I’m fortunate to have members of my family who collected Disney media back when Disney was truly run by Walt Disney. Some of that goes way back to the truly golden era of the company: 1930’s and 40’s–and some of it survived in enough good condition to get into my hands and safekeeping. But since I consider the 1970’s to be the last of the golden era of Disney (however arguable in the immediate years following Walt’s death)–I still place some of the Disney items I collected as a very young kid in that decade to be a part of a classic Disney era. I won’t argue that the company today still produces some fairly decent books and CD’s for kids and princesses in-training. Nevertheless, the old Disney magic stamp was a little more pronounced in their collection of books and LP’s up until the time of the Michael Eisner takeover in 1984. After recently digging out a few old and interesting Disney media items I own from various eras–this first part of a series focuses on a book Disney published in 1975…and many Disney media history buffs consider it a minor classic now.
As insignificant as it might appear–the hardback “Disney Mickey Mouse Cookbook” became a bestseller for Disney’s publishing arm in the mid-70’s–yet it’s been out of print for probably two decades. You can sometimes find it going for around $40-$50 on the used market lately, which isn’t surprising considering the original color art inside the book showcasing all of the classic Disney characters up to the 1970’s.
When my parents purchased the book for me when I was about four years old–I was already a big Disney fan (and interested in cooking already)–so seeing all of the Disney characters cooking, stand next to or consuming our most basic of American foods was highly appealing. Just about any kid in America at that time who had similar sentiments undoubtedly loved this book because of its feel-good Disney Americana and the added bonus of making food look more appealing via instantly familiar Disney characters who could easily sell anything (that’s edible or family-worthy).
If you happen to still own a copy of this book or find it in a used book store somewhere, you’ll undoubtedly be more interested in it than you think once you open it up. Inside, the surviving “Nine Old Men” at that time (Disney’s loyal team of prestigious animators) had drawn special new art of their classic characters–showing Cinderella, et al., preparing to cook up a grilled cheese sandwich, making cookies or what have you. The cover alone with a chef garb-wearing Mickey Mouse holding a tray with a giant sandwich (as Chip and Dale trail behind him with a wobbly bowl of soup) may be one of Disney’s most classic covers for any book published by them at the time. That pretty much let parents know that these recipes were very simple–even though kids certainly didn’t care. The book still made you feel like you were more capable in the kitchen than Rachael Ray.
Some of the inside pages I remember were the Seven Dwarves being shown making giant cupcakes with white frosting and sprinkles–followed by a simple recipe that anyone could make from scratch. For some reason, they wanted to emphasize that the Dwarves were small by making the cupcakes almost as large as they were. This just made the cupcakes appear to be more appealing via their size.
As mentioned earlier, I remember the recipe for the grilled cheese sandwich vividly–considering I and every kid in the world loved to eat those as often as possible or when our moms were available to make one. Cinderella was shown (sans her evil stepsisters and stepmother, thankfully) making a grilled cheese sandwich over a stove as the little mouse characters she befriended (Bruno, Gus, Jacques, et. al) looked on.
One of my favorite pages in the book was one showing the “Jungle Book” characters. On a hot summer day, I remember reading the book and looking at the “Beverages” section (yes, Disney taught the proper usage of kitchen terms and etiquette) and salivating over some of the drinks that looked complicated to make as a kid–but were obviously as easy to prepare as getting water from a faucet. In one, showing an Orange Julius type of drink–Sher Khan from “Jungle Book” was shown prowling around a giant glass of this appealing-looking beverage. It was brilliant of the artists to equate Sher Khan’s orange color with the color of the drink. And, of course, when the drink became too appealing to look at on a hot day, it meant going inside and preparing a drink of…Tang. Well, it was close enough to fulfilling the recipe.
I also fondly remember the recipe for the sugar cookies using (if I remember right) characters from “Winnie the Pooh.” It’s amazing how each Disney character seemed to represent the particular recipe perfectly in all its essence. This was back in the days when the marketing departments at Disney still had a sense of artistic quality (a holdover from the mind of Walt Disney)–hence making the book all the more of a standout. But it’s not just the recipes and artwork that made this book a classic…
Disney promotes cleanliness and smart food preparation…
Sure, that probably sounds like one of those old 1950’s Disney educational films about how to keep from getting influenza by not sticking your unwashed finger in your nose or ears. No matter what you might say about how conservative Disney was and is–they used to promote a better quality of life through education of things some people surprisingly don’t adhere to. In this cookbook, they adamantly promote careful preparation of food, washing your hands, using the right tools and clothing, etc. The whole front section was devoted to that so kids would learn from the get-go that working in the kitchen isn’t about getting the food made in ten seconds.
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How many future culinary artists sprung from the book obviously can’t be calculated. I didn’t become a chef–but entertained thoughts about it when younger based on this cookbook from Disney and others like it. If only Disney today would put as much care into their publishing arm as they did up until the time of the ’84 Eisner reign–they’d probably have more books that could be considered classics. Today, they don’t even publish educational/entertainment books at this level. They do have some interesting and well-developed books–but mainly related to their most current crop of films with nothing all that substantial inside.
Consider the Disney Mickey Mouse Cookbook to be one of the last items produced from the “Careful Consideration” era at Disney. No wonder I see so many comments from people on various websites selling used copies of this book saying they remember the book as a wonderful part of their childhood life that enhanced their pleasure and imagination in the joys of simple recipes.
