Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Mickey Mouse And Mr. Roach






Mickey Mouse appeared as one of the characters in Hal Roach's 1934 movie BABES IN TOYLAND.






Mickey Mouse and Mr. Roach go back a long way. As do Walt Disney and Hal Roach.

 
You might say there was a certain amount of cross-pollination here, as Walt Disney used Laurel and Hardy as characters in some of his cartoons, just as Hal Roach used Mickey Mouse and the Three Little Pigs in BABES IN TOYLAND. But it seems that Hal Roach even got involved in advertising Mickey Mouse dolls.
 

This picture of a girl with a Mickey Mouse doll is said to have been taken at the Roach studio.

 
 
 
 
 
Kay Kamen  handled the merchandising of Disney's properties in this period.
 
 
Here we see him with one of the "Mickey Mouses."
 
 
 
 
Kay Kamen was also involved in the production of Our Gang merchandise.
 
 
 
 
 So there was a link in the world of merchandising as well as in the world of filmmaking.
 
 
 
Here we see Thelma Todd with Kay Kamen,
 
 
 who signed this picture, dated 1930. "Vamping Venus" was a reference to a silent movie of the same name, with Thelma Todd as Venus. As it had been made in 1928 it would have been only a couple of years old at the time this picture was taken.
 
 
 
 
The end of the Laurel and Hardy series did not end the use of Laurel and Hardy characters by others. When Walt Disney remade BABES IN TOYLAND, Laurel and Hardy characters were still used in the movie, although in a different story and played by other actors.
 
 
 And I thought Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin did a pretty good job playing the "Laurel and Hardys" in the Disney version.
 
 
 
 
 
BABES IN TOYLAND:
 
 
BABES IN TOYLAND ( Unexpected Disney )
 
 
Kay Kamen and Thelma Todd:
 
 
Kay Kamen:
 
 
 
 
VAMPING VENUS:
 
 
 
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