Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records

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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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A Whole New World, Revisited, 2008-10-10
What an amazing read! I was glued to the pages of this book like a mystery reader. Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's Disneyland Records was a pivotal part of almost any person's childhood. This book is one of the most thorough comprehensive journeys in the creation, growth, and current children's/adult contemporary recording company. The reader is plummeted into the world of; Disney, Camarata,Annette Funicello, Louis Prima, Haley Mills, Phil Harris; and well loved voice talents such as Thurl Ravenscroft, Paul Frees, Pete Renaday, Cliff Edwards (a.k.a. Jiminy Cricket, Sterling Halloway (Winnie-the-Pooh) and more. In this day and age of DVD, Compact Disc and High Definition there's still a charm and warmth about plopping the needle down on a 40 year old vinyl album and being treated to some now heard rarities. I've been recently transferring many vinyls to my IPOD and this book has been a great reference. Readers also may want to look into The Golden Age of Walt Disney Records 1933 - 1988 by Murray, R. Michael.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

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.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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!


1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

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?

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