge success that Sesame Street saw with its disco records, the Disney company jumped on the band wagon in 1979 with their own brand of children's disco. The result: Mickey Mouse Disco. As with "Sesame Street Fever", the album included disco-fied versions of Disney classics as well as new songs with a disco beat. Though it was late to the party, the album was fueled by a television ad campaign and as a result, went double platinum! I loved this album! In fact, when I was home from school for an extended sick leave due to chicken pox, I would crank this puppy up on the living room stereo, break out all of my stuffed animals and host my own disco every day! I even had bottles of apple juice that were my "beers" that I would drink "at the disco". (I was kind of a dork) Anyway, here is that album that I still own to this day. Enjoy!

Mickey Mouse Disco

The Enchantment of The Tiki Room

On June 23, 1963, Disneyland opened its first attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics. The attraction was originally sponsored by United Airlines and was entitled, "The Enchanted Tiki Room". The whole concept was rooted in an era when all things Polynesian were popular and as a result, the attraction was an immediate hit. The idea is simple: a Hawaiian-themed musical show "hosted" by four lifelike macaws. There's "José", voiced by Wally Boag; "Michael", voiced by Fulton Burley; "Pierre", voiced by Ernie Newton andv"Fritz" whose German accent is provided by the great, Thurl Ravenscroft (who also voices Hawaiian god "Tangaroa" near the attraction's entrance). If you attended "The Enchanted Tiki Room" in the late 60s and wished you could take the experience home with you, the entire show was released on an album that was sold at the park. The first side was "The Enchanted Tiki Room" while the flip side gave you the soundtrack to "The Adventurous Jungle Cruise". That's today's sharity! Here is the original soundtrack to both of those attractions! BTW, the attraction in Anaheim still features the original voices while the one in Orlando features newly recorded voices and has new songs that reflect newer disney characters and films. The name has even been changed to "The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management"! Anyway, here's "The Enchanted Tiki Room". Enjoy!

The Enchanted Tiki Room

Ol' Robby Hood

Louis Prima was a class act. Disney knew this and in 1967 they tapped him to be the voice of King Louis in "The Jungle Book". However, it was a few years later in 1973 that Prima recorded an album to coincide with the Disney film, "Robin Hood". Prima did not voice any of the characters in that film nor did any of the songs on that album appear in the film. However it was still pretty cool. And not only did the album feature Louis telling the story and singing the songs, but it also featured the great Sam Butera and The Witnesses backing Louis. Here is that classic Disney record for you! Here is "Let's Hear It For Robin Hood"! Enjoy!

Louis Prima-Let's "Hear" It For Robin Hood

The 25 Posts of Christmas: The Ghosts of Christmas Past

Over the last four years (I can't believe the World of Wonder has been around that long!) I've posted quite a few Christmas items. Here are a few of those from the past years. Enjoy!

Monkees Christmas Album

The Peppermint Kandy Kids-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth - Santa's Helpers

Our Miss Brooks Christmas Episode (OTR)

The Mike Douglas Christmas Album

Christmas With Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass

Charlie Chan-The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus OTR

Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boys Choir Sing Family Christmas Favorites

My Favorite Husband-George's Christmas Present (OTR)

Ozzie & Harriet Christmas Episode (OTR)

The Shadow-Joey's Christmas Story (OTR)

A Toast To Christmas In The 80s With Singing Glasses

T Rex-Christmas Fan Club Flexi Disc

Haunted Mansion Holday

The 25 Posts of Christmas: The Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of Christmas

Back in October, we talked a little bit about Disney's "Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of the Haunted House" LP. It had a story on one side complete with sound effects and on the other side was just the sound effects so that you could make your own story! Disney did the same with a Christmas themed record entitled, "The Sounds of Christmas". It's a pretty cool concept and I don't think any other company has ever released a Christmas record in this vein. Here is that album for you to make wonderful Christmas stories with. If you were to be really creative, you could combine the sound effects of "The Sounds of Christmas" with the ones on "Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of The Haunted House" to create an over-the-top holiday story. If anyone out there takes up the challenge, feel free to send your creations this way and I will gladly share them here on the World of Wonder! Here is "The Sounds of Christmas". Enjoy!

Disney's The Sounds of Christmas

Tricks & Treats 09: Goofy Teaches Us All About Halloween

Here's a super cool educational short from Disney in which Goofy and others teach us the origin of Halloween. Very cool! Here's Disney's Haunted Halloween! Enjoy!

Tricks & Treats 09: Ron Howard Visits The Haunted Mansion

It's October 1st and that means the countdown to Halloween has begun!!!! We start this year's "Tricks and Treats" with a great record from the Disney vaults. One of the greatest rides ever in the Disneyworld/Disneyland spectrum is The Haunted Mansion. No matter how many new and improved rides come along, the Mansion is still the king and I could ride it a hundred times in a row if I could. Back in the day, Disney used to release records that coincided with their various rides and the Haunted Mansion was no exception. In fact, the Mansion boasts three records to its name: one is "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion," an LP featuring a pre-Happy-Days Ronny Howard; then there is a shorter children's record titled "Walt Disney Presents the Haunted Mansion," one of Disney's many "See, Hear, Read" records narrated by Robie Lester, a popular narrator for many of Disney's childrens albums. The third Haunted Mansion story album is the B-side of "Trick or Treat," a Disneyland Record starring Donald Duck, his nephews, and Witch Hazel, with the original "Story and Song" recording edited down to fit completely on the B-side of this 12" LP. Today we are giving you the original "Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" complete with the vocal talents of Ron Howard. Recorded in 1969 (a year after he stopped playing Andy Griffith's son Opie), "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" featured the young "Ronny" Howard as "Mike," a young teen out on a date with "Karen". The story is narrated by the one-and-only Thurl Ravenscroft, who is one of Disney's best-known vocal talents (and is also known for being the original voice of Tony the Tiger, and the singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Chuck Jones' classic cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The ride's main scenes are faithfully represented, often with the original sound effects, making this an album worth buying a turntable for. If you don't have the original album (or a turntable for that matter), fear not faithful readers! We here at The World of Wonder offer it to you in digital form as our first "Treat" of 2009! Enjoy!

The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion

BONUS: Here's s cool link to a super cool web site called "Doombuggies". It gives you everything you would ever want to know about the Haunted Mansion and then some! Stop on by and tell them Dartman sent you!

Showtime At Disneyland!

Back in 1970, the weekly television show, The Wonderful World of Disney, premiered an episode starring the Osmonds and Kurt Russell that was set at California's Disneyland. It was titled "Disneyland Showtime!" It featured Kurt showing the Osmonds around the Magic Kingdom. Today, here at the World of Wonder, you not only get to watch the entire episode (thanks to YouTube) but you get the complete soundtrack as well! Here are all five parts of the show followed by the download link for the soundtrack. Enjoy!



Disneyland Showtime TV Soundtrack

The Best of The World of Wonder: Pitting a Mouse Against A Giant

Of course everyone knows the story of Jack & The Beanstalk. It's been told over and over again in all different forms. I even played a snare drum duet based on the story! One version that is extremely popular with people who are in my generation and older is the Walt Disney version, "Mickey & The Beanstalk". It was released in 1947 as part of the feature film, "Fun & Fancy Free" and has since taken on a life of its own. It has been featured on television, videos, DVDs and on record. Which brings us to today's post. This is the recorded version that accompanied the "Fun & Fancy Free" movie release. It was originally released as a 78 storybook album. Later on, with the advent of the LP, it was released on that medium as well. The most notable fact about the recorded version is that it was narrated by the popular singer and composer, Johnny Mercer. Here is Johnny Mercer telling the story of Mickey & The Beanstalk. Complete with dialogue, music and sound effects from the cartoon!

Mickey & The Beanstalk

Super 8 Theater Presents Donald Duck's Vacation

Since most of the school going public here in this part of the world are enjoying their first full week of summer vacation, I thought it would be nice to post a classic home movie reel from the 60s. Enjoy!

A Very Loving Volkswagon

Continuing with my "love" theme for February, today we have another great soundtrack story album. This time around it's Disney's "The Love Bug". Not that Lindsey Lohan remake but the all american original with Dean Jones and Buddy Hackett. As a kid, I remember the Love Bug was always being advertised whether it was for a release of a new film, a re-release of an older one or a television showing. It seemed like the Love Bug was constantly being promoted. Remember, this was back in the late 70s/early 80s and things were much different. When a movie premiered on network television, it was a big deal. Not like today, where a film that was out 6 months ago suddenly shows up on TBS at 2 in the afternoon. Back then, cable was just coming into its own and the big networks were ABC, CBS and NBC. The movies would be shown either as a Sunday Night Movie or in the case of The Love Bug series, they would premiere on Sunday night's "The Wonderful World of Disney". This was before home video was king and if you didn't catch it when it was on, you would have to wait a long time to try to see it again. To help have the film in your head, the film companies would release the film on an LP. It was an edited version of course and it usually had a narrator to tell you what was happening since you couldn't visually see that. These story records proved to be more and more popular. I have posted many on this site before including the original Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tron and more. Today, I bring you Buddy Hackett narrating the story of "The Love Bug", complete with the original cast. Enjoy!

The Story of The Love Bug

This Is Halloween In Japanese!!!

Disney With An Evil Twist

September of Soundtracks:A Rip In The Very Fabric Of Space And Time

Today we have a double feature! This time around it's a double feature of albums from the Disney Sci-Fi epic, "The Black Hole". First up is the original score written by John Barry. The ominous tones of Barry's score added to the excitement created by the amazing special effects team at Disney. If the score isn't enough for you, the second part of the "Double Feature" is the story album from the film. As with Star Wars, they released a condensed version of the film on a long playing record. Again, this was before you could run to Wal-Mart and buy the video or DVD to bring home. This was the best way to relive the excitement of the film at home. With an all star cast of Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux , Ernest Borgnine, Tom McLoughlin and the voices of Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens, this is one great story album. Here are both of these great treasures to add to our collection. Today we enter The Black Hole! Enjoy!

The Black Hole OST
The Black Hole Story Album

The Best of The World of Wonder: The Guy They Call Little Mickey Mouse

The Mouse Factory was a television show in the early seventies that would feature all different clips from all different Disney cartoons. This was long before the advent of cable so it really was the only place that you could see Disney cartoons. The show did so well that they released this accompanying record. It is one of my all time favorites! It never fails to bring a smile to my face. It features great songs such as "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" and The 4 Mosquiteers singing "The Ballad of Davy Crocket". However, the best bits are the little skits that involve Goofy, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and others. I still have my copy from my childhood but recently aqquired a brand new never-been-opened copy which I played for the first time for this post. Enjoy!

The Mouse Factory