Walt Disney Productions' The Aristocats (Mega Post & My 500th Post!)

Walt Disney Productions' animated film, "The Aristocats," was released in theaters on December 23, 1970.  Below, are some of the original theatrical posters for the film.

This one features Baloo, from "The Jungle Book."  Phil Harris had provided the voice for Baloo, and was now providing the voice for Thomas O'Malley, in "The Aristocats."  (Hey....Baloo wasn't brown in the The Jungle Book!  He was gray!)

These next two posters mention the upcoming opening of Walt Disney World, in October of '71.

The Winter 1970 issue of Disney News Magazine featured an ad for the film, on it's back cover:

And this article was included inside:

The photo in that article shows "Scat Cat" and a couple of his friends, standing on Disneyland's Frontierland boat dock.  This color photo from the Walt Disney Archives, appears to have been taken during that same photo shoot.

In the early to mid 1970s, these characters could often be found hanging out in Walt Disney World's Fantasyland:

 

The costumed characters also appeared in the 1970 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the 1971 Tournament of Roses Parade. 

Here's the Tournament of Roses Parade float.  You can only see one of the cats on the back end of the float.  Scatman Crothers (who provided the voice of Scat Cat) appeared with the characters, singing "Everybody Want's To Be A Cat."

The Aristocats characters were also featured in a segment of the traveling arena show, "Disney On Parade," in 1972:

This is the only time that I have ever seen character costumes for Duchess and O'Malley!  I wonder if they were ever used in the theme parks?

They even had costumes for the the two geese in the film, Abigail and Amelia Gabble.  I had to look those names up!

Scat Cat and his friends showed up again, in Disneyland's and Walt Disney World's "America On Parade."  This parade was a salute to America's bicentennial, and ran from the summer of 1975 through the summer of 1976.

"The Aristocats" was re-released just three short years after it's debut.  For it's 1973 re-release, it was playing with a re-release of Walt Disney's Song of the South.  I clipped this advertisement out of The Los Angeles Times, and have kept it since childhood.

The Aristocats was re-released in theaters only two more times.  This Los Angeles Times ad is for it's 1980 re-release.

And this theatrical poster is for the film's 1987 re-release.

The back of the May 1987 Disneyland entertainment guide, featured a monochrome version of the same poster.

The Aristocats was released on video tape for the first time (in the U.S.), in 1996:

And the film was first released on DVD, in 2000.  This "special edition" DVD was released in 2008, and included a deleted scene as a "bonus":

Next, we have some "Aristocats" merchandise.

This Little Golden Book was a birthday gift to my brother, and has a hand-written date of "December 1970" on the inside cover.  I have scanned the whole book, and I'm including it at the end of this post.

This Colorforms set was also my brother's.  (I have previously posted images of my Doctor Doolittle, Robin Hood, and Mickey Mouse Colorforms sets.)

The board:

The pieces:

A booklet was included, showing an example of how the pieces could be displayed:

 

As a child, I had a fairly large collection of comic books, which included some Aristocats-related titles.

O'Malley and The Alley Cats, Issue No. 1, from April 1971:

 

Issue No. 5, from 1972:

The Aristokittens and O'Malley the Alley Cat, Issue No. 7, from 1975:

Issue No. 8, from July 1975:

Issue No. 9, from October 1975:

Walt Disney Comics Digest was a monthly publication, about the size of Reader's Digest.  This issue is from February 1971 (even though it has "©1970" on the cover).

My brother and I shared this album, featuring songs from the film, and other Disney "cat songs."

I only recently discovered this advertisement, tucked inside the record sleeve!  I think this type of paper item was usually thrown out or lost over time.

This is the record from the offer, above.  It includes songs from the film, but also the story (with illustrations), narrated by Sterling Holloway.

A 45 rpm record was also available:

 

Here's something interesting.  It's a record album with songs from the Walt Disney films, "The Aristocats" and "Pinocchio," but it doesn't appear to have been released by one of the Disney record labels.  I wonder if that plush cat came from Disneyland?  And is that supposed to be Marie?  It looks more like Toulouse or Berlioz, but with white fur.

 

 

 

In the 1980s, Disneyland and Walt Disney World sold several series of collector's plates.  One series was a tribute to Mickey Mouse's short films.  Another represented Disney's earlier classic animated films.  And a third series featured "Disney Animals."  The Aristocats was included in the "animal" series.

 

 

 

Here are a few somewhat "newer" items:

 

McDonald's ran a "100 Years of Magic" promotion, in 2002.  It was supposed to celebrate the 100th birthday of Walt Disney (even though he was born in 1901).  For the promotion, they released 100 figures of various Disney characters.  Marie and O'Malley were included in the series.

 

 

 

In 2020, a picture disc was released, containing songs from the film.  It's fascinating to me, to see how "records" have made a comeback in recent years.

 

 

About 5 years ago, Hallmark came out with this "Marie" Christmas card.  The sentiment inside reads, "Wishing you a joyful Christmas....all wrapped up with a bow!"

 

 

Marie is a very popular character in the Tokyo Disney parks, and they sell a lot of merchandise with her image.  However, you can be pretty hard pressed to find any Aristocats-related merchandise, here in the U.S. parks.  Now having said that, I did come across this Marie magnet in Disneyland's Emporium, about 10 years ago.

 

 

It has "Disneyland Resort" printed on the magnetic backing, instead of "Disney Parks," so maybe that means they didn't sell this item at Walt Disney World.

 

 

Speaking of Tokyo Disneyland, one of their Fantasyland shops used to be called,  "The Aristocats."  It has since been renamed, "Kingdom Treasures," but the shop has always carried merchandise themed to Disney's animated films.  (Walt Disney World also had a shop with the same name, and in the same location within their Fantasyland.)

 

 

For the Halloween season, they used to place this "carved pumpkin" just outside the shop.

 

 

For Tokyo Disneyland's 2005 Halloween season, these "ghost" figures of Marie, Mickey, and Minnie, along with Goofy in a skeleton costume, were placed in the park's Plaza.  If these figures look familiar to you, it's because the following year, they were all sent (with the exception of the Marie figure) to Anaheim, where they have been used every year since then, along the tram route outside the parks.  The other Halloween figures that guests see along the tram route today, also came from Tokyo Disneyland.  Tokyo used them just that one year, because they create all new figures to display in their Plaza, every single year.  They do this for Halloween, and Christmas, as well as for other seasonal events.  It's too bad that Disneyland can't get Tokyo's previously used figures, every year.

 

Tokyo DL's World Bazaar (their version of Main Street) includes the "House of Greetings" stationary store.  The shop's front window featured this display, back in 2010.

 

 

                     

A costumed character of Marie can be found walking around the Tokyo Disney parks, as well as in their parades.  Here, she can be seen greeting guests in the American Waterfront section of Tokyo DisneySea.

                                       

And lastly, here is my brother's Little Golden Book from December of 1970, in it's entirety.  Enjoy!

 

If you've made it this far along in the post, thank you for reading!  And if you have been following my blog for any amount of time, thank you for that, as well!  This just so happens to be my 500th post!  It might not seem like all that large of a number in the world of blogging, but because I only post about once a month, it has just taken me this long to reach this minor milestone!  Thanks again, to all my regular followers, and to any "occasional" readers, too!

Veterans Day & The U.S. Army In Berlin

Today is Veterans Day, and I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all the veterans out there, as well as the men and women who are currently serving.

My dad was a veteran and served in the U.S. Army from 1958-1960.  He was stationed at McNair Barracks, in Berlin, Germany.  My mom applied for a job with the Army's Special Services Division, and happened to be sent to McNair to work in it's service club, as a recreation director.  That is how my parents met.

Both of my parents took many photos during their time in Berlin.  My dad was already an amateur photographer, and he ended up taking some official photographs for the base.  I thought I would share just some of the many photographs they took.  I'm posting about a dozen and a half photos today, but as time goes on, I will continue to add more photos to this post (instead of creating new posts on the same subject).  So if anyone is interested, you can bookmark this page and check back later for updates.

The tents and equipment seen in these first two photos, were set up for a "field inspection."

Some of the photos are labeled on the back, but others are not, so I don't know who some of the people are.  Maybe someone out there will recognize them, but I know that is probably a long shot.  Based on the name patch on the chest, and the insignia on the sleeve, we know that the soldier on the left is Sergeant Bell.

I have been informed that this next image was taken in the Battle Group Headquarters, and most likely shows an awards ceremony taking place.

These next two photos were taken in the personnel section of McNair Barracks.

The Private First Class in the photo above and below, was a very good friend of my father's.

An unknown Pfc., wearing an Honor Guard uniform:

Pvt. Robert E. Lyons:

Pfc. Fitzgerald:

Pfc. Louis Tomich, another good friend of my father's.  (Pfc. Tomich also appears in that very first pic, at the top of this post).

Pvt. Donald Mutone:

Pvt. Foster D. Button:

Pfc. Reinhard:

That might actually be my dad on the left, in this next photo.  I'm not completely sure, but it looks like it could be him.  Or, he could have been the one who took this photograph.

I should probably give a brief history of the base, itself.  McNair Barracks opened in 1945, in a former radio and television manufacturer's headquarters and factory.  The base was created as a part of the American occupation of Germany, following World War II.  The base closed in 1994, almost 50 years later.  Today, it is a multi-use property.  Part of the barracks have been converted into upscale apartments known as Monroe Park (named after actress, Marilyn Monroe).  Another part of the property has been converted into a shopping center.

The base had it's own chapel, known as McNair Chapel.

 

The chapel is still standing, and is now known as Mavuno Church.  This is what it looks like, today.

Across the street from the chapel, was the All American Club, where my mom worked as a recreation director.  This was where the off-duty servicemen could go for free entertainment and recreation, without having to go into the city.

This card lists some of the services and activities available at the service club.

To wrap up this post (for now), we have a photo of my mom with a group of soldiers, posing in front of the All American Club's Christmas tree.  This one was dated, "1959."

Thank you again, to all of our veterans and servicepeople!

****POST UPDATE****

Okay, I hadn't even published this post yet, but I decided to go ahead and add a few more photos to it.

This one was taken near the entrance to the All American Club (which would be just to the right, out of frame), and looking towards the gate guards at the "rear gate" of the base.

This one was taken just outside the door of the All American Club, looking across the street.  McNair Chapel would be just to the right, and out of frame.

Here's another shot of the All American Club, but this one includes my mom standing outside the entrance.  This would be from 1959 or 1960.

And here's an interior shot of the club's lounge.  This one was labeled on the back, "Sergeant's Coffee Call at the All American Service Club's lounge."

Another shot of the All American Club, showing it's huge interior:

This one was labeled on the back, "McKinley Millet and Sam Tanksley at the All American Service Club - 1960."  It doesn't give the month, but from the shamrock decorations, I think it's safe to assume that it was taken in March.  I have a program from the All American Club's "All Army Entertainment Contest of 1960," and both gentlemen are listed as contestants.  Pfc. Millet sang a vocal solo, and Pfc. Tanksley played the piano in a solo number, as well as in a group instrumental number.  I believe McKinley Millet was the pianist, bassist, singer, and songwriter, who founded the rhythm and blues group, Li'l Millet and His Creoles.

And last but not least, a photo of my dad with his camera:

**** POST UPDATE - 12-2-24 ****

Here are a few more shots of some of the soldiers seen above.

This is the unknown Pfc. we saw earlier, wearing an honor guard uniform.   Now, he is wearing the hat which he was previously holding under his arm.

Here's another shot of Pvt. Foster D. Button, wearing civilian clothes (civvies) instead of his uniform.  Note the monogrammed cuff link displaying the letter, "F."

This is a closeup of that first Pvt. we saw, in the base's personnel section.

We saw these two men earlier, posing with "Sergeant Bell" in an indoor shot.

Here are four more shots of Pvt. Donald Mutone.

 

 

And here are three more shots of Pvt. Robert E. Lyons.

In this last pic, he now has a stripe on his sleeve, making him Private First Class Lyons.