{"id":26257,"date":"2016-06-28T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T07:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=26257"},"modified":"2021-06-04T09:14:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:14:54","slug":"mickey-discovers-america-and-molly-ringwald-on-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/mickey-discovers-america-and-molly-ringwald-on-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Mickey Discovers America (and Molly Ringwald) on Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several \u201cbefore-they-became-famous\u201d artists join Mickey, Donald and Goofy in this longtime favorite Disney collection of Fourth of July favorites from the late \u201970s.<\/p>\n\"yankee-doodle-mickey_front_600\"<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n

Walt Disney Productions\u2019
\nYANKEE DOODLE MICKEY<\/strong>
\nDisneyland Records #2513 (12\u201d33 1\/3 RPM \/ Stereo \/ 1980)
\nCD Reissue: Walt Disney Records 60355-7 (All 12 songs, 1995); D-60664-7 (10 songs only, 2000), (10 songs only, 2009)
\nAvailable on iTunes<\/a><\/p>\n

Producer:<\/strong> Jymn Magon. Children\u2019s Choral Director: Betty Joyce. Running Time: 29 minutes.
\nPerformers:<\/strong> Peter Renaday (Mickey Mouse); Clarence Nash (Donald Duck); Hal Smith (Goofy); Molly Ringwald, Bill Lee, Paul Worley, Disneyland Glee Club, Larry Groce, The Disneyland Children\u2019s Sing-Along Chorus.
\nSongs:<\/strong> \u201cYou\u2019re a Grand Old Flag,\u201d \u201cThis is My Country,\u201d \u201cThe Battle Hymn of the Republic,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a Yankee Doodle Dandy,\u201d \u201cAmerica (My Country \u2019Tis of Thee),\u201d \u201cLiberty Tree\u201d (from Disney\u2019s Johnny Tremain), \u201cGod Bless America,\u201d \u201cArmed Forces Medley,\u201d When Johnny Comes Marching Home,\u201d Yankee Doodle,\u201d This Land is Your Land,\u201d \u201cAmerica the Beautiful,\u201d \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mickey Mouse Disco<\/em> was the first children\u2019s record to go double platinum, ushering a second \u201cgolden age\u201d at Disneyland Records. The odd thing is that Mickey himself is not heard on the album. That was remedied in Disney\u2019s next line of albums, all of which offered generous opportunities for Mickey, Donald and Goofy to talk and sing.<\/p>\n

\"YankeeDoodleMickeyCD2009\"<\/a>Everything on Yankee Doodle Mickey<\/em> was new except for two tracks: \u201cThe Battle Hymn of the Republic\u201d from the Disney \u201cMusic Mural\u201d album, America the Beautiful, and Bill Lee\u2019s stirring studio performance of \u201cLiberty Tree\u201d from the Johnny Tremain<\/em> LP (also heard on Holidays with the Mouseketeers<\/em><\/a> and Happy Birthday and Songs from Every Holiday<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Disneyland Sing-Along Children\u2019s Chorus was actually a top flight group of singing kids led by Betty Joyce. Her late husband, Jimmy Joyce, led one of Hollywood\u2019s most successful singing ensembles. The adult Jimmy Joyce Singers were regulars on The Red Skelton Show<\/em> and the children\u2019s chorus sang for the Von Trapps in Fox\u2019s The Sound of Music<\/em> as well as albums like The Chipmunks Sing with Children<\/em><\/a> and Doris Day\u2019s With a Smile and a Song<\/em>. Betty\u2019s son Bill carried on the family tradition and still can be heard on a number of Epcot attractions.<\/p>\n

Most notably, Yankee Doodle Mickey<\/em> is the first of two Disney records (the other was Merry Christmas Carols<\/em>) featuring a young Molly Ringwald, just before she became a regular on TV\u2019s The Facts of Life<\/em> and shortly thereafter, a \u201cBrat Pack\u201d movie icon.<\/p>\n

\"YankeeDoodleMickeyCD2000\"<\/a>\u201cI learned of Molly through Betty Joyce, I think,\u201d Jymn Magon tells us. \u201cWhen I called her house to book the session (her dad was her manager), we agreed on a price and a time. Then when I started to give him directions to the studio (MCA-Whitney, I think), Bob Ringwald said, \u2018Wait a minute. I\u2019m gonna give the phone to Molly.\u2019 I was a bit baffled by this until I learned later that Bob was sight impaired! (He was a good banjo player, by the way.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, Molly showed up and did a great job with it. I stood next to her through the whole recording for some reason. She only about ten years old, and I thought my presence was going to be somehow comforting. Not sure it was, but she was a trooper. She would stand almost perfectly still and that huge voice would come pouring out of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears later I saw Molly twice more. Once, while she was unloading a musical instrument from a trunk at Burbank Airport. I wanted to go up and say \u201cHi,\u201d but I figured she wouldn\u2019t remember me. Later still I saw her starring in Sweet Charity<\/em> at the Pantages theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another artist who appeared on this album at an early career point was Paul Worley, who sings \u201cThe Battle of New Orleans,\u201d a version that is arguably as good as Johnny Horton\u2019s original. \u201cI enjoyed this novelty song when it first came out in 1959, so it was fun to put it on Yankee Doodle Mickey,\u201d Jymn continues. “Paul was a singer\/producer\/guitar player in Nashville at the time, but he went on to become a major producer at Sony and a CEO at Warner Bros. Records. I recorded these tracks with lots of young professionals who went on to become big names in the recording business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Producer

Producer Jymn Magon, singer Paul Worley and Odyssey Studios co-owner Paul Whitehead during some Yankee Doodle Mickey sessions in Nashville.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yankee Doodle Mickey<\/em> has enjoyed a nice, long shelf life as a Disney recording staple. It was reissued in its entirety as a CD with the same cover art in 1995, but all subsequent reissues do not include \u201cThe Battle of New Orleans\u201d and \u201cLiberty Tree,\u201d Not only did those songs, both from the latter half of the 20th century, probably command the highest royalties, it might have been felt that they\u2019re not so much standard patriotic tunes as a pop song and a movie song\u2014excellent as they both are.<\/p>\n

GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN<\/strong>
\n\u201cThis is My Country\u201d<\/em>
\nJymn Magon comments: \u201cThis was one of my favorite songs in grade school, so I wanted it on the Mickey album (it always gave me patriotic goosebumps). Molly had just done Annie onstage. She had one of those belt-that-tune-out kid voices–just perfect for \u201cThis Is My Country.\u201d <\/p>\n