Mouse Track memories

Sparked by reading the new Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records book (reviewed last month in Cartoon Brew), I thought I'd talk a little bit about the records of theirs I remember best from my own childhood.

I suspect that part of whatever creativity I've got going for me (he said pretentiously), as well as my sensitive ear for dialogue, comes from listening to records like these, as well as, later, the great radio shows of the '40s and '50s.

The first Disney record I think I remember listening to may have been the soundtrack album to their Babes In Toyland. But I have no idea whether it was the one featuring members of the original cast or the complete re-recording with a second (cheaper) cast. Something we learn from the book was not at all uncommon. I just remember liking the song where Tom disguises himself as a gyspy fortuneteller before revealing himself in the last line of the song.

Then there's 101 Dalmatians. The version I remember had a title song that didn't appear in the film but has been stuck in my head for oh, not long, about 34 years. One hundred and one (Woof! Woof!), one hundred and one (Woof! Woof!) one hundred and one dalmatian puppies...

And Mary Poppins. All children born anytime in the 20 years since the films first release had to have a copy of this recording, especially since in the days before video, they used to periodically rerelease their films to theaters and make yet another packet that way.

I think it's Leonard Maltin in his Disney Films book who says so much has been said about MP it's hard to know what to say about it at this stage. It's such an excellent movie, one of Disney's best, and the songs are so beautiful and memorable.

The Winnie The Pooh records, especially Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Aw, man, the best songs ever-"Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff..." "The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things!"-and the voice of Sterling Holloway. If the Disney corporation spoke with one voice, it would be Sterling Holloway. "I'm so rumbly...in my tum-bly!"

And Paul Winchel, lest we forget, even though, I also learn from this book, he didn't sing Tigger's song on record, Sam Edwards did.

The Jungle Book. First of all, this is probably my personal favorite Disney soundtrack of all time. Not just the songs, but the entire score, and the voice performances. And it led to a terrific record-only sequel, More Jungle Book. I haven't seen the movie sequel Disney released a few years ago and probably never will, there's no way it can be better than this. If for no other reason than that it was recorded while Phil Harris was still alive to play Baloo-and according to the book, contribute greatly to the story as well. It had Louis Prima back as King Louie, too.

Robin Hood. Roger "King of the Road" Miller's performance as narrator Alan-a-Dale, his songs, and Peter Ustinov as Prince John are probably the best things about this movie, which is not generally held to be one of Disney's finest.

In fact, this is probably the only animated feature of which I can honestly say I would rather listen to a record with the music, dialogue, story and songs, letting my imagination fill in the rest, than watch the movie!

The songs are great. "Not In Nottingham." "Oo-De-Lally" (Never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water, They were drinkin', they just guzzled it down...), "Whistle Stop," “The Phony King Of England."

Although Ustinov doesn't get to sing a song, he does get one of my all-time favorite Disney lines:

"This crown, Hiss, gives me a feeling of power! Power! (Forgive me a cruel chuckle) Power."

The whiskery-voiced Pat Buttram is great as the Sheriff, too.

Dickens Christmas Carol with Mickey Mouse and Scrooge McDuck. This original musical for record was released seven years before the short film on the same theme. As I imagine More Jungle Book is, this is the superior to its film cousin in every way. Alan Young played Scrooge for the first time and also wrote 99% of the script, including a mispronounciation by Goofy which has been hanging around my head for 30 years. "I'm doomed-doomed!" pronounced as if "doomed" rhymes with "humid."

Now we come to some records I'd forgotten were released on the Disney label, because they're not from the soundtrack to Disney films.

They distributed the soundtrack recordings to the Charlie Brown television specials. It says here:

Some of the albums, such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, were direct lifts from the soundtrack, while others, including Charlie Brown's All-Stars, combined soundtrack dialogue with new voice work by the current Peanuts child actors.

This explains why the All-Stars special never sounds the way I remember it in my head when I see it today. The record is one of my favorites, along with Christmas and You're In Love, Charlie Brown. But there's something that's always bothered me about it.

Why does Linus join the other kids in yelling at Charlie Brown when he tells them they're not going to get uniforms?

Not only is that not in his character (I don't think) it makes even less sense in the context of this special, since Linus already knows they're not getting uniforms, and a moment later he's informing the others of why Charlie Brown turned them down. Glad I got that off my chest.

Anyway, I love the score that swells up at the very end when Linus tells Charlie Brown "They made your uniform out of my blanket!" I've never found that exact recording on any of the Charlie Brown music CDs.

On the other hand, it's probably best that we not say much about the instantly-dated Flashbeagle.

Finally, The Hobbit.

The music, usually by Maury Laws, was a highlight of all the Rankin/Bass specials, and this was arguably his crowning acheivement. I was always surpried a CD rerelease didn't happen while Hobbitmania was sweeping the land, although the special was put out on DVD.

I value the special so highly it's one of the reasons I can't get on board the why-doesn't-Jackson-do-The Hobbit-next train some are on. I'm sure it would be great, but...

These, then, are (some of) the sounds of my childhood.