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Author
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Topic: Mickey Mouse Club!! Super 8 B/W Sound Official WDHM!
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted March 11, 2017 12:00 PM
This a wonderful little gem of a Walt Disney release.
When one, who was a child in the 50’s and 60’s, thinks of the memorable things of youth, no doubt they would mention their favorites toys and their favorite shows, and while “Howdy Doody” would come to mind, either a close second or first, would be, the “Mickey Mouse Club”. This show originally came on the air in black and white, but Disney, knowing that color TV was just on the edge of tomorrow, did all his animation in color for color. However, as earlier stated, it was at first shown to audiences in black and white.
“Walt Disney Home Movies” (which shall be henceforth be stated as “WDHM”), largely concentrated on their classic animated films, both features and shorts, for good reason, but out of nowhere, in the late 70’s, WDHM decided to release a wonderful nostalgia trip entitled “The Mickey Mouse Club”. It runs 7 and a half minutes and reveals some wonderful, very rare tidbits!
It starts out with an extra long “Mickey Mouse Club Theme” (Hey There Hi There Ho There), which I had never seen before. the first whole minute of it was brand new to me and only the second half I had seen on the Mickey Mouse Club in color that I remember as a child. In fact, in the middle section, it goes into an almost abstract bit of animation with musical instruments that bears more than a passing resemblance to a then current Academy Award winning short, “Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom”. That alone was "worth the price of admission"!
The next section is a song and dance number features all of the Mousketeers, (Including the two adults, Roy and Jimmie), which is followed by a truly charming “poetry corner” which features lovely little Annette Funicello doing a favorite poem of hers, with a timely message celebrating peace and love for all.
This then goes right into the end section, which is the whole final song that ended every show. ( “ M I C … See Ya Real soon! K E Y, Why? Because we LOVE you!) and does it’s fade out and that is the end of the reel.
What makes this so interesting is that, unless I am mistaken, this is the only Black and white with sound release by the WDHM company (there were sections of black and white cartoons in “Mickey Mouse: The first 50 years, but these were on color stock in sepia), which also makes it quite collectible.
It's only my theory, but I would be willing to bget that this super 8 release was taken from either the premiere episode or shortly thereafter as, (this happens to many a show), after the first airing of a show, the parent studio tends to edit this or that out, and they no doubt found that an over two minute title section to a show was a little too long, hence the cutting down of the titles later on in the B/W run and then, of course, the color run of the show.
The image quality for a black and white TV show is outstanding, but that isn’t so hard to understand, as Disney was going right to their own archives for their own TV shows, It is very sharp with excellent grain and not an appearance of being dupey. If only all black and white TV shows on super 8 looked like this. The audio is a very sharp mono.
This must have been a fairly limited print run, as I have seen very few of these turn up over the years. When I saw this turn up on ebay, I jumped at getting it, and I’m quite happy that I did, and I highly endorse this release and certainly suggest that you go on the hunt for it!
and , as always
LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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