As much as the Disney characters love the holiday season, you may be surprised to know that it took two decades before Mickey’s pals Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Chip ‘n’ Dale performed on any Disney-produced Christmas recordings. And before there was a Mickey’s Christmas Carol animated film, there was a record album produced by the sidekick of TV’s Mister Ed. Not only that, but Walt Disney himself had an idea for a Christmas record that made millions—for someone else.
The Disney studio’s in-house record company has had a fascinating, groundbreaking and sometimes odd history, especially when it comes to holiday music and stories. The label, which began as Disneyland Records in 1956 and expanded to include Buena Vista Records in 1959, released precious few Christmas discs in the early days, but to paraphrase Spencer Tracy in the movie Pat and Mike, “What was there was ‘cherce.'”
The very first Disney-produced record was The Night Before Christmas, a 45 rpm single by Jiminy Cricket, voiced by Disney Legend Cliff Edwards. In this modest production, Jiminy tells us that crickets love to warm themselves by people’s home fireplaces, and that’s how he once witnessed the arrival of Santa Claus—in the form of Clement Moore’s famous poem. On side two, he crooned a tune called “Kris Kringle,” which would pop up on countless compilations on vinyl and CD.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Walt Disney approached Disneyland Records president Jimmy Johnson and musical director Tutti Camarata (both now Disney Legends) with his own idea for a 1957 holiday record. Let’s say, he proposed, there was a group of mice living under a recording studio. And when the humans left for the day, they formed their own orchestra and made their own record.
Walt’s concept became Disney’s Christmas Concert, featuring Ludwig Mousensky and the All-Mouse Symphony and Chorus. To create the effects, the speeded-up voice of another Disney Legend, sound effects whiz and second official Mickey Mouse voice Jimmy Macdonald, created a similar character sound as he done with his Jaq and Gus in Cinderella. Tutti’s entire orchestra was also sped up—a remarkable feat considering how the arrangements had to be compensated for a change in pitch and speed. It was released as a two-record 45 rpm extended-play “EP” package including a small illustrated booklet.
Despite such talent (including illustrations by yet another Disney Legend, Bill Peet) Christmas Concert was not a big seller. Walt suggested that it might have been due to the musicians’ lack of a sense of humor. But perhaps it was because the mice sang established songs rather than new songs. Additionally, none of the “singers” were identified as mice on the record itself, only in the book.
One year later, a holiday record that with a voice saying, “All right you chipmunks, ready to sing your song?” began to climb the charts. Three distinctive, sped-up voices sang an original tune called “The Chipmunk Song,” also known as “Christmas Don’t Be Late.” It was the most successful novelty recording of its time and is now a holiday standard. Walt got a kick out of needling Jimmy and Tutti about how his idea was a hit for Ross Bagdasarian, who recorded additional hit albums and singles as David Seville and The Chipmunks.
The other Peter Pan and an almost-Poppins.
Another legend—of the Broadway and TV variety—also appeared on a Disneyland Christmas record in 1957. An illustrated story called “The Little Lame Lamb” was presented by Walt Disney and his staff in the holiday issue of Family Circle magazine. To narrate the audio version of the story, Tutti assembled a full orchestra to back up Mary Martin, the toast of Broadway as the lead in South Pacific and an annual TV favorite as Peter Pan. Mary was also the first superstar (other than the animated kind) to record for Disney’s in-house label and was even considered for the role of Mary Poppins.
“The Little Lame Lamb” told the story of a young boy named Tonio who participates in the creation of the first Nativity crèche created by St. Francis. Exquisite illustrations accompanied the two-disc 45 rpm EP set. The recording was reissued in 1958 as a 12-inch long-playing “LP.”
Also in 1958, Cliff Edwards reentered the recording studio as Jiminy Cricket, this time with Mickey Mouse and Goofy (both voiced by Jimmy Macdonald). The occasion was the recording of “From All of Us to All of You,” the title song from what would become a perennial installment of the Disneyland TV show and its later incarnations. In the episode, Jiminy hosted a series of scenes from Disney animated classics, each preceded by its own Christmas card. In those pre-DVD and Blu-ray™ days, it was a rare treat to see these clips on our home TV screens.
The record album that should have been a TV special.
The 1958 Family Circle holiday issue featured “A Christmas Adventure in Disneyland,” again presented by Walt and his staff. Its whimsical verse was created by Disney Legend Dick Huemer, a story artist on such classics as Dumbo and Fantasia. In this tale, two children take a fantastic Disneyland romp hosted by Mr. Toad, are pursued by a witch and (spoiler alert!) rescued by Tinker Bell.
Dick and Tutti wrote songs inspired by this story that were released on a 45 rpm record in 1958, but it took another year before a full-length album was released combining the songs and the entire story. The album opened up into a book filled with the same art and text that appeared in the magazine. It was told by prolific studio singer and voice artist Gloria Wood, whom you may have heard singing “The Woody Woodpecker Song” with Kay Kyser’s band and in the choruses of countless films including Walt Disney’s Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Gloria was even the voice of Oswald the Rabbit on a Decca LP record!
If there were such things as animated holiday TV specials in 1959 (they did not exist until Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol in 1962), we’d probably still be watching A Christmas Adventure in Disneyland during the ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas programming event every year. But alas, it only exists as a recording and a series of illustrations. But it’s particularly notable for an unforgettable moment in which Mr. Toad and the two kids reach Fantasyland, enter the Snow White attraction and find a band of witches dancing around a decorated stalagmite to celebrate their twisted version of Christmas. Hmm… shades of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, maybe?
A “one-deer” open sleigh.
The Disney record division closed out the 1950s with its first compilation of songs from most of the above records in an LP called Mickey Mouse’s Christmas Surprises. Though it was released on Disneyland’s Official Mickey Mouse Club label, none of the Mouseketeers are heard on it. And though surely no animals were harmed in the making of the album, the cover art depicts Santa Mickey’s sleigh being pulled by Bambi!
With the exception of a handful of holiday songs by The Mike Sammes Singers (recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios), a single called “Senor Santa Claus” by Louis Prima and a collection of yuletide carols being sung by a choir, the 1960s did not see a bumper crop of new Disney Christmas records. Things changed dramatically in the ’70s with the second generation of Disney record personnel, led by president Gary Krisel.
You’re a mean one, Mister Scrooge!
New grooves of excitement began with the 1974 album Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Featuring The Walt Disney Players. On this disc for the first time, all the Dickens characters were played by stars of Disney animated films, including Mickey as Bob Cratchit and Uncle Scrooge Mc Duck as… well duh, Ebenezer Scrooge.
The producer of this musical version of A Christmas Carol was the multi-talented Alan Young, of such TV and movie classics as Mister Ed and The Time Machine. Alan and his creative partner, Alan Dinehart, assembled some of TV’s best voice artists for the project, including Janet Waldo (voice of Judy Jetson) and Walker Edmiston (of H.R. Pufnstuf). To play Scrooge, Alan went back to his Scottish roots for an authentic burr. He was even the voice of Mickey on the record, for the one and only time.
Nine years later, Alan Young’s script for this album was adapted, almost word-for-word, into Mickey’s Christmas Carol, an Academy Award®-nominated short cartoon. It was Mickey’s first new big-screen appearance since 1953’s The Simple Things and it cemented Alan Young as the official voice of Uncle Scrooge, the role he played on the hit DuckTales series and continues to this day for Disney Parks and other projects.
Mickey, Donald, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Frosty
Disneyland Records saw so much success with the triple platinum album Mickey Mouse Disco in the late ’70s that our favorite mouse and his gang found themselves experiencing a recording renaissance. Producer Jymn Magon reunited the characters for Disney’s Merry Christmas Carols, in which Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and even Clarabelle Cow warbled seasonal songs. Best of all, Chip ‘n’ Dale and Donald teamed for their own version of “The Chipmunk Song,” in a sense bringing Walt Disney’s original idea full circle!
During the same period, Disneyland and Buena Vista Records began licensing non-Disney characters and soundtracks, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Garfield, Gumby and Little Golden Books. Two Christmas TV soundtracks from Rankin/Bass Productions, the leading creators of holiday specials, made their vinyl debut on the Disney label: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.
Buena Vista launched The Charlie Brown Record Company in partnership with Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates and a series of albums and read-along book-and-record sets resulted, starting with the complete dialogue soundtrack of the beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The dawn of a another Disney era.
As the “second golden age” of animation began with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and other worldwide hits, suddenly the in-house record division (now called Walt Disney Records) no longer needed to reach beyond the Disney studio gates for characters to feature in holiday recordings.
Major Disney producers such as Ted Kryczko and Randy Thornton crafted best-selling read-alongs and song albums starring Belle, Ariel and Pocahontas as well as 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella and of course, Mickey and the gang.
Many of these recordings took us beyond the film stories themselves. In the Cinderella read-along So This is Christmas, we’re treated to a “prequel” of sorts, in which the Fairy Godmother disguises herself as a noblewoman attending a holiday party at the home of Cinderella’s stepmother. When the Godmother discovers Cinderella’s handmade jewelry gifts, so cruelly discarded by the stepfamily, she delights in the heartfelt thought behind them. And she actually makes the Stepmother apologize to Cinderella!
Another character-based release, The Disney Princess Christmas Album, is a treasure trove of new and favorite holiday songs, many of which feature the acclaimed songwriting and music producing talents of former Mouseketeer Don Grady. And even if you’re not into princesses, what else can compare to a glowing Christmas album including performances by Paige O’Hara, Jodi Benson, Lea Salonga and Judy Kuhn?
“Ferb, I know what we’re going to listen to today!”
Each year brings with it new holiday albums and compilations from Walt Disney, Buena Vista and Hollywood Records. They’ve featured everyone from Bear in the Big Blue House and Hillary Duff to Winnie the Pooh and The Muppets (who earned a 2008 Grammy for their CD, A Green and Red Christmas).
One of Disney’s newest animated phenoms have spun out an album of highly eclectic and eccentric songs called Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites, including songs from their Christmas Vacation TV special.
In addition to pop stars like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Bowling for Soup, several Disney Channel stars (who also do some of the show’s character voices) appear on the CD, including Ashley Tisdale, Mitchel Musso and Alyson Stoner.
Besides witty scripts and vivid characters, one of the prime reasons for Phineas and Ferb‘s artistic and popular success is its steady procession of inventive songs. In addition to music producer Danny Jacob, most of the people on the show’s creative team are musicians, singers and composers—including “Spongebob” veteran Dan Povenmire, comedy writer/performer Martin Olson, Jon Colton Barry (son of legendary songwriter Jeff Barry) and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (grandson of bandleader Les Brown). Even Martin’s daughter Olivia sings a solo.
Like almost every other “world” of Disney, we’ve only scratched the surface here. Please forgive me if I left out any Disney Christmas recordings that have become part of your yuletide traditions, like the Disney Parks-related albums and so much more. The only thing more fun that collecting and listening to all these Disney holiday recordings is discovering the upcoming ones — and the ones you didn’t know about before. It’s like Santa’s magic bag of music!
Special thanks to Tim Hollis, co-author of Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, for help in gathering material for this story.
