“The Mickey Mouse Treasures” features a fun assortment of Disneyana facsimiles

Jim Hill

17 years ago

Okay. Quick show of hands here. How many of you actually remember filling out that application toward the back of "Mickey Mouse Club Magazine"? And then sending a letter off to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Just so that — four to six weeks later — you'd then be able to receive your very own Mickey Mouse Club membership card?

Not to mention a genuine certificate of membership.

Of course, most of us didn't actually manage to hang on this sort of ephemera. Which is why cool little bits of Disneyana like the Mickey Mouse Club membership stuff seen above winds up being lost to the mists of time (Or — more likely — to a mom who just tossed out these childhood tchotchkes when we weren't looking).

Which is why I think that it's great that Robert Tieman occasionally puts out a book like "The Mickey Mouse Treasures" (Disney Editions, July 2007). Which features facsimiles of some of the more intriguing Mouse-related items that have been produced over the past 79 years.

And given that Mr. Tieman is the manager of the Walt Disney Archives … Well, Robert is clearly the sort of guy you want to go to if you're putting together a book that's loaded with reproductions of one-of-a-kind Disneyana.

Walt Disney Archives Manager Robert Tieman (right) and friend
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

And this time around, Tieman has really pulled out the stops in order to give the reader a real sense of the length and breadth of Mickey's career. I mean, that Mouse just seemed to be everywhere in the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared on employee identification cards for Disney's old Hyperion Studios.

Mickey also appeared on bookmarks that help promote the studio's big release for the 1940 holiday season, "Fantasia." (Please note the clever if somewhat crude joke toward the top of this facsimile. Which shows "Bacchus on his Jacchus.")

This beautifully designed 64-page hardcover reminds us of the contributions that MM made during WWII. When Mickey urged Americans to watch out for saboteurs …

… as well as pay their income taxes early.

It's in picking out illustrations like this one for "The Mickey Mouse Treasures" where Robert reveals his somewhat puckish sense of humor. I mean, if Timothy is a mouse just like Mickey … Then why is this "Dumbo" co-star so much smaller than Disney's corporate symbol?

Mind you, it's not just Mickey Mouse fans who will get a kick about this slipcovered coffee table book. Theme park aficiandos are sure to be intrigued by the reproduction of an early Disneyland map that Blue Bird Shoes for Children sponsored back in 1955. Which offers a somewhat cockeyed view at the then-still-under-construction family fun park.

If you're a fan of Tieman's first two ephemera-filled volumes — 2003's "The Disney Treasures" as well as 2005's "The Disney Keepsakes" (AKA "The Disney Experience" for its U.K. printing) — then you definitely want to pick up a copy of "The Mickey Mouse Treasures."

You see, Robert doesn't do a Mickey Mouse job when it comes to pulling together a unique assortment of Disney collectibles. And even though this book only features facsimiles, they're still very entertaining & informative facsimiles that you'll definitely be proud to own. Which is why you should make a point of adding a copy of "The Mickey Mouse Treasures" to your Disney reference library.

Your thoughts?