Vintage Disney Valentines - 1970's

Well, it's February. That means Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

These vintage Valentine's, are from "boxed sets" which my mom purchased for me, back in the 1970's. Almost every year that I was in elementary school, I gave out Disney-themed Valentine's to my classmates. And I always ended up saving the extra ones, which weren't used:

It appears that someone left off Minnie's eyelashes on this next one. At least, I'm assuming that's Minnie.

I remember a few of the Valentines had very old-fashioned sayings on them. For example, this next one says, "You'll Be Sitting Pretty"....that phrase was outdated, even when I was a kid! I remember another Valentine featured Daisy Duck, knitting something from a ball of yarn and the caption said something like, "It's no yarn! I want you to be my Valentine." My mom had to explain some of the phrases to me!

I've saved all of these Valentines for decades, now. However, I only recently "reacquired" this one. After my dad passed away, I found this Valentine with some other cards he had been saving. Printed on the back is, "To Dad. Love,...." and then my name. I'm not sure how old I was when I gave it to him, but I'm guessing by the way I had printed my name, that it was some time between Kindergarten and 2nd grade.

The Valentines above were large and had to be folded, in order to fit into the provided envelopes. As the years went on, they made the Valentines smaller.

Note the "Dumbo" Valentine below, addressed to "Teacher." The boxed sets of Valentines usually included one special card, to give to the teacher.

And these Valentines were even smaller and required no folding at all. I believe these were from when I was in sixth grade, which was my last year of elementary school and also the last year of a classroom "Valentine exchange."

I found some boxes of Valentine's on ebay, which are very similar to the kind that I gave out. The cellophane wrapper around the boxes always had a clear area, where you could view some of the cards inside.

With this package, you can even see a portion of the "Goofy On Roller Skates" Valentine (as seen above), through the clear window.

In every grade throughout elementary school, my teachers always had us make a folder, to hold the Valentines we would be receiving from our classmates. We made the folders out of construction paper. (I wonder if they still do this in elementary schools today? I wonder if they even exchange Valentines today?) My mom saved every single folder that I ever made. Here is my Valentine folder, from when I was in Kindergarten:

Happy (early) Valentine's Day, everyone!

****Post Update!****

I decided to look for (and scan) some of the Valentine's that I received over the years, from fellow classmates. These span a period of seven years (Kindergarten through 6th grade).

First, we have a few more Disney Valentines:

These are two of my favorites, just because of the wonderful graphics. These were printed on heavier card stock and each card has two slits in it, which were used to hold a sucker.

Another one of my favorites, is the Valentine with the mummies. Now I'm wondering if they ever made sets of Valentines, entirely with monster graphics. I bet they did!

I'm a little surprised by the slightly adult text, "You Turn Me ON!" and "Let's Do Our THING Together!" But hey, we were kids. We were innocent. I think it just went over our heads!

Some of these are definitely, "of their time"....like the Valentine below, which claims, "You're GROOVY!"

Hallmark made these next four Valentines. These were larger in size and printed on a paper that was thicker than the "die-cut" Valentines (like the ones above). These could be folded over and actually "sealed" by placing the bottom edge of the card, into the three slits along the top edge.

I went to school with "Robbie," from first grade through twelfth grade. He was at our last high school reunion and won the award for, "having the most children"......NINE!!!

Hallmark also made this "puzzle" Valentine. I think this was a neat idea. You didn't know what the front of the Valentine looked like, or who had signed the back of it, until you put all of the pieces together.

Here's another Valentine with the, "YOU'RE GROOVY" sentiment. I wonder if in the eighties, these companies made Valentines which stated, "YOU'RE RADICAL!" or "YOU"RE TOTALLY TUBULAR!"?

I'm familiar with the Scottish use of the word "bonnie," but I just had to look it up for it's exact definition, which is "pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty." So whoever was giving the Valentine on the far left, was asking the recipient (me) to be their pretty (or handsome) "luv!" Again, too adult, in my opinion! But it sure went past me, as a kid. And "HI, HOT STUFF!"???? Okay, I'm sure I'm just reading too much into these.

I think these Valentines are much tamer! ;-)

The back of the "caveman and cavewoman" Valentine below, was signed "From A Friend." And I found another Valentine which just had, "From Me," on the back. It appears that a couple of my classmates, were attempting to be wisenheimers!

I can't remember if I was able to figure out back then, who it was that didn't sign their Valentine. The person who gave me this, might have slipped it into my folder, along with another Valentine that they did actually sign, just to cover up their tracks. I wonder if they did this to other people in the class, or just me?

I still remember the little girl in Kindergarten, who gave me the "Teacher" Valentine, below. I also remember wondering why she gave it to me. I don't think I asked her. Maybe at that age, she wasn't able to read the word, "Teacher"?

These next three sets of Valentines (as well as some individual ones seen earlier in this post), appear to have used an older style of graphics. In a comment left below by Mike Cozart, he states, "I recall as a kid being aware that many of the designs seemed “old style” or reprinted designs."

I was also aware that some of the Valentines I was receiving as a kid, had an older style to their artwork. I'm assuming that some of the manufacturers, continued to print the same Valentines for many years, while other's updated their designs with a more "modern" look. If you look closely at the Disney Valentines in the first half of this post, you will notice a change, even in their style. The Disney Valentines had remained the same for many years, but by the time I was in 6th grade, they had completely changed their designs and style of artwork.

This Valentine reminds me of Knott's BERRY Farm and the old Knott's BEAR-Y Tales ride (which is actually making a return to Knott's this year, after a 34-year absence!) Whoever designed this Valentine, should have really completed the "double pun," by including a berry somewhere in the artwork!

The small bouquet of flowers in the basket (on the right), is inserted into a slot in the card and is actually removable.

My best friend in elementary school, gave me these Valentines in 5th and 6th grade. They originally had a bit of a 3-D aspect to them, but have been flattened from years of storage.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Walt Disney Productions' Robin Hood (Toys, Comics, Disneyland, & More!)

Back in November of 2010, I wrote a post titled,  Robin Hood is Alive and Well, and Living in Tokyo Disneyland.  More than 10 years have passed now, but that continues to be one of my "most viewed" posts.  So, I thought maybe it was time to do a "follow-up" post!

Walt Disney Productions' Robin Hood was released on November 8, 1973.  Below, is the film's original "one sheet" theatrical poster.  I found this in a "movie memorabilia" shop on  Hollywood Boulevard, back in the 1980s.

The Fall 1973 issue of Disney News Magazine, featured Robin Hood on the cover.

The magazine also included two articles about the upcoming film.

This first article talks about the actors who voiced the characters.

This article tells the story of Robin Hood, or at least, the "animals' version."

In the Spring of 1982, the film was re-released in theaters.  (This 1982 newspaper ad is from my original "Robin Hood" post, back in 2010.)

 

The Spring 1982 Disneyland Souvenir Guide included an ad for the film's re-release, on the inside of the back cover.

The park's entertainment guide from April of 1982, also featured a Robin Hood ad on it's back cover.

Robin Hood was released on video tape for the first time, in 1984.  It was re-released on video, in 1991.  This is the 1991 label.

The film was first released on DVD, in 2000.  A remastered edition, ("Most Wanted Edition") was released in 2006, and included a never-before-seen alternate ending.

Now we will take a look at some personal items from my childhood.  Two years ago, we saw my "Herbie, The Love Bug" model (made by Revell), which came from the toy aisle of our neighborhood "Lucky's" grocery store.  The same store sold these two "Robin Hood" model kits (also made by Revell), at the same time as the Herbie model.

Set #1 included models of the main characters.

The model pieces "snapped" together, so no glue was needed.

This backdrop was included with the models.

I also saved the assembly instructions.

 

Set #2 was Prince John's "Royal Coach."

 

The Royal Coach model included this backdrop.

And here are the instructions.

 

I also had the Robin Hood Colorforms set, however, this was the very last of the Colorforms sets I received.  At this point, I was just about at the age where I would have been getting too old for Colorforms, and I actually don't even remember playing with this particular set.  It is pretty much in mint condition and contains all of it's pieces.  In January of 2020, I posted pics of my Doctor Dolittle Colorforms set, but it definitely got played with, and as a result, was missing some of it's pieces.

The board:

The pieces:

The instructions:

For a short time (1974-1975), Gold Key Comics published a comic book series titled, The Adventures of Robin Hood.  I only bought two of the issues, but from what I have seen online, it appears that were seven issues altogether.  These comics did not retell the original story from the film.  As stated on the covers, the stories were "Based on the All-New Disney Cartoon Feature Movie."

Issue #2, from May of 1974:

Issue #3, from July of 1974:

Golden Books, which was owned by the same parent company as Gold Key Comics, released a much nicer "book" version of four of the comics.

The back cover showed three other books that were available.  I purchased all four of these at Pic 'N' Save, shortly after the movie was released.

These "soft-cover" books all used a better quality of paper and ink, than traditional comic books.  Here's a comparison of the two versions.

Golden Book version:

Gold Key comic book version:

This Robin Hood Valentine was from a boxed set of Disney Valentines, circa 1974-1976.   I often chose Disney-themed Valentines to give to fellow classmates, and I always kept any of the leftover ones.

In my previous Robin Hood post, I included pictures of the film's costumed characters at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland, but these two photos were not used in that post:

This December 1973 photo, shows the first use of the Robin Hood characters, in a Disneyland Christmas parade (Fantasy On Parade).  This same float was used again 8 years later (and also a few other years in between), in the 1981 version of Fantasy On Parade.

And here, Robin Hood is greeting guests in Disneyland's Fantasyland, circa 1979.

 

In 2012, Disney's California Adventure held a dance party called, "Dancin' With Disney," in the park's former "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" building.   This event used costumed characters which were rarely seen in the parks anymore.....characters like the Big Bad Wolf, and Robin Hood's Prince John and Sheriff of Nottingham.

We'll end this post with a more "current" Robin Hood item.  Back in 2013, this ceramic figure was being sold in DCA's "Off The Page" shop, for $95.

To view my previous Robin Hood post from 2010, click here: Robin Hood Is Alive & Well & Living In Tokyo Disneyland.