{"id":22559,"date":"2015-12-01T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T08:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=22559"},"modified":"2021-06-04T08:58:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:58:11","slug":"walt-disneys-music-cavalcade-a-documentary-on-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/walt-disneys-music-cavalcade-a-documentary-on-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Walt Disney\u2019s Music Cavalcade: A Documentary on Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of Walt\u2019s birthday this Dec. 5, here is the story behind Bob Thomas\u2019 book, Disneyland Records\u2019 first compilation album and a key player in both, Jimmy Johnson. <\/p>\n\"WDCavalcadeFront-600\"\n

<\/p>\n

WALT DISNEY\u2019S MUSIC CAVALCADE<\/strong>
\nFrom Snow White to Sleeping Beauty<\/em>
\nNarrated by Ken Carpenter
\nDisneyland Records STER-4021 (Stereo) WDL-4021 (Mono) (Two 12\u201d 33 1\/3 RPM LP Records with Book) <\/p>\n

Released Tuesday, October 6, 1959<\/strong>. Producers: Jimmy Johnson, Tutti Camarata. Musical Supervision: Carl Stalling, Wilfred Jackson, Bert Lewis, Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace, Leopold Stokowski, Edward Plumb, Ken Darby, Camarata, George Bruns. Edited and Mastered at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood. Running Time: 55 minutes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Voices:<\/strong> Walt Disney, Pinto Colvig, Dorothy Compton, Mary Moder, Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Cliff Edwards, James Baskett, Ilene Woods, Jimmy Macdonald, Mary Costa, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Disney Studio Orchestra, The Jud Conlon Singers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Music:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 \u201cSteamboat Bill\u201d (Traditional) and \u201cTurkey in the Straw\u201d as heard in Steamboat Willie
\n\u2022 \u201cThe Skeleton Dance\u201d by Carl Stalling from The Skeleton Dance (Interpolating \u201cThe March of the Trolls\u201d from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg)
\n\u2022 \u201cWho\u2019s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\u201d and \u201cHeigh-Ho\u201d by Larry Morey and Frank Churchill and Ann Ronell from Three Little Pigs
\n\u2022 \u201cEvening at the Millpond\u201d by Leigh Harline from The Old Mill
\n\u2022 \u201cI\u2019m Wishing\u201d and \u201cHeigh-Ho\u201d by Larry Morey and Frank Churchill, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
\n\u2022 \u201cWhen You Wish Upon a Star\u201d by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline, from Pinocchio
\n\u2022 \u201cLittle April Shower\u201d by Larry Morey and Frank Churchill, from Bambi
\n\u2022 \u201cChinese Dance\u201d and \u201cWaltz of the Flowers\u201d from Tchaikovsky\u2019s Nutcracker Suite as heard in Fantasia
\n\u2022 \u201cNight on Bald Mountain\u201d by Modeste Mussorgsky as heard in Fantasia
\n\u2022 \u201cZip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah\u201d by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gilbert, from Song of the South
\n\u2022 \u201cA Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes\u201d and \u201cThe Work Song\u201d by Al Hoffman, Mack David and Jerry Livingston, from Cinderella
\n\u2022 \u201cSecond Star to the Right\u201d by Sammy Cahn and Sammy Fain, from Peter Pan
\n\u2022 \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard
\n\u2022 \u201cI Wonder\u201d by Winston Hibler, Ted Sears and George Bruns; \u201cBattle With the Forces of Evil\u201d by George Bruns; and \u201cOnce Upon a Dream Finale\u201d by Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain, from Sleeping Beauty<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Disneyland Records was experiencing growing pains in 1959. Even though Annette Funicello\u2019s hit records were beginning to boost sales, the division had yet to turn a profit since it started in Spring, 1956. Disney Legend Jimmy Johnson, who ran the publishing division and Walt Disney Music Company and started what is now Walt Disney Records (the latter only after years of persuading Roy Disney), was overhauling the manufacturing process and redefining the vinyl product lines.<\/p>\n

\"WDCavalcadePg01-600\"<\/a>This was the year that the first wave of albums\u2014previously (and unsuccessfully) marketed as mainstream soundtrack albums to appeal primarily to adults at premium prices\u2014were going to be marketed as children\u2019s records. The prices were cut in half, the art was redesigned to be simpler and some material was edited for, hopefully, more plays per listener. The strategy worked, but it took time.<\/p>\n

Walt Disney\u2019s Music Cavalcade<\/em> provided a vinyl transition of sorts. It was a premium-priced \u201cWDL\u201d series release, but it celebrated the music of Disney classics, reminding the public how great it all was. Produced like a documentary, the album plays out like an excerpt-rich retrospective episode of Walt Disney\u2019s weekly anthology TV series.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the first season of the Disneyland TV series on ABC had already yielded an installment called \u201cCavalcade of Songs.\u201d The first half of this episode consisted of musical clips from Three Little Pigs, Snow White, and Song of the South<\/em>. The second half promoted the upcoming 1955 release of Lady and the Tramp<\/em>, featuring superstar Peggy Lee and songwriting partner Sonny Burke reenacting the vocal doubling process used in recording the \u201cSiamese Cat Song\u201d. \u201cCavalcade of Songs\u201d was later reedited and updated to promote other musical films, such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks.<\/p>\n