Friday, March 23, 2018

It all started with a Toot!

My obsession with Disney music actually goes back to my youth and loving the park music, especially "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from Disneyland in the late 1960s.  As I started to collect Disneyana as an adult, I noticed a lot of Disneyland records still in the thrifts stores and started my early collection there.  Then one day (about 25 years ago) I was in a small second hand shop in Washington state and saw a Little Toot planter on a shelf for $15.  I said to myself, that looks like it was the same Toot from the film. When I examined it there were no Disney markings and as I unsure, I left it there.  The next day I happened to get the latest Tomart magazine and it had an article on Disney Shaw pottery.  As I look it saw what some of these were worth and got excited. Most were going for $100 dollars or more. Then I saw it. There was a picture of the same Little Toot I saw the day before. Valued at $1500!!!  I immediately went back to the shop and it was still there, calmly paid $15 and took it home.  I had some friends in Denver who were Disneyana sellers and I contacted them as I was going to Denver in a few weeks and ask if they were interested in trading for some of their stuff. They were.  They gave me credit to buy what I wanted in exchange for Little Toot.  They had several Shaw pieces but not Toot and they wanted him. Well, they had a large record collection with a lot of sealed records and many rare ones. I was able to quickly fill my collection in one fell swoop for just $15.
The story does not end there. Years later I was at the Disneyana convention in Anaheim and during room hopping (attendees selling Disney good out of their rooms) I get into a chat with Paul Anderson (DHI) and start to tell him my Toot story. He looks back and me and says "I had that Toot.  The guy in Denver you sold it to, sold it to me.  I then eventually sold it to a guy in Japan for $3500"  A rare Toot indeed!  

If you would like to hear the story of Little Toot click below. Some great Thurl Ravenscroft songs!




4 comments:

  1. Wow, such a great story! I just discovered your blog and I'm enjoying it very much. I have now added it to my "blog list!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks TM. Appreciate the kind words.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, what a WONDERFUL story. I do remember that. Love the sites!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great story Ken. Thanks for sharing the music.ts

    ReplyDelete

Whet your whistle!

Just purchased this Buena Vista promo 45.  It appears to be a song written by the Sherman Brothers that was not used in Disney's 1961 fi...