Mouse Tracks. The Story of Walt Disney Records

Editorial Review

Around the world there are grandparents, parents, and children who can still sing ditties by Tigger or Baloo the Bear or the Seven Dwarves. This staying power and global reach is in large part a testimony to the pizzazz of performers, songwriters, and other creative artists who worked with Walt Disney Records.

Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records chronicles for the first time the fifty-year history of the Disney recording companies launched by Walt Disney and Roy Disney in the mid-1950s, when Disneyland Park, Davy Crockett, and the Mickey Mouse Club were taking the world by storm. The book provides a perspective on all-time Disney favorites and features anecdotes, reminiscences, and biographies of the artists who brought Disney magic to audio.

Authors Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar go behind the scenes at the Walt Disney Studios and discover that in the early days Walt Disney and Roy Disney resisted going into the record business before the success of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" ignited the in-house label. Along the way, the book traces the recording adventures of such Disney favorites as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Cinderella, Bambi, Jiminy Cricket, Winnie the Pooh, and even Walt Disney himself. Mouse Tracks reveals the struggles, major successes, and occasional misfires. Included are impressions and details of teen-pop princesses Annette Funicello and Hayley Mills, the Mary Poppins phenomenon, a Disney-style "British Invasion," and a low period when sagging sales forced Walt Disney to suggest closing the division down.

Complementing each chapter are brief performer biographies, reproductions of album covers and art, and facsimiles of related promotional material. Mouse Tracks is a collector's bonanza of information on this little-analyzed side of the Disney empire.

Tim Hollis lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Three of his previous books—histories of tourism and children's television—are published by University Press of Mississippi. Two-time Grammy nominee Greg Ehrbar, a twenty-year Disney company veteran, is a writer of advertising, books, television specials, radio shows, compact discs, and Walt Disney Records Read-Alongs.

Learn more about the book and the authors at www.mousetracksonline.com.
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Customer Reviews

An Excellent Read

2008-04-14
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of my hobbies is collecting Disney records, so this was perfect.

The stars shine.

2007-06-12
This book tells the story of Walt Disney Records, formerly known as Disneyland Records and Buena Vista Records. The record company is one aspect of the Disney empire that hasn't been extensively covered before, so there is a lot of information here that you probably haven't read before. The book does a very good job of telling the record company's story, giving credit to some talented people who deserve to be remembered. Disney fans should read this book.

Memory Lane

2007-03-16
This book definetly brings back childhood memories for me.
I used to have a collection of Disneyland book and records.Plus I always wondered what Robie Lester and Lois Lane actually looked like.(And why they each had their own version of Tinker Bell's little bells.)

A must for any nostalgia buff!

A bit sparse on specific information--but still a good read for Disney aficionadoes

2007-02-25
The recording end of Walt Disney Productions hasn't really been given the short shrift--in 1997, R. Michael Murray put together a wonderful pricing guide for Disneyland and Buena Vista's musical output that fills in a lot of gaps left behind here. Still, authors Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar do a fine job at bringing forth the personalities and histories of many Disney singers who weren't usually credited on record labels, and these talents are worth re-discovering. Some of the basic information regarding certain albums is treated too blithely (and often, a description or detail seems wrong, as when they say Annette's first solo album was on the Disneyland label...it was if you count "Songs from Annette & The Walt Disney Serials", which wasn't an Annette album per se). And too often the authors write off an album's success by saying "million of copies were sold". How many millions? Did the record chart in Billboard? Did it spawn any singles? Apparently, 45rpm singles were the bane of the early recording industry, and the authors pretty much dismiss their importance; however, that doesn't excuse the omittance of chart information, even on some of the more popular titles. Did any of Annette's albums chart, and, if not, what kept the Disney brass interested in her as an albums artist? There is wonderful background information on unsung heroes such as Bob Grabeau, Teri York, Robie Lester and Ginny Tyler, but the writers couldn't come up with ANYthing substantial on the Sylte Sisters or the Vonnair Sisters? The early Disney recordings via the Hansen label, 78rpm artists like William Lava, the 'Zorro' records and 'The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh', are almost completely forgotten, which makes this NOT the definitive book on the subject. It's a nice beginning, how about a second volume?

Mouse Tracks

2006-11-03
This book was as I expected and brings back memories when I used to sell this product in my country and even had the many picture disc LPs issued with soundtracks from the Disney animated features like Snow White. I always like good books about record labels and their product. An unhappy experience was visiting the plant near Disney in Burbank where the records were produced/pressed. The plant was old and interesting but work contracted to them I placed never got done and money lost in 1978-79 and the lies from them and their lawyer were unbelieveable.

AN E-TICKET FOR DISNEY MUSIC!

2006-10-10

Learn more about the book and the authors at www.mousetracksonline.com.

Sweet Meat! 2006-10-07
GREG and TIM know what they are talking about and glad to add this book to my collection! WALT DISNEY RECORDS deserved a treatment like this and it would make a GREAT gift for the holidays! A++++++++++++++++++

Outstanding and fun 2006-08-21
There is so much information in this book, I had to go through it three times to make sure I gleaned everything I could from it.

Well-researched and organized, Mouse Tracks is essential for Disney scholars and pop culture fans of the sixties if they want to find out more about the uncredited people who contributed so much not to just Disney, but to American film, tv and music of the past fourty years.

Reading this text, I learned a bit about the men's group who sang the theme song from Gilligans Island during its final two years, the beautiful Robie Lester (who just recently passed away), who with only a few minutes preparation came up with so many different voices as she did Disneyland's story reader series in the sixties, or the fact that she sang the title tune for Disney's "The Three Lives of Thomasina."

It was great to get some history on the late Jimmy Dodd, I never knew he was in the Lub and Abner films, or that Hal Smith (Otis from the Andy Griffith program) did the original "Whit" on Adventures in Odyssey. And even the fact that it was Ms. Jean Norman, who helped sing the themes for Star Trek and Flipper, or Gene Merlino who did likewise for Rawhide, The Road Runner Show, and Alien Nation, all added to this text.

Also, discovering who wrote some of my favorite Disney Christmas songs was a real treat: "The Sound of Laughter," and "Here He Comes," sung so marvellously by Pete Renaday, and released every so often on a seasonal Disney album made my day. You can really tell the emotion in his voice as he sang these carols.

The book tells a straightford history of Disney Music, broken up with profiles of the many people who contributed to the Music of the Mouse. So if you want to know who Dal McKennon, Lucille Bliss, or Dick Beals are? Or just who sang the theme from "Old Yeller"? Read this book. You'll be surprised at just who did what done.

Lastly, Hollis and Erbear need to continue their research talents into other Disney and non-Disney entertainment avenues. Their skills cannot be allowed to go to waste.

P.S. Tell Disney I still want Alan Youngs audio version of "A Christmas Carol" reissued on CD. My old 8 track is shot.

Sincerely,

Jthree
carolyn@dia.net

A Solid Gold Hit by Greg and Tim 2006-06-28
An Avid Disney LP Collector, I've Been Anxiously Awaiting "Mouse Tracks" since News Came These Two Exceptional People and Disney LP Fans, Ehrbar & Hollis, were Writing It. "Mouse Tracks" is Filled w/Fascinating Information Leaving You Begging for More (I'm Hoping Follow-up Letters will lead to a Sequel). "Mouse Tracks" is a Wonderful Tribute to Many Who Contributed To the Tracks We Enjoy So Much. I Highly Recommend you Buy and Read this Book. It Will Deeply Enhance Your Enjoyment of The Disney Legacy. Thank you Greg and Tim for writing it. Sincerely, Tom SLC, UT