One Hour in Wonderland

There are a lot of strange curios in the history of Disney which is only to be expected for an organisation that has been making cartoons, theme parks, films and merchandise for such a long time.

One Hour in Wonderland is one such odd addition to the world of Disney.

It's basically a promotional film for Disney and Coca Cola.

It's based around a party that Walt Disney is throwing for a selection of invited guests - mainly 'children' but also including the two ventriloquist puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, and their 'handler; Edgar Bergen, who we last met in Fun and Fancy Free, part-narrating the story of Mickey and the Beanstalk.  I've put 'children' in inverted commas, by the way, because most of the guests are clearly teenagers of at least 14 and older.  It's the sort of demographic that, nowadays, might be considered 'too old' for Disney's main output and does lend a slightly strange air to proceedings when viewed with 21st Century eyes. 

Also on the guest list is Kathryn Beaumont, the voice and real-life 'model' for Alice 9and later the voice of Wendy Darling in Peter Pan).  Slightly odd is that she is dressed as Alice throughout and I couldn't quite work out if she was supposed to be Alice or was supposed to be Kathryn playing Alice.  Another guest is Bobby Driscoll who featured in Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart, Treasure Island and Melody Time and would go on to voice and be the 'life model' for Peter Pan.  

Walt Disney himself hosts proceedings and using the Magic Mirror (performed by Hans Conried - who would go on to voice Captain Hook in Peter Pan) from Snow White proceeds to show the guests various clips from Disney films such as Song of the South, Snow White, a Mickey Mouse short and a preview of the upcoming feature Alice in Wonderland.  There's also a performance from the Firehouse  Five Plus Two.

This is a Dixieland jazz band made up of members of the Disney animation department.  In my tour of the world of Disney I've come across them in my exploration of Disney music and had wondered what their origin was.  It is good to see them feature in this special, especially as they are shown in the midst of animating a scene from Alice in Wonderland (involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee) before launching into a tune.

The oddest part of this special, though, to a Brit is the constant foregrounding of 'delicious refreshing Coca Cola'.  It even begins with Santa Claus - the traditional red-suited image of who is famously attributed in part to Coca Cola advertising.  Although we obviously have advertising in the UK, this style of blatant promotion is not something which we're particularly used to.  It's also the 'Fifties-ness' of it - all wholesome and cheesy.  Product placement and advertising can still be blatant and cringeworthy, but I like to think it's got a bit more sophisticated than this.

An interesting curio giving us a window into a different era.