And they lived happily ever after...

Walt Disney Productions, 1967

In the Disney Bad Guys Hall of Fame, I'd say Malificent ranks highly. Cruella DeVille is pretty rotten. Madame Medusa would have my knees knocking, but Malificent takes the cake. Just look at those flames. Yowzers. Sleeping Beauty was one of my favorite Disney films until Beauty and the Beast came along and I saw in Belle a kindred spirit... a girl with her nose in a book dreaming of a world beyond her provincial life.

These illustrations are from the read-along record and for this one I actually still have the record. The three fairies are so sweet in this story and I love the sappy image on the last page... posted here for your viewing pleasure. And they lived happily ever after... with blue birds and chipmunks in lush green grass.... (of course it was kind of a bitch to have to walk all that way to and from the castle to frolic in that grass...)

Please Pass the Cheese Curds....

This is a Disneyland Original Little Long Playing record, and I am your story reader. I am going to begin now to read the story of HEIDI.

You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rings her little bells like this...

Walt Disney Productions, Western Publishing Company, 1968

As kids, my brother and sister and I had a lot of these read-along records. Though, I don't think they were all produced by Disney. This record was my introduction to Johanna Spryi's classic novel, Heidi and I remember loving the story. The loneliness she felt in the city, the longing to be back on the mountain with grandfather. It made me want to sleep in a hayloft! And how could anyone resist goats named Schwanli and Barli? :)