Coming to Boston: Doodlebops, Choo Choo Soul, Johnny and the Sprites

I opened today’s morning paper to find an ad for The Boston Globe’s Children’s Book Festival, September 15, 11am – 5pm, and featuring such stellar acts as the Doodlebops and Choo Choo Soul.

Attention Nathan Rose: If you’re booking a flight out, drop me a note! I promise not to shame you for your love of the Doodlebops. Those of us who make clothes for our Pal Mickeys can hardly afford to throw stones.

Vintage Walt Disney Cartoon: Alice’s Egg Plant (1925)

Chickens going on strike! An oversized mouse laying an egg! Check out Alice’s Egg Plant, one of the Alice comedies made by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in the 1920s. (Might want to watch it with the sound off . . . the soundtrack was dubbed in later, and is somewhat distracting. Thanks Crayshen for posting it to YouTube!)

You might notice one of the main characters strongly resembles Felix the Cat . . . this is not an accident. From Wikipedia:

Julius the Cat, later renamed Mike to match the name of Ike the Mouse which he often appeared with, bears a striking resemblance to Felix the Cat. This wasn’t accidental: Charles Mintz, who distributed both the Felix series for Pat Sullivan and the Alice series for Walt Disney, had insisted on this in an attempt to emulate Felix’s success. Ike the Mouse on the other hand, bears a striking resemblance to a nude Mickey Mouse. This couple was one of the earlier attempts to create a cat and mouse pair in the animation business.

Ah, the earliest forerunners of Itchy and Scratchy . . . it warms my heart.