Hidden Treasures From My Attic: The New Mickey Mouse Club

You know that feeling you get when you reach into your coat pocket and find money that has probably lay there hidden since the last time you wore that coat?  Well that is how I felt this past holiday weekend.

My parents came up for Thanksgiving and didn't come empty handed.  As part of the process of knowing that their kids are not coming home again, they are whittling their possessions down so that one day they will be able to live in a much smaller abode.

My parents know about my blog and my fascination with Disney.  So, on this trip up from Texas, they came baring Disney treasures.  These treasures have been hiding in a closet in my dad's office for years, and years.

I'm trying to think of how to make these into some frequent posts, but I decided to show one off today.  It's the LP Album of The All New Mickey Mouse Club. 

This isn't the Mickey Mouse Club that were launching pads for some modern day pop stars, but one that was on the air when I was a child in the 1970's.  Unfortunately, the "Bonus" poster listed on the cover as being inside has long been lost.

The copyright date on this album is MCMLXXVII.  Which, if my Roman Number-to-Arabic Number translation is correct will be 1977.

According to the Wikipedia article on The Mickey Mouse Club, there was a revival of the Mickey Mouse Club in 1977 which was the first re-imagineering of it since the original series that Walt created in the 1950's

In the 1970s, Walt Disney Productions revived the concept but modernized the show cosmetically, with a disco re-recording of the theme song and minority cast members. The sets, though colored, were simplistic, lacking the fine artwork of the original. Like the original, nearly each day's episode included a vintage cartoon, though usually color ones from the late 1930s and onward.

- Wikipedia, The Mickey Mouse Club

Also according to Wikipedia, the series debuted in January 1977 and by June of that year was canceled due to it's failure to succeed.  They tried to repackage the show in re-release in September 1977, but it still didn't seem to catch on.  Once again, I think this may be the Disco Effect.  Try to go Disco, kill the product.

The interesting thing I learned from the article is that Disney has released on DVD both the 1950's version of the show and the 1990's version, but the 1970's version has seemed to have gone the way of the dodo.

The reason I was drawn to posting about this particular album was that the cover shows a very young Lisa Welchel was a member of the cast.  For those who don't recognize the name she went on to eventually star as the very rich and snobby Blair Warner on that highly popular sitcom of the 1980's The Facts of Life.

The pictures I have included with this post are the front and back of the album cover, as well as, two graphics from the liner notes.  I didn't want to include a scan of the entire liner notes because some copyright holders get upset when you include the lyrics of songs on web pages.

Finally, I apologize if I stepped outside of the Grumpy's Hollow box a bit too much and delved into other blogger's territory with this post (i.e. 2719 Hyperion).  This was in my possession and I just felt it needed to be blogged about.  Oh, by the way, it's not easy to scan an album cover.

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