More Golden Mickey!

So, the Little Golden Book version of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983) contained a scene that was not included in the cartoon itself.

This makes my thoughts stray over to the cover of said book.

The cover seen at the top is the newer edition and features a nice scene from the end of the cartoon.

The original edition, however, sported a scene not from the cartoon:

That cover shows Mickey, Minnie, Morty, Donald, Daisy and Uncle Scrooge seemingly in character singing Christmas carols.

A nice picture, but who does Daisy represent?

In the cartoon, she plays "Isabelle" (the Belle stand-in) and in he cover picture she's wearing outfit very similar to the one she wears in the breakup scene, although the coloring is a bit different:

But is she supposed to be Isabelle? She still seems young, while Scrooge is older, so it's not an older Isabelle.

Is she maybe Fred/Donald's wife? In the cartoon, it's not specified whether Fred is married or not, although he usually is in most versions, if not at least engaged. 

(I speculated before (here) that Daisy didn't portray Fred's wife in the cartoon because she was needed to play Isabelle.)

Or is the cast just having fun after shooting the show?

Or am I overanalyzing what was probably just meant to be a nice picture including the two big Disney power couples?

Well, yes, but I'm trying to make sense of it in the Mickeyverse!

What also makes things interesting is that there's a Big Golden Book which features the same characters as the first Little Golden Book, but Daisy's wearing a different coat (and a scarf):

Hmmm...

"Mickey's Christmas Carol" - A Little Golden Book (1983)

"Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983)

A Little Golden Book

We stay in the world of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983) with the Little Golden Book adaptation.

No surprise that this title would be part of their library, as there have been lots of Little Golden Books featuring Disney properties, from the 1940s to the present day.

As is the case with these adaptations, this version of the cartoon is considerably condensed, with simple dialogue and exposition.

So, a lot of things are omitted, but... there is something particularly interesting included here - a scene not in the cartoon!

Check it out:

So, here Bob has already left the office before Fred came in and we see him having to rest on the way home due to the weight of Scrooge's laundry bag and we see him enter his house, greeted by Tiny Tim and Mrs. Cratchit! And Mrs. C gets a line!

Soooo... was this scene included in an earlier version of the script, the one that the Little Golden Book people worked with while preparing this book?

You wouldn't think they purposely added a scene that was not in the cartoon, right? 

And I understand that Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse's voice artist for many years) had recorded dialogue for the cartoon, but none of the lines made it into the final cut. Was this line one of them?

Interesting to think about!

This makes me think of the first Little Golden Book to feature the Flintstones. It's a oddity because it featured Fred, Jr., a character who never appeared on the TV series, but was included in the advance material provided to the Little Golden Books staff:

Hmmm...

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 5"

At last we reach "Stave 5" in our fun little breakdown of 1960's Little Golden Book of  "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol."

The End of It:

I think this book is terrific and holds up really well, 60(!) years later!

Good work!

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 4”

Now it's "Stave 4" from "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol," the Little Golden Book from 1960.

The Last of the Spirits:

That's Dewey, as the headband on his hat is blue. I rest my case!

Stave 5 ahead!

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 3"

Here's "Stave 3" from our breakdown of the 1960 Little Golden Book "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol."

The Second of the Spirits:

This spirit must be Huey, right, as he's wearing red? Louie has the green scarf and gloves and Dewey the bluish ones.

And good to see Daisy being recruited to help!

Now on to Stave 4!

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 2"

Next we take a look at "Stave 2" of our review of "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol," a Little Golden Book from 1960.

The First of the Spirits:

I like where this is going!

My theory, by the way, is that this first "spirit" is Louie, as evidenced by the green wreath he's wearing on his head...

Ready for Stave 3?

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 1"

Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960)
A Little Golden Book
Scrooge: Scrooge McDuck

From about the same time period as the collector's plates we were looking at comes some more illustration, this time in the form of a Little Golden Book from 1960 titled "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol."

Based on the title and the cover art, it may not be apparent that this is a takeoff on "A Christmas Carol" featuring the great Carl Barks character Uncle Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck), years before the album and cartoon versions of "Mickey's Christmas Carol."

I think it's  a lot of fun, with a simple yet effective story (by Annie North Bedford, adapted by Norman McGary - not sure what that means exactly and what about Dickens?) and extremely appealing artwork (credited as by the Walt Disney Studio).

There are 23 pages of story, which are mostly short sentences with big pictures, effect for young readers.

Since the "plot" actually follows the structure of the book fairly closely, I thought it would be fun to break it down into staves.

So, without further ado, here's Stave 1:

One thing I will point out is that Huey's name is spelled as "Hughie" here. Not sure when "Huey" became standardized, but the boys are wearing their established colors: Red (Huey), Blue (Dewey) and Green (Louie).

Stave 2 coming up!