One Hour in Wonderland

This holiday Disney extravaganza brought the magic of the Walt Disney company directly into homes, where entire families could sit together and enjoy an hour in front of the television set.

Broadcast in December of 1950, Disney used the program not only to share highlights of his past works, but to promote his 1951 release ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

The television special features Walt Disney, Kathryn Beaumont (the voice of Alice), and guest stars Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd. Child star Bobby Driscoll also makes an appearance (he would voice Peter Pan in 1953's PETER PAN, with Beaumont voicing Wendy), as does Hans Conried, who plays the spirit in the Magic Mirror. (He'd go on to voice Captain Hook.)

Bergen takes McCarthy and Snerd to a party being thrown by Disney, with Beaumont, Driscoll, and a crowd of young people in attendance. Disney's own daughters are part of the crowd. Ever the kid at heart, Walt Disney is introduced showing off his large model train.

The program incorporates clips from Disney cartoons like "Clock Cleaners" and feature films like SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), SONG OF THE SOUTH (1946), and the soon-to-be-released ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951), all thanks to the Magic Mirror.

As an added treat, there's an appearance by the Firehouse Five Plus Two, the dixieland band made up of Disney animators, who put off their work on ALICE to play "Jingle Bells".

Walt Disney was one of the creative geniuses of his time, and it's great to see a vintage program like this. Even before his regular television series, it's clear he had the right idea about these things. Walt knew how to appeal to a family audience, with stars like Edger Bergen and Bobby Driscoll, megastars like Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto, favorite scenes from popular movies, and a sneak peak at his upcoming animated feature.

Walt Disney always knew how to promote his brand as well as his personality.

It's also great to see an old-time TV special like this, with the Coca- Cola sponsorship and everything. Vintage television. Good stuff.

"One Hour in Wonderland" is the first Disney television special...a portent of things to come. However, it's also a giant TV commercial for Coke and an upcoming Disney film ("Alice in Wonderland")...and to everyone but the kids, this will be obvious.

The show stars Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy and it begins with their going to a kids party at Walt Disney's house. There you see a couple Disney properties (Kathryn Beaumont and Bobby Driscoll) as well as Disney's own two daughters among the guests. Using the Magic Mirror as a plot device, the kids all watch various Disney film clips as well as some of the soon to be released movie.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable and pleasant TV show. My only gripes are how obvious the ads are as well as the complete randomness of several of the film clips. Still, it is fun and it's also nice that the clips were still in color...even though TVs in 1950 couldn't display color. I assume this was easier than converting the clips to black & white as well as if they wanted to re-show this at a later date when, perhaps, color was the norm.

If you are interested in seeing it, it's available to view or download at archive.org.