THE BIG LITTLE TIMES®

______________________________________________VOLUME XXIX, NUMBER 5 BIG LITTLE BOOK COLLECTOR’S CLUB SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

P.O. BOX 1242 DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA 94526

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The DISNEY Feature-Length Films (1934-1950)The DISNEY Silly Symphony Toppers

Back

Cover

Front

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Frank Chandler is a fictitious character who learned the secrets of the Yogi’s in the Far East. He used his special powers and a crystal ball to thwart the enemies of mankind. He became well-known as Chandu, the Magician.

The popular juvenile radio program Chandu the Magician, began on October 10, 1932 on the West Coast Don Lee Network, radio station KHJ, Los Angeles. It soon expanded to the East on Mutual. The 5-day series of 15-minute episodes was sponsored by White King Soap in the West and by Beech Nut Gum in the East.

The title character was American-born Frank Chandler who learned occult secrets in India. He acquired supernatural skills, including astral projection, teleportation, and the ability to create illusions. Calling himself Chandu, he intended to fight any “evil that threatens mankind.”

The original show was created by Raymond Morgan and Harry Earnshaw. Vera Oldham who worked for them, wrote several hundred episodes in which Chandler’s sister, Dorothy Regent, and her two children, Betty and Bob, try to find Dorothy’s husband, Robert Regent, who disappeared in a shipwreck. Suspecting foul play, Chandler takes the family to Egypt where they encounter dangerous adventures and the evil Roxor. Chandler has a mild romance with Nadji, an Egyptian princess, and he discovers that Roxor had kidnapped and holds Robert prisoner in an attempt to get his plans for a powerful ray gun.

Although the program came to an end in 1936, it was revived for another run beginning June 28, 1948. The original scripts were reworked by Vera Oldham, and the episodes were again sponsored by White King Soap on ABC, Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. The spooky theme music was provided by organist Juan Rolando under his Hindu pseudonym, Korla Pandit. Then on February 2, 1949, the serialized episodes were dropped, and the program became a 30-minute, self-contained story each week. The last broadcast was heard on September 6, 1950.

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Walt Disney comic strips were reproduced in more Whitman’s Big Little Books than any other comic strip.

The Mickey Mouse strip provided 29 titles. Donald Duck filled another 20 books. And there were books about Pluto and Goofy.

Some collectors overlook the other Disney BLBs — the comic strips that were adapted from the Disney Silly Symphony films and the Disney

feature length films: Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Song of the South, and Cinderella. This issue of the BLT provides information on the thirteen Disney topper features adapted to the Big Little Book format.

Received quite a few letters and emails related to the Mickey Mouse Movie Star Cards and the Hap Lee Big Little Book. The artist has been identified and information concerning his contributions to Disney films is highlighted in this BLT. Here are a few more of the MM Movie Star Cards:

BIG LITTLE BOOK CLUB MEETING

Thursday, September 9that 6:30 p.m. ‘til 8:30 p.m.

Hosted by Joe D’Aniello, Member #75315 Chestnut Street

Plainville, MA 02762

(508) 612-2322

The meeting will be held following a cook out at 5:30 p.m.

Please bring along any rare or hard to get blb related items for show and tell, and bring along any books that you would like to sell or trade as there will be an opportunity to get some blb bargains and or treasures.

The Brimfield show is going on the week of September 7-12. SO, if any-one might want to take a ride to the show on either Thursday the 9th or Friday the 10th WE CAN ADD THE TRIP TO OUR PLANS. It is about 50 minutes from my home.

Call Joe for details and Hotel Lodging information.LARRY LOWERY

Editor

In the early 1930s, some Sunday comic strips featured a topper – a companion strip that usually occupied one-third of the top of the page above the main strip. The Mickey Mouse Sunday feature, drawn by Floyd Gottfredson, debuted on January 10, 1932. It had a Silly Symphonies topper. The topper was written and drawn in the beginning by Earl Duvall. Both features were distributed by King Features Syndicate.

Four of the first five Disney animation feature films showed up in the topper when each film entered movie theaters: Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. Fantasia was the only one not to be converted to the topper. Some of the Silly Symphonies cartoons also showed up in the topper. It is important to note, however, that no film animations were used for the topper. Each story line generally matched its equivalent film, but the artwork was newly created and story lines included more than a movie could show.

The first Silly Symphonies topper story line was also the longest in a series of story lines. It ran for almost 10 years. It was about the adventures of a smart ladybug named Bucky. He fought for the salvation of his hometown, Junkville, and for his love, June. This first story line topper ran from January 1932 to March 1934. It is notable that after the first few episodes, a new, young artist, Al Taliaferro, took over the topper. He was soon joined by Ted Osborne and Merrill de Maris. The team did most of the toppers from then on.

Following the Bucky Bug story line, most of the subsequent stories were adapted from some of the Silly Symphonies screen features – Birds of a Feather, Peculiar Penguins, The Little Red Hen (which debuted Donald Duck), The Robber Kitten. These fables included text that was written in rhyme:

In Barnyard Village, on the farmthere lives a hen and ten small chicks.They have their jobs and sorrows, but

no income tax nor politics!

The WALT DISNEY FEATURE-LENGTH MOVIE BLBs

byLARRY LOWERY

BUCKY BUG Sunday Topper (1/10/1932)

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The Sunday topper adaptations from films allowed for the expansion of the original story. Writers could do things in the strip that could not be done in the film. Character development took the stories further than the films. For example, in Snow White, the Prince is a fully developed character. He is romantically engaging in scenes with Snow White. Later, he is captured by the Queen and thrown into prison. None of this appeared in the film.

The artwork from the earliest toppers was used to fill two Whitman Big Little Books. The first, Mickey Mouse Presents A Walt Disney Silly Symphony movie size BLB #756 (1934), contains most of the long Bucky Bug topper story line. The second, Mickey Mouse Presents Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies Stories #1111 (1936) contains the story lines for Bucky Bug, Benny Bird, Peter Pig, and The Wise Little Hen.

The Silly Symphony concept came about when Carl Stalling and Walt Disney argued over the use of music in the creation of animated cartoons. Stalling thought the music should dominate the action, and Disney thought the action should be supported by the music. To resolve the disagree-ment, Disney let Stalling make short films in which the action was created to match the music. Thus the highly successful Silly Symphonies animated cartoons were born.

The very popular Silly Symphonies topper adaptations were sometimes interrupted with other stories. A sequence of escapades featuring Donald Duck ran from 8/30/36 to 12/5/37. These escapades were drawn by Taliaferro and many of them were used to form the content of the first two Donald Duck BLBs: Silly Symphony Featuring Donald Duck #1169 (1937) and Silly Symphony Featuring Donald Duck and His (Mis)Adventures #1441 (1937).

THE WISE LITTLE HEN Sunday Topper (11/4/1934)

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SNOW WHITE Sunday Topper (12/19/1937)

When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie was about to enter theaters, its story line was adapted to the topper and drawn by Hank Porter with text by de Maris. The BLB of the same title #1460 (1938) reproduced the topper artwork and story line. The topper and the BLB expands and enriches the story. The Prince is an active character. He flirts with Snow White at the wishing well, and there is a charming sequence in which he hides within a manikin of an imaginary man created by Snow White.

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Snow White is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version is the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm. The German version features elements such as the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in the 1912 Broad-way play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Disney’s film which premiered on December 21, 1937.

Jacob Grimm was born on January 4, 1785. His brother Wilhelm Grimm was born February 24, 1786. They were the oldest of five brothers and one sister. After studying toward legal careers in Kassel, Germany they began collecting folk tales from surrounding countries: Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Scandinavia, England, Serbia, and Finland. 210 stories were gathered, mostly from oral sources, to convey the ideas of people from past centuries. They were able to put the tales into readable forms without changing their character. Their work is considered to be the first scientific collection of folk tales, and it popularized such tales as “Rumpelstiltskin”, “Snow White”, “Rapunzel”, “Cinderella”, “Hansel and Gretel”, and “The Frog Prince.”

Jacob also did academic work in linguistics, related to how the sounds in words shift over time (Grimm’s law), and together they wrote a German dictionary.

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CARLO COLLODI

PINOCCHIO Sunday Topper (1/21/1940)

Walt Disney’s second animated feature film, Pinocchio, held its world premiere on February 7, 1940. Critics generally agree that it ranks as Disney’s finest animated feature. Disney capitalized on what was learned from animating Snow White and improved on what was learned. For example, the multi-plane system developed by Ub Iwerks, was put to good use to improve the visual sense of a three dimensional world. The opening sequence set new standards - the camera moved from a sky view of the small Italian village, down among the buildings, and through the window of Geppetto’s workshop. What a powerful visual sequence!

The story for the film was taken from a classic piece of children’s literature written by Carlo Lorenzini who published under the pen name Carlo Collodi. He was born in Florence, Tuscany (Italy) on November 24, 1826. He became a journalist and author, then after a successful career publishing political satires, he began to write children’s stories in 1861. All these later works portray children in realistic settings imbuing them with mischievous behavior from which they learn how life works.

Collodi’s book, The Adventures of Pinocchio first appeared in Italy in 1883 in a serialized form in a monthly children’s magazine. It was an instant success. The story takes place in a small Italian village and tells about a woodcarver named Geppetto who wished to have a son of his own. He carves a life-size marionette and names it Pinocchio. The name is a Tuscan word meaning “pine nut.” In both the story and the Disney film, Pinocchio learns the difference between good and evil. He carries out a courageous good deed that enables him to become a real boy.

The wonderful artwork from the topper fills the Whitman Pinocchio BLB #1435 (1944).

Dumbo was the fourth animated feature film done by the Disney Studios. It debuted on October 23, 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures. The third Disney animated film, Fantasia, was not adapted to the Silly Symphonies topper format and was never made into a Big Little Book.

Dumbo is based upon the book Dumbo, The Flying Elephant, written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl. The main character is Jumbo Jr., a semi-anthropomorphic elephant who is cruelly nicknamed Dumbo. He is ridiculed for his big ears, but in fact he learns he is capable of flying by using his ears as wings. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend, aside from his mother, is the mouse, Timothy.

Disney made Dumbo in an attempt to recoup financial losses brought about by his third film, Fantasia. Dumbo was not a complex film. It was contemporary, simple, and economical to animate. And at 64 minutes, it was Disney’s shortest animated feature.

Author Helen Aberson was born in Syracuse, New York. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1929 from Syracuse University, then in the 1930s she was the host of a Syracuse talk-radio program. During that time she wrote Dumbo. It was illustrated by Harold Pearl and was published in 1939 by Roll-a-Book.

Almost immediately, Disney bought the book rights, summoned the surprised author to California, and set about making one of his most popular animated films.

Six weeks after the film was released, America went to war. Miss Aberson married, became Mrs. Meyer, and continued to write children’s stories into the 1960s, but none were ever published. She died April 3, 1999 in her Manhattan home at age 91.

The topper to the Mickey Sunday strip continued into the 1950s, but after the Little Hiawatha story (11/10/40 to 7/12/42), the Silly Symphonies title was dropped.

Bambi opened in theaters on August 13, 1942. It was adapted from the novel, Bambi, a Life in the Woods, originally published in Austria in 1923. The novel was written by Felix Salten. It traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father and experience about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. Considered to be one of the first environmental novels, the English translation was published in North America by Simon & Schuster in 1928 and became a Book-of-the-Month Club success. It has since been translated and published in over 20 languages around the world.

Salten was born Siegmund Salzmann in Budapest, Hungary on September 6, 1869. When he was four weeks old, his family relocated to Vienna, Austria. Many Jews immigrated into that city during the late 19th century because Vienna had granted full citizenship to Jews in 1867.

At age sixteen he quit school and went to work for an insurance agency to help with his family’s finances. In his spare time he submitted book reviews and poems to journals. He soon received work as a full-time art and theater critic for Vienna’s press. During 1900 he published his first collection of short stories. Averaging a book/novel a year, he also produced plays, short stories, travel manuals, and essays. He wrote film scripts and librettos for operettas. He contributed to nearly all the major newspapers in Vienna. In 1902 he married actress Ottilie Metzl and had two children.

His most famous work is Bambi (1923), written under his pen name, Felix Salten. The book brought him international fame. Although anthropomorphized, it gave a realistic account of a deer from birth to his role as a wise old denizen of the forest. To readers, the close parallel between the fawn becoming a stag and a human child becoming an adult gave the book a moral overtone. The novel was well received by critics and is considered a classic.

During 1933, Salten sold the film rights of the book to director Sidney Franklin for only $1,000, and Franklin later transferred the rights to the Walt Disney Studios.

FELIX SALTEN

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BAMBI Sunday Topper (8/23/1942)

Salten composed another book based on the character Bambi, titled Bam-bi’s Children: The Story of a Forest Family (1939). His stories, Perri and The Hound of Florence, inspired the Disney films Perri (1957) and The Shaggy Dog (1959).

Life in Austria became perilous for Salten during the 1930s. Adolf Hitler had Salten’s books banned in 1936. Two years later, after Austria had become part of Germany, Salten relocated to Zurich, Switzerland, where he lived until his death on October 8, 1945.

Disney’s film version of Bambi was a major change in Disney animation. The naturalistic beauty of the environment was as important in the film as were the animals. The scenery changes with the seasons (the film moves through a full year cycle (spring, summer, fall, winter, and spring again) and with the weather (the wonderful sequence of rain starting, pouring, and diminishing was more like a Silly Symphony film similar to the Old Mill, than a character dominated film.

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Bambi ran as a topper to the Mickey Sunday strip from January 19, 1942 to October 4, 1942. It was the first animated feature film adaptation to not have the Silly Symphonies heading on the topper.

Salten’s sequel to Bambi was intended to be another Disney film. Work had started on it, but because of other work during WWII, it was set aside. Part of that work was adapted to a comic book format, and that format, in turn, was adapted for the Bambi’s Children BLB #1497 (1943).

Disney Studios later created an interesting mix of tales when it published a BLB in which Thumper (from Bambi) meets the Seven Dwarfs (from Snow White). The BLB was titled Thumper and the Seven Dwarfs #1409 (1944).

In the late 40s, Disney features were in the doldrums. Sketchy combinations of short stories filled the major features: Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time. Even the tales of Br’er Rabbit in Song of the South was made up of short stories. It is a shame that this latter film has been removed from the U.S. market because of the depiction of Uncle Remus.

The Brer Rabbit Better Little Book #1426 (1947) and the Brer Rabbit New Better Little Book #704-10 (1949) adapted content from the Mickey Mouse topper which began on October 14, 1945. The topper preceded the movie by almost a year. The tales that were adapted to the BLBs were the “Tar Baby” and the “Briar Patch.”

Uncle Remus is a fictional character in the Br’er Rabbit folktales. He narrates the African- American folktales which were collected from Southern U.S. blacks, compiled by Joel Chandler Har-ris and published in book form in 1881.

Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1845. He became a journalist in post-reconstruction Atlanta and produced seven Uncle Remus books. Br’er Rabbit (“Brother Rabbit”) is the main character of the stories, a likable character, prone to tricks and trouble-making who is often opposed by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear.

On July 20, 1879, Harris published the first tale, The Story of Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Fox as Told by Uncle Remus in the Atlanta Constitution. It was the start of 34 plantation fables that would comprise his later book, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings in 1880. The stories, mostly collected directly from the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were revolutionary in their use of dialect and animal personage.

The folktales were not deemed to be racist by many people of the time, but by the mid-20th century, the dialect and “Old Uncle” stereotype of the narrator, were considered demeaning by many blacks. As a result, the stories are less popular today.

Although this Sunday topper began on October 14, 1945, it did not end until December 31, 1972 - it lasted more than 27 years! When it began, it was written by Bill Walsh, a talented Disney member since 1943. The strip was drawn by Paul Murry, an animator on Song of the South. Dick Moores and Bill Wright inked the strip over Murry’s pencils. At first it was faithful to the movie, but as time went on, new characters appeared. Uncle Remus was only seen as a silhouette on the title panel.

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UNCLE REMUS Sunday Topper (10/14/1945)

CINDERELLA Sunday Topper (6/18/1950)

The last of the Disney animated features to show up in the Mickey Mouse topper and to be converted to a BLB, was Cinderella. It ran from March 5, 1950 to June 18, 1950. The Disney film debuted on February 15, 1950.

The source of the story is ancient. In 1 BCE it was recorded as an Egyptian tale. After that, many countries had versions of the story. The Grimms brothers included it in their compilation of folk tales. Today, the most popular version was written by Charles Perrault in 1697. The popularity was due to his additions to the story including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother, and the introduction of glass slippers.

In Perrault’s version, Cinderella wore fur boots (“pantoufle en vair”). When the story was translated into English, vair was mistaken for verre (glass), resulting in glass slippers. The story has remained this way ever since.

With the end of WWII and major labor disputes, Disney focused upon doing another animation feature in the classic tradition of his earlier films. Cinderella was a smash hit. It brought back the great artistry and great story telling that Disney was famous for before WWII. It also made enough money to enable Disney Studios to expand and continue to make animated features.

As in the earlier features, Cinderella had great music — catchy, tuneful songs such as: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes; Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo; So This Is Love. And the Disney humor was there: Jacque and Gus were the mice (with mouse-like voices) as supporting characters.

After Cinderella, the Sunday topper continued featuring Disney films. Alice in Wonderland came next. It ran from September 2, 1951 through December 16, 1951. Writer Bill Walsh and Artist Paul Murry continued the topper until it ended on December 31, 1972.

References:

____ 1980. Walt Disney’s Animated Features and Silly Symphonies. Abbeville Press, New York

David Gerstein, Editor. 2005. Walt Disney’s Mickey and the Gang. Gemstone Publishing, Timonium, MI.

Margaret Kaplan, Editor 1973. The Art of Walt Disney Walt Disney Productions, Burbank, CA

Leonard Maltin. 1980. Of Mice and Magic. New American Library, NY

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COLLECTOR’S CORNERLarry Johnston, Member #681, found an ad that featured Big Little Books. Although this copy reproduction is not very sharp, it is still interesting to see an ad for the books from the 1939s.

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• • •Way back in 1980 when I was gathering material to write my first book on Big Little Books, Jalaine Tenneson, curator for the Whitman library, gave me several catalogues and a folder of papers that were to be thrown out. She thought I might find some useful information in the small box of discarded items.

Recently I sorted through the items after they lay dormant for 30 years. I came across the item reprinted below. Sherman Wolf was a public relations man for Whitman. He provided publicity releases to promote Big Little Books and other items. The publicity item for “immediate release” is interesting. He chose comic characters in BLBs for his questions. See if you can answer Sherman’s questions.

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• • •In the last issue of the BLT, the caricature artwork in the Hap Lee BLB was identified as coming from the Mickey Mouse Movie Cards. Dennis Jellum, Member #55, sent me a bit more information about those caricatures.

Dennis is certain they were done by Joe Grant, an artist at the Disney Studio. Dennis sent me a copy of a signed piece of art by Joe that is similar to Card #100. He also said that a book published last August, is about Joe Grant and another Disney artist. The book is titled Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Story Tellers. The book is authored by John Canemaker.

Joe Grant was hired by Disney in 1933 after Walt saw his caricature drawings of Hollywood stars in the Los Angeles Record newspaper. Walt wanted him to design caricatures of stars for his projected cartoon Mickey’s Gala Premiere. Joe helped with the cartoon and also contributed to the character of the Queen and witch in Snow White and was put into the Story Direction Department for Fantasia where he also helped select the music. He then headed up the Model Department until he left in 1949. He returned in 1989 and worked on Disney films until his death in 2005.

Dennis sent several samples of Joe’s wonderful caricature artwork. I am pleased to reproduce them in this BLT. And if anyone wants to know more about Joe Grant, here is a website where you can read an interview with him:

www.awn.com/mag/issue4.08/4.08pages/lyonsgrant.php3 JOE GRANT

LETTERS

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I can’t believe the Big Little Book Club and the BLTimes may be coming to a close. The years went by so quickly, I thought it would never end. You kept this going with your efforts and time that you spent coming up with material for the Club newsletter six times a year. I would like to thank you for the years of enjoyment I have received. I also learned a lot about the publishing and rarity of these books, and some of the related material.

Hopefully, someone will keep the BLTimes going for a while longer. I would like to put my name on any list of members who would like to keep some sort of contact with each other. I don’t use a computer. I correspond by mail only. But I’m still interested in extra items that any members have for sale.

ROBERT JOHNSTONMember #57

I took the advice in your recent editorial in the Big Little Times and went to our Club’s website to see copies of the BLT in full color. WOW! The BLT is a gem of a publication and the full color just makes it sparkle even better. Every member should take a look at a color version of the newsletter.

I also noticed for the first time that as the editor/publisher/writer/etc. you do something else that other publications seldom do. You write paragraphs to fit a page or a space around a picture. There is never a carry over of a sentence to another page or a wraparound of the type. That’s amazing editing work - I know it takes time and thoughtful planning to accomplish this. And you seldom have a word hyphenated when it does not fit on a line. All this makes reading of the BLT easier and the pages look very professional. That “extra” bit of journalism skill is seldom seen nowadays even in major magazines and newspapers. I certainly admire what you do right down to these little subtleties in the publication. We’ll miss you and these professional skills when the publication comes to an end.

CHARLES LANGFORD Member #888

Thanks to you and John for putting together the BLB complete listing on the Club’s website. I matched my BLBs against this list to come up with an accurate valuation of my collection. I am still collecting but not as much as I was. As you know it is so hard to find a book in very good or better condition at a fair price. I have been a member since 1994 and this is by far the best club or organization that I have ever belonged to. Over the years I have always looked forward to receiving the Big Little Times. You have done a terrific job and I will miss your leadership after 2011. I sure hope someone will take over.

RICHARD L. LAMB Member #709

As a native of South Dakota...where I began my reading of BLB’s...back during my “childhood”...once the “days” of BLB’s concluded...I NEVER once thought that I’d ever “AGAIN” be a part of what I thought (then)... was a real exciting part of my “growing up years”

After reading my JULY/AUGUST BIG LITTLE TIMES publication...what WALT NEEDHAM says (from page 5 thru 19)...just about tells it ALL regarding PREMIUMS during our era of BLBs.

What a combination of FACTS & PHOTOS...regarding all of those “Premiums” distributed during our years of the 1930’s thru 1950’s...my “compliments” to Walt Needham (and to YOU, Larry, for organizating each bi-monthly Publication of our BIG LITTLE TIMES).

After my joining your BLB Club of America...( a long time ago)...and having ALL of your PUBLISHED “BIG LITTLE TIMES” publications...(since the institution of this ORGANIZATION)...I truly can say that... I NOW HAVE LEARNED MUCH OF THE RECORDED “HISTORY”... of the happenings in RADIO and THE PRINT MEDIA...from back during the years of 1930 thru 1950.

It’s been my real PLEASURE and EDUCATION... to be a “part” of your BIG LITTLE BOOK membership.

JIM GRIFFITHMember #661

I want to make a minor correction to the cereal premium article by Walt Needham in the last issue of the BLT. The wonderful Tom Mix decoder badges and decoder buttons were never included in the Ralston cereal boxes. They had to be ordered by mail.

Regarding the Mickey Mouse cards pictured on pages 16 to 18, I’m not sure who some of the movie stars are. I think that’s Wallace Beery and Richard Dix on page 16, but can’t identify the woman in the lower right image on page 18. Bette Davis? Carole Lombard?

BUD NORRISMember #1054

You are correct in identifying the men. The lady in question is still a mystery.

Several Club Members wrote to ask about the caricatures of movie stars on the Mickey Mouse cards. Since we have not had a BLB Puzzle for quite a while, here is one related to those Joe Gilbert caricatures.

Look at the cover of the Hap Lee BLB (If you don’t have the BLB, look at the cover on the last issue of the BLT). Beginning with Wallace Beery in he lower left hand corner, name each of the movie stars in order in a counter-clockwise direction. For example: Wallace Beery, William Powell, Groucho Marx, etc.

From all the correct answers, I’ll randomly select one and send that person a BLB as a prize.

YOUR EDITOR

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BIG LITTLE BOOKS FOR SALE

WANTED

Phantom BLBs:Desert Justice (1421)

Return of the Phantom (#1489)

Flash Gordon BLB:Monsters of Mongo (soft cover)

Also Zorro, Lone Ranger, Davy Crockett, Green Hornet, Shadow, and

Crusader Rabbit memorabilia

And non-sport cards, various board games.

JEFF KEPLEY (Member #1337)6956 Westmoreland WaySacramento, CA 95831

(916) 421-0921 evenings or weekends

WANTED

In very good or better condition

Bugs Bunny All Pictures Whitman #1435 352 pages

Mickey Mouse and Pluto Dell Fast Action #16 (1942) 192 pages

DICK HOFFMAN (Member #223)348 Walnut Lane

Youngstown, NY 14174

WANTED

Looking for 1939 NYWF children’s items - like lunch box, games, toys, unique, different, colorful, excellent condition. Ask your grandmother,

aunt, neighbor what they have in the attic. Keep this want list and let me

know. Also, old microphones, feature matchbooks, art deco displays,

advertising, backbar mechanical pcs, special old stuff.

MARTY (Member #567) 202-726-3995

CLASSIFIED ADSWANTED

Alley Oop and Dinny #763. Looking for Mint or

very sharp Near Mint.

RAY SNODGRASS (Member #1142) ray.alleyoop@verizon.net

27515 Ynez Rd., Temecula CA 92591

WANTED

The 320 page Big Little Paint Book and the 336 page BLPaint Book

with purple edges

AndThank you Larry Lowery for your

endless hours of contributions to the BLB Club and making me feel like a kid every few months through the

BLTimes.

LARRY JOHNSTON (Member #687) johnston6100@sbcglobal.net

WANTED

33 Big Little Books mostly from the 1930s.

Average condition is GOOD (colorful covers and backs

but well read — brown pages with 6 missing spines)

Great reading copies.$350.00 or best offer.

MICHAEL BARTUS (Member #949) (888) 396-8997 for more info

WANTEDBrick Bradford, the City Beneath the Sea

hard cover copyBig Big Book Tarzan Puzzle.

JACK SWORD (Member #200) jacksword@email.com

(310) 937-2232

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GUIDELINES FOR PLACING ADVERTISEMENTS IN

THE BIG LITTLE TIMES©

Communication concerning the buying, selling, seeking, and trading of BLBs will be improved if all advertisers do the following:

1. Grade BLBs according to the criteria in the Collector’s Guide to Big Little Books and Similar Books or on the Club’s website: biglittlebooks.com2. Use standard symbols for grading: M (mint); NM (near mint); F (fine); VG (very good); G (good); FAIR (fair); P (poor).3. Provide other helpful information such as: “spine missing,” “ink marks on the cover,” “softcover version.”4. Use the Collector ’s Numbers from the Collector’ Guide to Big Little Books and Similar Books in place of or along with the Publisher’s Numbers. The Collector’s Numbers help in identifying variations. The copyright date of the book can be an optional addition.

Copy for advertising must be received by the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication.

The BIG LITTLE TIMES© is published 6 times per year on a bimonthly subscription basis by the Educational Research and Applications LLC. It is one of several publications published for The Big Little Book Club by the ERA, LLC.

The publication is devoted to people who research, collect, or are just enthusiastic about Big Little Books© and similar books.

Contents ©ERA, LLC 2010, all rights reserved

Subscription rates: One year (6 issues) . . . . $15.00 . . . . Single Issues . . . . $4.00 CANADA . . . . $18.00 . . . . Single Issues . . . . $5.00

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